Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1904-02-13
DAILY SHORT STORY
A Converted Anarchist.
[Original.l

tionary, not to say cOmmunis1c. doc
trines which influenced me. but not Sc
riously, until on coming out of the uni
versity lost my father and the assist
ance he had given me; then, facing the
world with no means. ! was drawn TO
embrace anarchism There was no eX-
cuSe for me. | was young, and the
world was before me. l was one or
the impractical, theorizing kind who
prefer trying TO revOlutionize natural
laws rather than work. Added to this,
l had the faculty of inspiring others.
l joined u band of anarchists and be-
came Il leader among them.
My mother had Il brother of whom
had never heard. He was considered
the black sheep of the family and was
never spoken of to me, the only child
of his only sister. He had run away
as a boy and had broken his mothers
heart by never writing a line. Up to
the time | became an anarchist he had
never been heard from. Judge of my
surprise one day to learn through So
licitors that this uncle had died in
South America and left a fortune of
$S50.OOO to me.
How quickly my theories of the
worlds wrongs vanished. | did not
dare TO break my connection with an
archists. but gradually ceased to attend
meetings. One day l was Mortified at
receiving an order to aSSaSSinate one
of the crowned heads of Europe.
knew well that should / refuse l would
be myself assassinated. One advan-
tage | would have in disobeying the
Orfler-I was rich and could isolate my
self from any one who might attempt
to kill me- | turned my fortune into
gold and disappeared. 4 few weeks
later / turned up in one of the south
ern states. My hair. which had been
light brown. was black. My beard.
which had been but few tufts. was
now luXuriant. My name was changed.
Indeed, as little of my old self re-
manned as l could help. l bought Il
small plantation and pretended to raise
cotton. In its center was my house,
and no one could reach me without
passing a number of my employees.
whose duty it was TO keep off an en-
envy.
II lived for several years without
hearing from my old associates, but
this only assured me that at the out
set had eIuded them. I knew that l
had been condemned and some one had
been appointed TO kill me. The only
question was, Would my eXecutiorer
tire of the work or be Withdrawn for
lack of funds or other causes?
lone day I noticed that Il new candy
store had been opened in the village.
l went inside and looked over the stock.
1t was very meager. and | bought moth
ing. \ young woman who stood be-
hind the counter looked disappointed
and asked me to give an order for any
thing | liked and she would execute it.
| am fond of chocolate and told her to
make me some chocolate creams. She
promised TO have them ready the next
day and send them to me. Instead of
sending she brought them. When she
was announced l told my guards to
admit her. She was a very attractive
looking person. and | did not desire
to keep her away She asked me to
try her chocolates and tell her wherein
they did not please me. ate a few of
them and pronounced them excellent.
That seemed to satisfy her. and she
left at once. though would have been
glad to have her remain longer.
I'm a week | went by the candy shop,
stopped and gave her an order for some
more chocolates She told me that she
knew of new kind that she was sure
/ had never eaten. | gave her an or
der for some of them. telling her that
| would not put her TO the trouble of
sending them, but would call for them.
| did so. but they were not ready. |
called again. but still they had not been
made. The woman told me that GER
tain ingredients were required, for
which she had been obliged to send to
the city. She would bring them when
they were ready
Meanwhile I never relaxed my vigi-
lance i'm keeping any suspicious per
son from my house. and both there and
when went ont l was secretly armed
TO the teeth
One day the candy woman was an
nounced. and I ordered her to be- adj
mitted. She handed me the box of
chocolates. and while | tried them she
amused herself with an Italian grey
hound had always with me- The dog
was lying on Il rug at the other end of
the room. and she went over to him
and patted him. On opening the box
| found the chocolates in layers of
four large. fiat squares. / ate two and
found them delicious The third l
threw 10 the dog. who caught it in his
teeth and swallowed it, noticed that
the woman turned pale. l was about
to eat the fourth when / saw the dog
looking at it longingly. tossed it to
him. As I did so the woman gave a
Shrek. The dog caught it. as before
There was an explosion. and his head
was spattered over the room.
The secret was out. The woman had
been commissioned TO murder me. Sh
was knocked senseless by the explosion.
l was Unhurt'
An arrangement was made between
the ex-anarchist and the woman. She
wrote that she had killed her man.
coffin full of stones was buried. and