The Mellette County pioneer. [volume] (Wood, Mellette County, S.D.) 19??-1971, 1922-12-29
state Of Colorado, to do your full, duty

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
Harry Harkins I"
Harry went forward, clumsily seek
ing the witness chair. He was ques-
| toned regarding nothing more than
the mere finding Of the body, the iden-
LITIGATION by means Of the watch. ana
the notification of the coroner. Fair
child was called, TO suffer no more
from the queries OF the investigator
than Harry. There was a pause. IL
seemed that the inquest was over. A
| few people began TO move toward the
door-only TO halt. The
voice had sounded again:
Mrs. Laura Rodaine!'
Prodded to her feet by the squint"
eyed man beside her, she rose nd,
laughing in silly fashion, stumbled to
the aisle, her %straying hair, her ragged
clothing, her big shoes and shuftlng
gait all blending with the wild, eerie
look of her eyes, the constant MUNICH
ing of the almost toothless mouth.
Again she laughed, in a vacant, eA.
barrassed manner, as she reached the
stand and held up her hand for the
administration of the oath. Fairchlld
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 a book every
thing she does every day. But what
can she be ere to testify to-"
The answer seemed TO come in the
questioning voice of the oroner.
Your name, please?"
Laura Rodaipe. Least, that's the
name / go by. My real maiden name
is Laura Masterson, and"
"Rodaine will be sufficient. Your
age?"
81 think it's sixty-four. If l had my
book l could tell. L"
Your book?"
Eyes, 1 keep everything in a book.
But it isn't here. / couldn't bring it."
'The guess will be sufficient In this
case. You've lived here a good many
years, Mrs. RodaineT
"Yes. Around thirty-five. Let's see
yes, I'm sure it's thirty-five. My boy
we came here five years before that"
81 believe you told me tonight that
you have a habit of wandering around
the hills?'
"Yes, I've done that do it right
along-Tve done it ever since my hU.-
band and l split up-that was just n
little while after the boy was born"
Sufficient. l merely wanted to es-
tablish that fact. In wandering about,
Gu 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 we are in~quiring?"
II know something. l know a lot.
But I've never figured it was anybody's
business but my own. So I haven't told
it. But l remember"
"What, Mrs. ROdaine?"
"The day Sissie Larsen was sup
posed to leave town-that was the day
he got killed"
"Do you remember the date?"
"No-I don't remember that"
"Would it be in your book?"
"No-nO-it wouldn't be in my book,
1 looked"
"But you remembers"
e"Just like as if it was yesterday"
"And what you saw-did it give you
any idea"
~ know what / saw"
"And did 1t lead to any c~onclusion?"
ayes"
"What. may / askT
"That somebody had been nun
dered!"
"WhO-and by whom?"
Crazy Laura munched at her tooth
less gums for a moment and looked
| again toward her husband. Then, her
watery, almost colOrless eyes search
ing, she began a survey Of the big
room. looking intently from one figure
to another. On and on-finally 10
reach the spot where stood Robert
Fairchild and Harry, and there they
stopped. A lean finger, knotted by
rheumatism, darkened by sun and
wind, stretched out.
eyes, / know who did it. and l know
| who got killed. 1t was 'Sissie' Larsen
he was murdered. The man who
did it was a fellow named Thornton
Fairchild who owned the mine-if l
| amt mistaken, he was the father of
this young man"
II object!" Farrell, the attorney.
was on his feet and struggling forward,
tanning his horn.rlmmed glasses into
a pocket as he did 50. This has
ceased to be an inquest; it has re-
solved itself into some sort Of an In.
QUESTION !"