The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1913-03-27

@TfBO eeFs9 has, e0F49 whom yoW must tell &ie truth shout Tom Strickland" Stan Tucker would marry Miss Mary Todhuntex, your daughter, now that she's got to throw him over. It's her that's to blame for the kiIhn', not meT'
 Something came into the girls throat that seemed to choke her. She threw her hands up to her eyes and began sObbing
 ~He want thinkin' about me at aII!' she cried brokenIy. And Stan Tuck CT didn't really care nothin' for me neither. They was both of 'en think in about Miss Mary TodhunteK. ain't nothin' but poor white trash fin their eyes, to be th'owed like a rag to one side. And Tom Strickland knows I love him with all my heart and all my souIl" Here her voice broke pitt fully.
 Then, And he wouldn't ha' known anything about Stam Fuckers maxim love to me if hadn't told him myself! Yet he don't think nothin' about me it's only how he can clear his own skirts by load1n' the blame on Stam. And if he killed him he killed him for your daughter Mary's sake, out O. jeal- ousy, and nOthin' else in the wide woridI Well. I've done said my say, and you ali got to take it for the truth whether you're willfn' or not Stam Fuckers dead and gone. but that ain't a-gofn' to clear the way for Tom Strick- land to marry Miss Mary Todhunter. I've told her mother the truth, and you and Mrs. Todhunter can't let her marry Tom Strickland with the blame for my ruination restin' on his good name-'
 She threw back her head and laugh ed at him mockinR3Y
 You've come here to make me help you to get Tom Strickland out O dan ger, ain't you, Colonel Todhunter2 You're just like all the rest of 'em- Pm settled and done for. Pm dirt under you airs feet But maybe can help save Tom Strickland if -I-ten the right sort of a story-that's it, ain't it? Well, ain't goin' to do it, Colonel Tod hunter!''
 From Strickland's got just one chance for his life, Lotte-AIay,' said Colonel TodhunteP, and that is, to prove that you accused him of a sin that ought to ha' been laid at Stam Fuckers door in- stead and that he quarreled with Stam and killed him for refusin' to acknowl- edge publicly that this was the truth. Even this aAn't much of a chance, but if we don't get it Tom Strickland's go- AA v AA6 SdAOWS Just dS Ger as tuS sun rises and sets. If you told what ain't so, Lottie-May. his blood will be on your head-'
 The girl shrank back and shivered as if she had been struck. Then, again, the hard mocking light leaped into her eyes, and she laughed aloud.
 And if I change nay story to please you alI,'' she sco6ed. what does it amount to, Colonel Todhunter? Just two things, and I'll tell you what they are I help to get Tom Strickland out O. danger for killin' Stam Tucker, and I clear his good name so he can go straight and marry your daughter Mary. That's what I do-if I'm willin' to tell the story you all want me to tell, and so lift my shame, off'n Tom Strickland and put it on a dead man instead-put 1t on Stam Tucker, that was shot and killed by Tom Strickland because both of lem loved Miss Mary TodhunterP'
 ''I'm asktn' you to tell the truth. Lottie-May!' said Colonel TOdhunter; that's all Pm askin' you to tell me now what you will surely have to tell s4nder oath in the Niaeveh courtroom at Tom Strickland's rx1di unless you mean to perjure your soul by kissin the Bible and then sweariu' to a lie. That's where you arS, Esy g9ri! If you told the truth in what you said to Mrs. Todhunter about Tom Strickland ain't got another word to say. But, If you didn't. for Gods sake tell it now. Lottie-May. and help me and Toms father to save his IJfeF'
 Again the girls face had whitened as Colonel Todhunter so suddenly ac- quafnted her with the fact that she must needs be witness for or against Tom Strickland when he was placed