The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1898-02-04

when the doctors lantern showed h
woman dead across a newly made
grave. She had stabbed herself
through the heart The two men car
ried the body 10 the o n remain
ed inside for quite a while, h came
out and drove away.
Till Cannon tried every door and
window but they were securely locked
What he had seen caused him the
keenest conflict of emotions. What was
duty? Most certainly he must inform
the authorities of what he had witness
ed. The return over the mountain 20
n village was toilsome and perilous
and 1t was long after midnight when
he aroused the county officer and told
him what he had seen. Long before
noon the officer and Till Cannon. with
the few who were let into the secret,
crossed the unt and appeared
before the door OF the stone house. It
was still securely closed. A battering-
ram made Of one Of the huge stones
lying around soon beat the door down
n the body Of the woman lying on
the floor was found, closely wound in
blankets.
An inquest was held and. from the
evidence taken, il was decided that
she anne to her death by suicide. A
little later another inquest was held
over the body of a man Of handsome
appearance, who was taken from the
a at the foot Of the cliff. His Ia
tionality appeared to be French A
bullet had gone in at his mouth and
passed out at the back of his neck
near the base of the brain. The tes-
timony of the physician who was in
vited TO accompany the party decided
them to render a verdict of suicide in
this case also. There was no way
known to them by which the wound
could have been made except by the
man himself.
side of the first and tine bodies as de-
Gently buried as the circumstances
permitted. AS they were finishing their
work DIR. Kobeisky drove UP in his
carriage with his old colored servant.
Many thanks, many thanks!" he
exclaimed, unable to uppress his as
constituent. You have saved me the
trouble, I see. Very we'll. Come on
to the house and I will put you into
possession of the facts. Your interest
deserves reward"
He turned his horses about and the
men followed him to the house. When
they were seated about a table in the
front room the doctor gave to Till Gam
mon a roll of paper daintily tied with
a blue ribbon. Unrolling the bundle
he found first a deed conveying the
valley to the doctor and with it a
draft on London bankers for money to
be devoted to building a sanitarium
oven the mineral springs that formed
the valley stream.
"a simple act of justice long de-
layed," explained the doctor. II prov
ed to the lady that 1 bought this pro-
noYty from ha- fa thar moro than tWarfV
years ago and paid him the money,
only to discover when he was gone
that the title to the property was in
his daughters name. Sh, could not
be found and so I waited for some
claimant to appear. The next paper
will be more interesting to yCu. The
signatures Of the fUur persons most
interested are attached to shCw thu
g]enuineness of the documents. Two of
those persons are dead and o have
just seen to their burial. One man is
before you, the other will soon be 700
far away ever to be found."
Till Cannon read slowly: 81, who
am about to die in the stone house in
the valley, from a bullet wound through
my mouth, desire to leave with DR..
Kobeisky the story of my death. How
1 became acquainted with the lady
whose life 1 have ruined or how we
tried to hide from the world at the
place where We now are is too full IF
sacred misfortune to be told. She Was
born of English parents and was early
married by an INSCRIPTIONS father to
an officer in the German army. I am a
French artist and was temporarily in
Berlin. She remembered that her father
had bought some land in her name
in a secluded part of America. We
came here and for once in our lives
were happy.
I'VE had been here but a few days
when as I sat near the front window
engaged at my easel and my lady was
upstairs, some one opened the door
and came in. I had never seen her
husband, but instinctively guessed who
my visitor a
He threw two revo1vers on tho ia
Bile, and, while I looked on, he opened
them to show me that they were both
exactly alike and that both were pro-
perly loaded. Then without having
spoken a word, he drew the cartridges
out from one, passed the re%volvers
under the table, laid them back upon
the table, and, stepping back, motioned
to me and said: Choose
I came up to the other side of the
table and took one in my right hand,
He took the other and thrusting the
revolver toward my face, said:
Through the mouth
Il understood and we took the muZ-
zles of the revolvers in each others
mouths.
"tSignal,' he said. ] took a hand
kerchief from my pocket and held ii
aloft for a moment and then let il
, drop. / had simply chosen the WrOne
revolver. I was unconscious until tbs
doctor came. My story is told"
WHY?