Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1909-02-26

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was to come. Every night went into the
village in hopes that some word had ar
rived, and 1 waited patiently for week.
Then l got the blow. l heard 1t from the
loafers around the little postoffice first,
but it dazed me so I wouldn't believe II
till l borrowed the paper and read the
whole story, with the type dancing and
leaping before me. 1t took some hours
for 1t to seep In, even after that, and for
years recalled every word of the damned
lie as II it had been branded on me with
hot irons. They called 1t a shocking
crime, the most brutal murder California
had ever known, and in the headlines was
my name in letters that struck me be-
tween the eyes like hammer. Mrs. Dan
Bennett had been foully murdered by me,
in fit of sudden jealousy, and had
disappeared with the baby! The husband
had rNturned Unexpectedly to find her
d. ing so he said, but too far gone to call
for help. and with barely sufficient
strength to tell him who did it and howl
Then the paper went on with the tale Of
my counting her, and her turning me
down for Bennett. 1t told how had gone
off alone up into the hills, turning into
bear that nobody, man or child, could ap-
proach. 1t said 1 had brooded there all
this time till the mania got uppermost,
and so came down to wreak my VEN
geance. They never even did me the
credit of calling me crazy; I was a fiend
incarnate, a beast without soul, and a
lot of things like that; and, remember,
had never harmed a living thing in all
my life. However, that wasn't what hurt.
What turned me into a dull, dead, suf-
fering thing was the knowledge that she
49,
yond that fact. Then came the realization
that Bennett had done it, for I reasoned
that he had dragged hint of the truth
from her by very force of the fear he held
her ina-nd slain her. God!-he awful
rage that came over me! But there was
nothing to do; had sworn to guard the
little one, so / couldn't take vengeance
on him, I couldn't go back and prove my
innoceIEe, for that would give the child
to him. What night l spent! The next
day l saw 1 had been indicted by the
grand jury and was a wanted man. From
a distance I watched myself become an
DUB aw watched the county put price
upon my head, which Bennett doubled;
watched public opinion rise to such
heat that posses began TO scour the noun
tains. What noted in particular was
statement in the paper that The sorrow
ing husband takes HIS bereavement with
the quiet courage which marks brave
man! That reused me more than the
knowledge that he had made me wolf
and set my friends on my track, which l
hadn't covered very well, having ridden
boldly. 1t happened that the Mexican
woman couldn't read and talked lttle;
still. knew they'd find me soon-it
couldn't be otherwise-so made another
run for it, swearing an oath, however
before left that I'd come back and nave
that gamblers heart.
eft was lucky 1 went, for they uncoV-
cred my sign the next day, and the coun-
trv where I'd hidden blazed like Held OF
dry grass. They were close on my heels'
and they closed in from every quarter
but. pshaw! 1 knew the woods ike an
Indian, and the wild things were my
friends again, which would nave iIlaue -
NAV if ia been alone, but girl chlld
of three was harder to manage. So l
covered and skulked day after day ike
tLief or the murderer they thought me-
,,,orl,ino always farther into the hldden
nIaces. travelling by night with the niue
! one asleep on my BOSOM pS uaS
no Ting with her in some leafy glen, with
~, pTrsuers so close behind that Tor
weeks never slept; and my love Tor the
| child increased daily till 1t became al
most an insanity.
'fSbR the only WOAii1iA SAiA'Ao a A-N
a,,a. ,ossessed. and 1t seemed like my
love for the mother came back and settled
on her. And she loved me, too, and trust
cd me. Every little smile, every clasp
| OF her tiny dimpled fingers showed IL,
and tied her to me with another knot till
the fear Of losing her became greater
| than I could bear, till 1t kept the chill
of death in my bones and filled my veins
with glacier water. 1 became an animal
a cowardly, quailing coyote, all through
the love Of a child.
1--WE had close squeezes many times,
but I finally won, in spite of the fact
that they tracked US clear to the edge
of the desert, for I had hit for the stats
line, knowing that Nevada was a wilder
ness, and feeling that I'd surely lose
I them there. And 1 did. But In doing 1t
I nearly lost Merridy. You see, the con-
slant travel and hardship was too much
for a prattlng baby and she fell sick
from the heat and the dust and the
thirst. I'd been going and going
| till 1 was a riding skeleton, till my
| -