Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1899-06-08

mesiif in-that diyvie's contrapsion not
il ye'd give me the whole building.
Didn't me own cousins son, tweed re- 4
moved git kilt in wan iy thin not two
year since, bad cess to ut? An him
the only dopindence of his mother, an
her wildly, barrin' her third husband
that's worse than none at all besides
being in the rinitintiary for six months
through 'saltin' an batterin' an officer
whin tho drink rs in um."
Her words still came n trifie gasp
ingy, and while she was finishing her
long sentence, had leisure TO marvel
at the fact that she actually had walked
up the ten flights of stairs to reach my
office. 4
Its this | come to see ye about,
Misther Birkhead,'' she announced
presently. An my advice to ye is 70
hurry if We want to have spache wide
; um or the poor craythur'l II be dead in
tirely before ye can git to UNI, he's
that bad wild the cough on UNI. An
him not givin' me minutes peace
since daylight broke till I'd come an
see ye about Mt. :"
; These luminous remarks we're accom-.
panied by the proifer of a ragged edged
. newspaper clipping, which, on exami-
nation, | recognized as containing tho
, Latham advertisement. 1t may be i'm
agined that my interest was now thor
5 oughly aroused, and that | began to
, question the old woman eagerly.
She was very garrulous since having
recovered full use of her vocal powers,
and | had difficulty in making out
what she was driving at. Her informa-
ton all poured forth wrong end to. and
had TO be entirely rearranged afterward.
3 Reduced to conference her statement
= amounted to this: She had boarder
! named Mackay, who had come TO her
i about 10 days ago, and who was in the
: final stage of consumption. Last even
o ing he had CHANGED to catch sight in
an old Telegram that was lying about
i his room Of my advertisement, and since
S then he had been in fever Of impa-
q thence to have mo visit him. Appar-
t entity he had u communication to offer
n As delay might be dangerous | re-
o solved to put aside everything else and
d go TO him at once. l could not per
y suade the old woman to use the elevator,
g SO | waited for her ut the foot of the
k last flight of stairs, and having obtained
q a carriage, took her home. She lived
o over beyond Second avenue in fairly
] decent neighborhood, having three
e rooms, or one floor, Of a house that was
j. evidently much more populous now
y LIlau Ill It's 1OuIBtI III bilc itpb'
:, room, lying partly dressed upon bed,
| found Mackay. He was small mar
IF of about 80 years of age, and although
l. his fearful cancellation, his deathly
is palor, and his unkempt hair and beard
ii were against him, he seemed to posses,
Or the remains of rather unusual goot
10 looks. 4 glance at his face, even with
err out the sound of the cough that fire
Y, auently interrupted his speech during
I'd our interview, was enough to show tina
rs he had not many days to live.
ID Leave us alone, Mrs, Toohey, ant
at shut the door behind YOU, he said i,
n. weakly imperious tone, after the OLE
ir woman had introduced me with SOM
IL, circumocution as ''Misther Birkhead
ed the gintleman that wrote the advertise
ment in the newspaper.
ic Mrs Toohey, in no wise offended b.
he his brusqneness, prepared to obey him
I'D but first she winked at me mysteriousl.
,ir and whispered hoarsely: 'If he git
tie tuck bad wild the cough iist give um
to wee sup oct o. the bottle yonder an
| ut'll bring UNI round | promise
tie to heed her directions, and she wen
l out.
nd TELL me why you put that notice i
to the paper, Mr. Birkwood, the sic
in man said, when We were left to our
| selves. II want to know all about il
te, | have strong reasons. j am deepl
let interested. "
in His eagerness was so apparent, an
cir he seemed to consider my giving IL,
! story first so much a matter of cours
ills that could not but humor him. A,
ion cordingly stated briefly the circun
id stances of Mrs. Latham's plight, an
cd. told him of tho sore need she stood
u OF tho insurance money. He listent
sis with painful intentness, holding bac
nat his cough that he might not lose
an syllable of what ! was saying.
ow 81 thought so, he exclaimed, :
of began to suspect as much when
one heard 49, He stopped and bro
rial into violent coughing fit. | hasten
he to minister to him from the medicin
ife bottle, which smelled strongly
ong whisky, and contained, | inferre
fix simply mixture of rock and rye.
lam lis it fact" he asked, when t
did worst of the attack was over, sis il
the fact that she-Mrs Latham--will {
ing the S25, 600 il it can be proved that
18th husband did not kill HIMSELF"
ttcr assured him that there could be
Ince reasonable doubt of it.
the "Then she shall have the money
he announced, giving me a strar
ting look; "she shall have it, for | xii
ex- Henry Latham.
in Another of his coughing spells
,nce lowed this revelation, and it was so
ute, time before he was able to enter il
ors, details. AT length, however, he 81
the them to me slowly and painfully.
be There had been a long standing fs
! of between Latham and Mackay. III
ted, had baen friends as young men, a
hout their prospects had seemed equf
not good; hut Latham had succee'
llta- whereas Mackay had failed. Lath
up q had lived serene, comfortable i
took while Mackay had been poor rest
tors. and unhappy. | gathered that O.
go was not the sole cause of Macka
1ugh hatred for his former friend, althol
mr. of he did not distinctly tell me so. Fl
" of long time the two had lost sigh
lmes each other, until, finally, they bect
hich fellow passengers aboard the Emp
ded, of Japan. At first they did not n
there, for Mackay had taken seco
liver cabin passage, and Latham probu
per- was not aware of his presence on hos
Mt Of Then, late one night, on the desei
,osed deck, they came together. The
pril, quarrel was taken up again, they
n, en- high words, and at length Latt
in drew knife. This so infuris
lews- Mackay that he lost all control of h
cipal self. He grappled with Latham,
Then ceivine wound in the arm, and a
a desperate struggle succeeded in pl
wing ing him over the rail into the
VI L =