The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1903-07-08
BOOK III.
The House of Doom.
CHAPTER xx-contInued.
"The Colonel's Own"

CHAPTER xx-contInued.
1.-THE coloneps own"
30 much for the passages culed from the
book itself. The newspaper excerpts, to
which I next turned bore much later
date, and read as follows:
"a strange coincidence marks the death
Of Albert Moore in his brothers house yes
.erday. He was discovered lying with his
head on the Identical spot where General
Lloyd fell forty years before. 1t Is said
that this sudden demise Of a man hitherto
regarded as a model of physical strength
and endurance was preceded by violent
alteration with his elder brother. If this
is so, the excitement incident upon such a
break in their usually pleasant relations
may account for his sudden death. Ed
ward Moore, who, unfortunately, was out
of the room when his brother succumbed-
some say that he was in his grandfather's
room above-was greatly unnerved by this
unexpected end to what probably
merely a temporary quarrel, and now lies
In critical condition.
The relations between him and the de-
ceased Albert have always been of the
most amicable character until they un-
fortunately fell in love with the same wo-
man.
Attached to this was another slip ap-
parently from later paper
The quarrel between the two brothers
Moore. just prior to the younger ones
death, turns out to have been of a more
serious nature than was first supposed It
has since leaked out that an actual duel
was fought at that time between these two
on the floor of the old library; and that in
this duel the elder one was wounded.
Some even go so far as to affirm that the
lady's hand was to be the reward Of him
who drew the first blood; it is no longer
denied that the room was In great disorder
when the servants first rushed in at the
sound he made In falling Everything
movable had been pushed back against
~ the wall and an open space cleared, in
the center Of which could be seen one drop
Of blood What is certain sis that Mr..
Moore Is held to the house by something
even more serious than his deep grief, and
that the young lady who was the object Of
this fatal dispute has left the city,"
Pasted under this was the following
short announcement:
Married on the twenty first of January,
ut the American consulate in Rome, Italy,
Edward Moore Of Washington, D. c.,
United States of America, to Antoinette
Sloan. daughter Of Joseph Dewitt Sloan.
also Of that city,
With this notice my interest in the book
ceased and prepared to step down from
the chair on which had remained stand
ing during the reading of the above pas
Bages.
AS I did so spied a slip Of paper lying
on the floor at my feet. AS it had not
been there ten minutes before there could
be little doubt that 1t had slipped from the
book whose leaves I had been turning
over 80 rapidly. Fastening to recover it.
found 1t to be a sheet of ordinary note
paper partly inscribed with words In a
neat and distinctive handwriting. This
was great find, for the paper was fresh
and the handwriting one which could be
readily identified. What T saw written
there was still more remarkable. 1t had
the look Of Of be H., r h..
myself drawn up during the most perplex-
ing moments Of this strange case I
transcribe 1t just as it read: I.......--..
We have here two separate accounts
of how death comes to those who breathe
their last on the ancestral hearthstone of
the Moore house library.
Certain facts are emphasized in both:
Each victim was alone when he fell
Each death was preceded by scene
OF alteration or violent controversy be-
tween the victim and the alleged ma ster
OF these premises.
In each case the master of the house
reaped some benefit, real or fancied from
the others DEATH"
A curious set Of paragraphs. Some one
besides myself was searching for the very,
explanation I was at that moment intent
upon. I should have considered 1t the
work OF our detectives if the additional
lines L now came upon could have been
written by any one but Moore. But no
one of any other blood or associations
could have indited the amazing words
which followed. The only excuse 7 could
ind for them was the difficulty which
some men feel in formulating their
thoughts otherwise than with pen and
paper, they were so evidently intended for
the writer's eye and understanding only
as witness: '
Let me recall the words my father was
utterlns when my brother rushed In upou
US with that account Of my misdeeds
winch changed all my prospects in life
1t was my twenty-fir birthday and the
OLD man had just informed me that as the
eldest son l might expect the house IN
"h1ch we stood to be mine some dav
and with 1t secret which had been hand
ed down from father to son ever since the
Moores rose to eminence in the person ~
Colonel Alpheus. Then he noted that
was now of age, and immediately went nm
TO say: This means that you must be told
certain facts, without the KNOWLEDGE al
which you would be no true Moore
These facts you must hereafte,
relate to your son or whoeve,
may be fortunate enough to Inherit
from you. 1t is the legacy which goes wifi
this house and one which no inheritor a.
yet refused either to receive or to trans.
NIT. Listen, You have often noted Tie
gold filfgree which I wear on nv watct
guard This ball Is the talisman Of ~,
house, of this house. IT, In the course ~
your life you find yourself in an extrem
1ty from which no issue seems possibIe-
mind the strictness of the iniunctfon-ar
extremity from which no issue seems nos.