Baxter Springs news. [volume] (Baxter Springs, Kan.) 1882-1919, 1909-09-16

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himself as soon as he had finished AL
bert Shows dress clothes for the
Eagles ball. AS he put uneven
stitches In the satin lining of the coat
which was to display the accursed
figure Of Snow at this long anticipated
social function, the tailor's hands
trembled and his palms grew moist
with nervousness.
Colt! How he had longed to stab
Albert Snow with the scissors and see
his hearts blood squirt over the broad
stripes of his pink and white shirt as
Snow had stood to be measured for
the only suit of evening clothes west
of the county seat But, instead,
Hinkle had smiled family at his Gus
toner's broad humor, had pinned and
shipped, and labored with infinite pa
thence over the garments which might
widen still further the crevice in his
cracked hearthstone.
Hinkle had seen that which had
convinced him that Snow and his
Hinkle's-wife were madly in love
with each other. He brooded over 1t
as he stitched, and the conviction
grew that the only way out, the only
thing which remained for him to do,
was to die by his own hand.
When he began to give the subject
thought he was surprised at the
variety of dramatic situations which
could be evolved from single de-
mise. He worked out the details OF
one tableau after another with
CHASTITY zest which was shocking.
Should he be found cold and still,
with a bit Of sewing clutched in his
stiffened fingers, a sad, sweet smile
on his white face, that they might en-
grave on his marble tablet Faithful
Unto DEATH" or should he be found. q
crumpled heap, near her chair In the
millinery. the blood gushing from
hideous knife wound above the heart?
He could take his six-shooter and go
out and die on @ wide-swept ridge,
where the coyote would howl q re-
QUEEN over his corpse. He could do
one of many things which would hor-
rify and excite the entire county and
give him a funeral unsurpassed IN the
annals Of the town. But the end
which appealed to him most was q
watery one-a grave in the Sinking
Water-only half a mile from town.
Dragging for his body would prolong
the excitement, and the pathos OF the
scene when they grappled and found
him, bringing him to the surface ar
rayed in his frock coat and pearl gray
wedding trousers, brought tears to his
eyes.
Hinkle's sufIerinSs at the Eagles
ball we're all he had anticipated.
Curses on himi Snow danced like
an angel, and as Hinkle's wife. In her
spangled net leaned on Shows Her
ford front, the whlrling couple were
the center Of attraction.
Though hating Snow, he could per-
fectly understand his infatuation for
Mrs. Hinkle. She looked so lovely
he thought, with that red rose hang
ing over her left ear, which decora-
ton she had temporarily removed
from a bonnet that was to go out
next day. i.
Even Eagles balls must end, and
when Hinkle finally buttoned his wife
into her plush dolman he looked far
mora faded than she, who had not
missed a dance.
He solemnly kissed her good night
on the forehead, conscious that 1t was
his last night on earth and that 1t
was her last good night kiss from
him. She scolded him sleepily for let
ting the lamp smoke, and he won
dered II she would remember her
harsh words-"ninny" was one OF
them-when he was gone.
They had eggs for breakfast, and
she forgot to fry his eggs on both
sides. as he liked them best. The
reproach in his eyes was out Of all
nroportion to it's cause; but he knew
what she did not, that those eggs,
like his good night kiss, were his
last.
His wife went first to open the
shop. and he fingered to write the
letter which was to explain all. 1t read:
Nv Dear. Dear wife: When you get
this YOU win be glad 70 hear that am
dead 40 YOU can marry that cheap skate
Albert Snow. know everything so die!
Won love him. saw you when you
thouaht YOU was hid behind a hat love
Won better than my life 30 I drowned
nvseH in the Sinking Water which is
cold but not so cold as your heart give
-vo,i everything but / ask one request
svhich "a. do not let Albert Snow wear
INV clothes. That I could not bear. II I
Al NOT come up you can drag for me
about two hundred yards below the
hrsdre. I have loved you always, nobody
mt YOU. and I die that you can marry
that cheap skate Albert Snow. Your low
Ing husband, GUsTAvE HINKLE.
HInkle biotted the signature with
= tear and attached the letter to his
.wife's cushion with an elk-tOOth hat
-, he had given e to her ON her