Year: 1879

er,tOlu her tnat JOhn acted very strange
ly In his sleep; would start up in bed
and mutter and talk, and one night he
said:


"'Oh, Harry If could only bring
you back =


Next morning, when told of it, he
said he was uneasy about the CATTLE
But somehow this made an impression
on Mrs. Colby; she was fearful, and she
could give no reason for that feeling.
" Harry's letters came regularly, and
she would often chlde herself for being
so troubled and gloomy; but she could
not throw off the unhappy feeling. So
she hastened the preparations; she was
anxious to be on the road, although the
weather was cold; the sooner they
started, the quicker they would be with
their boy.


"One day, just three days before the
sale, Mr.. Colby stepped into the bank
to deposit some money, when the CASH
Ter said


"' thought you always intended to
let that five thousand remain with
us.


"' WE'LL replied Mr.. Colby, and so
/ shall


"'W Why, you talk strangely; if you
are intending to replace, it why did you
take it out p


Take 1t out 1 have never drawn
dollar of it!'


Why, sir, you are surely very for
getful The money was drawn yester-
day by John Williams, according to
your written order, and here, sir, is the
check y


"This was sumner to Mr.. Colby
AS soon as he could regain his speech,
he pronounced it forgery and very
clever one at that.


"Well, the old farmer was so indig-
nant that he had Williams arrested on
the spot, and brought before the mag
istrate. Williams put on a bold face,
and declared the order was genuine
there were no witness, and Mr.. Colby
swore solemnly it was forgery, and
held him under arrest until futher de-
velopments.


Everyone was greatly astonished, for
Williams was highly honored and many
thought there must be some mistake
Mr.. Colby was well known and honored
also for his truth and sterling worth.
He would bring his own son to justice
if he had done wrong, SO of course there
was great excitement about it.


About this time,a young man living
in our town had gone out to the little
place in Missouri where Harry was sup
posed to be, on a visit to relatives, and
returned about the time the forgery was
committed, and upon being questioned
by Mrs. Colby concerning Harry, said
name around there; there was no cattle
being fed there that it was as poor q
country as ever he saw.


Here was another surprise and
mystery. Why should Harry want to
deceive them sop They wrote to him
about it, but received no answer, and
again, and still no reply. Williams
being in Jail during the time, was
waiting for Court to convene; 80 Mr..
Colby grew SO uneasy that he hired a
detective to go out and hunt Harry up.
His wife was SO troubled and anxious
that she could neither eat nor sleep: the
sale did not go off as advertised, and the
whole family were in grief.


"Cora was almost incOnsolable at
first, but, putting many little things to-
gether that had not been noticed at the
time, she was forced to believe some
thing was wrong with Harry. She be-
lieved he had died, and Williams, in or
der to keep the one thousand, had con-
cealed his death. All this she kept to
herself, and urged her father to send
some one to hunt him up; but yet they
received letters all the time from him,
and surely he must have been at P,
in Missouri, for there were letters direct
ly from him. So reasoned Mr.. Colby.


"The detective was very shrewd
man, and had his own views about the
matter; he called for all the letters re-
ceived from Harry, and, after reading
them over, took his departure, and in a
short time started for P or near
there; it was, as had been stated by the
other young man, very poor country
around P; the townsor village
was very small place, and the people
were all, with few exceptions, of the
common order.