Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1907-07-13

+ She crossed to the siGeboard, and fiji
! ing glass with brandy from de
1 canter that stood there. drained it to
the dregs. An instant later the door
bell tangled sharply, and gliding to
the window she peered cautiously
from behind protecting curtain into
/ the night. Through the white veil
! Of falling snowflakes she made out
the figure of man, standing erect,
4 but swaying from side to side While
/ she Watched, he fell forward and lay
facE downward without moving.
/ Approaching the table, she ex-
tracted the hypodermic needle from
| it's case and charged 1t with a heavy
dose of morphine. She opened the
street door ard bent over the body
OF the stranger lie was poorly
dressed, unshayen, "a fairly good speci-
men OF the homeless wanderer in
search OF assistance She pushed
back the ragged sleeve, barring his
arm to the elbow and inserted the
sharp point Of the needle under the
skin
He was not a heavy man, and with
out much difficulty she half dragged.
half carried bin into the room and
deposited the limp body in an arm
cEair facing that IN which reposed the
inert mass which had once been
Gerald Raymond
She placed the deeanter of brandy
and two glasses on the table and sur
veyed the stage settling Of the tragedy
with satisfied air Iris next turned
her attention to the bundle of letters
which Raymond had Haunted In her
face. She thrust them into the stove,
where a bright fire was burning, and
watched them turn to gray ashes in
the flames.
the tramp snored discordantly.
AS Iris closed the street door behind
her and set forth on her home jour-
ney.
The murder of Gerald Raymond oc-
cupied leading place in the columns
OF the Chicago papers the following
afternoon. He had been stabbed to
death, apparently. by a tramp who
was found fast asleep beside the body
OF his victim, in a drunken stupor.
The murderer gave his name as Jerry
brewster, an ex-convict recently re-
leased from Joliet, where he had
served three-years' sentence for
burglary
1t was surmised that, having gained
admittance to the house and worked
upon Raymond's sympathies with a
hard luck story" he had first slain
his benefactor, with the intention of
plundering the place at his ease, and
finally drank himself into uncon-
seriousness. A decanter of brandy
found on the table with the greater
part of it's contents gone, confirmed
this hypothesis.
And as jerry Brewster was hanged
hanged high and dry on the gallows
of the Cook county Jail as a warning
to malefactors great and small, and a
shiIing example of the avenging
power of justice. Being hardened
brute, and having rejected the ad-
vice of the chaplain to confess and
seek forgiveness from One above, he
died cursing his executoners and
maintaining that he was the victim
of what he vulgarly. termed "a put-up
job"
On the day when Mr.. Brewster was
translated to another sphere, the aft
ernoon papers containing an account
of his demise, also dwelt at consider
able length on the marriage of Iris
Dalmage to Archibald Stratford, the
great railway magnate. All agreed
that the society function was a bril-
liant success.
When the carriage of the bride and
groom rolled away on the first stage
of the honeymoon, an officious friend
thrust newspaper through the open
window into Stratford's hand. He
opened 1t with a smile of anticipation,
and his wife bent forward to view
the contents. Stratford glanced at
the first page and hurriedly folded it
over
You don't want to see that part, he
explained, in response to her look of
surprise That fellow Brewster, who
murdered poor Raymond, suffered the
penalty of his crime this morning,
and there's a couple of columns de-
voted to the execution, and story of
the murder. The details are not
pleasant. | read them before and
they would only shock you. dear"
Iris gave vent to a little sigh of
contentment, and rested her graceful
head on her husbands broad Shout
der
ITS awful to think that such terri
BILE things can happen in the world,
Archie she said, languidly.