Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1911-02-04
A CONVERTED
ANARCHIST
Woman Nemesis on the Trail
of a Deserter.


most surely occasioning his death:
was a poor man. though belong
ed to a good family and had been well
educated At college l imbibed revo-
lutionary, not to say communists. doc
trines which influenced me. but not Sc
riousfy, until on coming out Of the uni
versity lost my father and the assist
ance he had given me; then, facing the
world with no means, was drawn to
embrace anarchism. There was no ex-
cuse for me. was young, and the
world was before me. was one of
the impractical. theorizing kind who
prefer trying to revolutionize natural
laws rather than work. Added to this,
I had the faculty of inspiring others.
Joined a band of anarchists and be-
came a leader among them.
MY mother had brother of whom
had never heard. He was considered
the black sheep of the family and was
never spoken OF to me, the only child
as boy and had broken his mothers
heart by never writing line. Up to
the time became an anarchist he had
never been heard from. Judge of my
surprise one day to learn through So
licitors that this uncle had died in
South America and left a fortune Of
$3.50, 900 to me,
How quickly my theories of the
worlds wrongs vanishedi / did not
dare to break my connection with an'
atchists, but gradually ceased to att
tend meetings. One day I was hor.
rified at receiving an order to assas-
sinnte one of the crowned heads of
Europe. knew well that should I
refuse would be myself assassi'
mated. One advantage would have in
disobeying the order--I was rich and
could Isolate myself from any one who
might attempt to kill me- ] turned
my fortune into gold and disappeared,
A few weeks later turned up in one
of the southern states. My hair, which
had been a light brown, was black.
My beard, which had been but a few
tufts, was now luxuriant My name
was changed. Indeed, as little Of my
old self remained as could help.
bought small plantation and pretend
ed to raise cotton. ~
lived for several years without
hearing from my old associates. but
this only assured me that at the out
set had eluded them, knew that I
had been condemned and some one
had been appointed to kill me.
One day l noticed that new candy
store had been opened In the village.
I went inside and looked over the
stock. 1t was very meager, and
bought nothing. A young woman who
stood behind the counter looked dis
appointed and asked me to give an
order for anything liked and she
would execute 1t. am fond Of choco-
late and told her to make me some
| chocolate creams. She promised to
have them ready the next day and
send them to me. Instead of sending
she brought them. When she was an,
nounced told my guards to admit her.
| She was a very attractive looking per-
son, and did not desire to keep her
away. She asked me to try her choco-
Iates and tell her wherein they did not
| please me. / ate a few of them and
pronounced them excellent. That
seemed to satisfy her, and she left at
once, though l should have been glad
In week went by the candy shop
stopped and gave her an order fol
some more chocolates. She told me
| that she knew of new kind that she
| was sure / had never eaten. gave
| her an order for some of them. telling
| her that / would not put her to the
| trouble of sending them, but would
| call for them. did so, but they were
| not ready. l called again. but still
| they had not been made. The woman
| told me that certain ingredients were
! required, for which she had beer
| obliged to send to the city. She would
| bring them when they were ready.
Meanwhile l never relaxed my vigi
lance In keeping any suspicious per
son from my house, and both there anc
when went out was secretly armed
ito the teeth" No one could kill me
| without a fight-that was certain.
One day the candy woman was an
| nounced, and I ordered her to be ad
mitted. She handed me the box Of
| chocolates and while tried then
| amused herself with an Italian grey
hound l had always with me. The dog
was lying on rug at the other end OF
| the room, and she went over to him
and patted him. On opening the boz
| found the chocolates in layers OF
| four large, fiat squares. l ate two
and found them delicious. The third
| I threw to the dog, who caught 1t In
his teeth and swallowed 1t. noticed
that the woman turned pale. was
about to eat the fourth when I saw
| the dog looking at 1t longingly. toss
| ed 1t to him. As I did so the woman
gave shrek. The dog caught 1t as
before. There was an explosion. and
his head was spattered over the room
The secret was out. The woman had
been commissioned to murder me. She
was knocked senseless by the explo
| sion. I-was unhurt.
An arrangement was made between
| the ex-anarchist and the woman. She
wrote that she had killed her man. A
| coffin full of stones was buried, and
| the man was never again seen on his
plantation. Then a notice was pub
lished of the woman's death-causei
by wounds--which she managed Il
have reach an anarchist circle. They
were married and lived together til
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