The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1911-07-29

VI LIE COmpauyS service, Jasper
Finch, for you've as good as got your
dismissal. Get off"
Finch swore at him in his drunken
stupidity, but the ganger took no mo-
tice. Another man was put on the
lookout in his pace, and Finch spent
the rest of the day sleeping it off in
the field by the side of the line. The
ganger was as good as his word. He
reported the matter to the district
Inspector, who in his turn, reported
IL to the district engineer, from whom
it was conveyed to the chief engineer,
who issued summary dismissal As
Jasper Finch had been temporarily
suspended, the CANCERS words were
true. From the moment he was found
drunk by the side of the line his oc-
cupation was at an end.
Give me some money say! Don't
sit there crying! Dye hear?"
"Oh, Jasper, I've only got few
coppers in the house, you know /
haven't and the children are nigh
starved!"
What's that to do with me? Hand
it over! Sharp now, Or"
And the man raised his fist over
his wife in drunken frenzy.
Jasper, Jasper!" sobbed the poor
woman. why don't you give up
drinking, and do some honest work 2"
Work? Haven't they chucked me
from it? Didn't l get thrown off over
a month ago? But I'll be even with
em yet, the sneaking scoundrels!
They'll learn to be sorry for the day
Jasper Finch left the company's
service!"
Someone else had learned to be
sorry for it already For a whole
month the wretched man had been
on the drink, pawning his furniture,
and starving his family. He stood be-
fore his wife that evening a semi
maniac, the ruins of what had been
his home around him.
"Come!" he cried. "I've got no
more time for talking. Give me the
money!"
II have only threepence, Jasper"
And selling the coppers from her
thin hand, he slammed the kitchen
door with all his might.
Outside, terrible tempest was rag
ing. The rain came beating like the
claws of fiend on the window-pane,
the wind shrieked and beloved in
discordant chorus. It was night
fitted to foul purpose.
Bestowing a contemptuous look at
his wife, and shouting to the two
children, who were crying, he reached
down his overcoat from it's peg over
the door, and then, taking the candle
to the backkitchen, selected out of a
heap of odd tools and rubbish, large
spanner and a heavy hammer But
toning these under his coat, he put on
his cap, blew out the light, and stag
gered out into the storm, locking the
ldoor behind him.
For a moment he paused irreso-
lutely; then, leaving his cottage,
which stood on the outskirts of the
little town of Dullminster, he made
his way towards the nearest public
house.
Gimme some Scotch-'s much as
that'll pay for" he said, as he dashed
the coppers on the bar.
/ The barman drew off some of the
most fiery of his cheap compounds
into glass. Jasper Finch tossed it
down his throat with a gulp, and
| turned to go.
| You're in a hurry tonight, mater
said the barman.
What's that to you if I ann" re-
piled Finch, as he lurched himself out
of the door, noticing, as he did SO, a
clock that hung on the wall.
Five minutes past nine," he solilO-
quized, when he was outside, "and the
down mails timed to get to Dull
minister at 11:40. I'll walk down the
line and meet her, and give her a
warm welcome"
The whiskey had made his brain
madden than ever, and, intent on his
horrible purpose, he set off away
from the town as fast as he could
beat against the storm. He took care
to keep away from the line at first
for the spot where he intended tc
carry out his evil purpose was a good
three miles from Dullminster.
So he trudged along the storm
beaten roads across a common and
then over some fields, until, good
hour after he had left the town, he
found himself on the permanent way
of the Midwest Northern Railway
The spot was an excessively lonely
one, just over three miles from Dull
minister Station, and four miles from
Egton, the next station in the direc
ton of London.
The ex-platelayer, having worked
for several years on the line, knew
his ground thoroughly, and had
chosen his field of operations with
great cunning. The line at this part
ran throuOh a doom r11ttinp which