Sequachee Valley news. (Sequachee [Sequatchie], Tenn.) 1896-1952, 1898-10-13


town frequently with her pony to
mail her letters, get her papers and
meet an occasional visitor from the
east whom she takes back with her.
This literary woman is Mrs Hen
bricks In her pretty little boudoir
on the secoud floor she has tele-
graph instrument built into the wall,
and she communicates constantly with
Hendricks in the Laran by an under
ground wire that has been laid with
great care and expense through the
widest and most unfrequented part
of the intervening country and which
enters the cave through an artesian
drill that is hidden by four feet Of soil.
In fragment of a preserved letter
Of Hendricks he says; "This wire cost
me more trouble and labor than any
thing else. 1t had to be laid at inter
walls after careful survey in order to
avoid observation, and it had to follow
the unfrequented ways and escape the
possible surface water courses, for if it
had been barred and discovered my
enemies would have had the iron clew
that ran to the heart of my mystery"
The man servant in this establish
ment is none other than Fenning. The
room in which he and his companion
toll at their mail is tastefully furnished
and the windows on the inside are pro-
vided with steel blinds The two Royal
Dane mastiffs that have already been
seen at the sanitarium lie at full
length on the rug. They can be de-
pended upon to hear q football on the
mountain side before it gets within a
hundred feet of the house.
In this comfortable and secluded re-
treat Mrs. Hendricks is at work during
the latter part of July. The mails are
kept guardedly down to a correspond
ence of necessity and to the daily pa
pers from the large cities.
We can thus see how Indifferent Hen
bricks was to the prospects of a siege.
He could safely and secretly direct the
movements of vast organization scat
tered through the country while he
and his immediate forces were safe
from molestation or disturbance while
their supplies lasted.
On or about the 28th of July,
Fennirg succeeded in getting Mrs.
Hendricks to send for Miss La
ports assistance But that young
woman refused to leave Laran volun-
tarily. Fenning suspected the in
fuence of Stocking. Mrs. Hendricks
was sure of it. Preparations were then
made at Jennings suggestion to send
her at night under a strong guard to
meet him somewhere on the route
when they were interfered with by the
news from Laran. This was on the
3Oth and Hendricks telegraphed
Something of our secret is discovered
by the government. How much, dc
not know Watch the papers. A
United States gunboat anchored in the
river this q. m, opposite the bayou; &
strong force has been ashore. The
probability is that this is one feature
of a general movement and other forces
are concentrated. 1t is therefore fool
hardy to send Miss Franklin at this
time"
1t was Mrs. Hendricks custom to reaC
off these messages to Fenning while
she was at the instrument and ht
wrote them down with a pencil il
order to be sure of their meaning
burning them Immediately afterward
They never suspected or ever knew
that they were read by somebody else
But they were, and it is that curiou
fact which enables us to follow the
details of his operations.
In the interval between the collision
with Gen. Luscomb and the departur,
from Laran of Mrs. Hendricks anC
Fenning, Calicot had had ample op
portunity to cultivate the acquaintanc,
of Miss Laport, whom he knew only a
Miss Franklin, and as the two younl
women in the place were thrown mucl
together, he saw good deal of Mis-
Endicott. The doctor, who had fount
him a well-read man, had become quit
attached to him and had told him
great deal about Miss Endicott's pc
culiar temperament and condition
The young woman herself enjoyet
Calicot's society, and he and Miss La
port spent most of their evenings visit
ing her. On one of these occasion
she had lapsed into her trance condi
tion and the doctor was not present
Something that was learned from he
lips made Miss Laport and Calicot con
suit long and carefully. The very mex
night when they were alone with heI
she again passed into an abnorma
state, and Calicot, with his compar
ions concurrence, questioned her. In
doctor was busy elsewhere; there wa
no fear Of interruption. Miss Lapor
got the packet of hair that she knew t
be Mrs. Hendricks, and Calicot, wit
/ curious interest, listened to the Cir
Then it was that she described tn
scene in the Swiss cottage and read tn
telegram which Fenning had write
down with a pencil from Mrs. Her
bricks lips Calicot was puzzled. II
had no means Of finding out wher
, this place was. Miss Endicott coul
only describe what she saw. She hd
no explanations 10 make, but il sue
denly dawned upon him that he had 1
] this young woman a complete offse
TO Hendricks secret advantages. Mis-
S / Laport acknowledged to him, in corrol
j oration Of what he had heard, that sh
S had refused TO 60 away without he
( father and now that she had learne
% the preparations to send her to Fer
: ming, She was visibly alarmed. Calico