Montour American. (Danville, Pa.) 1866-1920, 1903-01-08


ward, he was led into the distressing
error of supposing that Donald was
disoyal to him in this trouble Moth
ing could have been further from tho
truth
when Henry did not come to see
him, as we had expected Donald got
out of bed, though he could hardly
stand upon his feet and went out to
find his brother. But Henry was far
away by that time, and not even the
detectives themselves were more ig-
nOrant than we were as 10 his where
aboutS.
For a week or more the newspapers
located him in fifty different places,
and Donald himself got wind Of many
idle rumors. That sort of thing is
agonizing | don't like to think Of
what Donald suffered Finally we
learned that the detectives in the case
had reached the conviction that Henry
had committed suicide by leaping from
an ocean steamer. Some poor fellow
made that pitiful ending, and for my
own part firmly believed that it was
Henry Donaldson.
almost a year later, however, we
got word that Henry had been seen in
a lumber camp in the northwest.
heard of it first and secretly attempted
an investigation, sending a detective
out into that region His first commu-
nication to me seemed favorable, and
decided that it would be worth while
for Donald to go out there. | took two
or three fellows whom l could trust
into my confidence, and we agreed to
put up the necessary money. We all
wanted Henry Donaldson to come
back and face his accusers, and we be-
lieved that we could clear him.
1--WE made a plan to lunch together
and have Donald with us and then dis
close the whole subject to him. So we
met about noon one day and went to
private room in Hobart's restaurant up
town. Donald did not know what was
in the wind, but for some days his
mind had been running upon his broth
er, and he looked all broken up with 1t.
AS he and were going to Hobarts
that day he said to me:
81 am sick with anxiety about Har-
ry.'
"You don't believe that he is deadp
said l.
"I never have he replied. 4 can't
Nothing more was said upon the
subject just then, and it was not men,
toned while we were eating luncheon.
This was by agreement. Donald was
very silent during the meal. He ate
scarcely anything. He was pale and in
q peculiar state of nervous tension.
observed him with considerable anxi-
ETY., for he looked like a man who is
going to break down.
1--WE had reached the cigars, and the
waiter was well out Of the way. One
of the fellows made q sign to me to
open the subject that was on our
minds. | turned toward Donald. He
started as If from a dream and said In
q hurried, strange voice:
"'Harry is all right
"Then the color rushed into his face.
which had been very pale. He reeled
in his chair, and | put up my hand to
catch him.
"'What do you mean? l asked.
al saw him. he said, 4 saw him
He's all right. He's coming home
"That was all that we could get out
of him at first, and we did not know
what to make of it. Finally told him
frankly just why we were there and
what we had learned.
"'No, he said; its all a mistake He.
not in any lumber camp. don't know
where he is. | never saw any such
place before. think it's in China from
the look of it,
"Of course we tormented him with
questions, and at last we got an ac-
curate description of what he had seen.
Why, he even described the furniture
in the room and the view from the
window.
"'There was q man sitting at table
whom l think | should have known if
he hadn't been back to me- said he. My
brother was sitting opposite, and there
was some sort of document on the table
between them. My brother has grown
beard. BY heavens" he cried sud
denly. The other man was Joe Ninal"
"Vinal was receiving teller of the
Dey Street bank. He had been slight
ly implicated in the robbery and had
lost his place in the bank on account
of it, but had not been arrested. That
he should have joined Henry Donald
son in "a far corner of the world was
not altogether favorable circum-
stance and asked Donald why he had
said so confidently that his brother was
all right
az know by the look of him. he re-
piled, and heard him say that he was
coming home
Donald pledged us all to secrecy in
this matter, and | think the promise
has been fairly well kept. That after
noon Donald and | made an investiga-
ton into the case of Vinal and learned
that he had left New York and that
his whereabouts were unknown. His
wife, who was a beautiful woman Of
fine descent, was living in this city, but
she had had no word of her husband
In six weeks. She told me that he had
left the city suddenly upon some mat
ter of business which she did not un
derstand He had been in very bad
health, and she was extremely anxious
about him.
THAT was all the information that
we could get. About week later
Donald got a cable message from his
brother. 1t came from Hongkong and
was addressed to my apartments. 1t
said: Am coming home; westward.
Everything all right
"By subsequent messages we traced
him to the Mediterranean and Gibral.
tar and learned what steamer was
bringing him to this country. He was
Ill of acute gastritis when he arrived,
and | thought that we should hardly
get him off the steamer alive. But he
rallied and seemed on the road to
mend
at appeared that he had gone from
this country to Japan and had lived in
one Of the smaller cities. He brought
photographs of his abode there and Of