The daily Alaskan., 1907-03-06
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The Man Who MeddIed

Spanish, and when his pilgrimage had begun he had no trouble in making himself understood by the people he encountered. For three weeks he had no adventures worth recording. Then they followed thick and fast One l night at a village inn he was awakened | from sleep by three men who entered the room next 10 his and began talk ing and drinking. The partition was of boards and full of cracks, and the student had no difficulty in hearing l every word that passed. When he came to get sight of the men he saw | that they were hard cases. They had, l as was soon related, committed a rob bery and perhaps a murder on the highway a few miles distant. They had shot a hOrSeman out of his sad de, plundered his person and left him where he fell The money taken from him had been concealed in a deserted hut. and over and over again the trio | pledged themselves at their dagger points to be faithful to each other n the division of the spells. No single one of them was to visit the hut with. ] out the consent Of the other two. lt one proved a traitor the others were tn hunt him to his death. After the lar" and cry WAS over they were To divide. The manner in which thoSr fellows talked of the crime made the Ame"5- cans hair stand up. and lF was. only too glad when they finally left tue inn without knowing that The next ro.1 was occupied. When they had co.n Fowler lay awake for hours wonic-- ing what he had best do in tl" ua,ra". He had heard the men call each or1.~ by their first names. He cnwa g.- the police a minute description C. them. He knew that they Were Co se..- arate and where each one was to l'a.S the next month. They had even ua, cd the man they had robbed and nu hapS murdered The student had on ta go 10 the police and state bis oa- and all the clewS would be in tae hands He had about decided 10 ". this when he went down tn hrraN.- but a little circumstance ehHa-a. 2 mind. The landlorl himself hrau- his breakfast and after word or .w' about the weather carclr>S!y observe
 "I trust that the senor slept well .a night"
 Very well. indeed" was tho rau.y
 There were Somo late travellers. | hope they did not disturb you:'
 Not at all"
 The landlord looked at him sharply and then seemed satisfied After t.w. there was no doubt in Powders w5"l that bis host knew of the crimc @,3 was accessory before or after. It wa- already known in 'hc village that . prominent citizen of the province F.. been fatally shot and plundcrcj oD '.' highway the night before. but thr la-. lord said nothing about il. An h''. later Fowler got the information fror others He now decided tO say hot. ing tO the authorities about the aiIar and in setting of on his daily tra"" he ha,le the landlord such cheerful adfcu and spoke so many woujS in praise of his house that thc man could have no suspicious of him. Nev"r'h". less he had reasons to believe that Ee was do-ced and kept tra"b of for the next three days.
 The crime had excited widespread n. tcrcSt. The victim was prominent 'n church and state. and the money he was carving belonged to tho former This made tho crime q hcinouS ope iN the eyes of the masses. A large 70. ward was offered. the police melted to do their best. and it was believed that inc criminals would soon hc cap.u0H'. Fowler heard everybody talking ahont tho affair. but had little to say ahor- 1t himself.
 The crime of the highway was 8 week old when a strange freak Se.ze' ;he American. He decided to go hac' over hiS road and visit inc hut in which rhe plupdcr was c'ucCalcd. The mon had located 1t so closely that n' knew he could find il. He wan;ei e" see if the plunter was really there. 't was the most extraordinarily Gon'i-. thing he could have thought of. hnt h' welded 10 the impulse. In ro,uru.vr he took the train iustcad ol mHhln- the journey on foot, and. leaving I about six miles from the hut. he cnt across the country. He ruuud thr hr. but when within ten feet of jr was " rested hy ,a geudarme. Three howS later he was in prison charged win the crime. Then several other thiu-~ happened him, When he attempted D prove au auhi by the laudlnrd st whose Inn he lay that night lhc man sf.kei ft all over ou, of rrvcu-r- Wh"" ne said the money was rnmrral"d .a ,he hut he was charged with am lu'nn ion to >erlur it for his own U~r. Iia'- ng overheard !hc talk of tAr murdr~. grS. it was hiS ditv to have informed tHe .,nifcc at once. In met doing sn he WIS u.aIr acre>sory a-Irc tH' fact From ass description the th,cr m"u w"re saoa arrested. They combined to swear The crime on Fowler.
 The ease dragged along for two ycars and was ther set for trial X