The West Virginian. [volume] (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1914-1974, 1918-10-25
THE DAILY
STORY
~. The Tourniquet.
By r. RAY BAKER.
: CCopyright, 1913, by the Mcclure
Newspaper Syndicate.)

(Copyright, 1918, by the Mcclure
Newspaper Syndicate.)
I'M .s s:5? @als.. a .asna -, ~.
doorway OF his hermitage and gazed
essentially across Silver lake where
the red brick buildings OF the new
Ashton Memorial hospital doomed
aSatnst . blue June sky.
The slight frown developed into q
pronounced scowl as his ears detect
Cd = faint hummIng which originated
some distance back OF the shack. The
huu1minR became a roar as a motor
car, with cutout open, whizzed past
not far from the dwelling OF the de-
5ected hermit
Y 'Tfs the limit the way civilization
ehases q fellow around he Growled.
S,Here get place all picked out for
q quiet, unmolested summer OF soil
tude, and when arrive to begin my
heTmiting I find that some one has
built concrete race track at my back
door, and some one else has erected a
kiIl-orcure place in my front yard.
Between shrfeking motor cars and
complaining convalescent patients
and Gddy nurses my hermitage bids
1alr to rtpen into a main street OF a
busy town on Saturday night"
He shrugged his shoulders in dis
gust and strobe into the shack, which
consisted OF living, dining, cook and
sleeping room-an in one. Three open
windows permitted plenty of light and
breeze to dispel germs and gloom
In one corner were cook stove
and table, in another a narrow cot
devoid Of bedding. Still another cor.
ner held a bookcase, in which were
some DISTINGUISHED volumes. Two
tlree-legged stools and one which.
possessing four. stood aside in proud
disdain, comprised the other articles
The hermit rummaged in his pockets
The hermit rummaged in his plckets
and produced pipe. sack OF tobacco,
a box OF matches and a railroad guide.
Planting himself on a naughty stool,
he filled the aforementioned article
from the second, applied part OF the
third and began to peruse the fourth
he was not veteran hermit. His
face was clean-shaven and he had
clear-cut, youthful features, set of
by pair OF piercing brown eyes. He
was only twenty-seven years old, and
that is altogether too young for one
.
The decision to become a reclUse
was due to two things. They were
the acquisition OF a fortune and the
loss Of an attractive young woman he
had intended making his partner in
venture far different from herniting.
Janet Ellison had decided. after all,
that she did not care to settle down. so
Just before she left with her parents
Tor a tour of the continent she broke
OF her engagement with James.
month later James inherited near
" halt a million dollars from an uncle
who died In the Klondike. The money
acted as a soothing balm for his shat
tered heart for a brief period-until
E'doting. mothers heard of his stroke OF
luck and began setting SHARES for him.
This having Sweethearts thrust
upon him VIXEN he had just lost his
hearts desire was too much for James.
He got tired Of attending debuts o.
young misses and listening to their
chatter of society and fashion and 9th.
er subjects that held no interest for
him, especially since he was still
yearning and longing for Janet. The
deceit Of the whole thing grew on him
and made him cynical. He determined
TO sever the sphere OF feminism from
Nhls universe.
He decided to spend winter IN
California, and then in the summer to
start hermiting for fair. Before his
trip west he located this shack in the
Ohio woods, learned who the owner
was and rented it for the season. When
this Transaction took place there was
no sign OF a habitation or a road in
the vicinity.
Only one man knew his present
whereabouts, and that was his chum
Of college days, Ralph Williamson.
Williamson helped him locate the
place and even offered to spend some
OF the time with him; but James de-
clined, declaring he was going into
hermiting "for all there is in 1t. I"
Williamson laughed and remarked:
SYon'il soon be back and you'll marry
Janet after all, when she comes
home" Then, thinking to do his
friend q favor. Williamson secretly
sent q letter to certain address in the
Canadian wilds, taking pains to detail
facts about Kloidnke gold
facts about Klondike gold.
The day after James arrived at his
cabin, to find it no longer a solitude,
10 set out on a hike, avoiding the
turnpike and heading into the woods
dC1AS UtnSSo CQ0 SQOES" E4edVy uH0SA-
brush made progress rather difficult.
80 he took out q lonk clasp knife to
cut cut a walking stick free from a
tree. Spying q branch that looked
GOOD to him some distance up the
trunk he climbed the tree and, seated
d the branch, began to saw at the
one he had selected, which was Just
G6ove him.
James was not adept as a tree cutter
Or climber. or as an equilibrium artist,
0nd somehow, Just as he was taking a
mai WIiaGk at the branch he desired
10 lost his balance and fell The knife
lutched IN his right hand, slashed his
a6tk arm and severed an artery, and
- h0 sank IN = faint to the ground
eod ElShed from the wound In .
yisious spuTt..
fNWh6n james rega4ned consciousness