Baraboo weekly news. [volume] (Baraboo, Wis.) 1912-197?, 1920-05-27

were left absolutely to themselves
They kept but one servant, young
colored boy, jim. who ido1ized Mrs
! Lothrop. They came here in Novem
Der and the following March an awful
tragedy occurred.
I One evening, just after shutdown, a
cracker named Billy Heron. living
about a mile from the plantation,
while sitting on the fence, before his
clearing, saw stranger pass on horse
back. -yHe, Was riding slowly his head
bent. whistling softly TO himself Two
hourssl later q Heron. still sduatting on
that much enduring rail, sfand it beats
all how long a cracker can sit on a
|. fence and look perfectly contented),
Gaw the same horse and rider dash by
!. as If pursied by demons.
There, was no moon, but the horse,
. big gray, was plainly visible in the
soft darkness, and Heron saw the
long black cloak of the rider stream
behind him as they flew along. A lit
tie later he was startled by shrieks
and groans, and the colored boy living
with the Lothrops came running
0p and fell, senseless heap, at
his feet When he revived he
told his story and at sunup Her
ron and some other men went
to the house, In the hall they found
Lothrep lying just. across the TIRES
bold, shot through the left temple.
while in the parlor the body of the
wife lay before the fireplace. She,
too, had been shot through the heart
and the floor and hearth were GOV.
cred with her blood. The floor was
literally strewn with jewels. The
story that the boy told was this:
Mr.. and Mrs. Lothrop were at sup.
peri and he was serving them;s she
bad brought a jewel casket to the Ia
BILE and was twisting long necklace
about her arms and fingers, discuss
ing, somewhat sharply, with her hus-
band it's value, when they were STAR
tleG by the sound of horses hOofs
along the driveway; almost instantly
4 -sIan entered, without knocking, and
crossed the room rapidly. drawing a
revolver from his belt as he approach
ed. Mrs. Lothrop cried: ooh, my God,
1t is Ralph" and covered her face
with her hands. Lothrop jumped to his
port He sprang headlong into the
hall The murderer turned upon Mrs.
Lothrop, who had risen weeping, inn
ploring him to spare her. He called
Ter foul name and struck her across
tie face with the riding whip which
he carried in his left hand. She
screamed and begged him to take his
Jewels and leave her with her dead;
but he answered, II want the ring
my mothers ring-nothing more"
She looked down upon her hands, and
easped, as if discovering loss; then
Selling the jewel casket, overturned
1t upon the table, and he assisted her
In tossing the contents about; but
they did not find that which they
nv ere seeking. She ran to the mante1.
he following, assuring him that she
had left it there, and in the frantic
search upset vase Of flowers, which
fell crashing to the floor. She search
ed long and vainly, moaning and cry
ing frantica1ly all the time. The man
became impatient and caught her
roughly, saying: Curse your lies. Are
you ready? 1 am goingDto send you to
bell, with him"
For an instant her stood looking
down upon her; then taking flower
from the broken vase, laid it upon her
breast, and turned away smiling as
man might smile upon the scaffold, or
at the grave of his first born.
Passing Lothrop's body in the hall
he spurned it CONTEMPORARY with his
foot, and uttered curse SO long and
loud and deep that the negro boy
Crouching unnoticed in corner, COW
cred his face with his hands, and fear
ed to look again. Well, it turned out
that Lothrop's name wasn't Lothrop
Mt all Che belonged to a swell Boston
family, that his companion was the
wife of another man and the Jewels
were stolen from her husbands peo-
pie. It was a bad scandal Relatives
claimed the mans body, and it was
sent north for interment: but the wo-
man was buried like dog in hole
Jim dug for her, under the live oak.
The murderer. escaped, OF course.
Justice gets enervated, like the rest Of
us down here, 1 reckon, and doesn't
care whether she works or not.
Wasn't it a bad dream? Let me
show you this ring. Curious, isn't it?
A gold snake coiled three times, set
with blue diamonds; and see, upon
the inner side, the motto "Mizpah." |
found it hidden in crevice behind
the mantel shelf, in the parlor of the
dAntignac house.-Meribah Philbrick
Reed.