The silver messenger. (Challis, Idaho) 1890-1912, 1903-09-08

DERTHA DUNN, leaning out from
ID fourth-story window to enjoy
the sunset and river breeze, CHANGED
to see one man murder another in an
alley below.
1t was over in brief moment. A
sound, inarticulate and sudden,
caused her to turn her eyes from the
unfathomable sea of amber, opal and
mother of pearl across the shining
river. She saw two men, both clearly
defined in the ambient glow coming in
an opening between two buildings.
They struggled a second, and then
there was a sudden double fash in the
right hand of one. Then the other man
fell, and Bertha gazed, horror-strick-
en-, at one huddled heap lying alone
where two forms had been writhing
madly.
The shock of it photographed on her
brain the face, the form, the uncovered
head of the man with the knife. She
would know him if she met him among
a thousand others. Then the horror of
it came home to her.
She, Bertha Dunn. the shyest and
the meekest of all the teachers in the
Tenth ward school, had witnessed a
murder. She would have to appear in
court, to testify, to explain, to iden-
tify.
She closed her lips very resolutely.
No one must know it from her. God
had such matters in His hand, not man
She closed the window softly and went
about getting her frugal meal with
shaking hands but firm determine
ton not to give way.
1t was a courageous thing to do, but
Bertha had need of courage. Some so
miles away in the deep green country
her invalid and widowed mother and
several small brothers and sisters
I lived upon her salary-that is. all she
could spare. This made her live in a
small, high-up room and alone-that
her economies be not known. 1t was
in the blessed rest hour after school
that Bertha leaned out and witnessed
the tragic fate of the unknown
Long she sat in thought over her cup
of tea. Bertha had that rare thing. a
conscience. and she weighed the mat
ter carefully. The deed, the motives,
who the man with the reddish hair
might be-these things haunted her
dreams and broke her sleep. She was
glad when morning dawned and she
could go to her school.
But first she bought a morning pa
per to see if the murder had been dis
] covered. There it was in big, black
headlines! A mysterious murder of
an unknown man. a well-dressed
stranger, in whose pockets was moth
ing by which to identify hum. And. as
she read, Bertha Dunn realized with a
shudder that the murderer, also, had
been well dressed and that the double
4 fash in the sunlight had been a great
| jewel on the hand that drove home the
shining knife.
/ The police were making every effort
I TO get a clew TO the murder. So
Bertha was prepared to meet re-
/ spectful policeman in plain clothes
near her door that afternoon. Had
she seen any people in the alley the
] day before? Did she know anything
of the murdered man? To which ques-
tions Bertha was able to give a shy
negative. She trembled to think that
they might ask her if she had seen the
murder eommitted-but they did not,
and she went up the stairs very thank
full.
The little teacher bought papers the
two next mornings and read them over
her desk before the school bell rang.
The third day she read with a wildly
beating heart The identity of the
murdered man had been discovered.
4 He was one of the city's retired cap
4 italists, man of wealth, culture and
travel. He was supposed to be in New
York, and it was only by accident that
( he was known. The face of the muir
dered man had been badly slashed,
/ probably after death, and this rem
dered Identification difficult. Now the
chase was on. The city was reused,
the murderer must be found, and
money was plenty.
Bertha closed her little red mouth
more firmly, and went about with a
white face. Drag her into court
room? She would rather die a hun
bred deaths.
In those days she had troubles of her
own. Her sister, the one who kept the
family together down in the country,