The Goodland republic. [volume] (Goodland, Kan.) 1891-1907, 1904-06-17

Lavender row was accustomed to
sensations, and would not have been
happy without them
But never had the row been so stir
red to its grim depths, so blown with
nOtOriety and unhOly excitement, as
it was on the occasion Of ALI Jarvis
sudden departure from It
One night in autumn, a night OF
ghOstly mists and no moon, ALI failed
to come home. As he was not man
Of regular habits, this was nothing
unusual. But in the morning his body
was found lying out on the NANCY
green stretch of the London fields
dead. with a savage cash in the throat
that could not have been self-inficted-
While he lived, nobody had been
especially fond Of ALT except his pa
rents, and they we're half afraid OF
him. A lOafing, iII-cOnditiOned rufhan,
he had suffered Imprisonment for one
brutal outrage, and was strongly sus-
pected Of others that could not be
brought home TO him
Nevertheless, his death was general
" accepted in Lavender row as a
calamity; he was discussed as ex-
haustively as if he had been a real
loss to the community, and men and
women reapec glory in a small way by
retailing his sayings and dOings and
posing as his personal friends.
The police could find no clew to the
murderer, and, throughout this thrill
ing period, Of all who rose to local
eminence by reason of their acquaint-
ance with ALI, none rose higher than
Jenny Cripps, nor took a subtler pride
in the elevation, nor appealed thence
more prevailingly to public sentiment
Jenny lived with her mother in the
house opposite to that in which ALT
had lodged. She earned a livelihood
by work in a chocolate factory, and
was a gOOdIOOking, vivaciOus girl,
who, for all her native cOquetTy and
love of dress and amusement had a
robust imagination and a ballast Of
common sense that stood her in good
stead in a narrow, perilOus world
She had owned no preference for
anybody until she began to walk out
with Ben GiIlett, and Ben's triumph
was not lasting She Quarreled with
him frequently, and at length, Of
Tended by some fancied slight, sent
him away in a moment of pique and
apparently transferred her affections.
But Ben was not readily daunted.
He was a logged, steady going fellow,
a capable artisan, dwelling at dis
lance from the row; and had come to
know Jenny through meeting her at
intervals as she walked TO and from
the chocolate factory.
He went away when she sent him;
but he returned and returned again
with a tireless persistence that was
presently rewarded; she found she
could not care for his supplanter as
she had cared for him, so he was for
given and they were reCOncfled.
Then, after an interval, she broke
with him capriciOUsly for a second
time, and he departed into the wilder
ness Of her displeasure, smarting IN
der the knowledge that he had a new
rival who was far more dangerous
than the old.
This new rival was none other than
the redoubtable ALI Jarvis.
Before his solitary conviction had
rendered the undue prominence too
risky, Aft had been the leader Of a
gang Of HOOligans who were. the ter
Tor Of the neighbOrhOOd; and since his
release from dUrance he had been no
/ less daringly lawless, but carried out
/ his exploits with a battling cunning
and secrecy that left the police no
/ chance Of entTapping him
1t was no wonder, then, If Jenny
was dazzled BY the homage Of so
] -FrrT
that his dashing airs, the glamor Of