Pierre weekly free press. (Pierre, S.D.) 1889-19??, 1910-07-21
door, raised the lamp and screamed

door, raised the lamp and screamed
in terror:
1T is Minnie's ghost!"
Those who heard the cry hurried
downstairs find the Mortified aunt
lying beside the body of the niece. who
had been dead not hours, but days.
Why did Minnie Wentz turn from
love that promised all human tender
ness and creature comforts to clasp
the cold hand of death?
Why had she "bluffed" and how?
Artists Love and Death.
Leon Guipon, an artist of brilliant
gifts and prospects, faced the realiza-
ton of his hopes, after several years
of struggle against the course of love
which did not run smoothly. He had
met and learned to love Miss Agnes
Foster, daughter of Albert ]. Foster,
president of the Peoples National
bank of RoXbury Mass. A year and
half ago clouds arose on the clear sky
of their love, and they agreed to dis
agree. Guipon fed New York for Eu-
rope, and there, in work and the COM
partnership of fellow artists, tried to
drown his grief Here is his own de-
scription of the vicissitudes of the
heart through which he passed:
when A. and parted year and a
half ago my heart broke, broke literal
ly. You know that the time spent in
Europe, trying to forget her, did me
more harm than good. When we made
! up again this year her warm, sunny
love gradually brought back health
and happiness to me.
When l went to Boston to ask for
her hand l felt like my old self again
and was full of hope for the future,
thinking honestly that all my troubles
were past and that happiness was just
within my reach.
Since l came back to New York,
for no apparent reason my heart went
all to pieces again. l told you 1t was
my throat and my stomach l suffer
more than words can describe. No
doctor can help me, and fully realize
that am doomed. 1 do not want to
poison her bright, happy life, yet I
cannot live without her. l have
fought manfully, but I am beaten. So
there is but one honorable path open
to me and l shall calmly step into it
because my conscience is clear
1T is hard to leave this beautiful
world when one loves so strongly and
! Is loved as l am now.
"Thn Grnof Ind OH 1yn !
l am doing what is best. A man about
| to die tells no lies"
And these words were the last
penned by the gifted man, who shot
himself just as the long days of court.
ship promised to merge into the bliss
of the honeymoon.
None to Answer Question.
That the artist still loved Miss Eos.
ter was evident, for he left her all his
worldly wealth. That he could not
make her happy was his one expressed
reason for suicide. But why, why did
he realize that he had no right to
grasp the prize he had so long GOV.
eted? Why had he lost the power to
make the woman Of his heart happy?
Only Guipon himself could have an.
swered that question-and his lips are
sealed forever.
George l.. Knaut and Miss Estelle
Rocktashel of Reading, Pa, still in
their twenties, prosperous and of ex
cellent repute, were engaged to be
married. The wedding day approached
! Friends gave reception in their
honor.
At two o'clock in the morning they
| left the festive scene in taxicab The
chauffeur had driven the car but a
short distance toward the home of the
/ young woman when shot was fired
inside the cab and a bullet flew past
the drivers head. Young Knaut bade
the driver hurry to a hospital. Miss
| Rocktashel had been accidentally shot
and slightly wounded. AS the car
drew up before the hospital az second
shot rang out, and silence fell upon
the tonneau. The two young people
were, found dead, huddled in opposite
sides of the car.
What secrets had been divulged on
4 that homeward drive? What had the
nights Festivities and congratuiations
brought forth 20 cause the hideous
deed? Who shall say whether they
had decided that happiness lay in
death together, rather than IN life
which held not what they had hoped
fors &. 1,