Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1907-06-13
Daily. STORY
AN IRREPARAsLE DAMAGE.


one she had attached To her and took
up the last conner The first felt re-
| lieved. the last battered. But no one
ever thought Of loving the lady except
her husband.
There were together at a western
post Major and Mrs. Downing and
Lieutenant Ewers. Upon Ewers' ar
| rival Mrs. Downing dismissed the
yoUngster IN favor and took up Ewers.
This made it embarrassing for Ewers.
| for Major Downing took Il great fancy
to him. and Ewers WAS in terror lest
the wife should compromise him with
her husband. Besides. Ewers was en-
/ gagged to n lovely girl in the east. who
absorbed his whole heart
At West Point cadets are trained in
high standard of honor and chiyalry
Ewers, who was especially amenable
to such training, found himself be-
tween two lircs-honor with respect To
4 brother officer. chiyairy i'll warding
off a woman's attentions. -,rt for
worlds would he injure Majoc ! WI
| ing; not for worlds would he p.,
slight upon Major Downing's W.
| Mrs. Downing kept herself within
bounds till her husband was ordered
| off with Il portion of the command to
| fight the Indians. As soon as he was
gone the lady laid open siege to Ewers.
Relief came to the poor fellow in an
order to take the remainder Of the
command and 60 to the support of Ma
| FOR Downing. ON the way EwcrS WAS
obliged to send back a report of in
formation he had gathered as to III"
Indian outbreak and sent with il Il let
ter to Mrs. Downing In it he took Oc-
caSion to talk very plainly to her, tell
ing her frankly that he was engaged 10
one he loved and on his return he
should expect that they meet merely
us acquaintances and friends. The
courier who carried the report ana the
letter was killed on the way His body
was found, ScalpCd, but he had been
piundered of everything he wore or
bore.
y few days later Ewcrs Joined Ma
iOr Downing. and the major resolved to
attack the Indians. But the Indians
came upon him before he was ready.
\ hard fight followed. which resulted
in the Indians being driven eff. and
the troops, having turned tine scale,
followed them. burned their village and
achieved Il peace. During the fight
Major Downing saw Ewers lying on
his back, an Indian over him raising n
tomahawk to Cleave his skull Spring
ing forward the major caught the
blow on his left arm ana shot the In
dian with his revolver The ann was
| st
cred that for a time there was no hope
Of saving it.
The force had no sooner reached the
garrison than one Of the women who
hated Mrs Downing and coveted Ew-
ers went to the major and told him
that during his absence there had been
IN affair between EWcrS ana his wife
The same evening. At 4 supper held to
celebrate the victory. the commander
If the post congratulated Downing on
his achievement and referred in glow
ing terms to his having saved the life
Of Lieutenant EwCrS at the expense of
nearly having lost an arm. Downing
| colOrcd and said that he did not regret
having saved n life. but he did regret
that that life could not have been 9th
ar than Ewers. \ hush came over the
assembly. Ewcrs. who was present.
lrOse from his seat and left the room.
The next morning he forwarded his
designation through his commanding of
icer
Ewcrs wrote mis- fianco2 an account
Of the affair, which might have been
accepted could it have reached her
| without her mind having been previ
Dusty prejudlced. The woman who had
Informed Major Downing knew of
Ewers' fiancec and wrote her an anon
ymOus letter stating that her lover
was flirting with one of the officers
wives. Therefore when Ewcrs' letter
was received his explanation was re
iected.
| EwerS' resignation was accepted. and
he wcnt-no one knew where. Certain
ly he was never seen again in the Unit
ed States. His fancee rclentcd and
/, | wished to communicate with him, but
she could find no trace of him.
Several years after the Indian out
| break. during which these events Oc-
Cured, Major Downing was made lieu
| tenant colonel and placed in command
OF the post where his wife had ruined
Ewers. One day a friendly Indian
chief sent to the post number of arti
! | Cles that had been taken from the
! | whites during u long period. Among
: | them was q bag of written documents
< of different kinds. There were govern
! ment and army dispatches and private
Z letters.
4 Major Downing examined them per
3 sonally and among the letters came
< upon one addressed to his wife. She
!; had partly convinced him that Ewers
X had forced his attentions upon her. hui
) there had always been some doubt II
x his mind. After celebrating whether
3 he should give the letter TO his wife OF
4 read it he decided on the latter course
!: He read what Ewers had written Mrs
x Downing complaining Of her cOnduc
i and telling her of his engagement {,
& another.
Major Downing sent the letter to th'
rfrl 9,I