The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1898-03-18

For Christmas gifts this year.
Charles Moreau Harger In New York Sun.
as
My Murderer.
Nellie had fancy for some fresh eggs
for supper that evening, and as she
seemed disinclined to venture out, Of
fered to 60 for them. We were all alone
in the house, for father and mother had
gone to the country for few days, and
Tom, of course, was away at the Office.
When l opened the door to 80 out
found All Sin, our Chinese washerman,
standing on the door mat. He could
speak no English, so l did not waste any
words on him, but just motione1 him to
go upstairs; he would find Nellie there, I
thought, and she could give him the
clothes. did not want the bother of TO-
ing back. l did not call out to tell Nellie
he was going up; did not think it neces-
sary. -
l must have been gone about three
quarters of an hour, for the little dairy
where we got the fresh eggs was four
long blocks away, and l stayed awhile
talking to the young girl who waited on
me. 1t was getting dark when reached
our door, and l remember being surprised
when l looked up ut the transom to see
that the hall lamp was unlighted-Nellie
had such horror of darkness. l was
even more surprised when opened the
door to see All Sin disappear down the
passage and enter the kitchen-the
kitchen, dining room and Toms room are
the only rooms on the first floor. Did l
only. imagine it., or was there something
furtive in the Mongolian's movements?
Bah. how fanciful | am getting" /
to get the soiled' kitchen towels"
l lighted the hall lamp, left the eggs on
the table and ran up stairs. When L
reached the landing l saw something
which made me so faint that I had to
lean against the banister for support.
SO that you will quite understand the
position in which I found myself, l will
of the rooms. Directly opposite the land
ing was a window overlooking the back
yard; the bedroom Nellie and l occupied
together was on the left side, the door
opening near the head of the stairs; moth
er's room and the parlor were in the
front, passage leading to them from
the head of the stairs. The hall was
tioored with white marble-a curious fam
cy of my fathers. In front of each door
was thick woolly red mat Now, all
the rooms were closed, and trickling from
under the doors of our room was thin
red stream, which formed a great pool,
and which, though it had seemed so dark
down stairs, was here quite discernible in
the half light which came from the hall
window.
In fash saw it all. The Chinaman
had killed my sister: it was her life
blood which trickled from the door and
lay in that CHASTITY pool on the white mar
BILE. | gathered my skirts to step over
| it and enter our room and verify my aw-
full fears, when l heard a stealthy, muf-
fled football ON the stairs. In the hor-
ror of my discovery l had forgotten that
the Chinaman was still in the house. In
l would share the terrible fate of my sis
ter, who must be dead, for who could lose
all that blood and live? Being sure, then,
| that she was beyond aid. felt that I
must try, if possible, to save my own
life. But how? Outside of the hall
window was a wide stone shelf ON which
| we kept pot plants; near it was a sta
to ascend when the roof needed repair
ing.
l sprang lightly over the horrible pool,
| ran noiselessly across the hall, and was
on the window sill getting out when the
Mongolian's head appeared above the
stairs. He saw me, uttered an inarticu-
late, gutteral sound, and swiftly followed
and climbed to the roof. I would not de-
| scend to the yard-the chances of escape
| were less that way, for the wooden fence
round the yard was very high, and as the
| houses on either side were unOccupied it
would be quite possible for me to be muir
| dered without any neighbors hearing my
| cries. If once I could reach the Hat roof
! of our house thought would be safe,
Tor the roofs OF the houses in our block
were rs we'll known to me as the street.
l was something of tomboy, and on
evenings when the cats made the night
air hideous with their concerts, Tom and
| l used often to 60 on the roofs and hunt
them, sometimes chasing them the whole
block, he clad in his pajamas and in my
cycling suit.
1t was therefore an easy matter for me
| to climb the ladder, but just as I had
crossed the roof and was about to drop
| myself on to the next, which was lower
| than ours, the dreaded Celestial head
again appeared, this time just above the
| last rung of the ladder. Oh, if only had
the power to hurl him down before he
reached the roof! tore at the bricks in
the chimney, but not one would loosen.
and to scream III the hope of attracting
some passerby on the street below, but
when 1 opened my mouth to cry out nc
sound would come from my parched
throat. My gymnastic training stood me
in good stead. T ran, dropped to the low.
er roofs, climbed: to the higher ones with
the agility of d monkey. But still
would have had no advantage over my
pursuer had it not been for my superior
knowledge of the roofs The Chinaman
! followed me swiftly; though I dared not
look back, could hear his quick breath
ing not far behind.
| When we got near the end of the block
| lodged my pursuer and doubled on my
tracks. For a moment he seemed puz
quickly behind him, grasped his pigtail
jerked him backwards; he lost his bal
ance and fell on his back. Then / ran
to the edge of the roof overlooking the
street and screamed; to my surprise my
voice had come back and my scream was
heard by a man passing on the opposite
side of the street. He stopped and looked
and, guided by the sound, he looked up
| and saw me; the moon was just rising be
hind the house and my form was clearly
outlined against the light the moon threw
before it. But my shouting had also
shown the Chinaman my wherea bouts
he had recovered himself and was again
after me. I could hear his quick, animal
| paHtMs JUST UeHHu LIE. L Idu Ou, lit
following, but hope now gave added
speed to my steps; help would soon be
mine. for crowd had gathered on the
street and seemed clearly to realize my
danger. Men ran to and fro, or eagerly
consulted together, and presently mum.
Der Of workmen came along dragging q
firemen's ladder. This ;, they placed
| against one Of the houses; then swarmed
up it like flies, and in less time than il
| takes me to tell II the ChjnaInan WIS 40.
sistance and did not appear to. be armed
and we were both taken down. S .z&
| When the crowd heard what the Mon
golian had done, they declared they
would lynch him then and there. They
tore him from the policeman who had
him in charge, dragged him to the near.