The Hayti herald. (Hayti, Mo.) 1908-1922, 1919-12-18
nouseseeper; her father was Adelbert


Beaucaire, the Judges only son. No
one knows where he is, dead or alive"
"De good Lordi An de oil jedge
never set her freeT
The lawyer shook his head, words
evidently failing him.
"But are you absolutely certain of
thisf" I broke in impatiently. "Have
you searched the records?"
"Not only searched them, Knox, but
before he left for the north on this
last trip Beaucaire was in my office,
and / practically forced him to ac-
knowledge the negligence. He even
authorized me to draw up the neces-
sary papers for him to sign on his re-
turn-for both Della and the girl.
They are in my desk now, unexecuted.
There is no mistake-Rene is legally
q slave, together with her mother"
"My Godl" exclaimed. "Could any
one conceive more horrible position!
Here is young girl, educated, refined,
Of more than ordinary attractiveness,
Throckmorton tells me, brought up
amid every comfort, and led to be-
lieve herself the honored daughter Of
the house, awakening in an instant to
the fact that she Is slave, with ne
gro blood in her veins-a mere chat
tel, owned body and soul by gam
bier, won In a card game, and to be
sold to the highest bidder. Haines,
l tell you Kirby knew all this-he
either suspected, or had discovered
through some source that Rene Beau
caire had never been set free. For
some reason he desired possession Of
both Beaucaire girls; they meant
more to him than either the money or
the property. This card game gave
him one; the other"
"Eloise, you mean? Did the fellow
threaten herr"
"Here is what he said sneeringly; {;
you can judge yourself what he meant:
She's worth fifty thousand dollars by
her mothers will, and intend tc win
her If can, fair means or foul"
Haines did not speak for some mo-
ments, his eyes on my face. Then he
paced back and forth across the floor,
finally stopping before the fire.
"This is as near hell as anything
ever knew" he said, "and so far as
I can see there Is no legal way out
Of it. We are utterly helpless to as
sist."
1--WE are not" 1 answered hotly, "if
we are men. There may be no legal
way in which we can beat this villain,
but there is an illegal one, unless we
are already too late, and l propose
to use it, whether you join ne or not
You are sure the girls are still at the
plantation house-that they know
nothing OF this condition?"
81 have reason to believe so. Della
was buying provisions at the Landing
yesterday; 1 talked with her mo
ment."
"And you said that Kirby and Car
yer were only in town for one night
| leaving the next morning on a keel
| boat for st. Louis. My idea is they
were not quite ready to take posses
sion; that they have gone to st. Louis
to file the papers, and will come bacl
with officers prepared to eXecut,
|
fast to get out of their way"
"What do you propose doing?"
"Let me ask "a question first. Is
true that Eloise Beaucaire is heires
to fifty thousand dollars through he
mothers estate?"
Eyes; I invested most of it,"
"In what?"
"New Orleans property principally.
"Then it is safe enough whateve
happens. The only thing we can d.
is this: tell those girls and the mothe
the whole truth-tell them at once, be
fore Kirby can return, and then he'll
them to get out of this country. ]
less she desires to, but there is II
other safe course for Della and Rene
They must reach northern state be
fore Kirby can lay hands on then
Could Della pass for a white woman?
mot in the South; still she coul
believe it is possible for the two t
escape in that way, Knox. Understand
I'd be willing to risk it IL there wer
any show. How can it be done? o
the average at this time of year ther
isn't steamboat along here once
month. If we did get them onto
boat they would have to trav'
straight south as far as the Ohi'
Kirby wouldn't be more than a da
or two behind them with friends o
every boat on the river. Illinois is n
free state for fugitive slaves-the
might just as well be caught in Mi
souri, as over there. There is not on
chance in thousand that they max
it,"
sand less than that If they renal
here for Kirby to get his hands on
l retOrted bitterly. "Now look her
Haines. / am going to carry out TIL
plan alone if you will not back me
r it. / am not talking about stean
0 boats; they could travel by night, an
: hide along shore during the day. A