Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1899-01-27

poor self-absorbed Fanny was pouring
out her story and her secret in almost
iHcoherent rawlings to her hostess. DIR.
Leavitt. who had suspected the cause OF
her vagaries before, was confident of it
when he was called in to prescribe, and
quickly found thedainty little casett hat
Grafton had discovered the day before.
It was hours before she could be even
measurably quoted, and meantime
what tale of shame and woe had she
not poured into Harriet's astonished
ears!
Strained from it's rawlings and inco-
kerencies and Strengthened out in
chronological order, the story resolved
itself into this: John Harold McLane
was southern sympathizer as young
man. and went to California during the
war, provided with liberal allowance
and an opportunity of embarking in
business. At Sacramento he fell into
the clutches of a notorious household.
"Old man Perkins" had three handsome
daughters and a scheming wife. The
mothers aim was to marry those girls
to wealthy men, and she had succeeded
as to two of them, and McLane fell a
victim to the plot and was married to
the third. a son, John H, Jr., was born
to- them in June. 81, and trouble of i.
every kind followed. The sisters had
quarreled with their respective lords,
enc of whom had abandoned his wife
and gone to Japan, while the other,
even more desperate, had gone, self-di-
rected, to his grave. McLane's home
people refused to recognize any of the
Perkins stock and cut off the young
fellows allowance. Old man Perkins.
therefore, had three married daughters
and one son-in-law on his hands and
pandemonium reigned within his gates.
: He had to order the eldest daughter out
of the house, and she revenged herself
by clipping with man who deserted wife
| and children to run away with this
magnifcently handsome creature, a
thing he mourned in sackcloth and
ashes until, his money vanishing, she
ran off with another victim and left
him poor indeed, yet vastly better Off
| than when he had her.
McLane's wife was the best of the
three in disposition, but that was say
ing little, and when all his money was
gone they fairly kicked him out of
doors, and he, in desperation, drifted
to Nevada and the mines, just in the
| days when colossal fortunes were be-
ing made by men who were welding
pick and shovel. At the very time old
Perkins people were trying to get
divorce, alleging dcsertion and failure
| to support, McLane doomed up at Vir-
ginia City as part owner of lode that
paid like the Comstock, and his Sacra-
| mento wife, who was believed to be
deeply in love with steamboat enc
gineer, proved that she wasn't by jour
reying to Virginia City with her little
| boy and retaining her now prosperous
husband. There they lived in style, and
the Perkins household came to visit
them and remained Indefinitely, until
| the pickering drove McLane mad and
| he skipped to Frisco" where every
| deal he made in the stock market went
! his way, and he became millionaire
| before he was 80. Again his pretty
| but low-brcd wife followed, and again
| he honestly tried to make the best of
| his bargain; but her mad extravaganza
and the ceascless incursions of mother
and sister-in-law were too much for
| him. One day there came a crash and
much of his fortune was swept away.
He had to break up his San Francisco
home and go back to Virginia City, and
n furious quarrel followed, in which he
ordered the Perkinses never to darken
his doors again, and 10! his wife sided
with her sister and elected to go with
them. McLane would gladly have part
ed with them all, but he had grown to
love his boy. When once more, year
later, fortune smiled on him, and, with
a new bank account, he came down TO
| San Francisco, the Perkinses had dis
appeared. Two of the sisters were liv-
| ing the lives of adventuresses. Old Per-
lSins was dead and buried, and no one
| knew where the rest had gone-a host
of Sacramento tradesmen wished they
could find out.
| Then McLane came east, bringing his
sheaves with him, and his family not
unnaturally forgave and welcomed
hum. Prosperity followed him. He
fairly coined money, and Uncle Abe
| Mellen was only too glad to have him as
| partner; and then after a lapse of
years, when he thought her dead and
honestly wished her so. his blissful
| bachelor life was broken in upon by the
| temperance of his Sacramento wife,
now a handsome woman of nearly 40.
and a stalwart STRIPPING whom he
| recognized at once as his long-lost son.
For two years he provided for her and
tried to educate the boy, but never
again acknowledged her as his wife,
and SO long as she was amply paid
and housed, lodged and cared for, she
| nevertPfotested. Macs club = friends
Sc metimes winked and nudged each
| other when the tall young fellow APP
| peared at the waiting-room with a let
ter, or when occasionally dashing-
looking woman patroled the neighbor-
4 L. =
| her. The boy was wild and wouldn't
| study and was expeIled from the