Cavalier County farmers press. (Langdon, N.D.) 1920-1921, 1921-01-06

"WnatS the tdea or Steailn' the GiriI"
Mostly, / reckon, an a nj OF a
slice of money down East. This is
how the Kid blew it to me. 1t seems
an army officer named Carlyn bout
the time the Civil war closed. ran
away with a Rose Churchill down in
Virginia. and married her. All he
cared for vas the girl. an he never
even knew she was rich, only that her
family objected to him, an that they'd
have to skip out. reckon. maybe,
she didn't know it herself at the time,
nor the rest O. the Churchill family,
for they didn't make no great effort
to find her for some while. Then.
when they opened a will. they discov-
cred that most all the Churchill for
tune had been left to this Rose. and
they naturally becom' mighty inter-
ested. Cornelius. as | understand,
was the brother of Roses father. an
the property was put in his hands as
trustee on behalf of the girl. Maybe
he was a straight enough guy general
ly speaking. but he had expected to
get most Of this dough after the girl
skipped out. an was consequently al
mighty hot. Naturally he wanted to
keep the stuff, an he didn't make no
great effort to locate the heiress. BY
the time he did learn who she had
married, Rose died, leaving a daugh-
ter. BY the terms Of the will if she
died childless the entire estate revert
ed to Cornelius, and he wasn't the
sort O. guy to lose that kind O. bet"
"An' this soldier never suspected
nothing?"
mot a thing. He was a colonel by
this time, out at some frontier post
and left his baby to the care Of some
relatives in the East. There wasn't
no fuss made, an so Churchill sorte1
let affairs slide along. He had the use
Of the money, an begun to think
there never would be no trouble. OF
curse he kept a line on the husband,
but lost trace Of the kid entirely"
"Yer mean the colonel never ever
know'd he'd married a rich girl?"
$50 it seems. I reckon she didn't
yer know it, his wife. But after
awhile some inkling of the truth must
have reached him, for he went East,
and began to make inquiries through
a lawyer. When Churchill heard about
this he got scared. I reckon he'd
played hi with the trust funds by
that time, an with the husband on his
trail got mighty desperate. Meanwhile
the daughter was in some convent
school, and lot to be found. Carlyn
struck. a hot trail all right, but. be-
fore he, could take any action, was
shot and killed in a street fight with
some roughs in Sheridan. Nobody
knows for sure just how it happened
but it's my opinion Churchill got uI
the row just to get him out O. the
way. 1t all happened sudden, an I'M
expected. the only fellow with the
colonel at the time being an old ser
geant, named Calkins. Calkins was
shot himself, but got away, and took
care of Carlyn till he died, maybe an
hour later. Enyhow he kept the fel,
lows from getting hold O. any papers
an I reckon the colonel give him an
idea Of what was up"
what makes you think SOP"
'"The way he acted afterward
Churchill had got Carlyn out of the
way, but he couldn't locate the girl
He didn't suspect the sergeant at first,
o for a long time. He was a foxy
guy, and stuck to the army for several
years, never maxim a move. just
payin' for the girls schoolin'. but
never goin' near her. Then, when
everybody had quit watchin' him, Cal
kins took his discharge papers. and
skipped out, takin' the girl with
him"
FLOW could he do that?"
That's what I asked Macklin, an
he said they'd finally found out that
'urin' the time between when Carlyn
was shot. an when he died, he'd
signed Il paper maxim Calkins the
girls guardian, AN gave him the key
to a deposit b0xi In Kansas City, where
all his papers was. A lawyer named
Weeks, at Sheridan, did 1t for him.
You see the colonel didn't have no
near relatives, an he an Calkins had
been soldering together for years; he
sorter trusted the sergeant to play
square. an he sure did,"
"rhe hi he did! Never made a
peep for the money, did he? An Jus,
hid out all round the country with
the girl, I don't call that playin' very
square"
"Well, II was, just the same. did
square, II you ask me. II was what
Weeks advised him 70 do, after he
seat 10 virginia. an col o peen Mt d