Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1906-10-13
FROsTBURG, MD, SATURDAY, OCTOBER l3 1906

tinUcd to laugh. and at the supper table
his wife laughed with him as they
chaffcd Aunt Deborah. but the Old lady
continued to shake her head and re-
ply:
"Wait III the nX or the melted lead
get to work arh then Wen see whether
there is anything to laugh at or not"
That night ut midnight Sarah woke
up with her heart beating rapidly She
was about to nudge Henry with her ell
bow, when II sudden thought came to
her. Aunt lHborah'S grcwSomc prCdic-
tiOnS came up. and she won Tered if she
had been awakened by some move on
ter husbands part some move to take
her by the throat. She smiled ut first.
but presently the smile faded away
Wives had been killed that the hus-
band might profit by the Insurance.
Aunt Deborah was always predicting,
but ut the same tim" many of her pre-
dIctiDnS had come true. She knew that
Henry loved her with a great love, but
there was that 1000. For an hour she
lay awake and thought, and the longer
She thought the more miserable she
was
Sarah had only fallen into Il troubled
sleep when the dog barkcd and Henry
awokc. He did not get up for fear of
disturbing his wife. and after listening
to the dog for Il few minutes the
thought of Aunt Deborah's predictions
and solemn face came to his mind
He grnncl at the idea of Sarah kill
ing him off for that $1,000, and vet he
began to recall cases where wives had
done that same thing She could push
him into the we'll. push him down the
cellar stairs or dispose of him In other
ways to enable her to escape detection,
and with that $1,000 she would be a
rich widow. and windmill men. wire
fence men. piano agents and men with
patent farm gates would tumble over
each other to ask for her hand. She
might not even put a so hcadstone at
his grave.
There was cpnStraint between them
when the couple woke up next morning.
They tried to make out that there
wasn't. hut realized that there was.
Sarah claimed to have Il headache and
James said me had touch of rheuma-
tiSm.
At noon when the husband came up
from the field he had been thinking
things over and almost wished he had
turned Aunt Deborah out of the house.
Sh" was II mcddlcSomc, goSSipy old
thing, and he would let nothing she
had said annoy him in the least
Sarah had also been thinking, and
about the same thoughts, and 50 there
was il return of love and confidence.
1t did not last thirty-siX hours. how
ever. l.cIry had to sharpen the AK,
and Sarah saw him ut it and felt that
he was contemplating II crime. Sarah
aSllc.i if the handle of table knife
could not be made fast 10y Il little
melted lead. and Henry said to him
r"lf after answering her questions:
All. ha, Got melted lead on her
minl, has she? Well. I've got to look
out for my ears
For the next four weeks the pair
We're hypocriteS toward each other
They diSS"mhled and deceived. They
Thought black thoughts of each other
james wanted to sleep in the barn o
nights, and Sarah wanted to 20 home
and tell her mother all about It,
Things We're Fastening on toward Il
separation when, as they sat on the
vcranda one night after supper, say
ing little. but thinking Il great deal,
farmer Joe Collins came driving along
and halted to say: