Illinois News Index

McHenry Plaindealer (McHenry, IL), 30 Nov 1911, p. 7

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\\L// K L m tamrAayr./r/f.ar/ramr. w?0 rvwt/rr P SYNOPSIS. The story opens with a scream from Dorothy March In the opera box of Mrs. Mlssioner, a wealthy widow. It Is oc­ casioned when Mrs. Mlssloner's neck 1 ewe breaks, scattering the diamonds all over the floor. Curtis Griswold and Bruxton Bauds, society men In love with Mrs. Mls- Bloner, gather up the gems. Griswold steps on what Is supposed to be the cele­ brated Maharanee and crushes It. A Hin­ doo declares It was not the genuine. An expert later pronounces all the stones substitutes for the original. One of the missing diamonds Is found In the room of. Elinor Holcomb, confidential compan­ ion of Mrs. Mlssioner. She Is arrested, notwithstanding Mrs. Mlssloner's belief in her Innocence. Meantime, In an up­ town mansion, two Hindoos, who are In America to recovcr the Maharanee, dis­ cuss the arrest. Detectives Brltz takes up the case. He asks the co-operation of Dr. Fitch, Elinor's fiance. In running down the real criminal. Brltz learns that duplicates of Mrs. Mlssloner's diamonds were made in Paris on the order of Elinor Holcomb. While walking Brltz Is seized, bound and gagged by Hindoos. He Is Imprisoned In a deserted house, but makes his escape. He Is convinced that the Hindoos are materially Interested In the case. Pretending to be a reporter, Brits interv iews the Swami a* to the rare diamonds of India. ' CHAPTER XIII.--(Continued.) - Brltz frowned slightly as he read the message, then with a heavy foun­ tain pen that fairly raced over the pa­ per, and, addressing his far-away as­ sistant by his cable word, he wrote: "Logan, Paris. Was Maharanee made there, too?" Brltz tapped a bell and looked up as a Headquarters patrolman opened the door. "Rush this down to the Western Union office," he said. "Take it your­ self, and see that It goes at once." It was when his thoughts were tan­ gled in the tightest of knots that a card was brought to him by the twin brother of the heavy-footed bluecoat who even then was supposedly on his -way to the Western Union office with the cable to Logan. "Show him In," said Brltz after a glance at the name; and, as his visi­ tor entered, he swung his feet from the desk, advancing halfway to the •door, and extended his hand cordially. "How do you do, doctor?" he said. "I hope I see you cheerful." A wan smile broke the fixity of the -doctor's countenance for an instant, and he shook his head slightly. "I don't see how there can be any •cheer for me," he said, "as long as that poor girl Is a prisoner in the Tombs. When are we going to get her out?" "I know Just how you feel about it, doctor," said Brltz sympathetically, "but you'll have to leave that In my hands for the present. Miss Holcomb must stay where she is awhile lon­ ger." "But surely," persisted the physi- acian, "It cannot be necessary to leave tier there forever to establish her In­ nocence. You know she is guiltless; I know it; Mrs. Mlssioner knows It, and it would not take much to bring all her acquaintances to tbe same view. Why must we wait?" j "Now, let us talk," said Brltz. "You and i have fenced long enough along this line; let's get down to business. You know something about chemistry, that's certain. Do you know enough about it to tell me whether any prog­ ress has been made In recent years In the manufacture of paste Jewels?" "Can't say I do! haven't been much interested in that line until this out rageous attempt to prove Miss Hol­ comb a--thief." '"Well, it's about time you did," said Brltz jneaningly. "I don't see what good it is to a girl to have an M. D for a lover if he can't be of any more use to her in a case of this sort than Sinks of the Hardware Club, or Jenks of the Retail Grocers' Association. Now, you know how these false gems ere made, don't you?" [ "I know pretty well," and Fitch ,gave him the formula with which the minute men of the jewel trade were familiar for purposes of self-protec- tion. "Well, I'm quite free to tell you," continued Britz, "that the whole ques­ tion of Miss Holcomb's stay in the Tombs depends on our success in find­ ing out who made the Maharanee dia­ mond. I know who turned out the other stones--had Logan over there for several weeks In Paris, you know." The detective then sketched rapidly !for Fitch the detailed information sent •to him by his assistant across the wa­ ter. "But I cannot get a line on the Maharanee diamond. I've been over every place in this neck of woods--in <aet, I've gone over the whole country with a fine-tooth comb. I've had every important city in Europe canvassed, .and the sum-total of all these Inquiries ds that nobody knows any live man who could make an imitation of the real Maharanee anything like good enough to deceive Simple Simon. Now, you just get that scientific think­ ing apparatus of yours going, and help me puzzle out the problem. We know there was a fake Maharanee diamond. It was ground to pieces under Gris- wold's heel in Mrs. Mlssloner's opera box. It was picked up by a man from the Orient--this Swami--whatever his name is, the sort of combination priest and scholar who says he's here to spread ths. propaganda of the Buddhist .faith «i»ong the elect of New York socle/*-. Sands saw the diamond; Mis* March saw it; Griswold saw it, and, of course, Mrs. Mlssioner hereelf had it in her own htfld. There is no doubt about its existence. In fact, here is a piece of it now," and he showed Fitch a flake of the false dia­ mond. "But you don't know, and I don't know what we have both got to know, and that Is who made it, where it was made, by whom was it made, why was it made, and for whom was it made? The sooner we work out that end of the game, my dear young man, the better it will be for that lit­ tle girl up in Centre 8treet" The doctor's eyebrows began to contract There was a peculiarity in the facial gesture. Something was going on In his scientifically inquiring mind. The brows drew together until their separate lines curved into tbe form of a minute interrogation point; little knobs of skin gnarled under the bristles; his eyes focused until they almost crossed. He clasped his hands behind his head and studied the cell­ ing. A rather long silence followed. Smoke Bpiraled from the detective's cigar and eddied upward. The de­ tective's keen glance was leveled at the doctor's Intellectually sharpening face. It was in a reminiscent tone that Fitch at last spoke. "When it comes to guessing, I'm no good," he said. "I haven't been trained to guese. The little I know Is the result of careful study and patient analysis; but there are a few things besides pharmacopoeia in my mind and memory, and one of them may help us a little." He shifted his posi­ tion until he turned a square front to the detective. " 'Way back in my ambulance days," he said, "there was a case that your question reminds me of. It was one of the first I had after I went to Belle- vue. It was a call to a queer little old shop In Fourth Avenue. You re­ member that row of rookeries filled up with second-hand furniture stores, art dens, old eurlo shops, and so on, on the west side of the avenue, some­ where in the Twenties?" A nod from Britz was the only reply. "Well," con­ tinued the doctor, "this call was to one of those curiosity shops. It was kept by a queer little old chap who must have starved himself to death to carry out some object he had. He sold curios for a living, and plpyed at alchemy for amusement--cracked, you know. At any rate, he wasn't all there. His neighbors looked on him as a harmless lunatic, and in spite of his solitary habits, he -was pretty pop­ ular. It was owing to this popularity that he didn't die in the back part of his own store with all the busy traf- flce of a busy city just a few rods out­ side. A neighbor heard a noise like an explosion and, running in, found him on his back all covered with some chemical that was turning his clothes into porous plasters. The neighbor turned in an ambulance call, and I was the answer. I found the old man half suffocated and wholly unconscious, and as I was pretty nervous from in­ experience, it was about all I oould do to bring him around. I wanted to take him back with me, but he would­ n't have it; said he was just as well off where he was; didn't like the hos­ pital anyhow and wouldn't go, so I fixed him up where he was. After­ ward, in the exuberance of my youth­ ful zeal, 1 called on him outside of working hours, and kind of looked after him. He pulled through all right, but he was a pretty badly charred old person for a long time after that. As soon as he was well enough to take care of himself, I left off going there, and that is the last I have seen of him." "What caused the explosion?" asked Britz. "I believe he was experimenting with some chemical--couldn't get . him to tell me anything about it; he got mad as a hornet every time I touched upon it. I learned, however, from neighbors that he was Interested in precious stones, and in his later years the idea became firmly fixed In his mind that If he only tried long enough, spent money enough, mortified the flesh sufficiently, he would be able to make diamonds." "What sort of stuff did he succeed in making?" asked the detective. "You can search me," said Fitch. "I never got a look at any of it. His crankleta would never make any sort of admission to me about the stufT he was making. All I know is that man who told me about the experiments was quite positive that was the crack in the old chap's brain--that he could make diamonds, and could make them just as well in a few hours as nature could in a thousand years." "So the explosion must have been--?" "Some fussing around with the In­ gredients he was going to convert into gleam and glitter. That's all 1 know about it There you have it. Now, what do you make of it?" "Well," said Britz as he put his heels to the floor with a click, "what we'll make of It won't be made down here. I'm glad that memory of yours worked in the long run; but it might have saved me an extra hazardous 'joy ride' if it had worked sooner. Come along!" and he moved toward the door. "Where are you going?" asked the physician. "To the Bleecker 8treet station," replied Brltz, "and from there to Fourth Avenue as fast as the local can take us. Guess we won't wait for a taxi " "Then you think," said Fitch eager­ ly, "there may be a clew in what I've told you?" 'What's the use of thinking," al­ most snapped Britz, "when we can know? There's Just one way to know, and that's to go. Come, let's go." A a they walked briskly down the Headquarters building, Brltz paused at Manning's office, pushed a button and, when the door swung open, thrust his head in long enough to say: "See you later. Chief; going up town for a little while." "Still fighting it out on that line, eh?" was Manning's return. "Yes," said Britz calmly, "and it may not take ail winter either." The detective and tbe doctor were so absorbed in the subject as they raced down the subway stairs that they did not notice a dark-faced man who, after a keen glance at their faces, hastened east in Bleecker .Street and sprang Into a waiting cab at the next corner. CHAPTER XIV. Old Friends. Bruxton Sands was as genuinely as­ tonished as a man of dellberatenees could be when a clerk entered the private room of his office suite in a Bowling Green skyscraper and told him a lady wished to see him. He was about to Instruct the clerk to ask for the lady's card when, glancing over the youth's head, he glimpsed a gol­ den gleam under a big hat with sweep­ ing plumes through the doorway and In an instant was crossing the thres­ hold with both hands extended. "My dear Doris!" he said. "This Is really good of you. Things were get­ ting a bit dull this morning." Mrs. Missloner smiled in that per- that she has broken any law of God or man!" "Are you sure this is wise, Doris?" inquired Sands gravely. As he stood beside her, it was difficult to control the impulse to pour out before her the sdoration he felt at sight of her new loveliness. She had never seemed more beautiful than when she was moved by sympathy tor the girl who ^t that moment, doubtless, was won­ dering if she had forsaken her. "Wise or not," returned the widow, "I Bhall do it Something tells me she is In need of sympathy this very day. Why, Bruxton^ how do we know what effect this dreadful incarcera­ tion might have upon her? It may warp her entire nature; it may wreck her health. Please do not try to dis­ suade me. I have made up my mind to see her, and I shall go there at once." It was a short dash for the auto up Broadway, up Centje Street to the Tombs, and it was with little difficulty that Sands obtained for Mrs. Mlssion­ er permission to see the prisoner. Elinor came around the corner of the corridor with more animation in her step than it had shown in many a day. She had hardly been able to believe her eyes on reading Mrs. Mis- eionefs name on the card thrust through the grating of her cell. Long ago she had made up her mind that the chain of circumstances, or perhaps an enemy, had sown in her kind friend's mind suspicion that she was guilty. As the days rolled on and she re­ ceived no word from Mrs. Mlssioner, the conviction grew upon her. Even this very day she had given up the hope of rehabilitating herself in the eyes of her employer. Not that it was an employer she mourned In loss of Mrs. Mlssloner's confidence. The rich widow was her friend; had been her family's friend, and had been the first to offer her a refuge In the ter- Britz Frowned Slightly as He Read th« Message. vadlng way that long ago had pene­ trated to the very core of the million aire's inner consciousness. That ernile Illuminated Sands' somewhat gloomy sanctuary. He welcomed Mrs Mls­ sioner to a comfortable chair beside his broad desk, swept aside the heap of formidable papers with great gold seals and fluttering legal ribbons, and leaned back in his chair quite content to wait a century for his visitor to speak again, provided her smile should continue to beam upon him. "No, it Is not about investments." said Mrs. Mlssioner, noting the re­ strained inquiry in her admirer s eyes. "I felt I had to talk to somebody about Elinor; and Dorothy, you know, is too amiably responsive to be of any use. Bruxton, what am I to do about that girl?" "I'm sure I don't know," he said at length. "I suppose something ought to be done." "I don't care what the detective says!" exclaimed Mrs. Missloner, "1 am not going to let Elinor Holcomb think any longer that her friend of years believes her to be a thief. It is unbearable! The man told me that I must not Interfere in the case if I expected him to vindicate my sec­ retary; but I am not going to be gov­ erned by anyone to that extent. I am going to see Elinor to-day. I am going straight to that terrible place and assure her that even though I permit her to be kept there, I refuse to entertain for a moment the Idea rible days following discovery of the fact that her kindly, gentle father, aft­ er a lifetime of high endeavor, had left her without the provision she knew he always Intended to make. "Dear Mrs. Mlssioner!" cried Elinor, hastening toward the widow as she read affection and complete belief in her countenance. "You have done many lovely things for me, but this is quite the dearest! It seems hard even to picture you in such a place, and the reality--" "You poor child!" exclaimed Mrs. Mlssioner, hardly controlling her voice "What about yourself? If it Is distressing to me to come here, it is terrible for you to be here. How can you stand it?" "One learns to stand many things," she answered, "when fate commands; yet if anyone had told me a few weeks ago that I could so much as retain my reason in a place like this! Now that you are here, it seems far easier. Oh, but it is good of you to come!" The widow took the girl's hands in her own and patted them softly &b she whispered words of encourage­ ment. She could not trust her voice to speak for the first few mo­ ments. As she looked at Elinor's slen­ der grace and the deathless honesty in her soft, gray eyes, the horror of the girl's situation came home to her with redoubled force. It was by a mighty effort, and by that alone, that she prevented herself from sweeping the girl into her arms and making a dash with her for the freedom be­ yond the great steel door. For an in­ stant that impulse almost got the up­ per hand of her common sense. Had not Sands been there, she might have done something so foolish as to com­ plicate her young friend's position still further in the eyes of all the city's newspapers and their readers. As it was. she increased the tender­ ness of **her caressea, and sought to soothe Elinor's agitation with little love words such as had long been common in their daily intercourse. But this tenderness only recalled to Eli­ nor all the affection, safety, and shel­ ter she had left behind her in Mrs. Mlssloner's home, and at the thought she broke into uncontrollable sobs. The millionaire's discomfort was augmented a thousandfold by this scene between the women. He shift­ ed nls weight from one foot to the other, crumpled the rim of his derby- hat until it bent like the brim of an Alpine, and at length, unable to view the girl's distress with anything like equanimity, he walked to the other end of the reception-room and stood looking through the giant latticework at the tide of traffic in Centre Street. It was not until the widow had re­ stored Elinor's calmness, not until she had assured the trembling prisoner of her love, confidence, and full belief in her innocence a hundred times, not until their emotion had affected even the matron long Inured to human woe, that the girl saw Sands. His sturdy bulk, the square set of his shoulders, tfce uncompromising fidelity in his strong face, gave her a new sense of pleasure. Surely her case could not be desperate with two such loyal friends to defend her! For the space of a star-flash, she forgot even Fitch, although her lover at that moment was hastening uptown with Britz In quest of the missing thread that should lead to her vindication. Still with her arm around Mrs. Mlssloner's waist, she extended her hand to Sands, and thanked him in a way more effective than any mere girlish prettiness for the proof of his faith in her that he had given in coming with Mrs. Mlssioner to see her. "Not that it would take much per­ suasion to make you accompany Doris anywhere," she said with a smile, and she was not at all remorseful when she noted the dark flush of pleasure that spread over his features. "But I cannot help taking comfort in the fact that you have come to see me, and that very evidently it had cost you no struggle to do so. If all of you could only know what these long weeks have been to me, you would understand how deeply the sight of old friends affects me. Here I have been In a world apart. The poor creatures who share this dreadful home with me only make my situa­ tion worse, for I can do nothing for them, and yet the sight of their mis­ ery distresses me beyond words." Elinor did not know how much she had been spared by the conslderate- ness of the warden In assigning her to a tier of cells In which the more bru­ tal inmates of the Tombs never were confined. She had had only a glance of the nether depths. Grave though the charge against her was, the good old man, whom an accident of poll-/ tics had placed in control of the pris­ on, had recognized from the first that she was of finer mould than anyone who had been entrusted to his cus­ tody in his whole term of office, and he had seen to it that her eyes and ears were not assaulted by the sight* and scenes of the blacker depths. Years passed, and Elinor was a woman of much graver maturity ere she knew how much of misery she had escaped. The visit of Mrs. Missloner and Sands did Elinor so much good that, when they went away, it was with a lighter heart she returned to her cell, with renewed courage she steeled her­ self to await the efforts of the good friends and the devoted lover she knew were working to clear her name of the frightful charge Donnelly and Carson had lodged against her. Her confidence in Dr. Fitch was not misplaced, for in the short time when Mrs. Missloner in her limousine was speeding back to her home In Million­ aires' Row, and Sands, in a brougham, was returning to his office in the Bowling Green building, Fitch and Britz were standing on a Fourth Ave­ nue corner a short distance north of Twenty-third Street, gazing with dis­ may at a twenty-story skyscraper that stood on the site of the little old curio shop to which duty had called the young ambulance surgeon years be­ fore. "You are sure this is the place?" asked the detective. "Absolutely." said the doctor. "I went over there to get some brandy for the old man when I was working him out of his stupor." "Well." said the sleuth, "so far as that old curiosity shop is concerned, we're up against it; or, what Is worse, we are not up against It. We are con­ fronted by this steel and stone mon­ strosity, and I guess there's no use wasting time making inquiries there; but there may be a few old-timers with memories along this block, and we'll see what we can find out You take that side of the street, and I'll take this." Britz and Fitch ,went Into one shop after another, patiently repeating per­ sistent inquiries as to what had be­ come of the veteran curio dealer. Blank stares and equally blank an­ swers were the result until Britz, in a tiny tobacco shop that was the center of all the old-times places huddled to­ gether for protection against the en­ croachment of progress, unearthed a memory Incarnate in a man, who. Fitch said, might have been the twin brother of the amateur alchemist "Yes," safd the man, "I remember him, and it's a funny thing to me that anybody who ever saw him could ever forget him. He was the queerest little old duck I ever ran across." Britz thought, if anyone could be queerer than the ancient tobacconist he would have to step out of a page of Dickens. The incarnate memory recalled that the curio dealer had been taken away a week or two before his shop was torn down to clear the ground for the foundation work of the great sky­ scraper. No, he didn't go away. He was taken away. "Anything wrong with him?" asked Britz. "Well, not exactly what you might call wrong, so to speak," quavered the old tobacco merchant. "I wouldn't go so far as to say there was anything you might exactly call wrong with him, but neither would I undertake to tell you that he was altogether what you might call right," and he touched his forehead significantly. "Oh!" said Britz, "Ward's or Ran­ dall's?" "Huh," said the old tobacconist, "I don't know what you mean." "Why," said the detective, "what I mean Is did they take him to the Asy­ lum or to the Workhouse?" "I reckon it wouldn't have been any use to take him to the Workhouse," said the tobacco dealer, "because, so far as I know, he never done no work in all his life, and he was too old a dog to learn the habit by that time. No, I guess they took him to the other place; but what do you want to know for? Are you missing heirs?" Brltz and Fitch laughed. "No," he said, "my friend here just wants to brush up an old acquaint­ ance." When the two had bought enough cigars to recall faintly the dreams of prosperity that had in­ spired the old man's youth, they strolled to the Twenty-third street corner, where they jumped aboard a crosstown car that took them to the Island ferry. (TO BE CONTINUED.) A FATHER'S TIMELY WARNING The Winsome Charms of the Right Qlrl Exceed All Possible Horror of Heredity. "Well, sir," said the old gentleman. "I presume you have come to ask me for my daughter's hand?" "Yes, sir, that would be my ideal birthday present" "And do you realize the responsibili­ ties of married life; what you will have to--" "Indeed, sir," interrupted the youth," "you need have no fears with regard to Janet's future. I have a good posi­ tion in my father's bank, and my prospects are excellent--In faot, I am to be made a director of tbe insti­ tution in a very short time." "Very good. But that was not ex­ actly the matter I Intended to refer to. Have you--have you ever looked over Janet's mother carefully?" The yoking man was puzzled, and he showed it. "How do you like my wife?" "I hold Mrs. Peck in the highest r* spect." "Oh, that's all right, then. Well. sir. though you may not believe me. when Mrs. Peck was twenty-two she was just as sweet and pretty and charm­ ing as Janet is now; was Just like her, in fact." "Yes, really?" "And you still want JanetT" "Life would be a nightmare to me without her." "I suppose, then, I must yield. But" [ he added, as the young man rushed away, "my conscience is clear, any* way." Called the Bluff. "The only way you can legitimately keep out undesirable persons from • hotel is to raise the price or U^assert that your house is full," said a hotel clerk, "but you never know when this may fall. "A couple once came up to register whom I sized up at once as the kind we were particularly anxious not to take In. *1 am very sorry,' I said to the man, 'but the house Is absolutely filled and the only thing 1 could offer you would be a small suite.' " 'What's that?" demanded the trav­ eler, and I explained that it consisted of a small parlor, bathroom and bath. " "What's the price?' he asked. " 'Twenty-flve dollars a day,' I re> plied. " 'I guess that will be all right.' said the stranger calmly, and he registered. He bad me." The Ignorance of Casey. Casey--Phwat kind av a horse is • cob? Mulligan--It's wan thot's been raised latoirly on corn, ye Ignoramus. Bonaparte and His Red Man Story of the Familiar of Napoleon. Disregard of Whose Advice Caused His Downfall. The story of the Red Man was evi­ dently currant in Paris at the time of Napoleon's downfall. In a section beaded "Bonaparte and His Familiar," contained in "News Ftom the Invlsibls world," pp. 363-6 (one of Mllner & , Sowerby's publications, reissued in London. 1854), an anonymous corre­ spondent, writing from Paris, names January 1. 1814, ns the date when the mysterious visltrtfct appeared. The ac­ count is given with much circumstan­ tiality, of detal*, but differs materially from Cyrus Reading's version. Instead of being a person of small stature, the familiar was a tall man of imposing appearance, dressed all in red. Count Mole, in attendance on Napoleon, with orders to admit no person to his pres­ ence, was quite overawed by the mys­ terious stranger. He listened trem­ bling at the door, and heard all that passed. The familiar, it seems, was not an embodiment of the enemy of mankind, but rather the "genius" who presided over Napoleon's destiny. He ordered a certii. n course of action to be taken, and allowed three months for It to be carred into effect. Napoleon apparent­ ly refused to comply. They parted In anger, sad in three months the em­ peror was a captive !n Elba. "Even the French papers, when Bonaparte was deposed, recurred to this fact, and remarked that his mysterious visitant's prophetic threat had been accom­ plished." On three diiferent occasions the Red Man apepared to the Emper­ or: in Egypt, after the battle of Wag ram. and in January. 1814. In tbe process of transmission through the crucible of fervent loyal­ ist imagination the story seems to have been altered or mutilated.-- Notes and Queries. An Officer's Ready Wit. An ancestor of Tolstoy's, an army officer, was an excellent mimic. One day he was mimicking the Emperor Paul to a group of his friends when Paul himself entered and for some mo­ ments looked on unperceived at the antics of the young man. Tolstoy finally turned and beholding the em­ peror he bowed his bead and was si­ lent "Go on, sir," said Pauk "Con­ tinue your performance." The young man hesitated a moment and tî en folding his arms and repro­ ducing every gesture and Intonation oi his sovereign he said: Tolstoy, you deserve to be degraded, but I remem­ ber the thoughtlessness of youth, and you are pardoned." The czar smiled slightly at this speech."Well, be It aot* be said. Much More Worth Inspecting. "Johnny, you have been fighting. I can tell It by the look in your eye." "Yes, mother, and you ought to sea the look in the other boy's eye."-* Stray Stories. ILLINOIS NEWS TERSELY TOLD Staunton. -- County Clerk H. 1. f Mackinaw at Edwardsville denied •*;/ marriage license to William H. Hoff-s man. of Staunton, aged fifty-two, and Ivory Randolph, aged twenty-eight, of Oambria. Mackinaw says Hoffman became tangled on the dote he re­ ceived a divorce from his first wife. He first told the deputy he was di­ vorced in February. 1911, and later changed the year to 1909. $ Bcardstown.--Because St. Loale r;i. have ceased to make trips t*> IVcria wholesalers of that city havo chartered a steamer which brings needed supplies to merchants in Beards- town, Naples, Meredosia, Kampsville, Florence, Hardin and other Illinoia river points. Duquoin.--With the Idea of famil­ iarizing miners with the latest meth­ ods and devices for fighting mine fires. J. C. Duncan, superintendent of the Illinois mine rescue station at Benton, has arranged for a school of Instruc­ tion in Duquoin from December 2 to 16. Streator.--Dr. Robert Clendenea was found dead in his room at home. He had just returned from a hunting trip and, it is supposed, killed himself with a revolver. He was a graduate of the dental depart­ ment of Northwestern university. • Deland.--Mr. and Mrs. S. T. Gray celebrated their golden wedding anni­ versary at their home in Deland. S. T. Gray was united in marriage to Miss Sarah McGee at Taylorville, Christian county, in 1861. To them were born fourteen children. Four are dead. The ten living are: Mrs. Allen Coon, Adams, Kan.; Mrs. Frank Hen­ derson, Adams. Kan.; Mrs. William Fifer, Excelsior Springs, Mo.; Mrs. William Gossett. Decatur; Mrs. John^ Loney, Ivesdale; Rebecca, Grace. Frank and Otis, at home. Mrs. Gray Is sixty seven years of age and Mr- Gray seventy-three. Collinsville.-»-"Judge, I ain't got no ten dollars," said Nelson Cooper, a ne­ gro farmer, when he was fined for not having a vehicle license. Justice Of the Peace H. H. Luke considered the case a minute and was about to an­ nounce he would delay execution to give Cooper a chance to raise the money, w hen the negro spoke up, say­ ing: "I've got some mighty fine corn out on my place. Would you take a load Instead of the ten dollar®?" Ja»- tice Luke conferred with a member of the street and alleys committee of the municipality and accepted the negro's proposition. A policeman accom­ panied Cooper to his farm and helped him load the corn. Capron.--Carl Hermanson was found dead in bed. He was only nineteen years of age and it is said that he had been drinking heavily the night be­ fore. The coroner is making an In­ vestigation to find out who furnished him with the liquor. Carlinville.--Upon receipt of a let­ ter from Sheriff C. W. Vursell of Sa­ lem, Marion county, Sheriff Etter sent a deputy to Greenridge who arrested John Lampkin and <, Anna Ethel Wooden, both of Salem, who were found at the home of George McBrlde Ifi Green ridge. Lampkin is said to have deserted bis family at Salem and run away with the girl, who is al­ leged to be but fourteen years old. The pair are both in jail here, await­ ing the arrival of the Marion -county officers. Danville.--Valuable relics of the Revolutionary and Civil wars were de­ stroyed when the home of Miss Mary T. Jones of Danville burned. Miss Jones, who has long been an officer of the Colonial Dames and of the Daughters of the American Revolu­ tion, had collected many manuscripts and other historical relics of the wars and her home had been for dozens of years the meeting place of persons in this section of the state who were interested in such things. Dixon--Frank Hubli, a farmer liv­ ing near Dixon, shot a bi£ wild cat. He had been missing chickens re­ cently and finally lay in wait for tbe thief. He was astonished when he saw the wild cat steal into the hen coop, but had presence of mind to take good aim and shoot the animal. Sterling --With a police guard sur­ rounding the house and detectives in the hallway and mingling with the p>ests Miss Marie Bartolucci was married to Louis Hand, known as the "king" of the Rock Fall6 Italian col­ ony. Threats of vengeance from Tony Speg. a wealthy Italian, who was Jilt­ ed by the girl a week before she was to hav*» married him. caused the un­ usual precautions to be taken. Caseyville.---John Cigna, a police magistrate, was fined five dollars and costs by Police Magistrate Joseph Matsa of Caseyville for contempt of court. Cigna was acquitted on a charge of disorderly conduct before Maisa several days ago, and after the trial incurred the anger of the court,, who cited him for contempt. The trouble started in the previous' trial, when the jury demanded its fees. ( igna refused to deposit the money as a guarantee of court costs and the oral war followed. Joliet.--Tbe site of the new peni­ tentiary buildings were, it is said, ten­ tatively settled when members of the prison commission with their arch­ itect. W. C. Zimmerman, and Professor Charles R. Henderson Tlslted and thoroughly ins pected a 2.000-acre tract la Lock port township. Pana ---Edward Simmons, a yoAag man with no legs, has announced him­ self as a candidate for lax collector a ere in be republican ticket •SWtofi-

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