The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1899-03-28

that, " muttered the blacksmith, rising
to refill his pipe.
"Of course, = assented Cobb pleasant
ly. "Every one is a fool who dares to
differ with ourselves. Parker con-
strued the remark as a thrust at him
self, and his face grew dark with a G
He clinched his fist as though he would
deal his visitor a blow. The instant
Cobbs eyes fell upon the hand he cried
out:
"Why, how did you hurt your handY"
Parker, with a half muttered curse,
quickly drew the member out of sight,
but the next instant thrust it forward
again.
A dark purple bruise extended across
the knuckles.
81 struck it" he explained sullenly.
cit amounts to nothing"
at must have been quite a hard
crack" said Cobb lightly. "Well, 1
must be going. Goodby, Mrs. Parker;
gcodby, Parker. Don't forget tomorrow
morning at 8 o'clock, and with this
parting injunction he left the house.
His face wore a thoughtful express
sion as he wendell his way along. There
was that in the blacksmith's I'M
which set him to thinking, and there
dawned on his mind a suspicion that
Parker knew more about the murder
than he cared to tell, and he Cobb
cudgeled his brains for a plan to force
a confession from him. At last he hit
upon q he deemed expedient, and,
forgetting where he was, he fairly
shouted out:
"I'll do it, by Jovel I'll do It'll The
experiment is worth tryingr"
The next morning the coroner and his
jury assembled in the barn where lay all
that remained of Samuel Jenkins. 1t
was a CHASTITY looking corpse, with eyes
wide open and numerous cuts and
bruises about the head and face. The
blacksmith avoided facing the dead
man, as he fancied the latter was look
ing at him, SO he kept near the door,
which was out of the range of those
wild, staring eyes. He trembled like a
person with the ague But only one
man present observed his u~neasiness,
and that was Mr.. Cobb. He watched ev-
cry movement. AS the men drew near
to examine the body they all fell back
in CONSERVATION as a voice proceeded
from the dead man saying: "Yonder
stands my murderer Seize himl"
Horror was depicted upon every coun-
tenance as each individual stared at his
neighbor.
But the blacksmith with a wild shrek
of terror fell back against the wall. In
stantly all eyes were riveted upon him.
Then, as though something impelled
him forward, he staggered to the feet of
the corpse.
Eyes, killed youi" he screamed, his
eyes fastened on the dead man. "But
you struck the first blow. You did," as
though his victim had denied the
charge. "You would not pay me, so l
followed you here. We had words, and
you aimed a heavy blow at my head
with your whip handle. But l warded
it off and received it on my hand in
stead. You were no match for me,
with a horrible laugh. 81 had no weap-
on, but my fists served me well, and l
gave you many blows even after you
were down. Oh, take you eyes from
my FACET he cried, with renewed
frenzy. Take them away, 1 say You
will mott Then there is but one way to
get rid of them, ? and before the awe
struck assembly could interfere he
quickly drew a knife from his coat and
stabbed himself to the heart. Then,
with a low, gasping moan, James Par
ker, the blacksmith, sank dead upon the
floor. Chicago News.