The Hope pioneer. [volume] (Hope, N.D.) 1882-1964, 1903-09-10
Mystery of the
Bayou Woods
By WALKER
Copyright, 1908. by A. N. Kellogg Newspaper Co
CHAPTER XVIII.-COSTISuED.

Fenton's testimony was the sensa-
ton of the trial, and it furnished for
many days to come the material for
instructive editorials in the press of
he city. The, cotton magnates
oOked q little foolish when they
found that they had been spending
their money on a detective instead
of a great capitalist, but they soon
put aside their crestfalIen air in the
admiration they felt for a man who
could do such clever work as Fenton
had accomplished. Some of the Off
GERS who had been unwittingly lend
ing themselves to the concealment of
a great crime kept very quiet for a
while.
In the general excitement people
forgot to watch the c~ountenance of
Franklin, upon which a deathly pal
lor had settled. But the keen eyes
were full OF fire. 1t was the supreme
moment of his life when, the gaze
of The court room being attracted to-
ward him, he faced it with diabolical
fury.
At this stage of the proceedings
those dispassionate individuals who
liked to analyze testimony expressed
the opinion that while it had been
we'll established that Franklin was a
very handy, all-round scoundrel, it
had not been proved that Herbert
Wright was innocent of his fathers
murder; or rather, there were a num-
Der Of apparently damning circum-
stances connecting Wright with the
crime which had not been explained.
1t wa true it had been shown very
conclusively that Franklin had CON
ceived a gigantic scheme of robbery
with Incidental murder and other
crimes for the purpose Of getting his
hands on a great fortune. His yari-
Gus denials had been amply dis
proved, SO no attempt had been made
to account for the fact that Herbert
Wright had pawned the evidences
of his guilt the very day of his
fathers murder. How came he by
articles? Unless he could give
a reasonable explanation of that the
case against him was hardly impaired
by The fact that Franklin was a vii
lain.
Before concluding his evidence with
the statement of Herbert Wright, Mr..
everett introduced a gunsmith who
testified that he sold Col. Franklin
such a pistol as that which was in
evidence. He was then asked to COM
pare the ball taken from Wright's
brain and say whether it was the
proper size, and he replied in the
affirmative.
The prisoner at the bar now took
the stand amid a dead silence. He
was pale, but self-possessed. He
spoke clearly and to the point:
"On the day before my father was
KILLED L called upon him for help.
My wife and child were in an almost
starving condition, and T could not
get employment. It was a hard
wrench to my pride to beg from him,
but L did SO, and-was roughly re-
pulsed. The following day I had been
to- town to make another attempt to
get work and had failed. Uncle Dick
Norris had always been very friendly
to me, so in my extremity 1 con-
Guided to go to him and see if he
could not let me have a bit of bread
and some game, of which he usually
had a supply in the house. On the
way back I was cold, hungry, cynical
a !" desperate. 1t seemed to me that
rths' whole world was against me, that
ssuch a thing as a kindly heart did
sn"i '.xist, and that the BAD and the
unjust only managed to thrive. My
Fathers strict orders prevented my
mother and sister from doing my
ching for the and mine. An idea