Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1907-10-29

Sis Adu oVeFtdhel MIN W0uld De less
than the truth. He knew that he
stood accused, not by a man, but by
a nation. And to nation he must
answer.
| He locked the door Of his room and
drawing chair to little Bull writ
Ing table. set in the window, he open.
cd drawer and took therefrofn A
little bundle of papers. tlnon whict,
ne had spent nine sleepless nights
and apparently would spend still
another They were odd Bcraps-now
OF letters, now OF legal documents
the preois of a past which could be
recited In no court OF justice but
might well be told aloud to an un-
sympathetic world. Had an histor-
Ion been called upon to deal with
i such documents he would have made
nothing whatever of them but Rich.
4 ard Gessner could rewrite the story
In every line. could garnish It with
passions awakened, fears unnamable,
/ regrets that could not save despair
that would suffer no consultations.
He had stolen Paul Boriskoff's se.
cret from him and thereby had made
a fortune. Let 1t be admitted that
the first conception Of the new fur
mace for the refining OF copper had
come from that whate-facsd whimper.
ing miner. who could talk of nothing
but his nations wrongs and had no
finer ambition in life than to feed
his children. He. Richard Gessner,
had done what such a fellow never
could have done. He had made the
furnace commercially possible and had
exploited 1t through the copper mines
| a u 4 Il,
rung Of that magnificent pecuniafy
ladder ne had afterwards climbed 80
adroftly. Money he had amassed be-
meath his grasping hand as at mag
ician's touch. He regretted he had
always regretted. that misfortune
overlook Paul Boriskoff's family-ne
would have helped them had he been
In Poland at the time; but their Of
lenses were adjudged to be political
and If the wretched woman suffered
harm at the hands of the police, what
share had he in it? To this point he
charged himself lightly--as men will
In justifying themselves before, the
finger Of an hoary accusation. Cess
ner cared neither for God nor man.
His only daughter had been at once
his divinity and his religion. Let
men call him rogue despot or thief
and he would shrug his shoulders and
glance aside at his profit and loss
account. But let them call him fool
and the end Of his days surely was
at hand.
And so this self-examhlation to-
night troubled itself with no thought
of wrongs committed with 10 desire
to repay but only with that supreme
act of folly to which the sleeping lad
in the room near by was the surest
witness. What would the threats Of
such a pauper as Paul Boriskoff have
Eattered II the man had stood alone
against him? "A word to the police
hundred pounds to score Of ruf.
fans and he would have been troub,
led no more. But his quarrel was
not with man but a nation. Per.
ceiving that the friendship Of the
Russian Government was necessary
to many of his mining schemes in the
East he had changed his name Is
lightly as another would have chang
ed his coat, had cast the garment 81
sham patriotism and emerged an
enemy to all that he had hitherto be
friended, a foe to Poland, servant
to Russia
4 Acting secretly, and with a strons
mans discretion, no bruit Of this ado
conversation had been made public
4 no whisper of it heard in the camr
Of the Revolutionaries. Many knew
Maxim Gogol-none had heard oil
Richard Gessner. His desire for Sc
crecy was in good accord with the
plans Of a police he assisted and this
bureaucracy he bribed. He, lived fn,
a while in Vienna, then at Tfflis-he
came at length to England where
mis- daughter had been educated: anc
there he established himself ostensi
bly, as a wealthy banker, in reality as
the secret director Of one Of the
greatest conspiracies against the
liberty Of a little nation that tbs
world had ever seen.
Upon such a man the blow of dis
coyery fell with stunning force. Cess
ner had grown accustomed to tht
security of this suburban life that he
could imagine no circumstances
which might disturb it. Ali that hs
did for the satisfaction Of the Russian
Government had been cleyerly done
by agents and deputies Entitled bS
his years to leisure he had iatterl,
almost abandoned politics for a cul
ture Of the arts and the sciences II
some branches of which he was a mas
ter His leisure he gave almost en-
tirely to his daughter. TO contrivs
for her an alliance worthy to hi:
own fortune and Of her beauty hat
become the absorbing passion of hi:
life He studied the Peerage as Other
men study balance-sheet. All sorts
and conditions of possible husband:
, appeared at Five Cables; we're dined
discussed and dismissed. The
!. older families despised him anf
would not be appeased To crown
his vexation, his" daughter named +:
, lover for herself. He had twic;
shown Captain Willy Forrest from
the door and twice had the man re
turned. Anna seemed fascinated y,
this SNOWY adyenturer as by non.
, other who visited them. Gessner, foI
his part, would sooner have lost tn,
half Of his fortune than that sh.
should have married him.
These vexations had been rea
; enough ten days ago: but. tonight