The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1914-07-10
The Mysterious
Stories
B, EVERETT J. MARKLE

l nm u INA or artistic taBte. out,
having taken up business. | have felt
the necessity Of finding something to
occupy and divert my mind during my
leisure hours. I began writing stories.
After amusing myself ut this work for
awhile ! constructed a story that I
thought pretty good and tried 1t on a
magazine. To my surprise. 1t was ac-
cepted. I sent out more and was re-
warded with more acceptances.
When I came to be troubled with in
sOmnia my story writing furnished me
with occupation during hours OF wake
fulness. I have written many a story
or part Of a story between l and 4 In
the morning. l boarded with u lady.
Mrs. Stoughton. and her daughter.
Kate. l may admit in passing that
when a man boards with u lady who
has a daughter. especially IL that
daughter Is attractive. he Is likely to
put a matrimonial rope around bis
neck. At any rate. an affair was
brewing between Kate Stoughton and
myself. She used to twit me for sit
ting up in the middle Of the night
scribbling. for I didn't admit that I
was troubled with insomnia. But Kate
was always joking me. and anything
she said was acceptable.
One evening I went up to my
carrying a magazine with me to read
during my evening awake. Turning
over the e caves, I came to q story by
some n who had the same name a.
myself. l read the story. and 1t seem
ed to me as II I might have dreamed
1t myself. But our mental faculties
are very subtle. and It occurred to me
that my seeming connection with it
might have come from an in%finitesimal.
~ small period OF suspended ANNA
ton. at the awakening from which I
fancied l had seen the story before.
But this did not explain my name
being used as the author Of the stories
( was puzzled over this. especially be-
cause | was nOt familiar with any
magazine writer Of my name-Truce.
1t is not an uncommon one, and doubt
less there were other scribblers hear
Ing 1t, but I knew none such. especially
with my initials.
I didn't think much Of this at the
time. for my business. which had been
running so smoothly, began to give
me a lot Of trouble. and ] was finally
on the verge Of closing 1t out. was
hanging by my fingers, so to speak.
when l saw another story with my
name to 1t, and, strange to say, there
moo thu poink Naoo~~ LD~-yp
edge Of 1t that had pertained to the
former one. The fellows stories evil
IDENTITY pleased magazine readers. for
they began to appear quite often. I
read every n l came across, and my
establishment grew with each. for
there was one but reminded me Of
something l had heard or read or
dreamed.
Then 1t occurred to me to go to
some of the magazine Offices and ind
out who the writer was. ! went first
to an editor | knew best.
"HellO!" he said. you're just the
man I want to see. l sent q check to
you the other day for one Of your
stories. and the letter inclosing it came
O"SA uAOpCuCOs LA0VC yOu t0A0u 70
scribbltng for no pay7"
II haven't sent you . story tor
months"
mot The M%oonshinerr"
mo" This was one OF the Other
fellows I had read.
The editor looked ut me. pushed.
Then | told him what bad happened.
EIo nod ospsNp<Noo<1 thu ~kNe&o~ 9TH an-
name attached to them came from ne.
and be had no explanation Of the mys-
terry to offer. He handed me q fat
check. but l declined 1t and went 10
see other editors in whose magaxineS
the other scribbler's stories had ap-
peared. They had all supposed that
l was the author Of the manuscrtpts
sent in. and all had credited me with
the amount due-in all more than q
thousand dollars.
Now. l had got through my business
troubles. all but Il thousand dollar noto
coming due in a few days. All I had
to do was to accept checks In payment
for my stories and l would be "out of
the woods" But l had not written
Iu0 0tOEIS0 8uU uuU UO ClBuI W t3R0
pay for them. Besides. II I did 20 and
the real author turned up | would 10
liable to prosecution for ~swindling.
! was In q condition Of mind where
a man needs to 166Ade in some one.
That evening l saw Kate St0ughton
and told her the whole story, including
the fact that the use Of a thousand
dollars would save my business.
''Then 20 to morrow" she said, and
draw the money from the magazines.
One morning mother found a manu-
script in a dra wer Of your desk: then
another and another at intervals. One
night she saw you writing and spoke
to you. You didn't answer. You were
writing In your sleep or some similar
condition. l read the stories, and It
occurred to me that it would be q good
joke to send them out to magazines.
I did 80. and they we're all accepted.
In some instances letters came for you
from the magazines. Some I opened
un6 found rhocka 3nc1Oao6 eoaoo1hA