Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1915-02-11
Observation-Disclosures
CHAPTER XVII-CoNTINUED'

SAh.h AA1At
L was feeling underneath the boat.
with q sense Of absurdity that Nc
Whittier put into words. 81 only hope"
he said, that the Waterman does not
wake up now and see us. He'd be
justified in filling US with lead or put
ting US in straitjackets."
But l had discovered something.
Mac" 1 said, "some one has been at
this boat within the last few minutes"
"Why?"
Take your revolver and watch the
deck. Zone of the barccas"-
whats that"
zone Of the water barrels has been
upset, and the plug is out. 1t is leak
ing into the boat. 1t is leaking fast,
and there's only a gallon or so in the
bottom. Give me the light"
The contents of the boat revealed the
truth of what l had said. The boat
was in confusion. Its cover had been
thrown back, and tins Of biscuit, bail
ers, boathooks and extra rowlocks we're
jumbled together in confusion. The
barecas lay on its side, and its plug
q OCCLI C1IhCI hlOCAGu VI uEuWu Oul-
McWhirter was for turning to in
spect the boat, but I ordered him stern
ly to watch the deck. He was inclined
to laugh at my caution, which, he
claimed, was q quality in me he had
not suspected. He lounged against the
rail near me and in spite Of his chaff
kept a keen enough lookout.
The barecas of water We're dashed
amidships. In the bow and stern were
small air tight compartments, and in
the stern was also a small locker from
which the biscuit tins had been taken.
l was about to abandon my search
when l saw something cleaning in the
ecker and reached in and drew it out.
1t appeared to be an ordinary white
sheet, but its presence there was curl
GUS. l turned the light on. 1t was
covered with dark brown stains.
Even now the memory Of that sheet
turns me Ill. l shook it out, and Mac
at my exclamation came to me. 1t
was not a sheet at all-that is, not a
whole one. 1t was a circular piece Of
white cloth, on which in black were
curious marks, a six pointed star pre-
dominating. There were others-a
crescent, a crude attempt to draw
what might be either a dog or a lamb
and a cross. From edge to edge it
was smeared with blood.
OF what followed just after both
McWhirter and l are vague. There
seemed to be simultaneously a yell of
fury from the rigging overhead and
the crash Of a falling body on the deck
near us. Then we were closing with
a kicking, biting, screaming thing that
bore me to the ground, eXtinguishing
the little electric flash, and that, rising
suddenly from under me, had Nc
Whittier in the air and almost over
board before 1 caught him. So dazed
were we by the onslaught that the
thing-Whateyer it was-could have es-
capped and left us none the wiser. But,
although it eluded us in the darkness,
it did not leave. 1t was there, whim-
pering to itself. searching for some
thing-the sheet. AS 1 steadied Mac it
passed me. | caught at it. Immedi-
ately the struggle began all over again.
But this time we had the advantage
n kept 1t. After a battle that seem
ed to last all night, and that was ac-
tually fought all we that part Of the
deck, we held the creature subdued,
n Mac, getting a hand free, struck a
match.
1T was Charlie Jones.
That, after all, is the story. Jones
was a mailman, a homicidal maniac
OF the worst type. Always a mad
man,, the homicidal element of his dis
ease was recurrent and of a curious
nature. He thought himself a priest
or heaven, appointed to make CHASTITY
sacrifices at certain signals from on
high. The signals 1 am not sure of:
he turned taciturn after his capture
and would not talk. l am inclined to
think that a shooting star, perhaps in
a particular quarter Of the heavens.
was his signal. This is distinctly DOS
sible and is made probable by the
stars which he had painted with tar
on his sacriicial robe.
The story of the early morning of
Aug. II will be fully known;
but much Of it, in view of our knoWl-
edge, we were able to reconstruct.
Thus-Jones ate his supper that night,
a mild and we'll disposed individual,
During the afternoon before he had
read prayers for the soul Of Schwartz,
In whose departure he may or may not
nave had a part-I am inclined to
think not, Jones constituting his mission
as being one to emove the wicked and
the oppressor, and Schwartz hardly
coming under either classification.
He was at the wheel from midnight
until 4 in the morning on the night
of the murders. At certain hours we
believe that he went forward to the
forecastle head and performed, clad in
his priestly robe, such devotions as his
disordered mind dictated. 1t is my
ldea that he looked. at these times. for