Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1899-11-16

4hGc AAAktb 1880
other peoples stories that we are con-
binually running into by pure chance
said an old reporter off duty, ARE the
most fascinating and tantalizing things
IN life. Sometimes we get a whole
chapter, sometimes we get nothing
more than a scrap Of dialogue. and as
often as not it's only q glance OF the
eye on o gesture Of the hand, but we
realize all the same that we have acct
dentally intruded upon some poignant
human document Of which we are
reve to know either the beginning or
the end ! have often amused myself
By taking such fragmentary morsels
and attempting 20 reconStruct around
them Q logical sequence Of events. just
q ~naturalists build up fossil monstrosi-
ties from small sections of their big
toes. and ! may add that the invariable
result Of my efforts has shattered my
faith in comparative zoology. I ann
forced TO believe that the naturalists
are taking ne. However, when
"Oh. we'll" said somebody in the
Office, .sgo ahead and tell the story and
have done with iti'
"The incident / had in mind, :" con
tinued the old reporter. looking some
what injured, was narrated to me by
q gentleman of this city who is now
manager of an extensive orange grove
with Offices in New Orleans. Eight or
nine years ago. before he assumed his
present position. he had charge Of q
large sngar plantation mp the river, and
one day during the grinding season a
young Englishman came To his Office
and applied to him for work.
THE young fellow said his name
was John Mason. and his shabby clothes
and q hungry look in his eye confirmed
the statement that he was badly in
need of a 100 The manager liked his
face and manners and put him at light
work with a gang at the cane carriers.
Mason proved a very good hand. He
was steady and sober, but he attracted
no special attention, had no intimates
and never let drop a word about his
history. At the end of the season he
drew his money and went away.
s.About a month later the manager
received a letter from a lady in Eng
lduu lINlilIIhS dDOAlb LIl GOhi OOAAl
Mason, whom she understood was
working on that plantation. The letter
went on to say that he had left home
believing he had killed a young woman
to whom he was engaged. He had
struck her with something in a fit of
insane jealousy. The woman was not
dead, and the trouble had been fixed
up. Meanwhile the young man had
come in for a legacy of e5. 900, and his
mother wanted him TO return at once.
1.-THE letter was evidently written by
a person of culture and refinement and
seemed sincere, but. having no idea of
Mason's whereabouts, all the manager
could do was to reply to that effect.
That closed the correspondence.
.sCne evening next grinding season a
very ragged. trampish looking man
came to the Office window and asked
for work. Dirt, ~privation and a heavy
beard had changed him considerably,
but the manager recognized him as
mason at n glance. Didn't you use to
work for mel he asked. No, replied
the man. 4 was never south before in
my life. Well, said the manager, L
have no work fox you, but You remind
ed me at first of a fellow ! want to see,
a fellow named John Mason.
The applicant stood for a while ir-
resolute. i used to have a partner by
that name he said finally; may be it
was him. What was it aboutf'
Tho manager looked him n the eye.
Il wanted to tell him that that woman
was not dead. he replied.
Mason grabbed hold of the window
sill and turned white as a sheet under
his dirt. His jaw trembled for a min
ute, and then he began to blubber like
a child. The manager came out, led
him in kindly. and as soon Us the Eng
lishman saw the letter he admitted the
story of his fight was true. The reac-
tion was SO great that he became half
hysterical. but at last he was persuaded
to go to his old quarters for the night,
and the manage assured him that he
would make arrangements next day for
his Immediate return to England.
"Wellf' asked several listeners.
That's all there is to the story"
said the old reporter. Next morning
John Mason wasn't there. His bed had
not been slept in; nobody had seen
him: nobody has ever seen him since.
Where he came from. what became OF
him. who he really was. nobody knows.
The manager wrote to the mother and
got no reply. and the question arises,
Was it his mother after allY Might not
the letter have been a decoy7 How did
the writer learn his address, Wa the
girl actually alive or deadf True. the
manager might nave settled some OF
these problems by further inquiries ut
the English end. but he il a wise man
and has learned that ii is not well to
NEEDLE with detached chapters 1t 10
m excellent rule. New Orleans
Times Democrat.
MAJ n Hanpened.