Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1900-08-25
The Flttest Survives
BY ]. H. CoNNELLY.

"iiimartn wouid have been quite
capable OF doing what you have told
me. lie had the reputation of being a
marc man., liable to get the best
sooner or later of everyone who had
dealings with him. And 1t seems un.
likely that this old rascal Mccartney,
who, from what I can learn about
him, appears to have been a sort OF
combination bill collector, process
server. notary and all around rogue
eighteen or twenty years age, should
V been his accomplish in such an
easy and profitable job. 1t is true we
are watching the old fellow, but !
may as well admit to you frankly that
there is nothing in sight as ycs to
connect him personally with the mur-
der. His interest clearly was in Will
marth getting safely 10 him with the
money he expected to receive. But IL
is not impossible some other person
perhaps someone closely associated
with him-might have bad knowledge
or his expectation that the banker
would come up there that night with
a large sum of money in his clothes,
don't mind telling you confidentially
that we know Mr.. Willmarth did have
in his possession when last seen alive
$4,000. which has Disappeared"
"A pretty good haul for the thief"
Yes. Looks SO. But it will not do
him much good, / guess. i don't see
any objection TO your talking with
McCaffrey, only / must request that
you will not let anybody else know
where to find him until we get
through with him. The assistance of
u well-meaning young friends of
the press is not desired just at pres
emit"
Mr.. Latham readily gave the desired
promise, and in return was supplied
with the address of the man he had
so persistently and vainly sought.
Mr.. Michael McCaffrey's lack of per-
sonal attractions was never more con-
spicuous than when John Latham
found him that night. His curiosity
and alarm had been wildly aroused by
Kitty's report of the extraordinary
conditions prevailing in and about the
Willmarth residence when she carried
his letter there, and he made 1t his
business TO learn as Don as possible
what had been going on.
Get me a mornin paper, Kitty,
DEAR" he cried. IF there's any bad
luck, sure that's the likcliest place to
find out about it,"
The first bold, black headline that
caught his eye when he ~nervously
clutched the paper ~astounded and ter
rified him-"Banker Willmarth Muir
dered!"
1t flashed upon him instantaneously
that his unlucky letter, having fallen
into the hands of the police, would be
certain to provoke an inquiry into his
relations with the man now dead, and
how far suspicion might attach TO
him as a party concerned in the bank
er's untimely taking off he did not
dare even to conjecture. OF course
hat latter fear had little ground, for
the very fact Of his sending the letter
was in itself an evidence of the alb
sence of guilty knowledge from his
mind, but he did not find content in
hat reasoning. There was much in
his life hat he did not want exposed
to the hazards of official question,
even in an incidental way.
you never know what them divils
of layers will spring on ye,' he was
wont to say.
Perhaps the letter would be looked
upon as only a shallow attempt to
lildlIuisitlult SulllStdIltldl NNlhNiiNN
for the diverting of justiiable suspi-
cion from him. More violent perver-
sions of fact had been known. He
would have taken to fight and disap-
peared for another eighteen years II
he had dared to make a move, but the
instructive sense of the born criminal
warned him that he could only preju-
dice his case by trying to get away,
as he would not be allowed to escape.
Hour after hour he sat with his ell
bows on the bare table, where he had
waited and cursed the night before,
reading and rereading the meager ac-
count of the horrifying deed which
seemed to fascinate his sight, taking
frequent sips from a black bottle at
his elbow to keep his courage up, and
quaking at the sound of every football
on the stairs outside for fear il was
the tread Of an officer. At length,
worn out and dizzy from the spirits he
had drunk, he threw himself upon a
cot in an adjoining room and slept.
When John Latham entered, they
walked him up, and ne came forth
touzled, grimy, red eyed and tremb-
ling.
In his demoralized condition the old
rogue was an easy prey for the astute
young lawyer, whose whole heart and
mental energies were enlisted in the
winning of the case he had undertake
en- "for love-" Bad as the situation
seemed to Mr.. McCaffrey before, it
was worse now. The last comforting
assurance the black bottle had given
him was to the effect that If forced
upon the witness stand he might be
able to fe out of his difficulty and
continue to hide the real nature of the
transaction between Dick Willmarth
and himself. But that was beyond
hope now, since the facts were known
to this particularly dangerous looking
representative of the profession for
he had the liveliest dread. And
John went at him mercilessly, threat
ening criminal prosecution for his
in the Hall conspiracy,
throwing out dark hints of holding
him accountable for the Willmarth
murder, promising to have him
inside out before a iury,"
until his old brain fairly whirled with
and fear.
"Och!" he whined, his brogue in
.reasing under the influence of his |
perturbation. "Owld and wake
as | am it'd be the death av me to be
ard badgered by thin layers,
made to tell about the many years
I've been beknownst to the way Dick
robbed Abner Hall, an how
I've kept the paper they draw'd up an
wild me, an how I've made
Dick come down wild it, an all that.
Sure, l might as well send for the
at once an lie down in me cot
IF you give up that paper and make
'ull confession to me now, | will en-
rage to protect you from prosecution
that affair and defend you if YOU
ire suspected of planning the murder,