The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1909-11-19

The most permanently uncOmfOrt-
able man in BetZville is Rocco Mack
intosh, and it is all due to his two ma
lures, which he inherited from his
parents. From his mother who was
Rosa Gallucci, he inherited the hot
blooded nature of Italy, and from his
father, Sandy Macintosh, he inner
tied the cautious nature of Scot,
and while both these natures are ex-
cellent, they do not mix we'll, and in
Rocco Macintosh they did not mix
distinctly separate, like the streaks
of fat and lean in piece of bacon.
Three weeks ago last Wednesday
Rocco woke with his hot Italian ma
ture in the saddle, so to speak, and an
overpowering desire came upon him
to write a Black Hand letter, so he sat
down and began to write one, but
when he was about half through his
cautious Scotch nature warned him
that he was doing very dangerous
thing, and that if he was discovered
he might be taken to court and made
to pay a fine. But when he decided
not to write a Black Hand letter, his
warm Italian nature rebelled and in
sisted that he write the letter. So,
to placate both his natures he wrote
the letter and addressed it to himself
Then he took the letter to the post
office and mailed it.
When his Macintosh nature re-
hn lot h0 1@
! was very much excited. Never be-
fore had he received threatening let
ter, and it made him properly angry,
but he sWore that, no matter what
happened, he would not put 500
under a stone, as the letter command
and borrowed a shotgun from Uncle
Ashdod Clute, so as to be ready for
the worst.
Along about four o'clock that after.
noon his Italian nature took hold of
him and he sat down and wrote a
threatening letter to himself, ten times
worse than the first, and mailed it to
himself
When he received this letter the
next morning his Scotch blood fair.
ly boiled. He was so angry he could
hardly hold his pen while he was
writing another Black Hand letter to
himself that afternoon, but he was
wise enough to take every precaution,
and before he went to bed he barfi.
caded the house by pushing all the fur.
niture against the doors. Even then
he was so excited he could not sleep,
and several times in the night he
arose and wrote Black Hand letters
to himself.
BY the end of the week he was in
such a state of fear that he only ven.
tured from the house once day, and
that was to mail to himself the let.
tiers he had written, but the letters
kept getting more and more threaten.
ing, and they all mentioned last
Wednesday as the last day of grace.
If the 500 was not put under the fiat
stone at the crossroads by noon that
| day ample vengeance would be taken
, on him.
| Everyone in Betzville noticed the
change that had come over Rocco
Macintosh, but no one suspected what
his trouble was, and Wednesday morn.
ing dawned upon a placid scene. The
fiat stone at the cross roads was as
| fiat as ever, and the cross roads
crossed as usual, but Rocco Mackin.
tosh was twice as cross as the roads.
About ten minutes after II he put
on his hat, and he instantly knew
he was going to the cross roads to see
whether the 500 had been put under
the stone as he had advised himself to
do. When he saw himself take a
dagger in his hand he knew he must
be prepared for the worst, and that
! he had cruel Italian nature to deal
with. So he took his shotgun in the
other hand and sailed forth, bound,
at all costs, to protect himself
But hardly had he stepped outside
the door than he weakened. What,
after all, was 500 as compared with
his life? He went back into the
hoUse and took ten ten.dollar bills from
hi. sock. and went out again. He