The Topeka state journal., 1905-11-18
TIE EVENING STOR r
A woman Bandit.

In the Sierra de GuadaFama noun
tains. in Spain. once a company Of
bandits were a terror to the country
below. They were accompanied by a
number of women. one Of whom was
as terrible as any of them. She was
Suzanne. a girl of twenty, very beauti-
fuI and one of the bravest and most
pitiless of the band. The Spanish
troops hunted them down at last and
killed nearly all OF them. Suzanne
disdainfng fight, continued to load and
fire, expecting every moment to be
shot down. She was overpowered and
would have been executed had it not
been for the admiration Of the officer
commanding the troops. Captain Mi
gueI Mendoza. He spared her life and
took her to Madrid, where she was
lodged in jail.
Captain Mendoza visited the girl in
prison and endeavored to lead her
from her evil ways, telling her that one
so brave and so beautiful should look
higher than the profession OF robber.
Sne listened to him, now looking at
him with her fiery eyes. then down in
evident penitence as he pictured the
Wickedness of her life.
Captain Mendoza soon came to be-
ueye that he had rescued one who had
known nothing but a bandits life, but
IN whose breast beat a naturally low
ing heart. He had no power to Hber-
ate Suzanne and despaired OF enlisttng
sympathy Tor her on the part OF the
authorities, by whom she had mean
while been tried and condemned to
death. The night before she was to
have been executed he assisted her to
escape, and together they went to the
Toledo mountains, south of Madrid.
His intentions were to leave the girl in
hiding there and when she had been
forgotten help her to lead an honest
life under an assumed identity.
doomed f0 a f.
ment. On reaching the mountains Suz-
anne met two members Of the band to
which she had belonged. Pointing to
her benefactor, she said:
| Put that fool out of the way"
| In Mendoza there flashed sudden
| tempest, and, drawing his sword, the
| only weapon he possessed, he drove the
three into ravine, where hS lost them,
for he could not follow on account of
! the wounds they had given him. He
was found by a peasant and carried
down the mountain.
/ When Mendoza returned to Madrid it
was not known that he had assisted
/ Suzanne to escape. He asked and re-
ceived permission to take troops to the
/ Toledo range and clear it of bandits.
Once there he soon got on Suzannes
/ track She had gathered about her
band, at whose head she had placed her
i self, and made them a seourge. Mendoza
met them and drove them to defle
. WlGE6 LlEy 6l1SCDuSGQ themselves USA4l441
! a rocky barricade, but the soldiers got
/ behind them and nicked off all. except
! Suzanne, whom Mendoza had ordered
should not be harmed. Mounting the
rampant of rocks, she kept on firing
doubtless expecting to be shot, but no
bullet touched her. The soldiers closed
/ in on her. Then she saw the man she
had duped coming to take her. Raising
her gun she fired at him, but al the mo-
ment a soldier jumped down kehind her
/ knocked the weapon upward and dis
armed her.
Suzanne. held by two soldiers, met
/ the gaze of the man whose love- kind
ness, sacrifices, she had sought to re-
j turn by death. It was a duel of one
human soul against another, weapons
4 of good against those of evil. For a
/ time it seemed as if the battle would
/ be drawn. At last the Woman's glance
! began to weaken, trembled, and her
eyes dropped. Then Mendoza point
ssGo." ~
The girl stood for a moment, again
raising her eyes as if to learn If she
was sent away to death, but there was
no death in her captor's eyes. Then
she understood. Turning, without a
word either of thanks or reproach, she
walked away and in a few minutes
was lost behind the trees.
A year passed. One night Mendoza
was walking in Madrid when a car
/ riage was suddenly driven up to the
curb, two men alighted, one threw a
cloak about the captains head and
/ both hurried him into the carriage. All
night Mendoza was driven, under
guard of the two men, and toward
morning he felt that they were slowly
ascending. In time the carriage stop
ped, the door was thrown open, and
/ Mendoza was ordered to alight- His
! first glance told him that he was on a
mountain side, and a moment later his
/ eyes rested on the figure of woman
whom he knew at once to be Suzanne.
"Once more" she said, you are in
my. power"
"Get into the COACH
Mendoza got in, thinking he would
/ be taken to execution.
ssDrive the gentleman home" said
Suzanne to the coachman.
/ She turned away without a look or
/ a word, and the carriage was driven
down the mountain. Several men on
| horseback rode behind till the carriage
reached the foot of the mountain,
then they turned and disappeared.
There is q sequel to the story, but
/ the connection between the two is not
well authenticated-tha is, the sequel
may go with another story. Four or
! five years after the events narrated a
/ beautiful girl somewhat older than her
! cIassna tes-sne was twenty -fve-Was
graduated from a convent school in
/ Madrid and the day after her gradua-
ton was married to a prominent Of
hcer in the Spanish army.
No one knew whence the bride came
| or where the officer made her ac-
quaintance. Indeed, all that was
known about her was that she was
much admired and beloved at the
school. MARIE G. TREVOR.
Henson as a Hewer Of Wood.
The ready wit and humor of DR.. p. S.
Henson, pastor of fremont temple, Bos-