The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1913-07-09
ing the tail end Of the matter gets on
a country newspaper. This Is what
he read:


morning in a nearly empty room IN the
Blank tenements She evidently had
died of hunger and cold. There was no
fire in the room and no signs of food.
The woman had been there only rev
days and none of the neighbors knew
who she was or where she came from.
There was nothing on her person to In
dictate her name or identity with the eX-
ception of a worn gold ring-probably
wedding ring inscribed on the inside.
"Mary-Guy." She was a woman about
So and bore evidences of having once
been beautiful woman, although hard
ship and sorrow had left deep marks
upon her. Her hair once was sunny
brown, but was heavily streaked with
gray. Her eyes We're violet blue. The
body was taken to the county morgue.
The police are attempting to ascertain
her identity.
Underneath this commonplace dis
patch Williams had placed a dash and
added this:
In connection with the above case the
Palladium has ascertained that there lies
back Of 1t q bitter tragedy. The woman
once was Mary Bell and lived near Ham,
ilton. o., with her parents on comfort
, able farm. One day there came into
her life young printer named Guy Will
1iams. He was master Of his trade and
able to make the best Of wages paid In
his line. He wooed the sunny-haired
started out under the most favorable
auspices. They were devotedly attached
to one another and the young man was
able to earn enough SO they lived In
comfort-even luxury. From his savings
q home was built and paid for and the
future stretched out before them with no
apparent shadow across the golden
promises.
But there was shadow and It fell
! all too soon. Slumbering In the veins of
the young man was the curse Of the
alcoholic appetite and something more
sort Of natural depravity not to be ac-
counted for on any reasonable hypothe-
| sis. This hydra-headed demon awote
and claimed Williams for his own. With
sure rapidity the young printer slid down
the wretched path to dshonor misery
and bestiality. The earnings became less
and We're used in his debauches. The
! home went presently and they lived first
In flats Il il in ten nentS.
With the ratuous LOYALTY OF wOmankind
Mary chung to the Sweetheart OF her
youth. Now and then she would lead
him to abandon hi avs and then would
euSue some weeks of happiness and hope
but ultimately he would return to his
idols of clay and the brave woman would
begin again her efforts to reclaim him.
Her parents died and her small patri-
monY soon went the way Of the rest
Finally he was una' 70 to hold a job in
the town where tn, always had lived
4 al 4
+ work. This was et enough because of
his unusual skill but he was unable to
bold IA job but short time and soon be-
came a tramp print y. wandering from
town TO town. picking up work enough
to keep himself alive and in liquor At
first he sent a little money to her from
time to time but finally ceased even to do
this.
Still loyal to him she started after him
and followed him from town to town, liv
! ing heaven knows how. Once in while
She would prevail on his better nature
and he would try to be decent for a few
days or weeks but these periods never
lasted long and became more and more
| lnfrequont
At last she has found rest and peace
while somewhere on this earth the guilty
! wretch who threw away her priceless
love, broke her heart and murdered her
AS surely as though he had plunged q
knife into her, wanders in shame and
degradation, despised Of men, hating
himself, without hope, without self-re-
spect, too craven to end his miserable ex-
istence and yet suffering the torments Of
the damned every minute he lives. It Is
doubtful II even the knowledge Of the
death Of his victim will have further
effect than to move him to q moment Of
maudlin tears.
Old Bently stared at the proof with
unseeing eyes for some minutes after
finishing 1t. He was aroused by an
outburst from the foreman who feared
not even the old man when 1t came to
his daily race with the clock. -Where's
that last proof" he shouted.
TITS o. X; let 1t co." replied old
Bently slowly.
1t was more than two years before
we saw Bud Williams again and when
he came In everybody gasped In sur
prise. He was sober. clean and we'll
dressed and bore himself with an air
Of quiet dignity totally foreign to the
Bud Of the old days. He went straight
to old Bently who was bending over
the forms trying to show the foreman
how to get 30 inches Of advertising
next to "a inches Of reading matter.
"Aint got a case today--nothing do
ing" he growled as he looked up.
Don't want a case" replied Bud.
pulling a great wad of banknotss from
his pockets. IL have saved enough to
put q monument over Mary's grave
and-and--I though you might be
| willing to 90 over to Omaha and help
me do It. don't know much about
such things"
There was dead silence In the shop
The audacity Of the thing was para
lying The old man gazed at Bud in
a startled sort Of way for minute.
'I'll do IT," he said Meet me at
the eight-thirty in the morning-and
I've got plenty Of transportation"
When he returned old Bently told
of the beautiful shaft Of pure white
marble they had selected and the sim
pie and eloquent inscription Bud had
ordered upon 1t.
A week later the dispatches told of
the suicide OF printer named Guy
Williams who had shot himself on his