The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1904-02-12
take a tumble to themselves once in a

that time that old Freckleton got is glims
on US. Three years CO., amt it?"
"Longer'n that; an besides, old Freck's
He's the only man on the force
t knew it knew u.s."
oh, I amt leary, I amt; but it's pie to
your constitutional without every
body rubberin.' Say, I guess I'll take a
bit of q leg-loosener an see bout bankin
that dough In London. That's where We.
need it in our business, an the sooner we
get it there the quicker. We want to-
mooch soon as you can stand for the
ante!"
"a right, but don't be long-I'm dead to,
the world up here alone. so-long!'
"%So-long"
The night of the beginning of the eighth,
week after the murder of Patrolman Hoop
er, Francis Prize and James Schell wereyl
sitting "at whisky In a fashionable mid
night resort on Sixth avenue. Prize should
have been at home and in bed; almost any
layman could have told him that he was
gravely III. He was a dime-novel spectre,
and the flesh had drawn back on his
bones till they began to stand out in sharp
angles. The inference of an outsider
would have been that he was another
OF the victims which the life in fashion,
able midnight resorts sometimes demands,
but differences made by outsiders show
their wit and not their knowledge. The,
only person present who really knew what,
was the matter was James Schell, but he
would not have admitted this even to,
Pirfe. There was a look OF disgust in his
face while he watched the sick man reach
feebly for his glass.
TITS a wonder you wouldn't take a
bracer. You've been bellyaching around
these joints for the last two months, an
I'm gettin' tired O lookin' at you; I want
to mooch to the other side. Any one 'ud
thf,l {hof that corrnr hoI hif with a
baseball bat the way you play the baby
act. He JUS gave you a love tap with his
mace, that's ALL" J
"A couple O. love taps like that 'ud "a,
put out my light then and there" an,
swered Pirie, warily. I'm a sick man.,
Schell." /,
Sick nothin'. Why the devil don't you,
stay to home If you're sick? You been
followin' me about for the last eight weeks
like a cur purp. I never asked you to-.
Stay home an nurse yourself If you're So
knocked up; I'm agreeable: I'm gettin'
badly tired O. hearin' you whine. You
don't need to be afraid O. me; I amt goin'
to knock against you; nobody'll ever find
out from met you an that fatty couldn't
hit 1t off together; I can keep as dead
about that as you can. An l amt goin'l
to do you out O. dough, either. You'll get
all that's comm to you when we get TOT
London It's banked there, an half of 1t
is yourn. But 1 give it to you straight,
I'm goin' to give you the chilly NIT If you
don't stop doggin' me round to all these
joints"
You give me the chilly mit?"
Prize sat upright in his chat with an
obvious effort. The hand of death was
upon the man really, but he had his grit
with him..
THAT what 1 said. You're all right
when you want to be, but I won't stand
for any more O. this shadowin' me about
see? What I think is you're bughouse."
Merely to acknowledge that he was sick
was a confession which in the circum-
stances it had cost Prize more than Schell
realized to make. To sit at q table with a
man whom he had looked upon as his pal
and hear hat he was "bughouse" was a
challenge which even his weakened state
could not keep him from accepting.
flake that, you duffer!!'' he Kissed be-
tween his teeth, and threw his beer glass
with al his might at Schell's head.
The fight was over before the attend
ants could interfere. Schell tried to throw
Prize to the floor, and Prize sent a bullet
through his heart. His light went out
without a flicker.
A man lay'dying in the hospital ward OF
- prison. Captain Brigstock Of pre-
cinct sat beside his couch.
Scheduled to croak all right, amt I?
Raise me up a bit, Cap. Thanks"
l. lldl "lld SllSy NolA = L AAC
well, Cap, I might as we'll tell you
now as later. You got the wrong bloke
in the Hooper business. Slifer didn't dc
Hooper. Give me some more O that dope
t~here-quick -I-I-am-dyin'. Lord! blu
it's a dirty job to die; an me, too-I die
bad. That's why I'm tellin' you"
T The stimulant revived him for a mo
ment.
Say, Cap, me and schell-you listenin'
) put it on paper, blokey. I'm gettin
kind O. weak in me tubes. Got the pencil
there2 Me an Schell, we croaked-get
tin it down?-we croaked Hooper; me II
front with a billy, when his helme
l ropped off, an him behind with a knife
That stuff in the paper was rot. An
e Schell, 1 put his light out, domn him! H
: tried to do, me out O. the dough. That
Y why I'm here. See"
His mind was wandering.
- Brigstock's pencil paused, and BrigStocl
n himself took it for a sign of some specta
d care Of Providence for him that Prize
9 confession had been made to no one else
What kind of providence would naturall
choose him out to care for, and whethe
h in highest heaven or deepest the othe
n place he had no leisure at the moment t
o inquire.
e where's the dough planted?" ne asked
The sick mans eyelids fiuttered oper
but with no recognition of Captain Brig
lc SWIM VI VI LIE 4uCoAioA, ASi "oS -
n great light of anger ind pain in the eye
Y and the lips drew back from the stron
discolored teeth.
Is "You give me the chilly mit!" he a
lie most shouted, half rising in bed. "Tak
that, you duffer!!' and he flung nimse
Q. bodily on Captain Brigstock.
g 1t was quite true Prize died bad.
That evening Brigstock in his lodging
A. meditated afresh on the special care
Providence. AT the end of his medit;
le lions, which he had assisted by stridir
" up and down the room, he knelt by II
open fire and tore out and burned ce
"a tain leaves from his notebook.
~ The night of New Years day, some te
months after the murder Of Patrolma
We Hooper, Howard Slifer sat in his cell
7e - prison, and talked through the ba
ht of the cell door with his death watch
at The evidence given at the time of his 1
tx dictment had been repeated with additiol
at he time of his trial, and among tho
Ia additions the confessions of Francis Pr
=, was not found.
~ You hear what I'm tellin' you JAG
: son." slifer said that night. II amt tur
- in soft an kickin' bout goin' to t
q chair; not me! It's up to me to sit in
IN. that's straight. An I've done enough
- deserve croakin' ten times over; b,
:, Jackson, 1t amt up to me to stand
VI: the KILN O. Hooper. I didn't do
OF s--gx =