Tensas gazette. [volume] (St. Joseph, La.) 1886-current, 1911-07-07

hhOlAct idhuoNucit hdu Dccu ulb AOt-
test rival
Well. Tom and Ruth were married
Remember. 1t was a primitive little
community. After the ceremony at
the minister's house the young couple
drove home to the Valley homestead
such thing as a wedding-tour
would have been thought a wicked
and useless extravaganza. Besides.
it was haying time. and Tom couldn't
be spared.
There was a wedding supper for the
immediate relatives, and before the
meal was well ended large crowd
of the villagers and neighboring farm
folks arrived outside the house to
give the bride and groom a genuine
old-fashioned "Shivaree." There were
all sorts Of an uproar--beating Of tin
pans, blowing of horns, ringing OF
cowbells, shouting, laughter. and even
firing OF guns and pistols.
or course the young couple had to
show themselves, and at their APP
pearance the tumult and the shout
ing broke out worse than ever. It
was a cloudless night with the moon
at the full. and as Tom and Ruth
stood arm in arm on the wide porch
they were in clear view. Suddenly
there was a volley of firearms. and
Ruth Valley was seen to fall back
ward in her husbands arms. At first
II was thought she had tainted from
the excitement, but In a few moments
the bridegroom's affrighted shouts APP
prised those nearest that the newly
welded wife had been shot! Some mis-
creant in the crowd had deliberately
drawn a bead" on her breastl At
least-for / must not get ahead too
fast-that's what became apparent
afterward. In the initial confusion
it was thought that the shooting must
have been an accident-some cheerful
idiot in the crowd on the lawn, who
didn't know 1t was loaded" had
pulled the trigger and unknowingly
sped the fatal bullet.
But when got on the case the facts
already discovered put a totally diff
ferent complexion on the matter, ana
speedily decided that Ruth Valleys
death was a case of deliberate MUIR
der. There had been an inquest, OF
course, by the county physician. and
that gave me the hint. The missile
proved to be a soft-nosed steel bullet
fired from Krag army rife. And
here was a remarkable fact: the soft
lead nose of the bullet had fiattened
and spread itself against the girls
corset steel; when examined it looked
for all the world like a cats eye,
even to the coloring Of the pupil.
II was the steel cone of the bullet that
had caused death, that having pene-
trated the heart The poor child
probably never knew what hit her.
Naturally my first task was to
search for someone who owned a
Krag army riie-a rare weapon in q
rural communicable person also
being an excellent marksman. The
finding of a man who united these
two characteristics, told myself
would be tantamount to spotting the
murderer.
But here l ran upon the first snag
The owner Of the Krag was soon
found in the person OF George Ger
IRISH, veteran of the Spanish war
who had returned from Montauk the
previous autumn. Gerrish not only
proved a complete alibi. but strenu
ously denied having loaned his Krae
| to anyone. Yet when / told him my
| errand, and together we had exam
ined the gun. he unhesitatingly de
clared that 1t had been recently dis
charged and that one shell was miss
ing from the full clip which It had
previously contained. Gerrish ex
planned that. living alone as he did
he thought It no harm to keep thu
gun loaded. However. he readil,
identified the steel cone which hat
killed Ruth Valley. and told me o
| several similar instances of the quee
shapes sometimes taken by the "mush
rooming' Of the soft-nose bullet. Als'
he agreed with me that some one
knowing he was away from home
might have borrowed" the Krag OF
the fatal night, though he was equal,
frank to say that he had observed m
indications that his house had beef
feloniously entered during his absence
And until my call he had not notice,
that the weapon had been moved from
its accustomed place on a couple o
staples over his old brick fireplace.
Swearing him to silence. and to tn
locking away of the incriminatinl
weapon until l might cell for It, m.
next task was to look for goo,
marksman and a man with motiv
for the killing. To this end wen
through the male residents Of tn
neighborhood with fine toothcoml
with the idea, first, Of eliminating
the sheep from the goats.
| All told, there were not more thai
half a dozen names worth consider
ing. Some of these had been anon
Ruth Merrill's suitors, but all. wit
one exception. seemed to have take
the result philosophically and gon
about their business. This exception
was Mark Hcnniker. wi had bee
overheard to boast that Tom Vale
wouldn't long have the girl. even ate
she had promised to marry him
Those who heard him make thi