Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1923-03-29
THE BREAKING POINT
BY MARY ROBERTS RINEHART

death turn against Judson Clark. He In
structed me to go to Clark, tell him the story,
and put him on his guard. e.o
CLARK and his party had been at the ranch
only a day or two when one night Hines
turned up at Dry River. He wanted the
fifty thousand or what remained of it. When
he failed to move Henry, he attacked him.
The two men on the place heard the noise
and ran in but Hines got away. Henry swore
them to secrecy and then told them the story.
He felt that he might need help.
From what the two men at the ranch told
me when [ got there I think Hines stayed
somewhere in the mountains for the next day
or two and came down for food the night
Henry died. go
Gust what he contributed to Henry's death,
I do not know. Henry fell in one room and
was found in another. The hands had
been taking the cattle to the winter range
and he'd been alone in the house. "o,}
when I got there the funeral was over.
read the letter that he had left and then L
talked to the two men, Bill Ardary and Jake
Mazetti. They would not talk at first, but l
showed them Henry's record and they We're
free enough. The autopsy had shown that
Henry had died from heart disease, but he
had cut on the back of his head too, and
they believed that Hines had came back,7had
quarreled with him again and had knocked
him down. -.nlr
GAS Henry had in a way handed me over
the responsibility of the boy, and as I wanted
to transfer the money, waited three weeks
at the ranch hoping that he would turnsup
again. 1 saw the Thorwald woman, butts she
protested that she did not know where he was.
And I made two attempts to see and warn
Jud Clark, but failed both times. Then one
night the Thorwald woman came in, looking
like ghost and admitted that Hines had been
hiding in the mountains since Henry's death,
that he insisted that he had killed him and
| that he blamed Jud Clark for that and all the
rest of his troubles. She was afraid that he
would kill Clark The three of us, the two
men at the ranch and myself, prepared to- go
into the mountains and hunt him, before he
got showed in
"Then came the shooting at the Clark
place r"
81 rode over that night in a bowling storm
and helped the coroner and Norada doctor
in the examination. All the evidence was
against Clarke, especially his running away
But 1 happened on Hattie Thorwald outside
on a veranda-she'd been working at the
house-and I didn't need any conversation
to tell me what she thought. All she, said
was: --.sc
"'He didn't do it, doctor. He's still in the
mountains.
"'He's been here tonight, Hattie, andryou
know it. He shot the wrong man. 80
"But she swore he hadn't been, and at the
end didn't know. I'll say right now that l
don't know. But I'll say, too, that believe
that is what happened, and that Hines prob
ably stayed hidden that night on Hattie THOR
wald's place. I went there the next day., but
she denied it all, and said he was still IN the
mountains She carried on about the blizzard
and his being frozen to death, until began to
think she was telling the truth. PIG
"The next day I did what only tender
foot would do, started into the mountains
alone. Bill and Jake were out. with posse
after Clark, and 1 picked up some food and
started. I'll not go into the details of that
trip I went in from the Dry River Canyon,
and guess I faced death dozen times the
first day I had map, but lost myself in
six hours had food and blankets and an ak
along and built shelter and stayed there
overnight. [ had to cut up one of my blankets
the next morning and tie up the horses feet.
so he wouldn't sink too deep in the snow.
But it stayed cold and the snow hardened,
and we got along better after that ~
It'd have turned back more than once, but
I thought I'd meet up with some of the sher-
! ifs party. didn't do that, but stumbled
on trail on the third day, toward evening.
1t was the trail made by John Donaldson, as
I learned later I followed it, but concluded
after awhile that whoever made it was lost,
too. 1t seemed to be going in circle. I was
in bad shape and had frozen part Of my
right hand, when saw cabin, and there was
smoke coming out of the chimney" II.
Continued Saturday. Renew your subscrip-
ton now as not to miss an installment of
this splendid story. ~