The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1922-05-06

and saw her leave the house.
thought she was going TO town In
stead. after I'D gotten into the
cabin, she came back, surprising
me. / killed her. with a revolver"
'Diablei"
Easy, Ba'tiste. That's the way
you gave it to me, isn't it, Thayer2"
Yes"
Again the door of the tiny lobby
opened and closed, and a form
edged rd-Blackburn, sum-
moned from his mill.
"'When / found the deed box,
there was only ten thousand dollars
i in 1t instead of the fortune that
| had supposed was there. ! was
about to take IL out and stuff it into
! my pocket, when / heard a noise
| outside the window. / pushed the
box under my coat and ran out the
back door The next day, Corbip
or Langdon-came to me and de-
manded- his share of what | had
stolen. He said that he had seen
me at the deed box after l had
| killed the woman. He threatened
| me again-and then, suddenly, one
| day disappeared. | learned that he
! left for Boston. I knew what was
, up then; he was going back to tell
/ Old Man Houston and try TO step
! into my shoes when | was arrested.
/ But l beat him there by going. over
! the range in an automobile, and
taking an earlier train for Bostoss.
! I picked him up when he arrived
and trailed him to young Houston S
office. After that | saw them go
! to cafe, and from there to prize
| fight. | had my gun with mel
! had made up my mind to kill them
both ! thought Langdon had told.
After the fight, they started out,
myself in the rear. Young Hous-
ton had gotten a mallet from the
tiInekeeper Then they got in a
quarrel, and my chance came.
Houston ran. When he was well
out of sight l crept up behind Lang
don and dubbed my revolver, hit
ting him on the head with it. He
fell--dead-an / knew / was safe,
that Houston would be accused
Barry looked earnestly at The
man before him
That's all true. isn't it, Thayer?"
Il haven't made any objection,
! have II" came surlily.
! Il merely wanted to be sure. But
to go on: Then I thought of way
, to get what l wanted from Miss
testifying at the trial in a sort OF
negative way. I didn't care about
that-it was something else I want
ed. | wanted her to switch some
papers on young Mr. Houston for
me, and she bucked against it Then
| told her that she had done worse
things, that she had perjured her
self. She got her cousin to help
her in the transfer of the papers;
it was lease and stumpage con-
tract. The thing was Legitimate,
of course. Shortly after that,
young Houston came out here
again, and got her to come, too.
/ had lodged marrying her,
promising that l would do it when
q the mill was mine. In the mean
time, l had hooked up with this
1 man Blackburn, and he had started
mill for me.
I guess Miss Jierdon had gotten
to thinking a little OF Houston, aft
er all, because when 1 forced her
to the final thing Of telling some
lies about him to a young woman,
she did it, but went away mad at
ne and threatening never to see
me again. Our relations, while she
had been at the Houston camp.
hadn't been exactly what they
should have been. Miss Jierdon is
dead-she had stayed in a little
cabin in the woods. 1 had lived
with her there. About ten DAYS
ago, the baby died, while | was laid
up at camp with a sprained hip. To-
day | went there to find her dead.
and while I was there, Renaud ana
young Houston caught me. This is
all l know 1 make this statement
OF my own free will, without Co
ercion, and l swear it to be the
/ truth, the whole truth, and nothing
/ but the truth, so help me God"
| The little lobby milled and
/ buzzed, drowning the scratching OF
the pen as a trembling man signed
| the confession. page by page. Then
came the clink of handouts. Hous-