The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1911-10-17

crime. Johnny didn't know this. He
was too young to know anything about
such matters. He was seized with a
desire to get away as far and as
quickly from the scene Of his crime
as possible.
Leaving the body where it lay, he
struck out into the woods, walking all
night. He has been through many
horrors since, but he says that that
first night after the murder was the
most frightful of all. In the morn
| ing, needing something to eat, he
| stopped at farmhouse and heard per-
sons talking about the sea battle in
Manila bay that had just occurred
Here was chance for him to bury his
identity He would volunteer in the
army and be sent to fight the Span
iards.
After eating scant breakfast he
went on till he struck city in which
he found the people excited over the
news from Manila. Seeking re-
cruiting station, he offered himself for
enlistment. The recruiting officer look
ed at him obviously, wondering il he
was Of proper age to Join the army
but he was eager to fill up his COM
pany, and. since Johnny made one Of
five men he lacked for the purpose,
the boy was accepted, going on the
roster under an assumed name. He
was sent to Tampa, Fla. and from
there to Cuba.
The morning of debarkation was the
/ first event to make Johnny forget that
| terrible scene in the wood when he
had come to himself and seen what he
bad done. AS boatload after boatload
Of men left the transports and were
| pulled to the shore the afr was alive
with their cheers rising above the
strains of s'There'n Be Hot Time In
the Old Town" from the military
bands
And there was a hot time, sure
enough. The army marching inland
toward Santiago was met by the Span
iards, and sharp fight was the result
Johnny, who had enlisted with a
vague boyish idea Of getting killed In
battle, forget his original intention and
| felt only the emotions of a soldier
The ardor Of battle triumphed over all
else. Where other recruits finched
Johnny pushed forward When the
fight was over he had been marked by
the captain for one Of the reliable men
Of his company, and, sergeant having
been killed. Johnny was promoted to
the position
Before the fighting around Santiago
ceased Johnny was made lieutenant
But the war was short, and at the end
of II he was still boy, having barely
turned seventeen. Nevertheless he
was so badly wounded that it was ex-
pected he would die. He lay in hos
pital for long while and when finally
discharged was permanently disabled
Retaining his army name, the young
veteran" went to work In an eastern
city and by close application to his
work gained the confidence of his en-
| ployers. But while at his duties and,
above all, when he went to bed his Sc
cret never left him. Often he would
awake in the night with a start, and
as II by fash Of lightning the scene
IN the wood from which he had fed
would be vividly revealed to him.
Though Johnny was lost to the
world, there was one with whom he
communicated-his mother. To her he
wrote, explaining his absence, and she
realized the Importance OF keeping his
secret Six years passed and Johnny.
partly by good luck, partly because in
| work alone he was able to temporarily
Danish the crime that haunted him.
prospered. The only person who knew
his secret and still loved and respected
him was his mother, and he asked her
to come to him She did so, and from
| the moment OF her arrival he found
one to render his load less hard to bear.
But q time came when 1t again
doomed up before him like the figure
Of giant despair" Ten years had
worn away something of the sharpness
of his suffering, his mother had In a
measure convinced him that in his
| case the line between crime and mis-
fortune was an imaginary one, when
a new motive for regret came to him.
Alice Blair, woman a few years his
| Junior, old enough to be impressed
with the enormity Of the crime Of
taking under any circumstances the
life of friend. became part Of his
existence. The love between the two
was stronger In the man because he
considered it hopeless. He could not
make the woman his wife under a
false pretense-he could not bind her
to him for a lifetime without confes-
sion that he had blood on his hands.
And, supposing he confessed to her,
it would be wronging her and chill
dren that might come to them both.
Slowly, but surely, In this mans life
the principle Of confession and atone
ment was working Itself out. What
nothing else could eject was to be