The Hays free press. [volume] (Hays, Kan.) 1908-1924, 1914-12-19

Of the law in his country should be In
sympathy with him. Sympathy soon
became abject subservience When a
South had opposed Jesse PurVy In the
primary as candidate for high sheriff
he was found one day lying on his
face with q bullet-riddled body It
may have been a coincidence which
pointed to Jim Asberry, the judges
nephew, as the assassin. At all events,
the judges nephew was a poor boy,
and a charitable grand jury declined
to indict him.
In the course of five years several
South adherents, who had crossed
Holman's path, became victims of the
laurel ambuscade. The theory Of CO.
incidence was strained. Slowly the
rumor grew and persistently spread,
though no man would admit having
fathered it, that before each of these
executions star-chamber conferences
had been held in the rooms above
Micah HoIlman's Mammoth Depart
ment Store" It was said that these
exclusive sessions were attended by
Judge Holman, Sheriff Purvy and GER
tain other gentlemen selected by rea-
son of their craftsmanship. When
one of these victims fell John South
had just returned from a law school
down below" wearing "fotched-on"
clothing and thinking ''fotched-on"
thoughts. He had amazed the COM
munity by demanding the right to as
sist in probing and prosecuting the
affair. He had then shocked the COM
munity into complete paralysis by re-
questing the grand jury to indict not
alone the alleged assassin, but also
his employers, whom he named as
Judge HOLMAN and Sheriff Purvy.
Then he, too, fell under a bolt from
the laurel
That was the first public accusation
against the bland capitalist, and it car
ried it's own prompt warning against
repetition. The judges high sheriff
and chief ally retired from Office and
went abroad only with a bodyguard.
Jesse Purvy had built his store at a
crossroads % miles. from the rail-
road. Like Holman, he had won a
reputation for open-handed charity,
was iked-and hated. His friends
were legion. His enemies were so nu-
merous that he apprehended violence
not only from the Souths but also
from others who nursed grudges in
no way related to the line Of feud
cleavage. The Hollman-PurYy combi-
nation had retained enough of its old
power to escape the laws retributiOn
and to hold it's dictatorship, but the
efforts of John South had not been
altogether bootless. He had ripped
away two masks, and their erstwhile
wearers could no longer hold their old
semblance of law-abiding philanthro-
pists. Jesse Purvy's home was the
show place of the countryside. Com
modious verandas looked out over
pleasant orchards, and in the same
Enclosure stood the two frame build
ings of his store-for he, too, com
bined merchandise with baronial
powers. But back of the place rose
the mountain side, on which Puryy
never looked without dread. Twice
its impenetrable thickets had spat at
| him. Twice he had recovered from
wounds that would have taken a less
| charmed life. And in grisly reminder
| of the terror which clouded the peace
of his days stood the eight-foot log
| stockade at the rear of the place
which the proprietor had built to
shield his daily journeys between
house and store. But Jesse Purvy was
not deluded by his escapes. He knew
| that he was marked down"
The years of strain were telling on
him. The robust, fuIl-bIooded face
was showing deep lines; his flesh was
growing faced; his glance tinged
with quick apprehension. He told HE
| intimates that he realized they'd gel
him." yet he sought to prolong his
term of escape.
Yesterday morning Jesse Purvy had
rttsen early as usual, and. after a sat
tsfying breakfast, had gone to his
store to arrange for the days bust
ness. One or two of his henchmen
seeming loafers, but in reality body
i guard, were Iounging within call.
| married daughter was chatting witt
her father while her young baby
played among the barrels and cracker
boxes.
The daughter went to rear win
dow and gazed up at the mountain
The cloudless skies were still in hid
ing behind a curtain of mist The
woman was idly watching the vanish
ing fog wraiths, and her father came
over to her side. Then the baby cried
and she stepped back. Purvy himsel
remained at the window. 1t was 1
thing he did not often do. 1t left hin
exposed, but the most cautiousl!
guarded life has its moments of re
Taxed vigilance. He stood there pos
sibly thirty seconds, then a sharp FL
sillade Of clear reports barked out am
was shattered by the hills into loni
reverberation. With a hand claspet
to his chest, Purvy turned, walked t
the middle Of the floor, and fell.
The henchmen rushed to the opel
sash. They leaped out and plunger
up the mountain, tempting the assas
sins fire, but the assassin was salts
fed. The mountain was again a
quiet as it had been at dawn. Inside
at the middle of the store, Jesse Purv
shifted his head against his daugI
ter's knee and said, as one stating a
expected event:
We'll, they've got me-"
An ordinary mountaineer woul
have been carried home to die in tn
darkness Of a dirty and windoWies