Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1906-12-25
DAILY. STORY.
WHEN THEY MET AGAIN.

L
| ing after the marriage of George Will
| liams and Sarah Lee. George was a
brakeman on a freight train, and Sa-
rah was the daughter of his landlady.
| Sarah fell in love with the brake
man, ana they were married. He had
| saved enough money to go to house
keeping on, and for year they were
n happy couple. Then two things hap
pened. George was promoted to run
| on q passenger train, and the engineer
| of q freight was introduced to the wife
! and was at once interested. Other
| people soon began to see, but the hus-
band was blind. Other people soon be-
gan to hear, but the husband was deaf.
The mother had something TO say for
| the daughters good, but was met with
protests and tears and finally with hot
| words of anger. One day it became
known that the wife and the engineer
had disappeared together. Williams
came home to find his cottage deserted.
They expected to see him fly into
fury and hear him utter awful threats,
but they were disappointed. 1t could
easily be seen that the iron had en-
tered his soul and that he was gnaw
ing his heart, but he said very little,
and even the mother of the missing
wife was not taken into his confidence.
One day three months after the event
he quietly dropped out of sight, and to
this day there are plenty of men in the
railroad yards at X. who have heard
nothing further from him.
When the deserted husband set out
on his quest he might have turned to
any point of the compass. No one
knew which way the wife had gone. 4
sort of intuition took him to Chicago
and kept him there. Under another
name he found employment of a diff
ferent sort, and in his spare hours he
walked the streets. AT the end of two
years he met his faithless wife. They
came face to face on the street, and
before they had looked into each ethers
eyes he knew that the man had aban-
doned her and that she had become a
social outcast. When she recognized
him she would have run away, but he
quietly said:
Sadie, you need have no fear of me.
All 1 want is to ask you few Ques-
tons"
George, are you going to kill me?'
81 haven't the slightest idea of it,
"But you won't forgive me and take
me back
Never
"Then what is it?'
"Only the name OF the place where 1
can find the man."
But 1 don't know. After a year he
cast me off,
Then good day to you"
Williams did not go back to his work, |
but travelled here and there for week. |
One day he located his enemy in |
town a hundred miles away. 1t was |
in the far west. The engineer had be |
come n station agent and was married. |
1t was 8 o'clock in the morning, and he |
sat at his desk when a stranger walked |
In and sat down opposite.
''Well?" queried the agent
do you want chance for your life,
or shall shoot you like a dog?"
1t was the man he had wronged. He
looked into a face in which there was
in it, The face didn't look murder, but
it looked determination to kill. The
agent read it and knew that the crisis
was at hand.
"If you shoot you'll be lynched," he
finally said
"Have you got a gun?"
yves"
"Then get it. 1 will not open fire I'M
til you are ready. One of us will be in
hell within the next five minutes"
The agent was no coward. His re-
nj in fhn 5pa |
and as he moved his hand in that direc-
ton he hoped to get the first shot.
He would have had it but for his
haste He snatched the weapon and
cooked 1t at the same time, but the cuff
If his sleeve caught, and the weapon
vas discharged. The next instant he
ell backward with a bullet in his
brain, and three or four of the yard
men came running. The killer was of
he railroad. The girl he had married
vas of the railroad. All the guests at
his wedding We're railroad men. 1t
vas the railroad men and women who
NEW of his shame. The thought drove
linn mad. He turned his gun on the
men who came running and killed two
md wounded a third Then he walk
d to the door and saw a switchman
lcross the tracks. A bullet stretched
he man dead. A freight train stood
N the siding The engineer was smok
ng in the cab, and the fireman was
lown on the ground wiping the ma
hinery. Each received a bullet and
ell dead.
The railroad had brought about the
orrto |
bout the disgrace. The railroad
hould pay the. bill. Williamson saw
hat one of the freight cars was loaded
With hay. He touched match to the
ombustible, and great fame shot up.
hence he walked back to the depot
nd fired it. Men came running, but
e waved them off. Two shots were
red at him, and in return he killed an