Wallowa chieftain. [volume] (Joseph, Union County, Or.) 1884-1909, 1902-12-04
PART I-Chapter vI-Continued.


hoped for the contentment OF soul
which now possessed me.
You dog, | said, 4 have hunted
you from Salt Lake City to 81. Pet
ersburg, and you have always escaped
me. Now at last your wanderings
have come To an end, for either you
or l shall never see tomorrow's sun
rise
He shrank still further away as
/ spoke and | could see on his face
that he thought / was mad. So I was
for the time. The pulses in my tem-
pies beat like sledgehammers. and
believe l would have had fit of some
sort if the blood had not gushed from
my nose and relieved me.
He staggered back with livid face.
and | saw the perspiration break out
upon his brow, while his teeth chat
tered. At the sight. leaned my back
against the door and laughed loud anl
long.
What do you think Of Lucy Fer
rier now? I cried. locking the door
and shaking the key in his face. Pun
ishment has been slow in coming, but
it has oyertaken you at last.
Il saw his coward lips tremble as
spoke. He would have begged for his
life. but he knew well tnat il was use
less.
would you murder me?' he STAN.
mered.
There is no murder l answered.
Who talks OF numbering a mad dog?
What mercy had you upon my poor
darling when you dragged her from
her slaughtered father and bore her
away 10 your accursed and shameless
harem?
1T was not who killed her father
he cried.
But it was you who broke her in
nocent heart I shrieked, thrusting
the box before him. Let the high God
judge between us. Choose and eat
There is death in one and life in the
other. I shall take what you leave.
Let us see if there is justice upon the
earth. or if We are ruled Dy chance
He covered away with wild cries
and prayers for mercy. but drew my
knife and held it to his throat until he
had obeyed NE.
Then l svanowed the other, and
We stood facing each other in silence
for minute or more. waiting to see
which was to live and which was 10
die.
Shall I ever forget the look which
came over his face when the first
warning pangs told him that the pois-
OF was in his system? l laughed as
saw it, and held Lucy's marriage
ring in front of his eyes.
ut was but for a moment. for the
action of the alkaloid is rapid. A
spasm of pain contorted his features;
he threw his hands out in front of
him, staggered and then. with a
hoarse cry, fell heavily upon the
floor.
81 turned him over with my foot
and placed my hand upon his heart.
There was no movement. He was
dead,
The blood had been streaming
from my nose, but I had taken no no.
tice of it. l don't know what it was
that put it into my head TO write up
on the wall with it,
Perhaps it was some mischievous
idea Of putting the police upon a
wrong track, for I felt light hearted
and cheerful. l remembered a Ger
man being found in New York with
'rache' written up above him, and it
was argued at the time in the news
papers that the secret societies must
have done it.
Il guessed that what puzzled the
New Workers would puzzle the Lon.
doners, so I dipped my finger in my
own blood and printed it on conven-
lent place on the wall
Then l walked down to my cab
and found that there was nobody
about, and that the night was still
very wild. l had driven some dis.
tance, when l put my nand into the
pocket in which l usually kept Lucy 9
ring, and found that it was not there
81 was thunderstruck at this, for II
was the only memento that l had al
her. Thinking that l might have
dropped it when l stopped over Dreb
ber's body, | drove back, and leaving
my cab in side street, | went boldly
up to the house-for | was ready tC
dare anything rather than lose the
ring.
When l arrived there I walked
right into the arms of police officer
who was coming out, and only man
aged to dfsarm his suspicious by pre-
tending to be hopelessly drunk.
THAT was how Enocn Drebber came
to his end. All had to do then was
to do as much for Stangerson, and sc
pay off John Terriers debt.
81 KIN v that he was staying at Hal
liday's frivate hotel and hung
about, all day but he never came out
l finicy that he suspected something
whsh Drebber failed to put in an ap
pearance.
He was cunning, was Stangerson
and always on his guard. If ht
thought he could keep me off by stay
ing in doors he was very much mis-
taken. l soon found out which was
the window of his bedroom, and early
next morning l took advantage o.
some ladders which were lying in the
lane behind the hotel, and so made
my way into his room in the gray o.
the dawn.
Il woke him up and told him thai
the hour had come when he was tC
answer for the life he nad taken 81
long before. l described Drebber'i
death to him, and l gave him the
same choice of the poisoned pills.
Instead of grasping at the chance
of safety which that offered him. ht