The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1908-09-19
THE MARK =
( OF The CRUTcH. (
~ By MARY RI
- KYLE DALLAS. i~'
~;;0-Cii3
80 3

Old Adam Hardburn was Away
accounted very eccentric, but whel
he adopted Malone's boy peopl
thought that his eccentricity amount
ed to madness. The Malones were ;
bad lot, and this boy was not, as ia
as any one knew, better than an!
other of the family. Moreover, h
had fallen from tree which he wa
:obbing of peaches in his youth, ant
crippled himself SO that he must al
ways walk with crutch. What die
old Adam want of him? But Adam
cared nothing for criticism; he knew
that no one ever pleased all the world
yet, and when his friends prophesie6
that he would be sorry he laughed il
their faces. Old Malone was dead
two of the boys were in Jail, one gone
away upon voyage. He had found
Dan deserted in the miserable hut
they had inhabited, friendless, with
no one to help him to such work as
he could do, and he had taken him
home.
There could not be better boy
old Adam said, and after Dan had
been with him two years he was still
SO much of this opinion that he made
a will in his favor. Dan Malone, the
old ruftian's lame boy, had come to
be the prospective heir of the largest
estate in the place.
He was gentle looking boy, who
grew refined in manner and learned
rapidly, but even when he had come
to be one-andtwenty people were
still prejudiced against him. Adam s
venture might turn out well. but they
do lbted it.
t last something happened that
seel,ed to prove that they were all
RICH
OIL Adam was very fond of fishing.
Some ines he spent long days beside
a cert,,in trout stream, and often his
boy, a: he called Dan was with him,
but on summer day Dan was not
well anil Adam went out alone. The
hired MIN was chopping wood in an
OtAOA OAA CNtlOA, anu IuO Olu WOAldu
who washed and cooked kept to her
kitchen. But about s o'clock that
evening Ian, very pale and with a
strange 10 TX in his eyes, came into a
neighbours house.
Il came because I wanted help"
he said. "Mr. Hardburn went away
to fish this morning. / was sick. I
grow giddy when l try to stand. I
can't 60 after him, and he's not home
yet. ! wanted Simon to 60, but he
says his master is old enough to take
care of himself, and has probably
gone somewhere to supper. But
that's not like Mr.. Hardburn; besides
he had on his fishing hat and linen
jacket. wish some one would do
what ! find l am unable to do. I'm
alarmed-very much alarmed
The neighbors were kind. The
men started out for the trout stream,
and the women comforted Dan, tell
ing him that good news would soon
come; that it was too cool for sun
stroke. and that the stream was too
shallow to be dangerous. But the
young man sat paling and shivering,
partly with illness and partly with
anxiety, until news came 1t was the
worst news possible. Mr.. Hardburn
had been found dead, shot through
the head. A pistol lay near him, and
his pockets were turned inside out,
and his watch was gone.
When Dan heard the news he
tainted away, and for awhile every
one sympathized with him. But soon
the tide turned.
Detectives came down from the city
and made explorations and inquiries.
The watch was found in hollow tree
and all along the soft wood path were
very peculiar footsteps. They traced
them from the woods to the gate OF
the old mans home; the mark Of
shoe, and where the other shoe print
should have been, puncture Some
one has been here who walked with
crutch was the conclusion.
In the whole village was but one
who used q crutch-young Dan Ma
lone. The clouds of suspicion began
to gather. Dan declared that he had
been Ill in bed all day, but Simon, the
man. knew nothing Of Dams where
abouts from the time he left home
until he returned, and Betty only
knew that he had not come home to
dinner. The pistol with which Mr..
Hardburn had been murdered was
one that was always kept in his own
dining room. And finally Dan, and
no other. had an object to attain by
the old mans death.
Poor Dan was arrested. and his
agony was very great.
What do they think Of mel" he
rrin6 "To monov onv<hicU u norc