The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1909-07-08

bnut. Dl0 you see HeT eyes WHEN she
stood there? Those eyes were Jest like
Katie Barndollar's. And what did 1
tell yeh unst
The next comment was from Amos:
Observation-Disclosures"
CHAPTER XVI.
THE MOB AT HELLER's GAP.
Squire Hartswick was first of all
Ia man Of action. He struck when the
iron was o and he struck hard. He
Instantly. Rose was Ill: the shock at
the fire had unbalanced her; she "a
not responsible for her behavior. DR..
Kuack. the family physician, who was
consulted within an hou after the
scene at the store, confirmed the
theory: By no means must she stay
cor eomp Iss 1un shs mus, II m haye e apaee he ef
scene. nj above all, expert treatment
and care. Therefore on the very next
morning her father tool her to Pitts
burg. where her mothers sister resid-
ed. and secured for her a trained
nurse, and the best medical counsel
protest or resist; 1t was her fathers
will.
Thus moved the tragedy, and in the
linterludes the chorus on egg crate and
biscuit o commented and conjec-
!tured and philosophical. The squire,
strangely enough, sided now with Lem
Fisher. Rose clearly had been SPELL
bound; she had been hacked by the
lEarthings; n 1t was driving her to
physical ruin and madness. 1t was like
|hypnOtism, he averred; she was at the
mercy OF the Farthings, and was not
lin the least responsible for her words.
The squire, however. talked very lit
tie: yet all took note that the black
look on his face deepened with every
day. He studied absorbedly the de-
tails OF the Keichline murder and Of
every n Of h robberies. He was
absent for days at a time. To those
who knew him there could be only
one result; II the Paintings were even
remotely guilty they would suffer and
Ito 3 y extent of the Law. The
! culmination was bound to come and
soon. There was tragedy IN the air:
Nt haunted the valley all through. the
June days ! K q 4premonitiOn Of war.
But before the squire had his case
complete something took place utterly
unlocked for and unprecedented. On
the night of the second Of July the
! squire's own store was entered. The
audactty Of II was beyond belief;
woods, the hunted was In his cabin
making free with his possessions.
Il was a cool. carefully engineered
JOB, done by some one familiar with
local conditions. It had come on the
one night In three months when the
! store had no been guarded. In q
benevolent moment the squire had con-
scented to let his clerk. who usually
slept in the office. go home to see his
sick mother. That his time Of all 9TH
ers had been chosen showed clearly that
the gang had been long In the near
! vicinity, watching night after night
Tor their chance.
breakers had previously been inside
the store Ia knew the geography
OF the place-that was evident from
the way In which they had proceeded.
They had known too what few in all
the valley suspected, that the squire
kept In his back store a large mastifr,
which at night was allowed to roam
about the office room. Tom Farthine
had seen this dog. so the squire al
legged. one rainy day when at the store
4 for coal oil. Falling to find any one,
he had sought the clerk in the back
room ana q remarked on the dog.
That was clue No. /.
The thieves It seemed, had thrown
to this dog q piece of meat. undoubt-
eddy drugged. The remains Of this
piece were still on the back room floor,
and h evidence Of the drugginR was
the behavior Of the dog. The squire
declared that he had never known him
TO act 81 numb and l~istless. The
thieves had entered by a small win
dow which the clerk admitted had been
left unhasped. Clue No. 2 was a pocket
handkerchief found near the safe.
In one corner We're the initials ~
There were other startling details
Ine gang q evidently started to blow
open, the safe. They had rolled 1t into
position. had covered the top with
horse blankets and had left behind !
chilled steel bit and a brace Of De.
culfar mechanism. Evidently some
thing had scared them at the critica'
moment. They had taken an old book
In which the squire had kept his
tamp they. had rifled the none,
as U be ascertained. a suit Of read,
made clothes. a wooden blanket, i:
cans OF salmon. two boxes Of cigars
and q pair OF shOes-a curious assert.
ment. but one in keeping with tn.
plunderings in other places.
AS the news spread through the val.
ley. the farmers once again dropped
their work and fiocked into the cen.
ter store. An excited crowd hae
gathered on the front porch, discuss.
ing the news In low voices as IL tn,
thieves were still near at hand. SOUR,
ftartsWlck was dangerously roo Th,
postoffiee Inspector could not come un.
til late in thesweek. and the old ma,
was conducting the ase himself. H,
examined with utmost care every trac,
aleft by the robbers, and he made ar
engagements with cold precision.
BE careful. mem he counselle,
calmly. No mistake this time. We'v,
got him now dead sure. and there'l
!SSbe no bluting The sherifr's out 0
flown and can't get here until 5 Thu
ifafternoon, and We must be might,
Scareful not e let Farthing know
what's coming. We must catch hin
red handed with the plumber right 8
81 him"
I doubt if you q do At. squire,
protested Tile. hid upEin that al,
cabin still. Tibet yeh anything, an,
we don't dastSto go there"
Il You wait and see. II It's hid with
! ! 20 Ds -. hnd Y Wen begil
assS Us