Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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A STORY Of HY5TCRY. IKVOtVINO STARTLINGI COMPUCATKWS &? ADVENTUR U anna Kathciunc CRteh Ml _ author- ?p ^nw li awwearn can*, eertme ccost ? mmm. cm ?Mi** ssBaaaaai ?( a forcible feature, out of deolel or depreciation, It mm not easy to decide. "Would It not then be better for all ,** pursued Ute lawyer, "for you Hen me tome Idea of the great which your Bieter lay that I may have an an* ready when people aak me why yon no conspicuously by, to enrich this stranger?" story la not mine. Had ehe yon to know It, she would It to you herself. I muet Harper interrupted the other aely. "Do yon realist what may bo thrown upon your by tale reticence on port? Her death waa suggestive without the complications you In Juitlce to your relation ehould spaa* If, as I think. In really mannt for you, new The subterfuge may be dlflV but It will not hurt aa mach ae this extreor on your part" are n man of limited expert nr. Harper." replied Hasen, not understand the truth, me. Kennom might but not even rink Ransom's 4 lee re How thie la all I am going to thai matter. Georgian e last Eautnment followed through by nulctde, wag n perfectly reg The only Impediment to Its i and acted upon 9a taw Anna* an to her actual donogen, at fJhn body of my poor young elfter mm hoeeene lodged In the Devil's I am going thorn to seek An the projecta culm for ooarage all, a good eondltion of mind, 1 shall be obliged to nan ft? yon will allow mo the benefit eg nan ginnt I nvoet certainly need. To I geny have something more F ?n yon, and I may not Per 1 ah all want In make my will, ir Agni with a smile full moaning;, ho pushed Mr. ' aatde and made for the ap which ho presently van another attempt on the _gart to hold him back. aV now mtnatoa Inter the lawyer wag ? what Information ho could the no-called Dortra Cauldron. | that thin waa n rory deep . on account of the rocky eurroundlug It, the water aa eddy which had the force whirlpool. No one had ever Its depthe and nothing had again which had once narked Into It* deathly hollow. Georgian's body had found Its grave there many had be from the first, and If the con had not yet been publicly ex? it was out of consideration for i, to whoee hopes it could at ring n final knelL "Waera la the hole* How tin from an waterfall?** queried Mr. Harper. "A good mile," muttered one inaa a horrid place, eir. No one has sounded its depths.'' could no longer hide hit ex? it at the thougnt that Hauen this undertaking. "How he muet want money!" That a man ehould face such a hol? ier far another man's profit did not likely enough to engage his con tor a moment Lnwyer Har? tha world?or thought he Next day the whole town was Into a hubbub. Word had out through every medium pos to ee small a place that Alfred rfaran. Georgian's long loot brother, 1 going to dare Death Eddy In n attempt to recover hie sister's CHAPTER XXV. Death Eddy. was a gray day, chill and ominous. Ae the three meat Interested In the event came tugether on the road facing from which Hasen had de? le make hie desperate plunge, dreartsBis of the scene wee re? in the troubled ere of the law t, oeoaVtrc yer and that or the still more pro? foundly affected Ransom. Only Has? en gated unmoved. Perhaps because the spot was no new one to him, per? haps because an unsympathetic sky, a stretch of rock, the swirl of churn? ing waters without any of the light? ness and color which glancing sun? light gives, meant for him hut one thing?the thing upon which he had fixed his mind, his sout Under a tree at the' spot a email group of strong and determined men waa already collected; not as specta? tors hut as helpers in the adventurous attempt about to be undertaken oy their old friend and playmate. The spectators had been barred from the point and stood lined up in the road overlooking the eddy. They were numerous and very eager. Hasen's ?rows drew together in his first ex? hibition of feeling as he saw women and ?Ten children In the crowd, and eaught their expression of morbid an? ticipation. "Cormorants!" escaped his lips. They look for a feaat of death, but W" escaped his lips. "They look for a feast of death." they will be disappointed. I shall sur j*f?0 this plunge." > '^slr. Hasen?" It was Harper who Spoke. They had passed a little thicket of brush and were drawing near the group under the tree. "Have you duly considered what you are about to do? I have talked with several men of judgment and expert ence about this attempt, and they all gay it can have but one termination.' "I know. That is because they know little or nothing of the life I have led since I left this town. There is not a man amongst them so slight and seemingly frail of figure as myself, but none of them, not one, has been so often up to the very gates of death and escaped, as I have. My schooling naa been long and severe, perhaps in preparation for this day. I have been through fire; I have been through wa? ter. The twirling of my own native stream does not appall me. I rather welcome it; it it but another expert ence," "But for money ?" broke In Ransom. "You acknowledge it it for no other purpose. Will it pay? 1 own that in my eyes no amount of money could pay a man for to tuperhuman a risk as this. Take a few thousands from me?I had rather give then to you than tee you leap into that water opening beneath ua like a hungry maw." Hasen stood silent, his eye glisten* ing, his hand almost outstretched. Harper thought he would yield; the offer must have struck him as gen? erous and very tempting?a good ex? cuse for a hot-headed man to with? draw from a very doubtful adventure. But he did not know Huzen. This lat? ter advanced his hand and squeezed Ransom's warmly, but his answer, when he was ready to give one, con? veyed no intention of a change of mind. "Will your thousands amount to a clean million?" he smiled. "That Is the amount, I believe, bequeathed by your wife to Mr. Auchincloss. Noth? ing less will suffice. Yet I thank you, Ransom." The latter bowed and fell a little behind the others. The struggle In his mind had been severe; it was se? vere yet; he did not know but thst it was uis duly lu Stop Ibis HhSOfi from his intended action by fo: i e, He was not sure but that the onus u? this whole desperate undertaking would fall upon his conscience if the end was fatal. The horror of this self-probing was still upon kim as he followed Hazen's slight and virile fig ure across the rocks, out it fled as he felt the spray of the tossing waters dash Its chilling reminder in his face. The event was upon him and he must add to his former actions that of a complete and determined opposition to the risk proposed or possibly for? feit his peace of mind forever. Quick? ening his pace, he reached Hazen and the lawyer Just as the men awaiting them had advanced on their side. In? stantly he knew It was too late. There was neither time nor opportunity for any weak protests on *n*s part now. ( Older men pointed out to Hazen what especial points of suction were to be avoided, and showed him the chain they had brought for his waist, and how be was to pull upon it the very instant he felt his senses of his strength leaving him. He answered as a courageous man might; and making ready by taking off his coat and shoes he gave himself into their hands for the proper fast? ening on of the chain. Then, while the murmur of expectation rose from the crowd on the river bank, he step? ped back to Mr. Ransom and whisper? ed hurriedly In his ear: "You have a good heart, a better heart than I ever gave you credit for. Promise that, In case I never come out of those waters alive, you will put no obstacle in the way of Mr. Auchincloas Inheriting his fortune in good time. He's a man worthy of all the assist? ance which money can bring. You do not need her wealth; Anitra?well, she will be cared for. but Auchincloas? promiae?brother.** Ranaom half drew back in hla amaxement Then started forward again. This man whom he had al? ways dletruated, whom he had looked upon as Georgian's possible enemy, certainly hia own, waa looking into hia eyes with a gaze of trust, almoet of affection. The money was not for himself; he showed it by the noble, almost grand look with which he wait? ed for hla ana wer; a look that carried conviction deaplte Ransom's prejudice and great dislike. "You will give me that much addi? tional nerve for the task lying before me?" he added. And Ranaom could only bow hla head. The man's mas? tery was limitless; It had reached and moved even him. Another moment and a gaap went np from fifty or more thronte. Hazen had taken the chain In hla hand, walked to the edge of the rock and ?lipped Into the quietest water he saw there. "Strike left!" called out a voice. And he struck left The eddy eelzed him and they could see hla head mov? ing alowly about In the great circle which gradually grew smaller and amaller till he auddenly disappeared. A groan muffled with horror went up from the shore. But the man who held the chain lifted up hla hand, and alienee?more pregnant of anticipa? tion than nny aound?held that whole crowd rigid. The man played Out the chain; Harper stared at the seething, tumbling water, but Ranaom looked another way. The torture In hla soul waa taking shape, the shape of a ghoat rlalng from those tossing waters. Suddenly the pent-in breath of fifty breasts found its way again to the lips. The men who held the chain were pulling it In with violent reaches. It dragged more slowly, stuck, loosened itself, and finally brought into sight a face white as the foam it rose amongst. "Dead! Drowned!" the whisper went around. But when Hazen waa dragged ashore and Ranaom had thrown him? self at hia feet, he saw that he yet lived, and lived triumphantly. Ran? som could not have told more; it waa for others to aee and point out the smile that sweetened the wan lips, and the passion with which he held against hla breast some sodden and shapeless object which he had res? cued from those awful depths, and which, when spread out and clean of aand, batrayed itself as that peculiar article of woman's clothing, a small 'aide bag. "I remember that bag," said Harper. "I saw it, or one exactly like it, in Mrs. Ransom's hand when she got Into the coach the day we all rode up from the ferry. What will he have to aay about it? and could he have seen the body from which it haa evidently been torn?" CHAPTER XXVI. Hazen. unfathomable man," grum? bled Mr. Harper, entering Mr. Ransom's room in mark? ed disorder. "They aay that he haa not spoken yet; but the cor? oner is with him and we shall hear something from him soon. I expect ?" here the lawyer's voice changed and his manner took on meaning? "that his report will be final." "Final? You mean?" "What his fainting face showed. For all its pallor and the exhaustion It ex pressed, there was triumph in its every feature. Tbe little bag was not all he saw in that pit of hell. You must prepare yourself for no common ordeal, Ransom; it will take all your courage to listen to hiR story." "I know." The words eairg with difficulty but not without a certain manly courage. "I snail try not to make you too much trouble." Then after a moment of oppressive silence. "Did you notice, when we all came in. the figure of a woman disappearing up the stair way? It was Anitra's am! it mused before it reached the top, and I saw her eyea staring down at Hazen'a helpless figure with a wildueaa in its inquiry that has sap? ped all my courage. How are we to answer that girl when she asks us what haa happened? How make her know that Hazen is her brother and that he haa just risked his life to sat? isfy himself and us that Georgian was really lost in that dreadful pool." The lawyer, darting a keen glance at the speaker, softly shook hia head. "1 am not thinking of Miss Hazen," said he. "I'm wondering how far the proof he has obtained will go." He paused, listening, then made a gesture towards the hall. "There's some one there," he whispered. Ransom rose, and with a quick turn of the wrist pulled open the door. A man was standing on the three hold, a ghastly figure before which Ransom Involuntarily stepped back. "Hazen!" he oried; then, go the other tottered, he sprang forward again and, reaching out his hand to steady him, drew him in with the re? mark, "We were expecting a summons from you. We are happy that you find yourself able to come to ue." "The coroner has just gone. The doctors I dismissed. I have something to say to you?to both of you," he added as he caught sight of Mr. Har? per. Entering slowly, he sat down in the chair proffered him by the lawyer. There was something strange in his air, a quiet automaton-like quality which attracted the latter's notice and led him to watch him very closely. Ransom was busy with the door, which the strong west wind blowing through the hall made difficult to close. I *1?" The one word uttered, Hasen seemed to forget himself. Sitting quite still, he gased straight before ' him at toe open window. There was*! little to be seen there but the sway? ing boughs of the huge tree, but his gase never left those tossing limbs, and his sentence hung suspended till the movement made by Ransom re- , crossing the room roused him, and he . went on. ! '1 have made the plunge, gentlemen, and fortune favored me. I?" here his voice failed him again, but realizing the fact more quickly than before, he shook off his apathy, and facing the two men, who awaited his slow words with Inconceivable excitement, con? tinued with sudden concentration up? on his subject, "I saw what I went to see?poor Georgian's body. I have satisfied the coroner of this fact The little bag I tore from her side proves her identity beyond a doubt You saw it Mr. Harper. They tell me that you recognized it at once as the same you saw in her hand in the stage-coach. But if you had not the initials on it are unmistakable, Q. Q. H.. Georgian Quinlau, Hazen. Auchincloss will get his money, and soon, will he not? Answer me plainly, Harper. Such an experience merits some reward. You will not make difficulties?" i "I?" The lawyer's query had a strange ring to it He glanced from Hazen to Ransom, and from Ransom back to Hazen, whose features had now become more composed, though they still retained their remarkable pallor. * "If the proof is positive," he then went on, "you assuredly can trust both my client and myself to remem? ber our promise to you." "The coroner, you say, is satisfied?" "Yes, with the proof and my sworn 1 statement. He Is obliged to be. No one else, least of all himself, feels any desire to go down to that whirl? ing eddy for confirmation of my story. And they are wise. I do not think that any man with less experience than myself could sound the depths of that vortex and come up alive. The noise?the swlrj?the sense of being ' sucked down?down in ever-increasing j fury?but my purpose kept the life in me. I was determined not to yield, not to faint, till I had seen?and proved?" "What's that?" The cry was from Mr. Ransom. A sudden gust of wind had torn its way through the room, flinging the door wide, and strewing the floor with fly? ing papers from the large stand in the window. "Nothing but wirl." said Harper, half rising to close the door, but im? mediately sitting down again with a strange look at Ram om. "Let be," he whispered, as the other rose in his turn to restore ore*; ~. "Keep Hazen j talking. It's important; imperative., I'll see to the doer." But it was the window he closed,, not the door. Ran torn, with thrt oh; ''"^c natural to a client in presence of his most trusted adviser, did as he was bid. nnd turned his full attention back to Hazen instantly. That gentleman, upon whom the rushing wind and the havoc it created had made little if any Impression, rushed again into AUl'dt. "I've led an adventurous life," he declared, "and, in the last few years especially, passed through many perils ..ml experienced much awful suffer ig, I nave felt the pang of hunger t?uU the k>~tii of biting, ueapair; but nothing I have ever endured can equal the horror which beclouded my mind and rendered powerless my body as I felt myself sliding from the sight of earth and heaven into the jaws of that rapacious eddy, whose bottom no man had ever sounded. "I went in young I have come out old. Look at my nands -they shake like thoiie of a man of ninety. Yet yesterday they could have pulled to the ground an ox." "You saw Mrs. Ransom's body down in that pool some fathoms below the surface," observed the lawyer, after waiting in vain for some word from the shrinking husband. "Won't yoa particularize. Mr. Hazen? Tell us just how she was lying and where. Mr. Ransom cannot but wish to know, dim cult as he evidently flnds it to ask you." "The coroner has the story," Hazen bagan, with the slow, painful gasp of the unwilling narrator. "But I will tell it again; i* is your right, the painful duty which we cannot escape. She was lying, not on the bottom, but in a niche of rock into which she had been thrown and wedged by the force of the current One arm was free and was washing about; I tried to clutch this arm as I went down, but it eluded me. When I arose, the rush and swirl of the water was against me and I felt my senses going, but enough Instinct was left for me to snatch again at the arm as I passed, and though it eluded me again, my fingers closed on something, which I was Just conscious enough to hold on to with a frenzied grip. We have spoken of this thing?a little bag which must have been fastened to her side, for the end of its connect? ing strap is torn away by the wrench I gave it." "Vivid enough, but I am sure you (will tell me one thing more. Did you see the face of this body as well as the arm? It would greatly add to the strength of your testimony if you could describe it" Ransom, who had been watching Hazen, cast a sudden look back at the lawyer as he dropped these insinuat? ing words. Something more than a rold-blooded desire for truth had prompted this almost brutal inquisi? tion. He must know what it was, if anything In Harper's well-controlled countenance would tell him. The re? sult transfixed him, for following the lawyer's gase, which was fixed not on the man he was addressing but on a email mirror hanging on the opposite Vail, he saw reflected in it the face and form of Anltra standing in the open doorway behind them. She was looking at Hasen and, as Ran jm noted that look, he under? stood Harper's previous eaution and all that lay behind his insistent and cold-blooded questions. For her gase was no longer one of simple Inquiry but of horrified understanding;?the gase of one who heard. Meantime, Hazen was answering in painful gasps the lawyer's pointed question, "Did you see the face of this body as well as the arm?" "Did I see?God help me, yes. Just a glimpse, but I knew it Eyes that my mother had kissed, blind?staring ?glassed in awe and unspeakable fright The mouth, whose every curve I had studied in the old days of per? fect affection, drawn into a revolting grin and dripping with unwholesome weeds brought down from the shal? lows. Ail strange, yet all familiar? my sister?Georgian?dead?stark? but recognizable. Don't ask me if I saw it I always see it; it is before me now, the forehead?the chin?the eyes?** Ransom sprang to his feet, Harper also. The girl in the doorway had gone white as death, and with outstretched arms and frantic, haggard eyes was striving to ward off the frightful vis? ion conjured up by her brother's words. The movement made by the two men recalled her in an instant to herself, and ehe drew back?the hesi? tating, appealing, anxious-eyed girl whom they all knew. But it was too late. Hazen had seen as well as the others, and leaping in frenzy from his chair stood confronting her?a dominant and accusing figure?be? tween the quietly triumphant lawyer and the crushed, almost unconscious Ransom. (To Be Continued.) HOW'S THIS? We offer One Hundred Dollars Re? ward for any case of Catarrh that cannot be cured by Hall's Catarrh Cure. F. J. CHENEY ft CO., Toledo, O. We, the undersigned, have known F. J. Cheney for the last 15 years, and believe him perfectly honorable in all business transactions and finan? cially able to carry out any obliga? tions made by his firm. WALD IN 6, KINN AN & MARVIN. Wholesade Druggists. Toledo, O. Hall's Catarrh Cure is taken inter? nally, acting directly upon the blood and mucous surfaces of the system. Testimonials sent free. Price 75c. per bottle. Sold by all Druggists. Take Hall's Family Pills for con? stipation. 10-4?lm. ?C. R. Kluger, the Jeweler, 1060 Virginia Ave., Indianapolis. Ind.. writes: "1 Was so weak from kidney trouble that I could hardly walk a hundred feet. Four bottles of Fo hy's Kidney Remedy cleared my complexion, cured my backache and the Irregularities disappeared, and I can now attend to business ev ry day and recommend Foley's Kidney Rem? edy to all sufferers, as it cured me after the doctors and Other remedies hud !;.ik-<!." Slhert'S Drug Store. Mit. X. < . DuKAXT LOBES BARN. Mgntnitig .Mies Hani on Hie Risb.op vlUe Plantation?Lose About $soo. Blshopvtle, Oct. 7.?During the elec? tric str?m last night lightning struck ihe cotton hous< on the DuRant farm about two miles above town and set it on fire, which consumed the build? ing and its contents, about 1.700 pounds of seed cotton and the seed out of 20 bales of cotton. The dam? age sustained by Mr. A. C. DuRant, the owner of the building, is about $400. while Mr. S. J. Strickland, the tenant, lost the seed and seed cotton worth about $400. Neither had ln surance. ?Fall colds are quickly cured by Fo ley's Honey and Tar, the great throat und lung remedy. The genuine con tains no harmful drugs. Sibert' Drug Store. NEGRO FOUND MEAD. Peter Ilowell Uen Deed for More Ttutn a Week in Iii? House on Walker Street. Peter Howell, an old negro, who lias lived alone in a house on Walk? er street for several years, was found dead in his house Thursday, the con? dition of the body indicating that death occurred a week or more ago. Howell's house has been closed for a week or longer and none of his neigh? bors recollect having seen him for at least a week, but his absence caused no comment as he frequently absent? ed himself for a week or two at a time, while visiting members of his family who live in the country. A bad odor proceeding from Howell's closed house attracted the attention of negroes living In the vicinity and Health Officer Reardon and Coroner Flowers were notified and the house was opened and an investigation made. The body was found to be in - an advanced stage or decomposition. There was no evidence that Howell's death was due to violence and the physician who was called in was of the opinion that death was due to heart disease. SUMTER LOAN & TRUST CO. Meeting of Stockholders Held Thurs? day?New Board of Directors Elect? ed. At a meeting of the stockholedrs of the Sumter Loan & Trust Company, held on Tharsday, the following di? rectors were elected: H. M. Stuckey, H. J. Harby, E. L. Witherspoon, C. L. Stubbs, Perry Mo see, Jr.. J. K. Crosswell, Marion Moise, Geo. L. Ricker, G. A. Lemmon, W. W. Slbert, L. B. Du Rant, D. D. Moise and I. C. Strauss. The directors met after the ad Journment of the stockholders meet? ing and organized by the election of the following officers: President?G. A. Lemmon, Vice President?Perry Moses. Jr., Secretary and Treasurer?Geo. I*. Ricke**. Attorney?I. C. Strauss. The Sumter Loan & Trust Com? pany will do a regular trust business, devoting its energies to the handling of real estate loans and the manage ment of estates and trust funds. It will act as trustee, administrator or executor of estates and guardian of minor children. The business will be extended and enlarged along conser avtive lines and will fill a sphere in the financial life of the conmunity not occupied prior to the organization of this company. ?The pleasant purgative effect ex? perienced by all who use Chamber? lain's Stomach and Liver Tablets, and the healthy condition of the body and mind which they create, makes one feel Joyful. Sold by W. W. Sibert. TWO COTTON HARVESTERS. One of Them Is Owned by Price aiul Others and the Second by a Marl? boro Inventor. Bennettsville, Oct. 7.?The demon? stration of the cotton harvesters, which was to have been made here about the first of this month, has been delayed on account of a fire in the machine shops of the construction company. It will be several days yet before the trial will be made. Mr. Theodore Price and asaociates will come to Bennettsville about the 10th of this month and the test of the cot? ton picker will be made between that day and the 15th. The machine will be tried on Sen? ator McLaurin's "Irby place" in the upper part of the county, where about lOo acres of cotton have been reserved. A number of other North? erners will be with Mr. Price, for the machine was operated in Texas last year and it is said that strong financial interests are backing it. Marlboro county, however, already has a cotton picker in the field. The inventor, Mr. J. M. Brasington. of this place, has allowed a few friends to sea his machine while at work. Y? s terdey afternoon on the plantation of lieeare. Evans' brothers, he gave ;in exhibition and in a lew days he will be reedy t<> put it to a test. Those who saw it et work are favorablly im preeeed with it and think that Mr. Brasington will succeed. Powtbtf both of there harvesters will I I ex? hibited at the same time. yOU'LL feel better for work, play or rest if you eat Quaker Oats at least once a 3