The Connecticut labor news., 1921-03-25

ana Gardiner, and also, as they expected
 by the owner of the mine, with whom they would open direct negotiations, pro- duc1ng the money as proof of their de- sire and ability to carry out their un- dertaklng; of how they hoped the owner would be induced to accept a deposit and accompany them back to town, where an option would be secured from him
 tor period sufficient to enable them to turn the property over to the New York investors at handsome profit; of how e-Harr1S-Wearied by the long ride in the bright, thin air, had gone to sleep confidently with Allan at his side, and of how he had suddenly been awakened
 by a shot and heard Allan spring to his
 feet and rush across the floor of the old building. Then there had been another
 shot-a revolver shot this tirne-and
 everything was darkness, and he could hear only something struggling at the door. Then he told of his own fight of
 how they had fallen and rolled about on the rotten floor, and how, in despera-
 ton, he had not hesitated to use his teeth on the hand of his assailant, who had
 finally broken away and disappeared in
 the darkness. Then he told the rest of
 his story; of his vigil with Allan, of
 the loss of the money, of the capture
 of Travers, and finally of the arrival of
 the policeman on the scene.
 Didn't 1t seem to you foolish thing
 to go into the hills with all that money
 to meet man you had never seen, and buy property you had never exam- ined?" asked the coroner.
 Tt wasn't foolishness; 1t was stark,
 raving madness, as 1 see 1t now," liar
 ris admitted. But l didn't see it that way then. It looked like lot of easy
 money. l didn't care what the coal mine
 was like-I didn't care whether there was a coal mine at all or not, so long as we made our turnover to the New York people,"
 But did 1t not occur to you that the whole thing-coal mine and mine owner and New Workers and all-Was simply scheme matched up to induce you away into the fastnesses of the foothills with a lot of meny in your possession?" A half-beWildered look came over Harris, as of a man gripped by a new
 and paralyzed thought. But he shook his head. No, it couldn't have been tnat,' he said. You see, Rifles was an old neighbor of mine, and MT. Gardi-
 ner, too, knew for a good many years. It wasn't like as if 1 had been dealing
 with strangers"
 We will go deeper into that matter after a ltte," said the coroner Its very fortunate MT. Gardiner is here to add what light he can to the mystery. We will now adjourn to the room where the younger Mir. Harris lies and hear his evidence. It would be unWise to move him for some days yet
 Il can't tell you how 1t happened, ,, Doctor" he said, turning his eyes, larger now in his pale face, upon the coroner,
 but 1 think l got very homesick-I
 guess 1 was pretty tired, too-and 1 be-
 gan thinking of things that had hap pened long ago, back when 1 was a little child, in little sod shanty that the old shack in the valley some way seemed to bring to mind. And then 1 guess I
 fell asleep. too, but suddenly l sat up in a great fright. I'm not coward," he said, with a faint smile. When I'm feeling myself 1t takes more than a no1 tion or a dark night to send the creeps
 up the back of my neck. But 1 own sat up there so frightened my teeth chattered 1 had a feeling that 1 was
 going to be attacked-I didn't know by
 what-rnaybe by wild beast-but some thing was going to rush in through that
 old blanket hanging in the door and bounce on me-"
 The sweat was standing on Allan's face, and he sank back weakly into the
 pillows. Beulah placed glass to his lips, and the doctor told him to take his
 time with his story.
 "As the minutes went by," Allan
 continued, after an interval, that ter rible dread grew upon me, and my senes of danger changed from fear to cer- tainty. Something was going to attack
 me through that door! I raised my gun and took careful aim. 1 saw the blanket
 swing a little; then 1 saw the fingers of a mans hand. Then fired
 "Perhaps 1 am murderer" he con- tinued, simply, but before God I know
 no more why 1 fired that shot than you do.'
 There were deep breathing and shuf- fling of feet as Allan completed this
 part of his statement, but only the cor | oner found his voice. Most remarkable evidence" he calculated Most extra 1 ordinary evidence. 1 have never heard anything so obviously sincere and at the same time so altogether unexplainable." " Perhaps it's not so uneXp1ainable D said a quiet voice; and Mary Harris
 made her way through the circle of men to the side of the bed. She sat down on l the Coverlet and took the boys hand in hers. It mattered not how many were looking on; he was her little boy again.
 You will understand, Doctor, and some Ot you men are parents" she be-
 gan. Allan will be 25 years old this
 coming winter. A little less than 25 years ago my husband was obliged to leave me alone for a considerable period
 in our little sod shanty on the homestead | where we had located down in Manito- ba. There were no near neighbors, as we count distance in Well-settled dis trlcts, and l was altogether alone. stood 1t all right for the first day or two,
 but my nerves were not what they should have been, and gradually a strange, un- reasoning fear came upon me. 1 SUD-
 pose 1t was the inmensity of the prairies, the terrible loneliness of 1t all, and my
 own state of health, but the dread grew from day to day and from night to night l tried to busy myself to keep my mind
 active, to throw off the specter that haunted me, but day and night 1 was op- pressed with sense of impending | danger. We had no wooden door on the
 house; we hadn't money to buy the boards to make one and all my protec-
 tion was a blanket hung in the doorway 1 used to watch that blanket at night :: 1 would light the lantern and sit in the
 corner and watch that blanket My fear
 gradually pictured to itself an attack through that doorWay-I didn't know
 by what; by white man, or Indian, or
 wild beast or ghost, or worse, if that is
 possible; my mind could not balance
 things; nothing seemed too unreasonable