Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1905-03-22
THEIR WEDDING
CARD
TOriginal.1

BILE, that was unique. / was called
upon to arrest Frank Hickox, steeple-
jack"
The listeners laughed and declared
that the finish of the story was plain
enough. The steeplejack climbed a
spire and thus avoided arrest.
mot at ALL" the constable proceeded.
Anthony Carver, small merchant,
had missed articles from his store and
purported to have found some of them
in HickoX's room. He had sworn out
the warrant on which / was to make
the arrest. Before l could get my fin
gers on the young man he had either
left the place or gone into hiding.
had conference with Carver, who was
very bitter against the steeplejack. He
admitted that the young man had often
been at his house and had accepted Of
his hospitality. Carver gave that as a
reason for his having turned so merci-
lessly against HickoX. Indeed he Of
fered me 500 in case I succeeded in
making the arrest.
hunted the town high and low, but
if the steeplejack was in it l couldn't
find out where he was concealed. The
next day l heard of him In Paramount
and, telegraphing the police to hold
him, took a train to 60 there. When I
reached the place the police reported
that they had been too late, but had in
formation that HickoX had taken a
train for the junction, ten miles dis
tant went there, but he had gone on.
After spending a day following him
from one point to another without get
ting any nearer to him 1 suspected his
pals were misleading me. l returned
to my starting point, called on Mr..
Carver and reported my Ill success.
His daughter, a young woman Of twen-
ty-one, was in the room at the time.
She listened to my account somewhat
contemptuously and when / got
through said snappishly:
81 saw him in Buckthorne yester-
day"
"You? Saw him? How did that hap.
penn"
81 went over there to visit friend"
/ looked at the girls father inquir-
ingly, but he made no comment on his
daughters information.
"Why didn't you call a policeman"
asked, land have the fellow heldT'
Elm the first place, there was no po-
liceman about, and, in the second, I
wouldn't know what rights I have in
such a case" And, turning on her
heel, she whisked out Of the room.
Had it not been for the reward Of
fered / would have given UP the job.
1t seemed to me that the members of
the family had some grudge against
the steeplejack and wished to get
him in limbo. However, a hundred dol
lars was not to be made every day, and
early the next morning I went over to
Buckthorne. had telephOned the po-
lice of that town among others to keep
a sharp lookout for my man and on ar
irving went to the police Office to score
them for not getting him. They had
kept watch of incoming and outgoing
trains and were sure the accused had
not either arrived or departed. Since
they were especially sure that he had
not departed l remained in the town
all day, expecting that he was there
and would show himself. But he
didn't. and that night I went back
home discouraged. l arrived after
midnight, when the town was asleep.
Happening to cast my eye up at the
spire of ST. Marks church, near my
home, thought saw something white
at the very apex. / was a good deal
puzzled, for I had never seen anything
up there before-indeed, nobody had
been there, so far as l knew, since the
church was built. / was so interested
that for the time being forgot my i'll
success in arresting Hickox. However,
since it was too dark for me to make
out the curious thing, there was moth
ing for me to do but wait for daylight
so l went home and to bed.
The next morning on going to the
window I noticed knot Of people
standing opposite the church. They
were all peering up at the spire, some
Of them with field glasses. ! saw a
man lower his glass and laugh. He
handed 1t to another, who looked up
and also laughed. Some appeared to be
astonished and serious, but nearly ev-
cry one laughed. Burning to get at
solution of the mystery, dressed hur-
riedly and, Selling a field glass, ran
downstairs and across to where could
very summit Of the spire, was an OBJ
long, white, signlike looking thing
swaying in the wind. There were let
tiers on it, and, raising my field glass,
read: