Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1909-01-21

SSCOdo AOldlAE dllCG LIS
self surrender and had pleaded not
guilty. The grand jury was in session
indeed, had about finished its labors
and there had been no reason for de-
lay. All necessary witnesses for the
state were on the ground, and Fielder
for his part had no others to summon.
So that when DR.. Brent one keen fore
noon swung himself off a Pullman at
the station. returning from his ten
days absence, he found the town
thrilling with the excitement OF the
first day of the trial. Before he left the
station he had learned Of Prendergast's
death and accusation and knew that
Tom Fielder had come to the prisoners
defense. DR.. Brent had taken no stock
in the young lawyers view of Hugh
Stires.
He betook himself to the filled court
room. The court had opened two hours
before and half the jury had been Sc
lected. His attention was given first
to the bench where the prisoner sat
and second to a chair close to the rail-
ing beside Mrs. Halloran's, where a
girls face glimmered palely under a
light veil.
Toward this chair the hundreds of
eyes in the room that morning had
often turned. Since the day Mrs. Hal
loran had surprised Jessica at work
upon the rock statue she had kept her
counsel; but, as the physician had con-
%jectured. the monument had been Stun
bled upon and had drawn curious Wis
itors. Thus the name on the grave had
become common property and the coin
cidence had been Chartered of. That
Jessica had chiseled the statue was not
doubted. She had bought the tools in
town, and old Paddy Wise, the black
smith, had sharpened them for her.
The story Prendergast had told in the
general store, too. had not been forgot.
ten, and the aid she had given the
fever stricken man had acquired a new
significance in face of the knowledge
that she had more than once been ad
mitted to the Jail with Fielder. From
the moment of the opening of the trial
Jessica had divided interest with the
prisoner.
Circumstantially speaking. the evil
dence was fawless. DR.. Moreau. while
little known and less liked. had figured
in the town as 4 promoter and an in
ventor of "slick" stock schemes. He
had come there with Hugh Stires from
Sacramento. where they had had a
business partnership of short duration.
There had been bad blood between
them there, as the latter had once ad-
mitted. The prisoner had pre-empted
the claim on Smoky mountain in an
abortive boom which Moreau had
engineered, and over whose proceeds
the pair, it was believed. had fallen
out. He had then, to use the attorneys
phrase. "swapped the devil for the
witch" and had taken up with Prem
dergast, who by the manner of his TAX
ing off had finally justified Il Jail rec
ord In another state. Soon after this
break Hugh Stires had vanished. On
the day following his last appearance
in the town the body Of Moreau had
been found on the Little Paymaster
claim shot by a cowardly bullet
through the back. IL fact which pre-
cluded the possibility that the deed
had been done in self defense. There
was evidence that he had died a pain
full and lingering death. Suspicion had
naturally pointed to the vanished man.
and this suspicion had grown until,
after some months absence, he had
returned. alleging that he had lost his
memory of the past. to resume his life
In the cabin on thp mountain and his