Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1911-05-06

Margery had gone to Miss Letitia's
room. and Wardrop was pacing up ano
down the veranda, smoking He look
ed detected and anxious, and he wei
coined my suggestion that he Walk
down to the station with me. AS we
went, a man emerged from the trees
across and came slowly after us.
you see, am only nominally tree
agent" he said morosely 'They'N
poison me yet; I know too much.
We said little on the way to the
train. Just before it came thunder.
ing along, however. he spoke again
II am going away, Knox. There
isn't anything in this political game
for me, and the law is too long.
have chum in Mexico, and he wants
me to go down there"
Permanently?
eyes. There's nothing to hold me
here now he said.
turned and faced him in the glare
Of the station lights.
what do you mean?" / demanded.
II mean that there isn't any longer
a reason why one part of the earth Is
better than another. Mexico or
Alaska, it's all the same to me-"
He turned on his heel and left me.
/ watched him swing up the path, with
his head down; l saw the shadowy
figure Of the other man fall into line
behind him. Then I caught the plat
form of the last car as 1t passed, and
that short ride into town was trium-
phal procession with the wheels beat
Ing time and singing: "It's all the
same-the same-to me-to me-"
I called Burton by telephone, and
was lucky enough to find him at the
Office He said he had just got In,
and as usual, he wanted something to
eat. We arranged to meet at little
Chinese restaurant, where at that hour
nine o'clock, we would be almost
alone. Later on, after the theater,
knew that the place would be full OF
people, and conversation impossible.
Burton knew the place well, as he
did every restaurant In the city.
Hello, Mike. he said to the unctu-
Gus Chinaman who admitted us. And
Mike" smiled a slant-eyed welcome.
The room was empty; it was an un-
pretentious affair, with lace curtain at
the windows and small, very clean
tables. At one corner a cable and
Slide communicated through hole In
the ceiling with the floor above, and
through the aperture, Burton's order
for chicken and rice, and the inevita-
BILE tea, was barked.
Burton listened attentively to War
drops story, as I repeated 1t.
$50 Schwartz did it, after ALL" he
said regretfully, when I finished. 1T
is a tame ending. 1t had all the
elements of the unusual, and 1t re-
solves itself into an ordinary, every
day, man-to-man feud. I'm disap-
pointed; we can't touch Schwartz"
II thought the Times-Post was hot
after him.
Schwartz bought the Times-Post at
three o'clock this afternoon" Burton
said, with repressed rage. "I'm called
or Tomorrow we run photograph
of Schwartzwold, his place at Platts
burg, and the next day we eulogize the
administration. !. I'm going down the
river on an excursion boat, and write
up the pig-killing contest at the union
butchers picnic"
'How is Mrs. Butler?" l asked, as
his rage subsidized to mere rumbling
in his throat.
"Delirious'- shortly. "She's going to
croak, Wardrop's going to Mexico,
Schwartz will be next governor, and
Miss Maitland's body will be found in
q cistern. The whole thing has peter
ed out. What's the use of finding the
murderer If he's coated with asbestos
and lined with money? Mike,I want
some more tea to drown my troubles
We called up the hospital about ten
thirty, and learned that Mrs. Butler
was sinking. Fred was there, and
without much hope of getting anything
we went over. took Burton In as a
nephew Of the dying woman, and was
glad had done it. She told the story
to Fred any myself, and in corner
Burton took 1t down in shorthand. We
got her to sign it about daylight some
time, and she died very quietly shortly
after Edith arrived at eight.
To give her story as she gave 1t
would be. impossible; the ramblings
of sick mind, the terrible pathos OF
it all. is impossible to repeat. She
lay there, her long, thin body prac-
tically dead, fighting the death rattle
in her throat There were pauses
when for five minutes she would lie
in stupor, only to rouse and go for
ward from the very word where she
had stopped.
She began with her married life, and
to understand the beauty Of 1t is to I'M
derstand the things that came after.
She was perfectly, ideally, illogical4y
happy. Then one day Henry Butler
accepted the nomination for state
treasurer, and with that things chang
ed. During his term in Office he al
tered greatly; his wife could only
guess that things were wrong, for he
refused to talk
The crash came, after all, with ter
rible suddenness. There had been an
all-night conference at the Butler
home, and Mr. Butler, in a frenzy at
finding himself dupe, had called the
butler from bed and forcibly ejecteu
Fleming and Schwartz from the house.
Ellen Butler had been Mortified, sick
ened by what she regarded as the
vulgarity Of the occurrence. But her
loyalty to her husband never wavered.
Butler was one honest man against
a complete organization or unscrupu-
lous ones. His disgrace, Imprisonment,
and suicide at the White Cat followed
in rapid succession. With his death,