The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1901-10-09
AN uNPosrEp LETTERS.


bows. his chin in his hands. The light
glistened ora his matted hair he heard
the hammering outside.
I gliess / may as well write line 10
Bill, he said, not raising his head. kin
you git pencil and psper?"
l got them and then waited until he
had written.
Dear BMl-By the sound of things /
reckon I've got to swing this trip I've
had a hope all along that they might
get scent on the right track. bot I see
that Six-Eye'H be 'bliged 10 kick the
bucket with head up-the galieys is goin'
Up mighty fast
4 say. Bill. there amt no good in bur
glarin. l swore once IG quit il. and I
wish I had But a felIer cant aIlus do
just as he fancies: guess he can't allus
do it, kin he. Bill? You never knew
how I got into this scrape. did you2
One day / was staudin around just
standin' around. nothin' dOin, when
saw q pair OF runaway horses a-comin'
down the street like mad. | jumped down
and caught the nigh one by the nri'lie.
hauled EN- up mighty sudden but some-
thin swung me round, and / struck my
head against the neckyok kersmash.
when I came TO. I was sittin' back
in the carriage with the sweetest-faced
girl bendin' over me and wiQin' my face
with cool water She asked where she
Bill, for the first time, 1 was ashamed TO
say where. But 1 told her. and so help
ne, she came clear down in there with
me, and made Emily put me TO bed. She
left money, and every day till l got
well she came out and sat and read the
Bible and all them things. Do you know.
Bill, il wasn't long afore things seemed
different. I couldn't look at her pure,
sweet face and plan a job The last day
she came I made up my mind I'd try
sOrnethin' else-quit burglarin.
4 started out TO get work One man
asked me what I'd served my time at. !
said I'd served most of it in Jail. and
then he wouldn't have anything TO do
with me. \ chap gave me a couple OF
days brealIin stone in a cellar. He said
7 did it so good he guessed l must have
been in jail. After that / couldn't get
nothin' TO Go. because no one wouldn't
have nOthin' to do with a jail-bird, and
Z had made up my mind to tell the
truth
AT last Emily began to kick and little
Bog to cry for grub. l got Disguised
1 had to do somethin', so 1 sat down
and planned TO do big house in the su-
burbs. Ia sized it up before.
The moon was high that night, so
waited till it went down, long after mid
night I found the back door already
open, so it was a snap to get in.
Il went upstairs and picked on a side
room near the front. / opened the door
and looked in. A candle fickered low.
and flames danced from a few Goals in
the fireplace.
I entered noiselessly.
"A high-backed chair was in front of
the hearth. I sneaked up and looked
over the top. a young girl. all dressed
in white with low neck and bare arms.
laid there asleep. Her hair hung over
her shoulders; she looked like as if she'd
come home from a dance. and just
threw herself there tired out.
Just as I was goin to turn away, the
flames in the fireplace fiickered, and
I caught the glow of rubies at the girls
throat. How they shone and cleaned
and shot fire from their blood-red depths.
The candle burned low and sputtered; bur
the Goals on the hearth fiickered, the
rIbles glowed, and the girl breathed soft
in her sleep.
It's an easy trick said to myself
and l leaned over the back of the chair,
my breath tanning the light hair that
fell over marble shoulders. / took ont
my knife and reached over. Just then
the fire burned up bit AS 1 learcd over
saw her sweet, girlish face. nd 50
help me. Bill. it was her. her whose face
l couldn't look into and plan job
Hardly knowing it, 1 barrel Ihy head
and stood there, knife in hand. the blood
rushin' TO my face. and my feelins some
way seemin' to go agin me.
Il looked at her and gradually closed
my knife and Strengthened no rom that
shape a felier gets into. l remember
verse that she used to read to me. Q
shall not go forth empty-handed.' so l
said to myself I'd try again. But just as
I was turnin to go. I heard shot IN the
next room; then a heavy thud. | stood
stock-still for jiffy, and then ran out
in time to see some one dart down the
stairs At the bottom I heard a stumble
I hurried along the hall and ran straight
into the arms OF the butler
Il guess some one else was doin' that
job that night. But they had me slicker'n
a whistle Twas no use; everythin went
agin' me. / had on my big revolver, the
mate 10 the one you got. As ii happened,
one chamber was empty. and the ball
they took from the old mans head was
the same size. had a bad record. II
was all up with me. The only thing they
brought UP in court to the contrary was
the top Of an ear they found in the hall. /
where some one must have hit agin' I,
somethin' sharp.
Give up burglarin' Bill; see what I've
come 10. But 1 hope you'll do turn /
for Emily if ever she's in need. and don't .
learn little Bob flchin'. Do this for an /
old pals sake, Bill.
The doomed man stopped writing, as +
the last shaft OF sunlight passed beyond .
the iron bars Of the prison window out /
side the hammering had ceased; the scat /
fold was finished.
'.YouH find Emily. my wife, in the |
back room of the basement At l25 River 4
street said my client handing me the .
letter Shell tell you where to md I
Bill"
7 took the letter, but did not then know T
it's contents. I started, but he called me /
back
You have a flower in your button I
hole he said. I'D like to wrap 1t up 4
and send it To Emily
Next dav. after the sentence Of the /
law had been executed. I went TO find /
Euilv. descended the musty old stair
vvay AT 10 River street. where all was /
effb and saualor At the back room /
stopped and rspped 4 towzy head was 4
thrust out of the next door.
They've gone it said
where
some man.
Did YOU know him
IL saw him here before sometimes, but
-hs ton Of his ear wasn't cut on then
They called him BiIl-sort Of pal
And where s the little boy.
Hes gone 10 the Shelter
I went ont into the pure air, and
standing on the curbstone' read the let
ter.
The only thing they brought
mo in court 70 the contrary vas The top
~ an ear
when had finished I remembered the
7over in my hard. I didn't throw il
way: I took II 10 my Office ard haze
3 there stim. wrapped in the paper as he
yave tx 20 r1e.-Pearson Magazine
4 Farewell.
lfy fal-est chld. / have TO song 10 give
youi
Ne lark could pipe 70 skies so dun and