The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1897-12-16
Copyright, 1872.

agent and telegraph operator for the P.
& G. road got call from Pleasant
Valley, followed by the message:
"Young man, about 25-black hair
and eyes-six feet tall-poorly dressed
no hat-Tom Manners-wanted here
for murder. May pass on railroad track.
Notify at once.'
At ten o'clock, as the woman was
busy with some blank reports, a man
entered the station with staggering
gait, and sat down and dropped his
head on his hands. He had not come
along the track, but over the ridges and
through the forest.
| Hes the mantle murderer" whis-
pered the woman to herself, as she
locked the stranger over. She moved
over to the telegraph instrument, and
the man raised his head and looked at
her for few seconds and said:
"Yes, send 'em word that I'm here!
I'm sorry that didn't let 'em hang me
last night"
Then you are-are Tom Manners 2"
she asked, with her finger on the key.
Eyes, Tom Manners" he YEARLY an
swered. "Send 'em word and I'll wait
here!"
They called the woman little Mrs.
Humphrey" She was the widow of a
train conductor, and had secured the
place ut Limestone station partly on
that account, and partly because no
man wanted it at the salary paid. It
was lonely place up there on the hill.
From Monday morning to Saturday
night the woman kept house" in the
little room back Of the Office. On Sat-
urday night she went down to Jerico
Plains to stay over Sunday. There was
a pathos in the tones of the man be-
fore her that touched her heart. He
was murderer, but she had no fear of
him.
why did you commit murder?" she
finally asked, as she rose up and went
over to him.
"Why ask that?" he queried, without
raising his head. II killed man down
in the valley. 1t was murder. They
are after me, and you can notify them
that l am here"
But let me hear the story"
He lifted his head and gazed fxedly
at her for half minute, and then
glanced about the room. There was a
CLEAN of wonder in his eyes, but no
ray of hope. He made q movement of
Impotence that she should delay, but
when he read pity in her big blue eyes,
he quietly began:
"Three years ago sailed away in
the Morning Star to hunt for a treas
ure ship in the South Pacific. We were
wrecked in a storm, and alone, of all
the crew, was flung alive upon lone
the valley, what was dearer to me than
all the sunken treasures of the sea. I
was to be gone half a year, and upon
my return we were to marry. Did you
ever see Ninta Marshall?"
"A score of times" replied the wild
ow.
Il loved her-God alone knows how |
loved her!" exclaimed the man, as he
rose up. Ibid she love me? Yes, and |
sailed away with song in my heart.
We had been gone eight months when
was cast away. 1t was small island,
and there was nought but bracl<ish
water, shell-fish, and a few roots and
berries to sustain life. l hoped for a
ship to pass, but none appeared. had
nothing to do but sit on the rocks and
gaze at the sea-to sit there and think
and hope and grow desperate with the
waiting. By and by the year was up.
Then the days dragged into weeks, and
the weeks into months, and l could
only weep and rave and curse at fate.
God, how pined and longed and ate up
my heart. There were times when l
grew so desperate that l flung myself
into the sea among the sharks to swim
back to these shores and to Ninta-
5000 miles away! The sharks swan
along beside me-great man-eaters with
cruel eyes-but they did not harm me,
and l would return to the sandy shore
and weep and curse and pray"
Poor man-poor mani" whispered
the widow.
Another year passed." he continued,
land then another month and another,
until l had been absent two years and
a half. Then water-logged hulk
foated near my island and l swan off
to her. With her / went floating for
long weeks before was taken off by a
trader. BY and by was transferred
to homeward bound ship, but she had
the plague aboard and her crew died
; like sheep. Four of US who were passed
by worked her into port. Her anchor
was not yet down when 1 hurried
ashore and set off to find Ninta."
"And you-you-?"
AYE! l found her-found her dead
and in her coffin! had come too late.
I had been gone three years instead of
months. They had heard of the loss of
the Morning Star, and it was believed
that all had persisted. After she had
mourned for me for two years, she lis
tened to the honeyed words of a man
fair to look upon, but whose heart was
as black as night. That man wronged
her-he was the man klled-aye! l
clutched him by the throat and felt
) him die by inches under my grip! 1
did not seek to escape. They put me in
jail-a mob camel fought my way
out-here l am! I am a murderer.
They are after me. Tell them where
, to find me!"'
mo, l will not tell them!" firmly an
swered the widow.
''But l am broken
-hopeless!" he walled. "Of what use
to live on? You have a pistol. Lend
it to me and will go up among the
bushes and send a bullet into nv
hearth"