Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1898-05-02
BLACKMAIL.

my blood run cold to think of it, was de-
scribed to me recently by a medical ina
of my acquaintance. The woman who
was the victim was of French extraction.
She was a fine, handsome woman of be-
tween 35 and 40 years of age. Her name
was Valerie L%estrange, and she was one of
that wretched class Of beings who live by
the levying of blackmail and other evil
practices.
She made DR.. KS acquaintance as an
ordinary patient and had occasion to call
upon him at his consulting room several
times, so that he came to know her pretty
we'll. He had no idea of what or who his
handsome patient was, and M suspicion
of her evil character ever suggested itself
to him. Therefore he was quite unpre-
pared for the terrible danger with which
he suddenly found himself confronted
when she threw off the mask.
The charge she brought against him was
that he had made a serious mistake in her
medicine by putting in a poison in such
proportion as to have endangered her life
If she had taken 1t. She alleged that she
had indeed taken n dose and had only
escaped it's fatal effects by the assistance Of
a chemist, who had administered to her
an antidote.
1t was late at night when she had called,
and DR.. x. had met her in his consulting
room. .
"Do l understand" he asked, rising to
his feet as he realized the nature Of her
scheme, "that you expect to extort money
from me under threat Of bringing against
me this charge and SO injuring me in my
professions"
Doctor" she urged, IT don't want
much. It's a mere nothing to you, while
to me it's a matter of life and death. I
must have 25 by tomorrow morning, or I
shall be turned out Of house and home.
It's nothing to you, but to me it's every
thing"
"Don't talk to me like that" he replied
angrily. ~ would o lose the money
ten times over than be poltroon enough to
pay 1t to you as you have asked it,"
"Then look to yourself, DR.. x, look to
yourself, for what ! say I can do. I will
ist will oorroborate what / say"
"What do you meanY What horrible plot
is this against mes"
"You will see. I tell you I have the
bottle of poisonous medicine as evidence,
and the chemist will bear me out in all 7
say"
DR.. x. wal desperate. Never for one
moment did he entertain the idea of buy
ing her off, for he held, and held rightly,
that the man who submits to an IMPOSE
ton of this kind Is a traitor to society and
q public enemy scarcely less worthy con-
domination than the blackmailer herself.
And yet something must be done, for the
danger was imminent.
At this moment there was q sound at
the window, and, looking up, Valerie Lee
strange saw looking in at her a face like
that Of a demon. 1t disappeared almost
Immediately, but she saw it distinctly.
The creature was of dwarfish build, had
reddish brown hair about it's face and eyes
which shone in the darkness. At tho sight
she shrank back in terror and demanded
Of the doctor:
"What is it? Who is it, and what does
he want?"
"Never you mind who it is. 1t might
be Jack the Ripper, or the Old Man of the
Sea, or an imp Of satan come to fetch you
before your time"
"Jack the Ripper!"
At the word the wretched woman turned
pale to the lips and leaned against the ia
Bile for support. She had read the CHASTITY
details Of that strange series of murders
till they had become a kind Of nightmare
to her.
Seeing the terror his words had aroused,
DR.. X. conceived an idea for his deliver
ance.
Stepping forward, he seized Valerie by
the wrist, and, bringing his lips close to
her ear, he Kissed between his teeth:
"Woman, l have told you the truth, but
don't drive me to do it. That unclean
creature whom you saw is really what I
called him in jest. 1t is indeed Jack the
Ripper, and If you do what you have
threatened he shall go like a bloodhound
on your track and hunt you down, though
EARTH"
For a moment the bold eyes of the WON
m quailed before the fierce, threatening
glance of DR.. X. Then, with a laugh, she
turned to the door, saying:
"Bah! You can't brighten me with a
bogy. Unless you pay me in the morning
your reputation is gone forever"
So saying she banged the door behind
her and went out into the night.
That was the last time DR.. X. aver saw
her alive.
What really happened to her after she
loft his house was this:
In spite Of herself she could not alto.
gether shake off the sensation Of fear
which the uncanny appearance and the
DOCTORS words had reused within her
Ever and again she glanced backward ovel
her shoulder to see that she was not fol
lowed and assured herself in an undertone
that it was some bogy with which the doc
tor had ~endeavored to alarm her.
She had reached the corner Of the by
street in which she lived and had almos,
got the better Of her nervous fears, when,
suddenly looking back along the road sh,
had just traversod, she saw that which
froze her blood with sudden fear.
She was being followed by the dwarfsl
creature she had seen on the window sill
Of tho doctors consulting room.
With a cry Of terror the wretched won
an sank down beneath the shadow Of q
projecting doorway and for a moment be.
V0440 uAAtOA1oNA0Abs NM L NaML #E "AM" NNNt
When she opened her eyes her pursuel
was standing over her, and with a Shrek
Of frsnzied terror she flung herself flat
down upon the paving stones. A long arm
reached out to seize her, and with the ter
ror Of 1t she again lost her reason.
The following morning she was found
by a police constable lying In the samt
spot, and above her crouched upon thu
threshold Of the doorway, was a large In
dian monkey. This 1t was that had aroused
her fears when II climbed up to the doc
tors window sill from its kennel In thu
yard beneath his window. And this 1
was which BY ome chance had followed
her when she left the house.-Exchange.
Stanley versus Bismarck.
Stanley has been giving some unOom