Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1897-09-16
OVER THE TELEPHONE.
The Doctor Relates the Remarkable Story
OF a Tragedy.

The Doctor Relates the Remarkable Story
OF a Tragedy.
II heard strange story to-day" said
the doctor to me, as we sat in his officu
late at night, (which, ON your solemn
promise not to divulge, III tell you, for
just can't keep it to myself"
Readily enough, l promised, and
violate no confidence in this telling,
for no names are mentioned, correctly,
at least, and, in any event, the doctor
was not pledged to secrecy after the
expiration of a year, and it has been
two years since he told me.
"You remember" he said, when
Frank Broter was found in the hall of
my Office with a bullet through his
brain and pistol by his side?"
nodded in affirmation of my remem-
brance.
"You know" he continued, ''that
everybody thought 1t was suicide, for
Frank was then under treatment with
me for a nervous affection that made
him wild at times. l thought he had
taken his own life, as everyone else did,
and he was buried under that impress
sion. The coroner's verdict was to the
same effect also. Well, to-day his SIS
ter died, and before she crossed the
dark river she asked to see me alone,
and now | know we were all mistaken
about poor Frank.
"There was another brother, if you
remember. named George, and he was
the black sheep OF the flock. A bad
boy from the beginning he grew worse
when his widowed mother died, and for
five years before Franks death he and
his sister, who worked, you know, in
the central Office of the telephone com
pany, supported him. They boarded
him in the anne house with themselves,
and as far as appearances went he had
quite as much of the worlds goods as
either of them. He drank and gambled
often threatened them II they did not
give him more money. This they did,
but the more he received of them the
more he asked, and finally he made such
a demand upon Frank that he refused
to do anything for him except to board
and clothe him. The sister joined
with Frank in this resolve, and George
threatened to kill them both. No one
knew Of this except the brothers and
sister, for the girl was sensitive and
shrank from telling her troubles to her
friends. On the day of his death Frank
came to my Office to see me, and there
was no one about. ] had been called
away suddenly. and had taken my as
sistant and my door-boy with me, as |
expected to return shortly. l did come
back, and when / did l found Frank
living in the hall with the pistol by
his side. 1t was his own pistol,
and you know the rest-up % to-
day. To-day the sister told me that
George had killed Frank. As far as
she could determine, George had fol-
lowed him there and had quarreled
with him in the hall. To satisfy him
self that George was telling him the
truth, he had gone to my telephone
and called up his sister at the central
office. Evidently, the two brothers
were near the instrument, for as Frank
called she heard the voice of George
ordering him away from the phone.
He refused, and then she heard George
curse him and drag him away. She
could hear the struggle, as it contin-
ued in the hall, and then suddenly
came the crack of a pistol, and Frank
screamed: oh, George, George, brother,
Won have killed mel That was all she
could remember, except the slamming
of door as George hurried out OF the
hall, for she tainted. When she was
restored to consciousness, the sister as
serted itself first, and she felt that be-
fore she told her dreadful story she
must first know what had happened.
She was not a strong girl, and the
tainting spell excited little or no alarm,
O. .Iat no one thought of connecting
tsi4tipg with the tragedy. In fact,
th> s4yer heard of it until she told
l hau ~u. When she learned that
me hers >osamitted suicide and she
Frank had testimony to the con-
alone could be- NSF lips for the sake
trary, she closed 1 she has never
Of her brother, an sad only now
spoken Of it until to-day, "a she told
because George is dead, a. rs mem
me that she owed it to Fran u not
ory to let some one know he ha,
taken his own life"
That's what killed her." I said, hor-
rified at the story.
I'm sure of it," replied the doctor.
"She has gradually declined since
Franks death, and nothing I could do
for her appeared to have any effect.
"And yet" he concluded, "if George
had been living she would have taken
her secret to the grave with her.
troit Free Press.
THE opinions of men who think are
always growing and changing, like liv'
ing children-Hamerton
IN the spring me man VINO changes
Heavy clothes for garments light