Richmond daily palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1876-1904, 1901-05-24

matter or tact he made none. There
WAS no other way than compulsion,
and while some of the voters thought
he might drift out TO the colonies and
make q new start others were con-
fident that man of his temperament
MsssaSf-n6t sry TO outline the disgrace.
About a week after Queen had been
officially notified of his expulsion he
met u member of the club on the street
and through him extended an invita-
ton to five or six others of us to par
take of n little farewell dinner with
him. as he was on the eve of going
away. 1t seemed n queer move on his
part. and you may think it queer in
our accepting the invitation, but we
who had been most chummy with him
could find excuses for him. 1t was
decided to drop in on him as iudivid-
uais and in no way binding the club.
and when the evening came around
five of us were on hand. Queen had
spacious apartments in Il fashionable
thoroughfare. and he welcomed us
with the utmost heartinesS. The five
OF us went IN together. and we found
ourselves the only guests. On arriving
we were ushered into his sitting room,
from which most of the furniture had
been removed. 1t was being packed
for storage during his absence. he said.
but we knew that it had gone to the
auction rooms instead. Had there
been u suspicious man among us he
would have wondered that no odors
came from the kitchen or noise from
the dining room. and he would have
noticed that Queen seemed a bit nerv-
GUS and uneasy and was doing his
best to appear serene We had gone
in a friendly spirit for a pleasant hour,
and why should we feel suspicious of
our host?
We were offered cigars as soon as
we got seated. and as we smok
ed and waited for the dinner
Queen was. bright and chatty and
something like his old time self. He
had said that he was going away, but
he did not give further particulars, and
of course no one asked him. We some
how gathered the idea. however, that
he was going out TO South Africa
Dinner seemed a long time in coming.
when Queen himself brought in Wine
and glasses and explained that lie
wished us 10 drink to q toast he would
give Ii struck us as strange, but ne
had always been a queer fellow We
sat in a half circle about the table. aud
as the glasses We're filed and we wait
ed for the signal to rise 10 our feet the
man. glass in hand. stepped back until
he could lean his elbow on the mantel
and then quietly said;
Gentlemen. keep your seats. have
nothing to say regarding the action
of the Pace club or any other club. and
| am proud of the fact that n few of
you are here TO see me of. Ii was kind
of You TO come. and rest assured that |
fully appreciate il. The toast l pro-
pose is rather odd perhaps, but every
thing goas. you know Let us drink
let us drink 10 the-to the late de-
ceasedr'
Queen was Il left handed man. He
held the glass in his right hand. and
as he hesitated over his words his left
went back TO his hip pocket. and out
game a pistol We realized in flash
what he meant to do. bat il came 50
suddenly that no one could put forth a
hand There was n grim smile on his
face as he niaced The muzzle Of the
weapon TO his temple, but he did not
pull the trigger. Outside a thunder
storm had been working up over the
great city. We had heard the low rumble
Of thunder and caught fash or two
Of lightning through the windows A.
the pistol Went up 70 the mans temple
there came n tremendous crash. fol-
lowed by what seemed TO be balls OF
fire floating around the room. and all
OF US were knocked about and more or
less stunned As we recovered our
selves aud relI-hted the gas we found
Queen lying on his back on the floor,
with the pistol clutched in his hand
The weapon had nor been fred end