The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1912-02-08
mouthed, except ;5r swearing but rye

mouthed, except i6F swearing, but rye
read his papers, and picked up q point
or two. l reckon the daughter. Miss
Hope, maybe never heard a word
about 1t, but the boy-the one that
was shot-must have stumbled onto
the story and repeated it to Hawley.
That's what set that fellow going. It
seems Mrs. Waite's maiden name was
Pierpont, and when she was seven
teen years old she was married to the
son OF rich North Carolina planter.
The fellow was a drunken, dissolute,
good-for-nothing. They had a daugh-
ter born-this Phyllis-and when the
child was three years old her father,
In fit of drunken rage, ran away. and
to spite his wife took the little girl
with him. All efforts to trace them
tailed, and the mother finally secured
= divorce and, two years later, mar
ried Willis Waite. Waite, of course.
knew these facts, but probably they
were never told the children. When
the father of Mrs. Waite's first hus-
band died, he left all his large proper
~ to his grandchild, providing she
could be found and identified within q
certain time, failing which the proper
ty was to be distributed among GER
tain designated charities. Waite was
named sole administrator Well. the
old man took as much interest in 1t as
though it was his own girl, but made
| mighty little progress He did dis
cover that the father had taken the
child to st. Louis and left here there
with woman named Raymond, but
after the woman died the girl COM
pletely disappeared"
Then Miss Maclaire is Hope
Waite's half-sister?"
That's the way 1t looks now"
And Hawley merely happened to
stumble on to the right party?"
Sure; it's clear enough how that
came about. The boy told him about
/ the lost heiress his father was search
Ing after, and showed him his sisters
picture. Black Bart instantly recog-
niZed her resemblance to Christie
Maclaire. and thought he saw a good
chance for some easy money. He
needed the papers, however, to ascer-
tain exactly the terms of the will,
and what would be necessary for the
identification. He never intended to
go into court, but hoped to either get
Waite out of the way, or else convince
him that Christie was the girl, relying
on her gratitude for his profits. When
! Waite played into his hands by COM
ing to Carson City the chance was too
good to be lost. I'm not sure he meant
to kill him, but he did mean to have
those naners at anv cnst Probably
gOu know the rest-the girl was easy,
because she was SO ignorant of her
parentage, and nothing prevented
Hawley from winning except that
Waite got mad and decided to fight.
That knocked over the whole thing"
They were outside now, and the
first touch of the cool night air, the
hrst glance up and down the noisy
street, brought Keith to himself, his
mind ready to grapple with the prob
lem OF Hopes disappearance. 1t
seemed to him he had already looked
everywhere, yet there was nothing to
do except to continue the search, only
more systematically. The sheriff as
sumed control-clear headed, and ac-
customed to that sort of thing-call-
Ing in Hickock and his deputies to
assist, and fairly combing the town
from one end to the other. Not q rat
could have slipped unobserved
through the net he dragged down that
long street, or its intersecting alleys
but it was without result; nowhere
was there found a trace of either the
| gambler or his companion.
They dug into saloons, bagnios,
dancehalls, searching back rooms
and questioning inmates; they routed
out every occupant of the hotel, in
vaded boarding houses, and explored
shacks and tents, Indifferent to the
protests of those disturbed-but with
knew Hawley, others who had seen the
two together passing by the lighted
windows of the Trocadero, but beyond
that-nothing. Convinced, at last, that
the parties sought were not alive in
Sheridan, and beginning to fear the
worst, the searchers separated, and
began spreading forth over the black
surrounding prairie, and by the light
of lanterns seeking any semblance OF
trail. There was no lack of volun-
teers for this work, but it was cay
light before the slightest clue pre-
scented ITSELF Keith, with the sheriff
and two or three others, had CROPPED
their way outward until, with the first
flush of dawn, they found themselves
at the opening of small rocky ra-
vine, near the foot of Boots Hill.
Peering down into its still Swallowed
! depths, they discerned what appeared
like a body lying there motionless.
Keith sprang down beside it, and turn
ed the rigid form over until the dead
face was revealed in the wan light
1t was that of the red moustached
Scott. He staggered back at the rec
ignition, barely able to calculate.
Here, Sheriff! This is one of Haw-
ley's mem"
/ The sheriff was bending instantly
above the corpse, searching for the
truth.
"You know the fellowr