Montour American. (Danville, Pa.) 1866-1920, 1904-03-31
a CONVERTED
ANARCHIST


VI
TO a good family and had been we'll ed
ucated. At college ! imbibed rcvolu-
tionary not to say communistic, 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 eI-
cusc for me. l was young, and the
world was before me- | was one OF
the impractical, theoriZing kind who
prefer trying to revOluuoniZe natural
laws rather than work. Added to this,
| had the faculty of inspiring others.
| Joined a band of anarchists and be-
came a leader among them.
My mother had 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 fortune OF
$3.50, 900 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 | was Mortified at
receiving an order to assasSinate one
of the crowned heads of Europe. |
knew well that should ! refuse | would
be myself assaSsinated. One adTan-
tage | would have in disobeying the
Order-I was rich and could isolate my
self from any one who might attempt
to kill me. | turned my fortune into
gold and disappeared. \ few weeks
later | turned up in one of the south
| ern states My hair, which had been
a light brown, was black. My beard,
which had been but a few tufts, was
now luxuriant My name was changed.
| Indeed, as little of my old self re-
mained as ] could help. l bought a
| small plantation and pretended To raise
cotton. In its center was my house,
and no one could reach me without
| passing n number of my employees,
whose duty it was to keep off an en-
| envy.
Il lived for several years without
hearing from my old associates, but
this only assured NE that at the out
| set | had eludcd them. ! knew that |
! had been condemned ana some one had
been appointed TO kill me. The only
! question was. Would my eXecutiOner
tire Of the work or be withdrawn for
lack OF funds or oil or causes:
"Ouc day | noticed that a new candy
store had been opened i'm the village.
! | went inside and looked over the stock.
It was very meagcr. 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 ana 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
| StItltll- Nl4f lFl lltlss-L III lARll W ll'l ollN
was announced I told my guards to
admit her Sl.- 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
| I,e e, ! hC
glad to have her remain longer.
In u week | went by the candy shop,
stopped and gave her an order for some
more chocolates She told me that she
knew of a new kind that she was sure
| | had never eaten. | gave her an or
der for some of them, telling her that
l 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 We're ready.
| "MeanWhilc never relaxed my vigi-
lance in keeping any suspicious per-
son from my house, and both there and
when | went out | was secretly armed
to the teeth
"One day the candy woman was an
nounced, ana | ordered her to be ad-
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 a 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 l ate two and
found them delicious. The third |
threw TO the dog, who caught it in his
| teeth and swallowed il. | noticed that
the woman turned pale. | was about
to eat the fourth when l saw the dog
| looking at it longingly. | tossed it to
him. As ! did so the woman gave a
shrek The dog caught it, as before
There was an explosion, and his head
was spatterod over the room.
| The secret was out. The woman bard
| been commissioned to murder me. She
was knocked senSeleSs by the explosion.
| was unhurt"
An arrangement was made between
The ex-anarchist and the woman. She
| wrote that she had killed her man. A
coffin full of stones was buried. and
! the man was never again seen on his
| plantation. Then a notice was pub
lished Of the woman's death-caused
! by wounds which she managed to
! have reach an anarchist circle The
two lived together as man ana wife till
the husbands death a few years ago
ALVA GOODSEIL.
| Breton Children.
The Breton children are piouS, super
stitious, stoid. strong patient and very
| thorough The girls are intelligent and
| interesting They are the mainstays Of