The Hope pioneer. [volume] (Hope, N.D.) 1882-1964, 1920-12-02

and is suffering.
HE is IL broken old He is in
Il penitentiary."
Here followed a section of the man.
uscript from which, IS L recognized.
the page Dravada had taken was miss
ing. Then it continued:
81 became a little more assertive of
r1y rights and dignity. with the result
that our quarrels were more violent.
I tried to fit myself physically to meet
Richard, but he was very sturdy, and
his profligate habits had not vet un-
dermined his health. When I resisted
him physically he had the better of me.
Three times he knocked me uncon-
scious. Once I was i'll in bed a week
rs the result Of n heating he give me.
%"Frequently he threatened that he
would kill me. He said this often and
openly, with every evidence of earnest
ness and determination. Later that
counted against him.
II was not cowed. and With the great
hatred firmly rooted I was willing to
accept the unequal struggle with him.
1t was a joy to hate him, fight him.
wen to be beaten by HIN. I had re-
gained enough courage to seek socia-
bility. 1t was difficult, because his
refined sense of cruelty led him to
search me out. wherever I might be
with my friends. and to humiliate me,
If possible, b efore them.
Zone night I had been at q tavern
in the village with some boys of my
acquaintance when Richard. being
drunk and very violent, found me. and
there was a scene in which he made
loud threats that he intended to kill
me.
Zone Of my friends persuaded me
to go home. At Hartley house we
walked the distance from the house
to the village in those days. l set
out alone, but Richard, breaking away
from the young men who would have
detained him, pursued me. He caught
up with me. and we abused each other
as we walked, being overheard by sew
eral persons along the way.
when we came to q pool by the
river near the house, he became in
sanely violent, cried that he was sick
of seeing me on earth and would rid
himself of the sight of ME. He at
tackled me with a heavy stick he car
ried, succeetled in breaking down my
guard and knocked me unconscious.
Our cries, while he was attacking,
were heard by a farmer living across
the road. Richard was insanely
drunk. He intended to kill me and
thought he had done so. He left the
spot, disturbed, probably, by the
thought of physical consequences but,
l am sure, not by any spiritual mis-
givings.
II do not know how long l remain
ed unconscious or when l awoke. 1t
may have been ten, forty or sixty min
utes. 1t may have been an hour or
two. When it was, consciousness
brought an aching head and a dawn
ing determination.
Life with Richard at Hartley house
had become impossible. l could no
longer control him, I could no longer
endure him.
"a chance Of escape and Of revenge
va pOSSIOlSs L was, III 4NlN11Alu . I'LL.
derstanding, dead. He had tried to
kill me. He might be made to think
he had. l had considerable money
with me. Richard, of course, had not
touched it. Each Of us had been Civ
en-, that morning, five hundred dollars
by trustees. That had been the occa.
sion Of Richards murderous debauch.
II &c, on~o-ov to- t<9 %I>ok 1880.
think Of him as, or ever called him,
Dick.
II arranged the spot as we'll as
could in the details to suggest that my
drunken and brutal brother had not
only killed me but had disposed OF
my body in the river. When l haC
done this, relying for success on his
uncertain memory of the act which
already had terrified him, I left Hart
ley house-all its painful memorie:
and brutal experiences, the unhappi
ness I had experienced there, the mis-
cradle childhood, the wretched boy
hood and the young manhood, com
to this furtive, malevolent end. AM
I there resolved that If I got safei,
away and If my design worked Oh
successfully. l should return to tn,
seifsame spot some time to live a 10
vial lie where life had been so drear
my plans were not perfect; m,
resources and my intelligence for thi
sudden meeting of the world wer
slender; but my success was beyon,
expectation.
"First I had the satisfaction OF
knowing that my brother was take
for my murder. Circumstances wer
all against him, and he was convince,
in his own heart that he had not onl
killed me as lie so often had wishc,
to do, but that he had disposed of IN
: body.