The Hartford herald. [volume] (Hartford, Ky.) 1875-1926, 1915-08-25
An Alleged Looter Of Or
phans' Trust Fund.
M|O-0CEAN ISLE LIVING TOMB
Is Deserted BY Woman For
Whom He Sold Honor
ScOrned By All.
HE FACES MADNESS AND DEATH

Denver, Aug. 14.-An island of
Tahiti in the wastes Of the Pacific
his living tomb!
The scorn of the woman for whom
he sacrificed honor and liberty his
most vivid memory!
Fear of the madness that comes of
Solitude and Despair his constant
companion. and the echo of wom-
ans hooking laugh and cruel jeer
as she sailed away and left him in
exile, haunting him always
That's the retribution Fate de-
mands of Ellis Thrush, man of many
opportunities, trusted official, keeper
of orphans funds, husband of a
worthy woman-and plaything and
victim of wanton.
The wage Ellis Thrush is paying
for his sins out there on the island
of Tahiti is heavier and more horri-
bic than death itself. A living death
his life has been, since on a sunny
day last April he sailed into Pa
peete, Tahitian port, well dressed,
wads of money in his belt, gay
companion by his side, looking for
ward to joyous honeymoon" in
the tropics until that trouble about
the missing orphans funds blew
over"
The dream lasted four days. Love
died. Retribution was born. Thrush
began to collect the wages of evil
doing.
His devotion to a Tahitian belle
caused the rift in loves lutte. On
the fourth day of the honeymoon"
the man who robbed the orphans
and "rolled" his friends for money
to crafty the whims of a vampire
was deserted in Papeete.
A shrieking, raving mailman he
stood on the shore, shaking his fists
at the Talume, sailing away to Aus
tralia with the laughing, jeering wo-
man for whom he had sold his birth
right.
The black men cared for him
with black women he may have
found solace for his lost love, his
blighted fortune.
A few weeks ago the same shir
sailed back past Papeete; the YAM
pire was aboard; she hid in her lair
as the steamer touched Papeete; she
feared for her life if Thrush saw
her. Through the half-open port
holes she saw him-her former low
ed and slave-as he paced more
dead than alive along the pier.
Yes, saw him there on the
dock" she says. 81 hid away as we
came to port, but through the port
holes l could see him watching for
me, hoping, perhaps, that | would
return to him. He's just a shell of
man now, with eyes on fire, with a
light l had never seen there-the
light of hunger, despair and longing.
Thrush would give his hope of
salvation for a chance to leave that
living tomb of his. for a chance to
make good again in Denver"
But to go back to the first turn
in the road that led Ellis Thrush,
man of affairs and manager of the
Clayton Orphans trust fund. into the
port of ruined men, the .harbor of
dead hopes.
II was in 1906 he turned from the
straight road and ii was Helen
Faust. known to the police of many
cities. who showed him the way.
Helen was beautiful, Thrush was
vain; she played on his vanity; he
borrowed money, he stole money, he
sold a life insurance policy of $780,
900. he sold stock bought with his
wife's money. and he flung the gold
into the lap of his mistress.
Finally Denver began to make life
uncomfortable for Thrush and his
openly-acknowledged affinity"
Frantically he sought a hiding
place for himself and his compan-
ion; his love for adventure. almost
as strong as his love for his wine
and women. pointed the way to the
mid-Pacific-to Tahiti. $500 miles
from San Francisco.
$50 we sailed for Tahiti" she
said. Thrush had belt full OF
gold. At Papeete, where We landed.