Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1901-03-14

Amid some old barrels and rubbish
in an alley, covered with grease and
dirt and rags, lay the Tramp. His eyes
were bloodshot and Dleary.
Over the buildings and in the streets
and alleys, silent and damp, rested the
fog that had drifted in from the lake.
Pedestrians lodged each other on the
walks like grim shadows fitting hither
and yon. The gongs on the electric cars
kept up an incessant din and vehicles
picked their way along the congested
thoroughfares.
But the Tramp was oblivious to fog
and confusion. Unkempt ,outcast DESC
late, he lay, his faculties inert be-
numbed by the liquor that turned the
blood in his veins to fire. and threw
a heavy veil between him and the trag
edies and the pathOs of his life.
From out Of the yellowish black of
the street, into the denser fog of the
where the Tramp ay.
Well" resumed the taller Shadow
halted by the brick wall of building
near the pile of barrels and rubbish
WELL" said the shorter Shadow,
bluntly, whats the job-liftin'?"
NO" replied the caller one, cautious
iy, 'nervy business. But say, honest
now, are you on the square,
Sure" returned the other.
The voices aroused the Tramp from
his drunken stupor, and raising his
head a trfe, he rested it on his hand
and tried to listen.
finally. there's a woman in the case,
and she's made big fool of me. I'm
in a tight box, Reddy, and you've got
to help me. Good job, good pay. Blum
dering job, and you'll swing, and I'll
not donate a penny towards giving
burial
Well what's de graft?" was the re-
Spouse.
| It's this: The woman is Belle Sib-
ley. You know her-out on Bennington
avenue. No. 16 Carleton flats. She is
my wife, but the world doesn't know it,
I've blowed in twenty thousand on her
twenty thousand big round dollars and
not one of them mne.'
DE bank's?"
yes. the banks, every cent of it,
But they can never trace it to me il
she is out of the way. We had a quar-
rel this morning, and l believe she in
tends to peach. So she's got to co.
And what do you want me to do
kidnap hero
"kidnap the devil" snapped the taller
Shadow, irritably. ''No, kill"
oh" said the other quietly.
Into the muddled brain of the Tramp
the words sank slowly, but they finally
aroused his dormant faculties.
It's this way" resumed the taller
Shadow, lowering his voice until the
Tramp could scarcely catch his words.
| Il have the business all cut and dried.
| Take this revolver and use tits hers.
At 2 o'clock tomorrow morning, enter
! the fiat by means of the stairs at the
| rear. You viii find the outer door I'M
| locked. Go down the hall until you
come to the last door on your left.
| Open it with this key You will find
her alone. Put pillow over her head
to deaden the sound. Place the revolver
against her right temple so that the
powder will leave it's marks. Then,
when it is all over, lay the revolver
near her right hand and place this pa
per on the dresser. 1t is a note written
and signed by her. in which she says
she is tired of life and prefers to die
She wrote it in jest months ago, but
have kept it-kept it and preserved it
for this hour which 1 felt was coming.
When you have done all these things
carefully, retire the way you entered
The door will lock after you when you
close it. Bring the key away with
| YOU"
You'll do" exclaimed the shorter
Shadow. admiringly. You're a peach"
'As for me-" continued the other, Il
have arranged to spend the night with
friends in suburb. Might have to
work an alibi, you know. But what
do you SAYS it a go?'
Sure said his companion; cts a
so. or me name amt 'Reddy' Farrell"
After the two shadows had retreated
through the black fog of the alley into
the yellowish fog of the street and had
! lost themselves amid the other shad-
ows, the Tramp sat upright and drew
/ the back of a rough and grimy hand
! across his eyes.
| His bones ached from the dampness
and the chill, and his brain seemed
| light and uncertain.
Belle Sibley! How that name carried
/ him back across the span of years to
| the days when he was a gentleman him
sef-a gentleman, respected, honored,
/ ambitious, successful-and she was the
/ sweetest daintiest creature in his little
| world.
! Gradually the whisky oozed out of the
Tramp's brain, and memory's paintings
!
( in the meadows, and the sweet scent of
/ the clover; the melody of the thrush's
| song in the hedge and the loud whistle
of the quail in the fence corner; her
! fathers house amid the elm trees at
/ the end of the lane; the music of her
young voice, and the magic touch of
her little hand!
How madly he had loved her in those
old days in that simple, peaceful coun-
try town! And how happy he had been
how happy they both had been-until
! that winter she had visited in the great
city, and became intoxicated with it's
! glare and its gayetes.
, Then she had wearied of him, and
he, crushed, heart broken. desperate,
/ had cursed her and drifted away
! drifted on the wild pillows of reckless
ness that had tossed him this way and
that until He looked at his rags and