Carolina watchman. [volume] (Salisbury, N.C.) 1871-1937, 1936-06-05
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WOMAN
REX BEACH

they listened to---lt was the steno-
graphic report of a carefully pre-
pared statement by Mary Holmes
Mrs. Holmes being duly sworn,
etc., recited that about ten O'Clock
on the night upon which Amo,
Ethridge had met his death an au-
tomobile had passed her house go
ing east and had stopped near the
entrance to the Ethridge lane. There
it had turned off the road into a
small grove of pine trees which
were visible from her front win
dow. That which had caused her
in particular to notice this car was
the fact that it was running with
one headlight. When it stopped in
: the grove, this one light had been
turned off. She had wondered
what anyone could be doing in that
place at such an hour and had sus-
pected that it might be somebody
from the Italian settlement con-
templating a raid on her chicken
house. Marauders had robbed her
roosts so often that she had been
forced to buy a watchdog.
She Would have satisfied herself
promptly, only for the fact that
her son Gerald arrived a few min
utes later and his coming drove it
out of her mind. Gerald had re-
NAMED with her until after mid
night. When he had gone, appre-
hension, or perhaps curiosity to see
if the car was still there, had
prompted her to investigate. She
had walked up the road, moving
slowly and cautiously. She was still
some distance from the pine grove
when another car had approached
from behind her, and in order to
avoid detection in the glare of its
lights she had stepped aside into a
clump of bushes. This second car
had turned at the lane and had
stopped, with its lights brilliantly
Illuminating the gate and theshrub-
berry on each side of it. Mrs.
Holmes had recognized the driver,
when he got out to open the gate,
as Amos Ethridge.
Vogel paused and glanced at the
reporters. They were frozen in
various attitudes of attention, so
he resumed his reading:
"I was much relieved to see him
there and I was just about to call
to him and ask him to wait a min
ute when 1 saw something very
strange and startling. Suddenly,
without warning, the bushes parted
and a man stepped out. He was
dressed in a long white cloak or
mantle. I thought it must be 4
ghost!
Question. Describe this ,r,an,
please, as closely as you car.
ANSWER. Pm afraid l can't de-.
scribe him very accurately. l wa
nervous and frightened, anyhow,
and this---this apparition made it
worse. He was tall and l think he
wore a mask, but I'm not sure.
Maybe he just wore a hat and it
shaded his face. That's all I seem
to remember--a tall man in a long
robe, but l heard him speak to
Mr.. Ethridge.
Question. What did you hear
him say?
ANSWER. He called him by
name, then he said something about
a woman. 1t sounded as if he said,
4 won't let you take her away
from me- Something like that.
Juestibs. You are positive that
he said something about a woman?
"Answer. Yes. I remember
that distinctly. Then he shot MI.
Ethridge. He shot him twice, be-
fore he could fall. He kept shoot
ing at him as he lay on the ground.
1t was horrible. I thought I must
be dreaming or hat it was a scene
on a dark stage played in a spot
light and l was away out at the
front of the house---it seemed SO
unreal. What happened next is
pretty confused. I was deathly
afraid and I didn't dare cry out !l
more for fear the assassin might
have confederates near by and
they'd kill me, too. l just stood
there staring and shaking. l saw
the man kneel over MI. Ethridge's
body, but his back was to mt.
presume he was fixing that cross
of twigs. Then he got up, passed
out of the glare Of the headlights,
and turned them off. After that,
of course, l couldn't see what he