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t../ v- -,.y- y-y. v ry . i > pvf k /^.V * ^ ' , I Quarter Century u W. R. Bi Twenty or more years ago when the tide of political battle had turned favorably for the Democracy and there was swept into the White House the first friend the late Confederate States had had there for wellnigh three decades, not a few Southerners, for partizan activity, were rewarded with government positions in Washington. Among the number were two young men? j one from Carolina, the other from Texas?between whom a fast friendship sprang up as the result of a chanqe acquaintance, J formed en route to the national capital. Neither had ever visited j Washington, hence their knowledge of the city was necessarily limited. Nothing was more natural, therefore, than that they should agree to seek lodgings at the same place, temporarily at least. A modest but respectable hotel ; had been recommended to the Texan, at which they were for some days comfortably established. Fire came along one' night, however, the ~ hotel was i gutted and the young men had to ! find quarters elsewhere. At a loss to know whither to go, they sought the aid of the congress-: man who represented the home , district of the Carolinian. Hjs ! assistance was readily given. Ut j course he knew where they could be accommodated; indeed, the family with whom he was staying in the "northwest" would be pleased, he doubted not, to take the young men in. The place was some distance out, but not inconvenient to the i government offices. The house was large, roomy, well-furnished and withal a desirable home, in most respects. It had been built by a retired Southern planter of the Calhoun-Clay-Webster era, who, having disposed of his immense holdings of slaves and plantations, had come to Washington to spend his declining days , in ease and luxury and to be near the scene of the momentous political discussions which were then wellnigh the all-absorbing topic of public interest. During the war the place had passed into the hands of a Scotchman, a somewhat mysterious man, about whose past and present little was known. For years he had been the sole occupant of the house, but after considerable importunity had reluctantly agreed to lease the three floors above ground to the present tenants, retaining the basement for himself. The house had1 recently been repaired within and I was now attractive enough in- j side; but for some singular and ' unexplained reason the Scotchman had refused absolutely to allow any improvements to be made to the exterior of the building or the grounds, declining even to discuss the matter. JP Furthermore, there was one room in the building which, he announced, must be little altered. This room, on the rear of the third floor, might be used, but he insisted that no changes be made therein further than ^ necessary to make it habitable. The room, the congressman, added, was immediately to the rear of the one he himself occupied, and he thought it the only unoccupied room in the house. If the young men hesitated to use the room because of the Scotchman's singular solicitude concerning it. they need not, of course, do so, even if it were offered them. The young men had little trouble in locating the place, but both were surprised to find the house and grounds even more desolate and foreboding than they surmised. The iron gate groaned wearily on its rusty hinges, the lawn (if such it could be called) was unkempt and covered with dead leaves and dying grass, a marble statute had fallen from its base and lay half hidden in the tangled mass of rotting herbage, here and there an oldfashioned flower, growing wild, struggled for existence among the weeds and briars and the shrubbery had long since failed to bear evidence of kindly care; the house, a massive brick pile, was old, weatherworn, uninviting in the extreme, and looked as if no human foot had crossed its threshold for ages? '"o'er all there hung the shadow of a fear." Once within, however, the transformation from the gloomy ml outward appearance of the place r was in such marked contrast to the cheery, hospitable surroundings that all thought of the former was forgot. Only one room, the young men were told, was at -<.r- \ % i 1 i i Burial Chamber. radford. the disposal of the landlady, a rear room on tHb third floor; and she would be pleased to allow the young men to use it, since they were recommended by her distinguished guest. Did they care to see the room? Yes. There was nothing objectionable about it, as both agreed, though the furniture was of an antiquated, outof-date nattern. In one corner there stood a small table, covered with preen cloth, that appeared to have been roughly used. Across the top the table bore a number of stains, the peculiar brownish color of which sugpested human blood; and on opposite sides of the wall there hunp the portraits of two young men, each of striking appearance, but of a distinctly different type, who seemed to be lookinp fixedly at each other. In other respects, the room was not unlike many others the young men had seen, and instead of being displeased because of its somewhat quaint and indeed outre appearance, each said that he would move in the following day. The morrow came and with it the two new guests of the place, who readily adjusted themselves to their new quarters. Nothing out of the ordinary happened for several weeks, but late one night during their second month in the room the Carolinian awoke from j a restless sleep and declared to ; his room-mate that he had just | had a most horrible dream, and j that he did not purpose to stay ; in the room another night. All efforts of the Texan to calm the Carolinian were unavailing, and the latter arose and turned on the light, but not hefore receiving the positive as- j surance that the Texan had not < been out of bed since retiring. I The light revealed the fact 'to ! both that in some mysterious, unaccountable way the small, green covered table had been shifted from its accustomed place in the corner to the centre of the room and that underneath it on j the floor lay a blood-soaked ace I of hearts. No beseeching would induce the Carolinian to reveal the na- j iure 01 nis a ream tnat nignt, but j he promised his friend to relate , the whole of it the following morning. The promise was fulfilled when they were joined at the breakfast table by the congressman. to whom was shown j the blood-besmeared ace of hearts i as evidence of the Carolinian's , uncanny experience. That afternoon both young men moved out, j the Carolinian, at least, firm in j the conviction that the place was haunted. To this day he has in his possession that weird ace of hearts. Coincident with the departure of the young men, a message was received by the congressman, stating that the Scotchman was ill and wished to see him. The request was readily complied with, the visit to the old man's bedroom disclosing the fact that he was indeed very ill. Here is the story he related as the reason for requesting to see the congressman: "As you know, I am an old I man. For the last ten days I j have been sick, and I am now so | week and emaciated that I do I not hope ever again to rise from j this bed. I have little strength [ left and realizing that it perhaps i is but a matter of hours for me on this earth, I can no longer bear the thought of passing out into the great beyond without telling someone of the awful life I have lived for the last 25-years. But let me begin the recital with the days of my young manhood. I am a Scotchman by birth and lived on my father's estate near Glasgow until my 25th year. In spite of the careful home training I received in my youthful days, I grew up to be wild and dissipated and was fast bringing disgrace upon my honored parents when, one day, my father proposed to me that I go to America and there make my | home, thinking the change would make of me the man he had so hoped for. The proposition was agreeable to me, especially after ! I learned that it was also the I purpose of a boyhood friend to j emigrate to America. "We sailed tocether. each of I us having considerable money, and finally drifted to Washing| ton. Shortly after the outbreak of the great Civil war I bought this home, intending to return later to my native land and bring back with me the girl who could i never discover in me the faults ^ so many others found. But 1 . l . v A x \ THE FORT MILL TIKES could not shake off my inordinate passion for gambling?the thing took complete possession of me. As the climax to this irresistible desire for the game of chance, I invited the friend of my boyhood i days to spend the night with me ; with the purpose of inveigling j him into a card game. He cared ; little for cards, but agreed to ; play to please me. I lost steadily for hours, the stakes meanwhile | mounting higher and higher. Pinallv I rialfwl m\r nil mm I lone hand, every dollar I had in the world was thrown in the balance and ?I lost. The thought of the utter ruin which stared me in the face completely overcame and crazed me, and drawing from my pocket a dagger I drove it to the hilt in the heart of my friend. The blood spurted out over the i table and cards and he sank to the ; floor and died without a groan. "Realizing the enormity of the i crime I had committed and the necessity to dispose of the body to save myself, I dragged it downstairs from the rear room of the third floor, where we had played, to this very room and buried it under the floor. Not one night in all the long years since I committed the horrible crime have I failed to sleep in this room, within a few feet of my murdered friend. Last night, realizing that my strength was fast leaving me and unable to withstand the irrepressible desire once more to visit the scene of my crime, I stole silently upstairs to that fated room. Upon discovering that the room was occupied, I left it as quickly as my feeble strength would permit, but dropped to the floor an ace of hearts, besmeared with the life blood of my friend. "No one can imagine the horror-haunted life I have lived since that night more than 26 years ago. Now, I beg of you not to repeat tne story ot my crime until " The stricken man had sunk back on his pillow unable to say more. Within 24 hours dissolution had come and his soul had passed out into the great beyond, there to be tried for his crime before a greater Judge than he had evaded on earth. A Valuable Gift. To the first 50 subscribers, new or old, who pay their subscriptions a year in advance, The Times will give free of charge a year's subscription to the Southern Agriculturist, Nashville, Tenn., worth 50 cents. The Times has only 50 subscriptions to this fine semi-monthly farm paper to dispose of in this way, and the first calls will get them. Do you want one? LINEBACK & ELAN (POPULAR JEWELERS) CHARLOTTE, N. C. West Trade St., Near Square. II "The Little Store with the Big Stock." We are gutting in tremendous stocks of the most select lines of Jewelry, Watches, Silverware, Cut Glass and Holiday Goods. Our stock has the variety that you want when you select a Wedding: or Holiday Gift. | Come to see us and we will always give you the best goods for i the least money. Q BEACH-IHRIE'S ? fi Our Jewelry Store is simply Q Q running over with the many new M things for fall and Xmas. We W Q have never before been able to n rt offer the people such a large se- J Q lection to choose from. Just re- D gj ceived large shipment of g| 8 Libbey's jjj g Cut Glass, | Sthe world's best. For a tfift you A could not pfive anything that n ft would bo appreciated more than ft ' a a piece of the celebrated Libbey ? A Cut (llass. ft Mail orders filled same day re- w ; { y ceived. Q I jjj Beach-ihrie Jewelry Co., I | R Reliable Jeweler*, g i jj Rock Hill, - - - S. C. ? 1 tOOdOdCXOOtOllOt'l - ? ' ' , ? DECEMBER 15, 1910. TAX NOTICE?1010. Office of the County Treasurer of York County. Yorkville, S. C., Sept. 15, 1910. Notice is hereby given that the tax books for York county will be opened on Saturday, the 15th day of October, 1910, and remain open until the 31st day of December, 1910, for the collection of State, county, school and local taxes for the fiscal year 1910, without penalty, after which day one per cent, penalty will be added to all payments made in the month of January, 1911, and two per cent, penalty for all pay menis made tn the month of February, 1911, and seven per cent, penalty will be added on all payments made "from the 1st day of March to the 15th day of March, 1911. and after this date all unpaid taxes will go into executions and all unpaid single polls will be turned over to the several magistrates for prosecution in accordance with law. For the convenience of taxpayers, I will be in Yoi#>ille from Monday, November 14. until the 31st day of December, 1910, after which day the penalties will attach as stated above. HARRY E. NEIL, Treas. of York Countv. We Are Headquarters For the Following: Hardware, Crockery and Stoves, Buck's Steel Ranges, Lime, Cement and Plaster, Elwood Field and Hog Fence, McCormick Mowers and Rakes, International Gasoline Engines, Shredders, Corn Harvesters and Disc Harrows, Sewer Pipe a^ul Farm Drain Tile, Grates and Tile, Chattunooga Turn and Disc Plows, Cole's Hot Blast Heaters, Wilson Heaters, Machinery, Fittings and Supplies, Window Glass and Putty, Roofing of all kinds, Farmers' Favorite Grain Drills, Stalk Cutters, Spokes and Rims, Guns and Ammunition. Rock Hill Hardware Company, Rock Hill. - S. C. OVER 65 YEARS' >mHHB|^experience hSDR IK V ^ J J ' L J -<^K| I i S I o ^^K 6 ! k K J "t ?&3 SaflKSHs iRADC MARKS Designs Copyrights Ac. Anvona ?endtng a iiVf trh and description m?y quickly ascertain ourT)|>iiiion rree whether en Invention la probably patentable. Communlcatloiia strict lycnundetitlul. HANDBOOK onPitanu sent Tree. Oldest agency for securing patent*. Patents taken through Munn A Co. recstva rpeetal notice, without etinrgo, In the Scientific American. A handsomely lllnatrated weekly. largest etrctilatlon of any sctentldo Journal. Torn,* $3 a ,L by nil newsdealer*. MUNN&Co.36'8 *^ New York Bran oh OfBoe. 636 I" SU, Washington. D. C. I The S Is V Do not he because yoi sum. The P Hill esner.ia I any amoun realizing tl substantial ] itor is encoi tions theret \ bank pays 1 terly, thus j vour funds 1 | The Pec ROCl i | SAFE, i v*-**8 ; 'v'v ^ \ V SAVINGS ]H It's not what you make that :ll i i. - I win uicUvc you weauny. u is what you save that will make |j ^ I you happy and independent ARE YOU 1 SAVING? A I THE SAVINGS BANK OF FORT MILL, S. C. V W. B. Meacham, Cashier I W 1 =j Mules and Horses ' We have just received our first shipment of Tennessee Mules and Horses. They are J the good kind and now is the time to buy, as they may be higher later in the season. l^vprvnuo (tn<1 vuiitnnd fn lw* -m~* ? J ?/*! V/ till I l?lt VV V/V? tW IfV (t O * V j'l V^Cll.11 l> ed or your money refunded. See these before you buy; it will pay you. Mills & Young Company. . J \ imall Account Welcomed Here. sitate to open a bank account I i cannot begin with a large I eoples National Bank of Rock lly welcomes small deposits,, t from one dollar upwards, lat these accounts grow to proportions when the deposlraged to make regular addio, just as he is able. This 1 per cent, compounded quar>roviding a liberal income for together with absolute safety. >ples National Bank, j K HILL, - - SOUTH CAROLINA. SUCCESSFUL, SECURE. I