Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1900-12-08

rapidly retreating figure. The shots
alarmed the hacienda. The women hui-
died i'm a frightened group. The men
came rushing out to find George Latour
bending over the body o, Don Guadalupe
Ascarate. In his hand he held a smok-
ing pistol. In Don G~uadalupe's heart was
a fatal wound.
Latour at once ordered that chase be
given h murderer. but no murderer
was found. Suspicious began to cluster
around the hacienda. Gnnuendos grew
into charges. The Mexican officials listen
end to the story told by Latour and
shook their heads.
He said he had fired three shots at the
retreating murderer. All those about
tie place agreed that four shots in all
had been fired-that would be one by the
murderer and three by Latour.
But in Latour's pistol were -four empty
cartridges instead OF three. Four empty
cartridges. all freshly exploded. Four
shots had been fired. Don Guadalupe was
dead. No one encept Latour had seen
any person come to the patio or go from
it. Certainly the tale OF a man who had
come up out Of the moonlight and sunk
suddenly back into 1t was hardly to be
heiieyed against the evidence of those
ccur empty cartridges. So they arrested
George Latour and charged him with the
murder OF Don Guadalupe Ascarate.
'Ah, the crane!" sal Latour sudden
ly. He a been puzzling his mind for q
long time to explain the presence in his
revolver of that fourth empty cartridge.
II fired at a crane as I rode over the
range that very morning. Then I forgot
to remove the shell from my pistol"
But who was going to believe such .
dlimsy yarn? Here was a man who came
from nowhere and went nowhere. and
here was a shot fired at a fleeing crane
when none saw the pistol practice. There
was never a witness to support George
Latour. Don Guadalupe, the n who
might have backed him, had gone to his
rest without the opportunity to tell his
story Or make a sign. Things certainly
looked very black for George Latour.
OF course he fought in the courts. He
employed lawyers and detectives. but all
ito no purpose. There was not one jot or
title of testimony to corrdborate his story
of the killing f Don Guadalupe. Then.
again, he was a Gringo. and 1T was not
so very longabefore that he hated Gringos
had come in and swept like "a blaze of
swords across Mexico, exacting from
the weaker republic a cruel war penalty
in the shape of a contribution of some of
her ,fairest land.
SO George Latour was convicted of
murder. His lands and cattle were con-
fiscated and he was sentenced to live out
a weary life in the Quartet of Chihuahua,
with little to eat and less to wear. Surely
this was a fearso1ne change for George
Latour, the gambler prince and the cat
49, l:-- H. 49,
discipline. His soul was in arms. HIS
busy brain plotted to escape.
Twice during the first five years Of his
incarceration he made breaks for liber-
ty. Both attempts We're failures. The
second tim he received a bullet in the
right leg, which left him slightly Grip
pied. hen he gave up all thoughts of
freedom. Into his eyes came a look tina
will never cave them. No longer he
watched for each desperate chance to
escape. He settled back into the sullen,
taciturn life of one who has given up
hope. He watched the centipedes Green
slowly across his damp cell. He saw the
gray t~rantulus scuttle across the little
patch of light. He heard the ceaseless
shuttle of the barefoot sentry at his
door. One year merged into another. He
ceased to count. The days and nights
We're much the same to him, save that
the life OF the princely gambler and the
princely ranchero seemed to drift further
and further away into the realms of
dreams.
And so George Latour fingered in the
filthy cuartel of Chihuahua for twenty
years. So he passed from d%ebonnair
youth to ben old age.
Then one day open We're flung his prfs-
on doors. He who had supposed himself
forgotten by the world was set at lib
erty to blink in the sun and try to coll
lect his wits Jared by the turmoil of
progress and advancement.
His liberation was a romance in itself.
The c~ommandante of the prison told it
to Latour's ~astonished ears. In those
days of the cattle range partnership Car
men Rivera had loved Don Guadalupe
Ascvarate-loved him madly and blind.
ly. He had tired of her and cared for
another.
Carmen Rivera became a notorious wo.
man. She accumulated a fortune by keep
ing a rendezvous for thieves and desper-
ADDE'S. She was a careless, brave and re-
sourceful. 1t is said there was a mystery
in her life somewhere. When she was
on her death bed she lifted one corner