The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1899-09-29
A PART OF HIS STORY
ONE CHAPTER IN rHE LIFE OF A
YouNQ ASVsNTuRER
A nrNMRtie Meldeat In u Career
Which MAY Have Ended ReRtnd
Prison NNrN Or WhyeA Nav Now Ne
NrlMful 0f UNNNtnsss and HaRe,


RrMful 0f UnNNtnvss and heNe,
"These little detached passages In
other people's stories that we arc con-
tinuNlly running into by pure Glance"
said an old reporter off duty, "are the
NEST fascinating and taptalising things
In lifa Sometimes we ret q whole
chapter, sometimes we get nothing
more than a scrap Of dialogue, and "a
often IA not it's only q glance Of the
eye or a 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
never to know either the beginning or
the end, l have often amused myself
by taking such f%ragmentary morsels
and attempting to reconstruct around
them 4 logical sequence Of events, just
IA n~aturalists build up fossil m%onstrosi-
ties from small seetions of their big
toes, and | may add that the %iavarlahle
result Of my efforts has shattered my
faith In comparative geology, am
forced to believe that the naturalists
are taking va, However, wheat
"Oh, WE'LL" said somebody In the
office, "go ahead and tell the story and
have done with lit"
"The Incident / had In mind" con-
tinued the old reporter, looking sonle-
what injured, "was narrated to me by
a gentleman of this city who Ia now
manager OF an extensive Grange grove,
with offices In New Orleans, Flight or
nine years ago, before he assumed his
present pesitien, no had charge Of q
large sugar plantation up the river, and
one day during the grinding season a
young %EAglishman came to his Office
and applied to him for work,
'The young fellow said his name
was John Mason, and his shabby clothes
and a hungry look In his eye confirmed
the statement that he was badly In
need OF a job The manager liked hiA
face and manners and put him at light
work with 4 gang at the cane carriers,
Mason proved u very good hand, He
was steady and sober, hut 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,
"About a month later the manager
received u letter from a lady In Eng
land inquiring about her SON., John
Mason, whom she understood vas
working on that plantation, The letter
went on to say that no had left home
believing no had killed a young woman
to whom no 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 ca, 900, and his
mother wanted him to return at once.
1.-THE letter was evidently written by
q 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,
"One evening next grinding season a
very ragged, trampish looking man
came to the office window and asked
for work, Dirt, privatioa and a heavy
beard had changed him considerably,
but the manager recognized him AZ
Mason ut q glance, 'pidn't you use to
work for mes' no asked, No, replied
the man, j was never south before In
my life Well, said tho manager, !
have no work for you, but you remind
cd mo at first Of a fellow I want to see,
4 fellow named John Mason
1.-THE applicant stood for a while IT.
res0lute. II used to have a partner by
that Nance, he said finally, may be 1t
was him, What was 1t ahoutV
ktWha n q nop 1nnkod him In thQ ava
u wanted tn tell him that that woman
was Not dead, he replied,
"MasoR grabbed hold of the window
sill and turned white AZ a sheet under
his dirt, His Jaw tremhlad for a min
Vte, and then no began TO blnhher like
a child, The manager came out, led
him In kindly, and ~ soon a. the Eng
lishMan saw the letter he admitted the
story at his flight was true, The reac-
tiap was No great that he became half
hysterieal, hut at last no was persuaded
10 20 to his old quarters for the night,
and the manager assured him that he
would make arrangements next day for
his immediate retnrn to England"
hWallGh asked several listeners,
tThat's all there Is to the story
said the old reporter, Next morning
Inhn Mason wasn't there, His bed had
not been slept I'M nobody had seen
himi Rohody has ever seen him since.
Where no came from, what became Of
him, who Ae really was, Hahpdy knows,
The manager wrote 10 the mother and
got no reply, and the question arises,
Was IT his mother after allf Might not
the letter have been a decay How did
the writer learn his address, Was the
girl actually alive az aeaaY Irue, the
manager might have settled some Of
these problems by further Inquiries At
the English end, hHt he Ia q wise man
and has learned that " Is not well 70
NEEDLE with detached chapters " IA
On excellent rule. New Orleans