Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1900-08-11

in my absence, so that you have means
TO operate with, I would advise you to
go your length on Memphis and
Southwestern. 1t Is an apparently
dead stock now, but a certain authori-
tative report that i shall have to make
when + get back will send it up like a
rocket. / am violating implied re-
quirements of secrecy, perhaps, in
telling you this, so you win keep it
strictly to yourself under all circum-
stances. l am anxious to help you,
but must not be known as doing so.
Do not neglect to take advantage OF
the chance, for it is a sure thing"
What a bitter mockery it was, Ches-
ter thought, that such an opportunity
should have come to him only after he
had been utterly bankrupted in
pocket, hope and soul. How different
would be his position now had the
happy accident of such information
come to him when he first plunged
into stock speculations, when he had
$4,000 to invest. 1t would have made
him a rich, honored and happy man
today instead of a beggar, a thief, a
murderer.
His self-recognition as n thief
brought back to him remembrance of
the wallet he had distracted from the
dead mans breast, OF which he had
not thought since taking until now.
lie plucked It from his pocket and
opened it. The contents almost took
his breath away with surprise. There
were only five bank bills, but o u of
them were of the denomination of
$500 each and the fifth was of 81 1000
Why, with this sum, he thought eX-
citedly, and the pointer" he had just
received he could avenge himself upon
Wall street and make Il fortune Mt a
single dash. Then he would marry
Irma. She nor no one else need ever
know he had accidentally killed her
father. Three thousand dollars? No
it was the seed of millions that relent'
ing fortune had thrust into his hands
His transports ceased suddenly ano
he sat pale, trembling, as il a spectei
had risen before him. Could he dare
to use that money? Prudent men, h'
was we'll aware, made n habit of re
cording the numbers Of large bills
passing through their hands, and il
Banker Willmarth did SOFAS was tC
be expected of a man so methodical II
his habits-this money might be {
fatal trap. His confidential clerl
might be able to give the numbers o
those five bills to the police, and thu
person who should attempt to pass
one of them would be seized, con
victed, hanged for murder! BY thu
way, was that the only danger to b'
feared? What if the banker shoulC
not have been quite dead-if help ha'
come to save him-if he should evei
now be so far recovered as to be di
recting the police? But nc. Tha
could not be. The old fellows heaC
struck the jagged rock with sucl
i, force as must have split the skull am
killed him outright. Oh, yes, he mus
be thoroughly dead, thank God!
) Notwithstanding his perturbation
, and mental distress the though
5 flashed upon him:
! what an anomaly! Thanking Coz
that a murder had been successful,
perpetrated. Well, why not? w
| thank God for the good we receive
regardless if our good has been tn
harm of some other person-and IRE
ly the getting Of that money is n grea
| good to me. At least it would be ]
| could be assured that the number
on those bills would not denounc
I, me-"
+ CONTINUED next week.