River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1913-09-04

Inere mas been a. t1me-anQ IL may
exist yet, God knows-when you
thought me in some unknown and Sc
cret way the murderer of your daugh-
ter. l do not quarrel with the sus-
picion; it was justified, Mr.. Challoner.
| did kill your daughter, and with this
hand! / can no longer deny it."
The wretched father swayed, follow
ing the gesture of the hand thus held
out; but he did not fall. nor did a
sound leave his lips.
Brotherson went coIdly on:
II did 1t because / regarded her
treatment to my suit as insolent. /
have no mercy for any such display of
intolerance on the part of the rich and
the fortunate. I hated her for it; l
hated her class, herself and all she
stood for To strike the dealer of such
a hurt felt to be my right. Though a
man of small beginnings and of a
stock which such as you call common,
have a pride which few of your
blood can equal. / could not work, or
sleep or eat with such sting in my
breast as she had planted there. To
rid myself of it, l determined to kill
her, and l did. How? Oh, that was
easy, though it has proved great
stumbling to the detectives, as
knew it would! / shot her-but not
with an ordinary bullet. My charge
was a small icicle made deliberately
for the purpose. 1t had strength
enough to penetrate, but it left no
trace behind it. "A bullet of ice for a
heart of ice,' / had said in the tor
ment of my rage. But the word was
without knowledge, Mr.. Challoner.
see it now; / have seen it for two
whole weeks. / did not misjudge her
condemnation of me, but l misjudged
it's cause. 1t was not to the compare
lively poor, the comparatively obscure
man she sought to show contempt,
but to the brother of Oswald whose
claims she saw insulted. A woman
should have respected, not killed. A
woman of no pride of station; a wom-
an who loved man not only of INV
own class, but of my own blood-a
woman, to avenge whose unmerited
death 1 stand here before you a self-
condemned criminal. Tho. is but JUS
tice, Mr.. Challonor. That is the way
l look at things. Though no senti-
mentalist; and dead to all beliefs save
the eternal truths of science, l have
that in me which will not let me prof
it, now that / know myself unworthy,
by the great success / have earned.
Hence this Confession Mr.. Challoner.
1t has not come easily, nor do l shut
my eyes in the least to the results
which must follow. But cannot do
differently. Tomorrow, you may tele-
graph to New York. Till then l desire
to be left undisturbed. l have many
things to dispose of in the interim"
Mr.. Challoner, very white by now,
pointed to the door before he sank
again into his chair. Brotherson took
it for dismissal and stepped slowly
back. Then their eyes met again and
Mr.. Challoner spoke his first word:
There was another-a poor woman
she died suddenly-and her wound
was not unlike that inflicted upon
Edith. Did you"
81 did" The answer came without
a tremor. You may say and so may
others that I was less justified in this
attack than in the other; but l do not
see it that way. A theory does not al
ways work in practice. l wished to
test the unusual means contem
plated, and the woman l saw before
me across the court was hard-work-
ing and with nothing in life to look
forward to, So"
A cry of bitter execration from Mr.
Challoner cut him short. Turning with
shrug, he was about to lift his hand
to the door, when he gave a violent
start and fell hastily back before a
quickly entering figure of such pas
sion and fury as neither of these men
has ever seen before
1t was Oswald! Oswald, the kindly!
Oswald, the lover of men and the
adorer of women! Oswald, with the
words of the dastardly confession he
had partly overheard soaring hot with
in his brain! Oswald, raised in a mo-