Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1911-10-31
A Mysterious
Message
II Came Over q Wire, but
Was Doubtless Wireless
By WILLARD B. CHURCH
By WILLARD B. CHURCH
Copyright by American Press Asso-
citation. 1911.

!. Copyright by American Press Asso-
citation. 1911.
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
The first blizzard Of the season came
In November, an early date for q win
ter storm, and, what was more un-
usual still, 1t was the most severe OF
the season. Farmer Hardwick. sitting
beside the stove In his living room,
listened to the bowling wind thrash
ing the leafess branches Of the trees
and hurling the snow like a sand blast
against his window panes. A tele-
graph pole stood on the roadside In
front of and very near to his house,
and 1t seemed to him that the sounds
made by the rushing currents Of air
were the walls of lost spirits.
Hardwick. like most farmers Of the
present day. was connected by tele-
phone with his neighbors. The in
strument was placed in an addition to
his house used for everything pertain
ing to q farm. from matches to fire
wood, from q gimlet to q grindstone.
from a Jug OF vinegar to n cask OF
cider. There were openings through
to this universal 'catchall.' and. the
doors between standing open. Hard
wick heard some one calling up
number Of telephone subscriber. The
voice was mans, but didn't sound
like that Of any Of the men on the
farm. AS soon as the speaker was
connected with the number he had
asked for he spoke one sentence quick
ly, but Hardwick could not hear what
he said.
Only a few moments had elapsed
between the call and the communica-
ton when Hardwick got up from his
chair and went through the rooms to
where the telephone was located to
see who was using It To his sur
prise. no one was there The receiver
hung In its place, and there was no
indication that any one had been
near It. Hardwick ran to the only
door leading out into the yard and
pulled it open, but no one was IN
sight.
"Thats queerw he muttered to him
self and, going back to his seat by
the stove. sat down to think about II.
At the time Farmer Hardwick heard
the voice ut his telephone Cicly
Boardman. who was upstairs in her
own home sewing in preparation for
her coming wedding with Harvey
Brown, heard above the storm a ring
on the floor below. Going down, she
took I'D the receiver and. having spo-
ken the usual "WellY heard her lov-
er's voice say to her:
"Its in the northeast corner OF the
smokehouse."
There was click. followed by ST.
lence. She called again and again,
but, receiving no answer, concluded
that Harvey had been shut of In the
midst Of what he was saying, and.
hanging up the receiver. she went
back to her work.
But since she could both work and
think at the same time she pondered
on what her lover had tried to COM
municate There was nothing intel
ligible to her in the message she had
received, and had not the voice been
unmistakably her lovers she would
have assumed that, using a party wire,
she had heard that which had been
intended for some one else. But Har-
yey's deep tones were too famliiar 70
her to be mistaken for those OF any
other man. The message was 80 In
explicable that she began to feel u
dread. though of what she did not
know.
The next morning Cicily took up the
work on her wedding garment with q
singular dependency, mentally repeat
ing the words "an impending caiam-
ity." Presently she heard some one
without kicking of the snow. the 'front.'
door open and heavy step. Then FOL
lowed muffled voices below. Cicily
listened, her heart sinking like Head
within her. A little later when her
mother came into the room VITA dread
on her face Cicily moaned:
"You don't need to tell me. mother;
Harvey Is dead"
The mother put her arms ABOUT hef
daughter saying not word.
Harvey Brown had started during
the storm to walk from his home 70
that of his fiancee, a distance OF two
miles. The road led past Farmer
Hardwick's house. and Browns BODY
was found buried In drift under one
of the telegraph poles not far from
Hardwick's. Whether he had sunk
down confused and benumbed by that
interminable whirling Of snow or
whether his efforts to get on had
brought on some sort Of a stroke was
not evident. The night had been very
cold, and It was thought that, bewil'
dered and exhausted. he had stopped
TO rest and had been frozen.
Cicily and her mother were In strait
ened circumstances. Harvey Brown
not only owned the house in which he
lived. but had inherited a fortune in
vested in stocks and bonds. Cicily's
| approa ching marriage with him had
| been looked forward to by her as a
great relief. Harvey had suggested
Fastening the wedding that she might
be his legal heir. The next Of kin to
him was the son Of his fathers broth
er, a ne'er-do-well. whom Harvey be
lIeved would stoop to any chicanery te
get possession Of the property at Har
vey's death. to which. without q vii
or a wedding, he would be the Lawful
heir. This man. Peter Brown, might
secure and destroy q will, but he could
not annul a marriage For this reasol
Harvey wns anxious to have the cere
mony performed.
| Providence having taken the intend
eii bridegroom, no wife interfcred Will
Peters legal possession. A will alon
could do that. A search among Har
vey's papers revealed no documen
bearing upon the disposition OF hi
property. Peter was recognized as tn
sole heir by the court Of chancery, bu
was astonished to find none OF thos
securities that his cousin was repute'
TO have possessed. not even a deed t
the homestead, appeared among tn
dcceased's papers. However. this wa