The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-11-30
ANACONDA me- VS.
A TRAGEDY IN CITY HALL
which Resulted in the Undoing OF
Edward Nadeau.

which Resulted in the Undoing Of
Edward Nadeau.
1t was wicked of Mr.. Nadeau--very:
but when you come to think of 1t, ne
had pretty good cause to swear. A
man who has the mental will force tn
cruelty self to the extent of receiving
and entering up payments of cou4Sy
tax several days in succession, IS a
hero anyway; and 1t Is permitted to
heroes to curse. One George Dewey,
known to the hero-worshiping world as
the owner of new wife, a gratuitous
battle of Manila bay, and no one mas
called him down; therefore, 1T is not
seemly that Mr.. Nadeau, deputy coun-
ty treasurer, should be chided because
he swore when the ink bottle upset It
self and annointed record-streWn page
in one of the county ledgers Great
passions are sublime; to few is 1T given
to know them.
Here followeth "The Tragedy Of the
Inkstand,' or, THE Undoing of Mister
Nadeau."
It was night in city hall. The great
licemans stentorian breath All of
fees were dark and deserted, except
the sheriff's and the county treasurer's.
In this latter apartment electric lights
glared, the air was sitting, and the
almost oppressive stiffness was broken
only by the occasional rustling CT
leaves and the steady scratch
scratch" of the pens. The days work
was all but done. The weary office
men would now and then sigh as they
Strengthened the crooks in their backs
and glanced furtiyely at the clock.
Suddenly, like the long-drawn groan
of a dead man from the depths of
cypress swamp, q blood-chilling sound
from far up in the roof Of the city hall
smote upon the silence and fingered,
and swelled, and died, like the wall of
a tortured soul.
The hairs on the head of Edward
Nadeau were seen to CULVER as the
marsh reeds culver in the breath of an
autumn wind. Then. presently. they
stood still. But the lines of his face
were craven and pain looked forth
from his eyes. The nails of his left
hand dug deep into the flesh, while
from his nervous pen there fell single
drop of ink to mar the unblemished
page. Edward Nadeau suffered. yet
would he not yield, but bent him stern
ly to the task.
Yet again the Thing was heard: like
the faraway scream Of the nliser, when
thieves despoil his hoard and all his
shriveled soul goes out in black de-
spair; like the shrek of witch at the
stake, or the moan of drink-dying man,
the Thing cried out anew, and the
sound was the sound of Death.
A pallor as of white chalk oVerspread
the face of Edward Nadeau. and he
clutched at his desk for support.
A single moment of silence, while the
cry reverberated in the streets.
Then the rage of the Thing beloved
forth and Horror besieged the night.
1t was as If the lid had been lifted
from some vast tunnel of He'll, and on
the fetid blast was borne to the world
above the sounds of the Carnival OF
Pain. Devil-screams Of unholy glee
mingled with the shrieks of the living
dead; and Fear was the song they
sang.
Then it was that the passion OF Ed
ward Nadeau touched the height of the
sublime. Then it was that the bones of
his frame grew tense and the fire of his
eye flashed forth. Very great and
| grand was he then. as, raising mis-
| clenched fist in air, he brought it down
with mighty crash on the desk, while
the VOICE from his throat Numbered:
| DAMN" :!
| AS if to mingle with the torrent Of
his emotion, an ink bottle turned gent
| ly over in it's rack above the snitten
| desk and dark, thick stream of black
| splashed fiercely down on the page.
Thus endeth 1.-THE Tragedy of the
Inkstand.'' or, THE Undoing of Mister
| Nadeau."
| N. B.--The Anaconda band practices
every night from $3.50 to 1880 in an
| upper room of the city hall.