Brookings weekly register. (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1898-1903, 1900-07-19
mine till Philip Norton came upon the

mine till Philip Norton came upon the
scene.
You might suppose from the evidence
that this man was a good fellow, as in
deed 1t was his constant aim to appear
In truth, he was heartless, crue
scoundrel. He loved Martha Temple
and became insanely Jealous of myself
Yet he was too much of the cunning
rogue to let this appear openly to hel
and too much Of a coward to WOO hei
publicly before me. His was one OF
those atrophied souls which vent theiI
spite upon the innocent dumb brutes
that chance to be present during theii
rage. Thus 1t was, think, that Nor.
ton first kicked Psyche. 1t was in
sheer wantonness. Some one, however
reported the fact to me, and In a rage
] went to Norton and demonstrated
ing the dog he could wound me- Again
! heard of his kicking Psyche, and !
probably used the threatening Ian
guage attributed to me on the stand.
But ask you: When a man is angry,
Goes he always weigh his words? DO
not all Of US at times threaten more
than we would execute?
come now to the day upon which l
asked Martha Temple to be my wife. |
see now how ridiculous that was. She
had known Norton before they met
here. and she loved him. At first she
accepted my attentions as pastime.
Later, when he came, 1t was done to
incite him through jealousy to pro-
posal. She refused me and laughed at
my suit. In an unenyiable frame Of
mind sought my dog. Poor beastl |
had been neglecting her for this heart
less woman, and now In my misery l
felt that / had been recreant to my
love for the only being who loved me.
Imagine my feelings when discovered
Psyche hiding under my bed. moaning
piteously. | drew her out, and as she
licked my hand with her tongue dis
covered that her leg was broken. |
rushed down stairs and made inquiries.
learned that Norton had injured
Psyche by striking her with stick,
as has been told. then searched for
Norton. l have no hesitation In saying
that had l found him alone | might
have murdered him. I was SO enraged
that l had almost lost control Of my
self. l say almost, for when | found
him with Martha Temple did prevent
myself from killing him on the spot.
This was only because Of her presence.
Yet we quarreled violently, as she
claimed.
Two days later Psyche disappeared
altogether. Naturally accused Nor
TON of having something to do with
this. He laughed at me, even 1eered at
me for ''moping after brute beast"
Those were his words.
The days went by, and nothing WAS
heard of Psyche. Stop. Did | say
nothing was heard of her? should
mention here that often at night
would fancy that heard her moaning.
l would follow the direction Of the cry,
but it always led me to the edge of the
lake and then died away. l concluded
that 1t was my imagination.
10Th. The boy was accurate in stating
that all fsur oars were In the boat.
Noticing this myself as / passed the
place, I took them out and carried
them to my boathouse. Then l went
to the hotel AS / was going into my
room Norton made jeering remark
across the hall. His door was open.
/ went in. and we quarreled again, as
we had done several times since my
dogs disappearance. At last left him
and went into my own room. But the
occurrence had unnerved me. and
went out again, hoping that a walk
would quiet me. l had scarcely ven
Elred out when thought that | heard
Psyche moaning. / dismissed 1t as
fancy and resolutely turned my back.
But as did SO the cry sounded louder.
Looking around, | was amazed to see
Psyche herself lying little way ahead
Of me on the ground. Delighted that
she had returned. called to her, but
she did not respond. She continued to
moan. approached her, when she
jumped up and hurried ahead, limping.
/ followed, trying to coax her to me.
but in vain. Finally she reached the
shore where my boat was tied and, to
my surprise, scrambled into It Think.
ing that she was frightened, but sure
now that l should catch her. did like.
wise. In some way the painter slipped
from the stake, and before | realized II
we were drifting away.
The rest Of this experience l do not
pretend to explain. | can only relate
1t. AS reached forth to grasp Psyche
she sprang out Of the boat into the wa
ter. Then she swan to where the
painter dragged and. taking It in her
mouth. started toward Deer island.