The Press., 1912-08-28
"A Mysterious
 Message It Came Over a Wire, bat Was Doubtless Wireless By WILLARD B. CHURCH Copyright by American Press Asso-
 citation, 1911.
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 The first blizzard of the season came in November, an early date for a win ter storm, and, what was more un- usual still, 1t was the most severe of the season. Farmer Hardwick, sitting beside the stove in his living room, listened to the bowling wind thrash ing the leahess branches of the trees and hurling the snow like a sand blast against his window paneS. A tele- graph pole stood on the roadside in front of and very near to his house. and it seemed to him that the sounds made by the rushing currents of air were the walls of lost spirits.
 Hardwick, like most farmers of the present day, was connected by tele- phone with his neighbors. The 1n- strument was placed in an addition to his house used for everything pertain ing to a farm, from matches to ire wood, from a gimlet to @ grindstone, from a jug of vinegar to a cask of cider. There were openings through to this universal ''catchall," and, the doors between standing open, Hard wick heard some one calling up a number of a telephone subscriber. The voice was a mans, but didn't sound like that of any of the men on the farm. AS soon as the speaker was connected with the number he had asked for he spoke one sentence quick ly, but Hardwick could not hear what he said.
 Only a few moments had elapsed between the call and the communica- tfon when Hardwick got up from his chair and went through the rooms to where the telephone was located to see who was using it. To his sur prise. no one was there The receiver hung in its place, and there was no indication that any one had been near 1t. Hardwtck ran to the only daor leading out into the yard and pulled it open. but no one was in sight
 That's uueerg" he muttered to him. self and. going back to his seat by the stove, sat down to think about 1t.
 At the time Farmer Hardwtck heard the voice at his telephone Cacily Boardman, who was upstairs in her own home sewing in preparation for her coming wedding with Harvey Brown, heard above the storm ring on the floor below. Going down, she took up the receiver and, having spo- ken the usual "WellT heard her lOv- CTS voice say to her:
 "Its in the northeast corner of the smokehouse."
 There was a click, followed by si- lence. She called again and again, but, receiving no answer, concluded that Harvey had been shut of in the midst of what he was saying, and, hanging up the receiver, she went back to her work.
 But since she could both work and think at the same time she pondered on what her lover had tried to com municate. There was nothing intel ligible to her in the message she had received, and had not the voice been unmista kably her lovers she would have assumed that, using party wire, she had heard that which had been intended for some one else. But Har- vey's deep tones were too familiar to her to be mistaken for those of any other man. The message was so in- applicable that she began to feel a dread, though of what she did not know.
 The next morning Cicily took up the work on her wedding garment with singular despondency, mentally repeat ing the words "an impending calam- ity." Presently she heard some one without kicking of the snow, the front door open and heavy step. Then fol lowed muffied voices below. Cicily listened, her heart sinking like lead within her. A little later when her mother came into the room with dread on her face Cicily mOaned:
 "You don't need to tell me. mother Harvey is dead"
 The mother put her arms about heE daughter. saying not word.
 Harvey Brown had started during the storm to walk from his home tC that of his fiancee, a distance of two miles. The road led past Farmer Hardwick's house, and Browns body was found buried in a drift under Ont | of the telegraph poles not far from | Hardwick's. Whether he had sunh down confused and benumbed by thai Interminable whirling of snow ol whether his efforts to get on had brought on some sort of a stroke wa' not evident. The night had been very cold, and it was thought that, bewil dered and exhausted. he had stopped 10 rest and had been frozen.
 | Cicily and her mother were in strait ened circumstances. Harvey BrowI not only owned the house in which h. lived, but had inherited a fortune in vested in stocks and bonds. Cicily' OHproa ching marriage with him hat been looked forward to by her aS great relief. Harvey had suggested hastening the wedding that she migh be his legal heir. The next of kin t
 him was the son of his fathers broth CT, a ne'er-do-well. whom Harvey be lieved would stoop to any chicanery t get possession of the property at Hal
 yey's death. to which, without vii
 or wedding. he would be the lawfu
 heir. This man, Peter Brown, migh secure and destroy a will. but he coul not annul a marriage. For this reasol Harvey was anxious to have the cere mony performed.
 Providence having taken the intend ed bridegroom, no wife interfered witt Peters legal possession. A will alOn' could do that. A search among liar vey's papers revealed no dOcumen bearing upon the disposition of hi property. Peter was recognized as thu sole heir by the court of chancery, bu was astonished to find none of thos' securities that his cousin was repute( to have possessed, not even a deed t' the homestead, appeared among thu deceased's papers. However, this wal valuable piece of property, and Petel