The Black Hills union and western stock review. [volume] (Rapid City, S.D.) 1904-19??, 1904-03-25

double purpose 1 reached up AM
grasped the sill, commanding him t,
catch me about the knees and lift so
might see out. This he did. While Ii
that position he made a pretense o
shifting his hold. and something i'm
PEELED me to glance downward at him
He vas stealthily drawing a knife from
his bosom. l threw all my weight bacl
upon him, casting the twain Of US to,
gether to the floor. Meantime he hat
the knife full drawn, in his left hant
held at my breast.
I grappled with him. holding his lef
hand In my right, and with the free
hand clutched him by the throat, bury
ing my thumb deep In his wind pipe
Instinctively he raised both hands tc
protect his throat, and then we strug-
gled to our feet. He made futile eff
forts to strike me with the knife. blu
his strength deserted him with his
wind. The blade dropped Gathering or
the floor. My other hand closed about
his neck, circling it with an unyieldine
collar Of steel. Desperately as a Gagged
rat might fight he squirmed and
twisted in my grasp. To no avail.
Tigerish now, as though I held 8
rabid dog, l thrust him back agains,
the wall, and there rigidly held him
fast. In merCiless silence l listened to
the precious breath gurgling from his
body; a reddish froth gathered at the
lips. l could feel his hot blood surge
II beat against my thumb under that
deadly pressure. The cold sweat
stood in clammy clusters upon his
forehead: his head thrown back, the
eyes turned towards the ceiling no
longer pleaded into mine. I sickened
almost at sight of the tongue swelling
black, which seemed to consume all
the fleeing color from lips and face,
Oh, God, how he struggled! His hands
closed over mine as bars Of steel to
tear them from his throat.
Even in our mortal strife I marked
the eternal harmony Of the scene.
Truly death never had stage more
fitting whereon to play it's last stern
drama of dissolution. Hemmed in by
four massive walls Of granite, CHASTITY
grim and desolately gray we wrestled
in a sitting stiffness, while hell stood
umpire at the game. No sound of
trumpet, no warlike cry, no strains of
martial music were there to thrill the
and taunt men on to glory.
fought to the scrape and scratch
of shutting feet, the labored gasp, the
rattle in the throat, While echo hushed
in silence and in fright.
He grew more quiet, his muscles
and relaxed-he vas no long
err conscious. A few more ~convulsive
quivers, as a serpent might writhe and
jerk, then he hung, a limp dead
thing, in my hands. My outstretched
arms seemed made as a gibbet, feeling
no fatigue, so lightly did they sustain
him. Cords of brass could be no more
tense than mine; his weight was as
nothing. Softly I eased MIN down, and
composed his limbs in decent order
upon the tones
Then 1 rose, and gazed complacently
at my FORK. Yes, 1t was we'll done, ex-
cellently done, in fact The most ex-
pert stranger Of the Choctows could
have done no better. Those purpling
lines about the throat, those darker
spots where my thumbs had left their
signs, could not have been more intelli-
gently placed. I smiled my ~sattstac-
ton at the Job, then-ther-uy own
overstrung nerves gave way, and
fell unconscious acros the CORPSE OF
my hands creation
When l am TO myself I IA wesp-
Ing, weeping as q child might weep,
over the dead. distorted face OF him
had loved. How long this lasted I had
no means of knowing. Uuconlproruis-
ing necessity forced me to action; for
oada me time to dream
The body being in my way whare IL
lay-for | proposed now to work in
earnest at the window moved It
teuderiy az poastbla across the floor
and stretched him out near tha door
sill. Springtns up then l attacked the
bars at the window. Hours and hours
I lahored, lnlpeIled to greater effort by
the dread of spending another night In
THAI room of murder. I was patient,
too, patient with the cunning Of q
maniac.
The dagger made my chisel; my
sword, wrapped in a. cloth to muffie the
strokes, furnished me g. maui. Full
half the day was before me. The rough
of escape or death. How to reach the
street after the bars were removed,
did not suffer myself to consider. !
should go mad if 1 lay idle. I leaned
as far out Of the window as the
grating would allow and observed a
guard standing In plain view at the
corner. 1t was very evident the Pro
vost Of Paris had taken possession of
the house, and there was little use In
trying to make a way out the door.
l bitterly resented the intrusion Of
every passenger along the street, and
scanned with hatred the few who came.
For while they remained in hearing ]
was obliged to cease my chipping at
the masonry and leaden cement which
held my freedom. l bided my time, and
long before the shadow Of the house
across the way had climbed to the win.
dow where I worked, had the gratifica.
ton of finding a bar give way in my
hands, and found 1 could take it out
Removing this bar, it IA be a pow
erful leverage IN the others, and BIZ
exerting all my strength, succeeded ir
bending the two on either side to such
a degree I could force my body be.
tween.
While thus engaged, my eyes were
ever fixed a%nXiously upon the street
in the hope that Jerome might pursue
his plan Of watching the house, and
would catch sight of him. The pass.
ers-by were few indeed, but somehow
it struck me that the same person.
passed several times, and in something
like regular order. A patrol Of Jer
ONES? My heart bounded at tn,
thought. I watched more carefully
yes, it was true. I counted five differ
ent persons; some walked fast, som
walked slow, but all looked about then
and inspected the house with NOR,
than an ordinary place. And, no,
was not mistaken, that simple-lookinl
countryman yonder was Jerome.
I was quite at a loss how to attrac
his attention; I feared to yell, lest tina
give notice to the sentry. I took
spur from my heel and dropped it di
rectly in front of him. I knew he woul'
recognize 1t, for 1t was his own. loane,
to me for my more fashionable appear
ance. He head the jingle and glance,
around. His hat blew off as If by ac
cident and fell near the spur. In stoop