Dakota farmers' leader. (Canton, S.D.) 1890-19??, 1909-11-26

Mary Bakers boat was not yet CONF
ashore, but the beauty lay out there In
the stream. flirting with q busting tug
that circled about her, coughing un.
easily at intervals. Idle sailormenr
longshoremen, and stevedores sat
upon the string-piece Of the wharf,
chewing slivers and splitting reflective
ly into the water. Across the inter,
vening stretch Of bay came the noises
from the Mary Bakers decks-noises
tina were small and distinct. as II
heard through a telephone. the rattle
Of blocks. the straining of a windlass,
the bos'n's whistle. and once the noise
Of saving. A white cruiser sat solidly
in the waves over by Alcatraz. and
while / took note Of her the flag was
suddenly broken out and ] heard the
strains of the ships band. The morn
ing was fine. Tamalpais climbed out
of the water like a rousing lion. In a
few hours We would be off on a voy.
age to the underside Of the earth.
There was a note Of gayety in the
nlmbie air, and one felt that the world
was young after all, and that it waA
good to be young with her.
A bum-boat omar came down the
wharf, %corpulent and round, with 2
roll in her walk hat shook irst n
fat cheek and then the other. She was
peddling trinkets among the wharf
loungers-pocket combs, little round
mirrors, shoestrings. and collar-but-
tons. She knew them all, or at least
was known to all of them, and in a lew
moments she was retailing to them the
latest news of the town. Soon l caught
a name or two, and on the instant was
at some pains to listen. The bum-boat
woman was telling the story of the
house with the blinds:
Sax of um, an nohs ivry wan. But
that bad wild bug-juice! WHO'D! Niver
have OF seen the bate! An divil a wan
as can reminder owt for two days by.
Bory-eyed they were; struck dumb an
def an dead wild whisky and bubble
wather. Not a manjack Nv um can
tell the tale. but wan av UNI used his
knife cruel bad. Now which wan was
it? Howse the coort y find out?"
1t appeared that the house with the
blinds was, or had been, a gambling
house. and what l had seen had been
a raid. Then the rest of the story came
out, and the mysteries began to thick
en-. That same evening, after the ar
rest Of the six i%nebriates, the house
had been searched. The police had
found evidences of a drunken debauch
of a monumental character. But they
had Ound more. In a closet under the,
stairs the dead body Of a man, a we'll
dressed fellow, beyond a doubt one Of
| tho ~ rty-knifa1 RI death hv Aroo1 H.
full slashes in his loins and at the base.
of his spine in true evil hand-over-hand
fashion.
Now this is the mystery Of the house
with the blinds.
Beyond all doubt, one OF the six
drunken men had done the murder
Which one? How to find out? So
completely were they drunk that not a
single n of them could recall any
thing Of the previous twelve hours.
They had come out there with their
friend the day before. They woke
from their orgie to learn that one OF
them had worried him to his death by
means Of a short palm-broad dagger
taken from a trophy Of Persian arms
that hung over a divan.
. AcoO hoAu hoA uOiC ": VhsN
one of them was the murderer?
could fancy them-I think ! "a see
them now-sitting there In their cells,
each man apart, withdrawn from his
fellow-reveler, and each looking fur
lively into his fellows face, asking
himself, WAS 1t you? Was it you? OF
was it l? Which of us, in Gods name,
has done his thing?"
Well, it was never known. When I
came back to San Francisco q yea OF
so later ! asked about the affair of the
house with the blinds, and found that
it had been shelved with the other
mysterious crimes. The six men had
actually been discharged for the want
OF evidence"
But for a long time the thing har-
assed me. More than once since !
have gone to that windy park, with its
quivering Flagstaff and geodettc monu-
ment, and, sitting on a bench opposite
the house, asked myself again and
again the bootless questions. Why had
the drunken nurse-maid mentioned the
house to me IN the first place? And
why at that particular time? Why had
she lied to me In telling me hat she
lived there? Why vas that gilded In.
dian-club IN the sill of the upper win.
dow? And whose-here's a point
whose was the hand that drew it inside
the house? And then, Of course, last Of
all, the ever recurrenr question, which
one Of those six inebriates should
have stood upon the drop and worn the
cap-which n OF the company had
knitted his friend and bundled him int
that closet under the stairs? Had h(
done 1t during the night Of the orgie
or before it? Was his friend drunk at
thet time, or sober? I never could
answer these questions, and I suppose
I shall never know the secret of The
House With the Blinds"
A Greek family lives there now, and
rent the upper story to a man who
blows the organ In the Russian church,
and to two Japanese, who have a pho
tograph gallery on Stockton street. J
wonder to what use they nave put the
little closet under the stairs?-From
The Third Circle" by Frank Norris
Filial sorrow.
The late William NJ. Evarts USED