The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1922-10-19

-Oyez. oyer, oyezr' II val the
baf1IfEs using 1 regular district-conrt
introduction Of the fact that 81 In
quest was about to be held. The crowd
ed room sighed and settled. The cOro-
b e stepped forward.
1--WE are gathered here tonight to
inquire into. the death OF q nan sup
posed To be +. Al. Larsen, commonly
called .Ssssie, whose skeleton Was
found today In the Blue Poppy mine.
As sworn and true members of the
coroner's jury, ! charge and command
yon In the great name OF the sovereign
state OF Colorado, to do your full duty
in arriving at your verdict"
), The jury, half risen from the chairs,
some with their left hands held high
above them, some with their right,
swore in mumbling tones to do, their
duty, whatever that might be, The
coroner surveyed the assemblage.
"First Witness he called out;
'"Harfy Harkins I"
Harry went forward, ciurasily seek
ing the witness chair. He was ques-
toned regarding nothing more than
the mere finding of the body, the lden-
%tification by means OF the watch, and
the notification of the oroner. Fair
child was called, to suffer no more
from the queries Of the Investigator
than Harry. There was a pause. 1t
seemed that the inquest was over. A
few people hogan to move toward the
door-only to halt. The corener's
voice had sounded again:
Mrs. Laura Rodaine !"
Prodded to her feet by the squirt
eyed man beside her, she rose and,
laughing In silly fashion, stumbled to
the aisle, her straying hair, her ragged
clothing, her big shoes and shuffling
gait all blending with the wild, eerie
look of her eyes, the constant MUNICH
ing Of the almost toothIess mouth.
Again she laughed, in q vacant, en-
barrassed manner, as she reached the
stand and held up her hand for the
0AA9IsAAoGA0 tAOl w b1N o~SA.
leaned close to his partner.
AT least she knows enough for
that"
Harry nodded.
"She knows a lot, that ole girl. They
say she writes down in q book every
thing she does every day. But what
al she be ERE to testify tot"
The answer seemed to come In the
questioning voice of the orone
"Your name, pleaseT
laura Rodaine. Least, that's the
name l 60 by. My real maiden name
is Laura Masterson, and"
"Rodaine will be sufficient. Your
age?" -
II think it's sixty-four. If I had my
book / could tell. f"
"Your book?"
eyes, / keep everything IN a book.
But it isn't here. I couldn't bring It."
1.-THE guess win be sufficient In this
case. You've lived here a good many
years, Mrs. Rodaine7"
eyes. Around thirty-five. Let's see
yes, I'm sure it's thirty-fve. My boy
was born bere-he's about thirty and
we came here five years before that"
II believe you told me tonight that
you have a habit Of wandering around
the hillsY'
~Yes, I've done that-I do 1t right
aiong-rve. done it ever since my hus-
band and I split up-that was just q
little while after the boy was born"
<"Sufficient. / merely wanted to e.
tablish that fact. In wandering about,
did you ever see anything, twenty
three or four years ago or SO, that
would lead you to know something of
the death of the man into whose de-
mise W. are inquiringf"
II know something. I know q lot.
But I've never figured 1t was anybody's
business but my own. So / haven't told
It. But I remember"
"What, Mrs. Rodaine1" ,
"The day Sissie Larsen was sup
posed to leave ~town--that was the day
he got killed"
%Do you remember the dater"
~No-I don't remember that"
~Would 1t be In your book1"
~No-no-it wouldn't be In my beck.
I looked"
But you rememberr
~Just like Al IL 1t raj yesterday"
"And what you saw-did 1t give you
any idea" -"
II know what / saw"
"And did it lead to any conciusionY"
Yes" ~
@What, may 1 ask7"
'esThat somebody had been mur>
dered" = IT, u.
"Who-and by whom3" -.
Crazy Laura munched 1t her tooth
less gums for a moment and looked
again toward her husband. Then, her
watery, almost coloriess eyes search
Ing. she began q survey Of the big
room, looking intently from n figure
to another. On and on-fnally to
reach the spot where stood Robert
Fairchild and Harry, and there they
stopped A lean finger. knotted by
rheumatism, darkened hy sun ana
wind, stretched out. 49, : =
~ Yes, ] know who did II, ana I know
who got killed. 1t was 'Sissie' Larsen
-he was murdered. The man who
did 1t was q fellow named Thornton
Fairchild who owned the nnine--if I
amt mistaken. he was the father of5
this young man" = ..
Il object /" Farrell, the attorney.
was on his feet and struggling forward,
jamming his horn-rimmed glasses into
q pocket as he did SO. This has