Evening Star Newspaper, October 19, 1895, Page 16

16 THE EVENING STAR, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 19, 1895-TWENTY PAGES. A DEPUTY CULPRIT BY FRANCIS LYNDE. (Copyright, 1895, by Francis Lynde.) Vigo—not the Spanish city of that name, but Vigo of the coal mines in Harmony valley, Tennessee—-had two daily events, the departure of the passenger train in the morning and its arrival at supper time. To do honor to both of these, the Vigan corps de loisir was wont to gather in force on the station platform twice a day, and knowing this, Inspector Jaffray dropped from the farther side of the incoming train and beckoned to a man who stood in the shadow of a loaded coke car on the mine aiding. "How are you, Layne? Lets get away from here hefore anybody recognizes me," he said. “You got my letter?” = + “I did so; hit come last night. “Good. I hope it won't put you out to take care of me.” “I reckon you know better’n that,” said Layne, reproachfully. He was a Tennes- see farmer, in whom hospitality was in some sort a birthright, and Inspector Jaf- fray was an old friend. ¥ “I do know it, but it’s one of those things a man says from force of habit. Have you seen Cantrell?” “Yes; he'll be "long up to the house after he’s callcd the mail. I didn’t tell him you all was comin’. “That was righ Layne led the way up to the mine shute, keeping behind the coal—and coke cars; and thence they skirted the village, reach- ing the farm house in its farther fringe without meeting any one. As a man the inspector was known throughout his district as a jovial companion, the best of story tellers, and an undisguised good fel- low; but as an officer of the Post Office Department he was skillful to plan, quick to execute, and a very beagle of the service in the secrecy of his methods and the ra pidity of his movements. And it was an officer that he came to Vigo on this September evening. The litth mining town was the termiaal station on the Long Mountain branch of the railway, and the distributing office for weekly mail route which included a half dozen villages In the upper end of the valiey. Within a month a number of valu- able letters and packages had been m Back to the High Desk, Where a Young Girl Was Perched Upon n Stool. on this route, and the inspector had come to Vigo to locate the leak—and having found it to stop it. Will Cantrell, the Vigo postmaster, met him at Layne's after supper, and the in- spector was soon in possess:on of such ir- formation as Cantrell had to give. ‘ou say it's always money that’s miss- ing?” asked Jaffray, after the postmaszer had told what he knew. “Yes, mostly, but as far as we know, it began with a ring that John Corny ordered from Nashville for his girl. It came this far all right, because I mind seein’ a little package marked to John; but he says it nev” did re’ch him.” “What kind of a ring was it?” “Plain gold was what he sent for; there was goin’ to be a marryin’, I reckon.” yhere does Corny live?” pin Loder’s Cove; Graff office.” ‘hat’s this side of the Gap, isn’t it?” No, it's on the far side, the way the route’s carried. Ande’son goes up on this side o’ the valley and comes back on the other—makes a circuit.” ‘Humph! Anderson's the carrier, I sup- pose. What do you know about him?” “Well, I don't know. Lafe’s a toler'ble good sort of a boy; son of old man Ande’soa up on Long Mountain. Does his work all right, far as I know, and I nev’ heard any- thing against him: The inspector nodded absently and began to make idle hieroglyphics with his peneil on the margin of a newspaper he had been le’s his post reading. Cantrell waited patiently for the final question, and presently it came. What is your theory about this thing, Cantrell? The postmaster tilted his chair and thrust his hands deep into his pockets. “I don’t know as I've got any, Mr. Jaffray. Seems like it's amongst half a dozen of us up here, and I reckon I'd better stand on a line with the rest till you find out who's doin’ it.” ‘But you reported the thing yourself,” said the inspector. Cantrell smiled. “Ye-es, but a heap big- ser fool than I am might ‘ve thought o’ doin’ that. : “That's so; we'll keep you in mind as one of the possibles,” said the inspector; but he laughed in a way to set Cantrell’s mind at rest upon that score. Then, with a sudden return to the business of the moment—“Let’s see; tomorrow is the regular mail day. I ecnnoee you have the pouch Anderson car- ries? ‘es, it'sedown at the store.”” et your hat and we'll go down and have a@ lcok ic” They went out together and stumbled along the rocky road through a half mile of inky darkness to the country store. Can- trell admitted his companion, struck a light and found the pouch. It was old and well worn, and the inspector pointed out a small hole frayed through one of the creases in the leather. “Why haven't you reported this?” ke asked. : “I have; I've kicked about it till I'm plum tired. You know the supplies for the route are ordered by Godfrey, at the Gap, and I've sent word to him by Lafe half a dozen time: Jaffray threw the pouch under the coun- ter. “That's the leak,” he said, briefly. “Good night.” And the next morning, when Farmer uid have called his gv to the porch bed reom was empzy. If-past $ the ame morning young Anderson rode up to the porch in front of Cantrell Brothers’ st threw lean mail pouch across his saddl t cut whis:ling upon his twenty ride to the Gap. He was a handsome young fellow, as the mountain youth go, which is to say that he was not leaner than was cersistent with grace and suppleness; that bis face had not t taken on the expres- sion of settled melancholy which seems to be the heritage of the mountain folk, men and women, and that his eye was bright and feariess, and hi uzh hed the ring in it which is supposed to vouch for nd a clear conscience. If I t ¥, being endowed with the gift of in- ity, could have ridden b arrier through the Se} noon, he would have seen 1 At Br Flat, at Powdervill at jong Mountain, Anderson’ kept well within the letter ef his instructio! and- ing the locked peuc tle: potters to the postmaster, and lounging about in front of the store until it was brought out to him again. At the Gap, however, which was the end of his route for the day, he hitched his horse before the largest of the three stores, end carried the pouch back to the high desk, where a young girl was perched upon @ stool, knitting her brows over a dog’s- esred account book. “Howdy, Lafe to open the pouch. “Purty toler'ble. I don't know; Teckon.” he pulled the strap through the staples, and, dumping the mail on the counter, be- gan to call it off to the group of expectant loungers and town's people, keeping up @ desultory conversation with the muil car- Fier at the same time. “Doc. Parks—Many Golfin—John Trevor— re all news is there down at Vigo, she said, getting down Whar's you-un’s paw?” down to Lukens’s, I Nothin’ much, not as I heerd.” “You'd nev’ hear anything, nohow—Jeft Greer—Eph Sanders—here’s a letter for you all, Eph—hawss gone lame, Lafe?” “No; why?’ “Thought you-all seemed sort o’ tired— Bud Gordon—Wiley Pryor—” Lafe straightened up, and then thought better of it, resuming his lounging position on the counter because it brought him nearer to her. She went on calling ‘he names, and he watched her dexterous fingers juggling the letters, and stole occa- sional glances under the brim of his soft hat at her face. It was a face for which the language provides no adjective. ‘“Pret- ty” is too trivial; ‘beautiful’ is too fine. It was a face on which strength of char- acter was written very legibly, and yet without marring its womanly attractive- ness. Dark eyes, that mocked oftener than they caressed; finely penciled brows; masses of dark hair, gathered back into a heavy knot, which’ was transfixed by a lead pencil; a nose that would have been pert without the correcting suggestion of firmness about the mouth and chin; a youhg woman who would rise to her oppor- tunities, one would say, adding the saving clause that she would probably never miss them if they should happen to pass by on the other side. When the last of the expectant ones had gone, Lafe asked: “Have ye told you—un’s paw, yet, Willie?” ‘No-o. Seems like you're in a powerful hurry, Lafe.”” “‘Reckon I have to he; don’t I?” She twisted the ring on her finger and smiled down upon him. “There's plenty of time’’—then, suddenly—‘‘Where did you— all get this, get this ring, Lafe?” “Bobght hit, ef course; whar did ye ‘low I got hit?” “I didn’t know; I was just thinking of John Corny and Annie Hester. He ‘lowed to get her a ring, and says he sent to Nashville for it. It nev’ did come, and now Annie, she don’t believe he ever meant to get it, and she won't so much as say ‘Howdy’ to him. Didn’t you all hear about it down at Graffville?” “Lafe’s lips said no, but he looked up into her eyes and changed it to yes. Then some one came in and there was no more said about John Corny or his ring. ‘The dew was still on the grass the fol- lowing morning when Lafe called at God- frey’s store for the mail pouch. The girl brought it out to him. “Lookout you all don’t fall off the hawss,” she said, mocking him; and then, by way of compensation—“Maybe I'll tell paw before Friday.” “I wisht ye would, Willie; seem’ like I cayn’t look him in the face no mo’ till ye do. He wouldn’t take nothin’ from me, but he'll as in sight. was the first office on the re- and when the carrier went in turn route, with the mail the postmaster was bus: Ww en ke got around to the government's ness he made a show of hurrying. He vas relocking the pouch when a farmer ove up and came in with a letter in his and, Hold up a minute, Mr. Johnson—got a letter to go in thar, an’ I reckon it'll have to be registered. take it now, nohow—mail's all s!”" said the farmer, mopping his face with a bandana, “done druv fo’ mile to set that thar letter off this mornin hit's got ten dollars in for that feller that sold me the mowin’ machine, an’ I ‘lowed to him he could count on hit shore today. “Cayn't he'p it, Mr. Kilgore; like mighiy well to do you all a favor, but I cayn’t hold the mail to register no letters now. Orders is mighty strict. hen Lafe spoke up. “Thess put hit in ith the rest of ‘em,” he suggeste might’ nigh everbody does that-a-way. The farmer hesitated for a moment and then concluded to risk it, and five minutes later Anderson was once more joj his way to Vigo. Soeeieyon There was the usual crowd of loafers in the Cantrell Brothers’ store when the ma: carrier rode up to the porch and di: mounted on the high platform. Throwing the bridle to his ten-year-old brother, and giving th Pouch to Will Cantrell, 'Lafe dged his way into the group of lounger: to distribute his budget of up-valley Bossi Cantrell went behind the counter and di appeared beyond the low partition whi fenced off a sleeping room in the end of the building. Behind the partition Inspector Jaffray was smoking a cigar, sitting with his chair tilted back at a comfortable angle against the wall; but he came out of his listlessness with a jerk when Cantrell en- tered with the mail pouch. “Open it quick—right here, he command- ed; and in a moment he had scaned the address on every letter in the small heap. ‘It's gone—I knew it would be. Slip out quietly and send your brother back here.”* When Bud Cantrell came in the inspector handed him a $10 bill. “Go into the crowd out there and ask if any one can change it. Give Anderson a chance to do it if he will.” Cantrell came back almost immediately and gave the inspector four bank notes. There were two twos, a one and a five, and Jaffray glanced at the numbers before put- ting the money into his pocket. “He's our man,” he said quietly. “Go and talk to him and take him to the door with you. When you see me at his other elbow, grab him and hold him. Do you under. stand?” Cantrell nodded and sauntered back into the store. “Want to see you a minute, Lafe,” he said linking his arm in that of the mail carrier and leading him toward the front door. On the step Cantrell saw the inspec- tor over Lafe’s shoulder and obeyed his in- structions literally. ‘Iticre was a fierce struggle, like that of an unbroken horse when he first feels the weight of a man on s back, and ending in the ratchet-like click of the handcuffs, and then the prison- er relapsed quickly into quietude and sul- lenness. 4atfray spoke to Cantrell. come with me. We'll Layne’s for the night.” Lafe suffered himself to be walked away Letween them, and no word was spoken until they reached the porch of the farm house. There the inspector piaced three chairs and sat down to question his prison- er. “You may as well make a clean breast of it, my boy,” he said, after Lafe had sulkily resisted for a time. “It'll go easier with you in the end, and I'll do what I can to get your sentence shortened if you'll open your head and tell us all about it.” In the silence that followed this appeal there was a rustling in the laurel bush at the end of the porch and Jaffray got up to investigate. He came back in a moment, apparently satisfied, but this was because he failed to see little Joe Anderson cower- ing under the drooping branches of the- laurel. “You'd better open up, Anderson,” he re- peated. “We've got all the evidence we need, but as I say, I'll do all I can to help you if you'll tell us the whole story.” Whereupon, being something less than a hardened criminal, the young mountaineer Lroke down “{ don’t keer much what-all ye do With me, 's long as ye git me out o° here ‘fore p 'r—r Willie Godfrey fin’s out,” he said. “I reckon she'd say things ‘at I nev’ could forgit. Hit all commence’ with that thar ring o’ John Corny’s. Ye see, I done ast Willie, an’ I was a wonderin’ which-a-way I could git a ring when that thar little box dropped out thoo the hole in the mail baz. I knowed what hit was, caze John he ‘low- ed to me he was a-lookin’ for hit. I didn’t "low to keep hit, an’ 1 on’y opened t! to see what—for kind o’ ring hit was; but that thar ve'ry evenin’ I slipped hit on Wil- lie’s finger, thess in fun, an’ she ‘lowed I done meant hit to be her’n. The sweat stood thickly on his forehead and he tried to get his manacled hands around to his pocket for a handkerchief. Jaffray helped him and said: “Well, what then?” “Then I didn’t have sense enough to tell her the straight of hit, an’ after that the fence seem’ sort o’ broke down, an’—an’ they’s been other things come out thoo that hole—money, mostl. “How mich? the inspector. "Bout $65, countin’ hit all, 1 reckon. You- uns ‘Il find it under the chimley stone in the room up at Ma’am Wilkeson’s, whar I been sleepin’ “I se “I want you to take him up to ; you were afraid to spend it, I sup- pes Lafe hung his head. “I nev’ thort much about bein’ afraid; I was savin’ hit ‘g’ins the tin ready when Willie’d let on like she w Inspector Jaffray went into a brown study, coming out of it presently to say to Cantrell: “You can go now, Bud, if you want to; I can take care of him all right. I only wanted you to hear what he had to say for himself.” Cantrell went back to the store, where he found little Joe Anderson trying to climb into his brother's saddle. The boy had been crying and his face was streaked with dirt and tears. “Mighty tough, ain't it, Joey?” said Can- trell, lifting the boy to the horse’s back. “What-all was you ‘lowin’ to do with the hawss?" “I thess gwine take him home,” said the small one, gathering up the reins and wriggling his bare feet into the stirrup leathers; but Cantrell noticed that instead of turning off up the lane to Ma’am Wil- keson’s, the child kept the road toward the Gap, urging the horse into a gallop as soon as he was over the rocky hillside beyond Layne's. Inspector Jaffray’s guard duties during the remainder of the afternoon were of a Kind merely nominal. Layne was away, and the inspector and his prisoner had the front porch to themselves. Jaffray said lit- tle, but he encouraged Anderson to talk, tilting his chair against the side of the bouse and shrouding himself in clouds of smoke, while Lafe told of his life on Long Mountain with his old father; of his oourt- ing of Willie Godfrey; of the young girl’s loyalty, and of her father’s contempt for the son of a mountaineer. “The valley folks don’t marry with we-uns, n’r we-uns with them, though I reckon they ain’t no law ’g’isnt hit,” he said,in explanation; and Jaffray agreed with him. When Layne came home a few words ex- plained the situation; and the farmer's hospitality was broad enough to cover, not orly his friend’s friend, but in this case his friend's prisoner. The inspector un- manacled Lafe wher they went in to sup- per, but he put the handcuffs on again afterward; and when the early bed-time of the family came, he led the young moun- taineer into the porch bed room, and took the additional precaution of snapping in- other set of irons on his ankles. “Not very pleasant for you, my boy,” he said, “but I can’t help it; I mustn't give you a chance to slip through my fingers.” After which the inspector went back to his chair on the porch, where he smoked many cigars and communed with aimself for want of a better listener. Once his re- flections slipped into speech: “It all goes back to the same thing in the end. We've got no manner of right to take a man who has never been taught the lesson of 1e- sponsibility and put him in a place where he has to rub up against temptation every day. That’s the long and short of it. Just the same, I wish I might have given this youngster a shock without catching him. That might have been the making of him, but this is going to ruin him, world with- out end. At 10 o’clock the inspector had serious thoughts of turning in, but before the in- clination gathered force enough to over- come the inertia of the tilted chair, there came a clattering of a horse's hoofs on the loose shingle of the Gap road. The rider dismounted at Layne’s gate; and the 'n- spector lighted a fresh cigar when he saw the figure of 4 woman coming up the path toward the house. “This is the girl in the case, of cours he muttered. ‘Now, how tne devil did s. find out? She felt herself refused and dismissed and she rose trembling, “Cayn’t I see Lafe— just for a minute?’ she pleaded. “No; I can’t allow even that.” She went down the steps slowly and with evident reluctance, turning on the last one to ask softly: “Where is he now, Mr. Jaf- fray?” es “He's asleep in that room; don’t ask uny more questions.’ She paused a moment and then went swiftly to the gate, and the inspector sat Ustening until the, click of horseshoe cn stone stopped suddenly. Then he sprang to his feet and tegan.to talk to his beard. “That's what I might have expected. She cantered the horse pp the hill to make me think she’s gone home, and now she is coming back a-foof, to get a word with the boy. By the Lord Harry! I've a mind to— no, that would neyer do. And yet— He tramped up.and down the porch, this sworn officer of the law, who was yet but a man, fighting over again the old battle between justice and mercy, as many @ loyal servant of justice has fought it since the law first set itself over against lawlessness. Then he fiung the stump of his cigar far out into the grass and went into the porch bed room, where he bent over the sleeping man, as if to satisfy himself that the fet- ters were still in place. Anderson stirred uneasily. uns, Mr. Jaffray?” he asked. : % “Yes.” He took the irons from the boy’s ankles. “Now you ean stretch your legs a bit; I'm going to take chances on your run- ning away.” ‘, bs Anderson lavghed mirthlessly. “I couldn’t do much with these here on,” he said, hold- ing up his hands. The inspector felt the handcuffs on the boy's slender wrists. “‘They’re too tight," he said, and he loosened them. “Is that better? a = “A mighty sight better; thank ye. Jaffray threw up the window at the head of the bed and listened. It was a alm night, but there was a sound as of the wind rustling the dry leaves in the little grove at the side of the house. The in- spector heard it and turned to take his overcoat from its peg on the wall. “What the devil did you do it for?” he broke out savagely. “Why on earth co dn’t you be content with the girl's love and let other people's property alone? The handcuffs rattled, and though Jaf- fray could see nothing in the thick dark- now go, and “Ts that you- “BEFORE HE COULD STRETCH OUT HIS HAND TO’ PR ENT I SHE WENT DOWN ON HER KNEES BESIDE HIS CHAIR.” In another moment she stood before him, and, though the cigar was burning well enough, he made it the excuse to strike another match, in the brief flare of wrich he got a glimpse of a pair of flashing cyes, set In a face wnereon grief and resolution for the mastery. re Mr. Jaffray, ain't you?” she be- Sit and you are Willie Godfrey. Miss Godfrey.” ‘opped into a chair as if thankful for the permission. ‘I reckon you know what I've come for; I heard you-all had taken Lafe Anderson for robbing the mail, anad—"" “Pardon me, Miss Godfrey,” interrupted the inspecto! “how did you find that out?” “Bad news don't wait for an ox team. I heard about it, and I’ve come twenty-three miles on that hawss to keep you-all from carrying an innocent man to il. Lafe nev’ did take any 'g that didn’t belong to him, Mr. Jaffray. ‘The inspector smoked in silence for a full minute. ‘Supposing I were to tell you that he has confessed.” “It don’t make any difference: the thief.” “Then why should he say he rea “Cayn’t you He just told you a heap of lies to cover up the real one.” “And who is the reak one, Miss Godfrey? “Tam.” It was wall for the girl's peace of mind that she could not see the :neffaceable smile that stole over the face of the in- spector at this, but there was no hint of levity in his voice when he said: ‘Tell me all about it, Miss Willie.” She held out her nand and dropped a ring into his palm. “That's John Cor ‘a she said. ‘I took it out of the ma‘) elf. And I've taken other things—letters with money in them.’”” “What did you do with the money —I gave it to Lafe to keep for me.” nd what did he do with tt ‘[ don’t know; I nev’ asked him.” “Did he know where you got it? ; he ain't The questions followed each other too rapidly, and the girl caught her breath and fought’ for consistency. Bemg naturally truthful, she hedg2d in the wrong place. “He—he sort of suspected it, I reckon.” “Being an honest fellow hi If, I won- der he didn’t try to stop you. -“You wouldn't y that if you knew. & You see, Lafe and me—that_is—well, he thinks a mighty sight of me, Mr. laffray “That's so; I'd lost sight of that for the raoment,” said the inspector gravely; then he sprung an innoceat little trap that nad been gradually taking snape in his mind. “Now, that clears up some things I couldn’t quite und ad. 1 wonder what Lafe did with the money. ‘The girl was too new to the business of equivocation and She promptiy betrayed herself. “He put it under the hearth stone ut Ma’am Wilkeson’s,"—she began, and then she saw the trap. Ah, I see,” said the inspector; ‘‘of course, this is merely supposition on your part, sirce he never spoke to you about hiding * He smiled under cover of the It was transparently clear now, all save one particular detail; how did it happen that the girl knew Anderson's con- fession word for word? Jaifray was puzzled for a moment and then there flashed across the field of recol- lection the rustling in the laurel bush and the picture of a bare-lesged boy galloping northward on Anderson's horse. Having thus solved the puzzle, he asked quietly: “What is it you want me to do, Miss God- It seems to » like there ain’t but one thing to do. afe in't done anything, and—and I have. Cayn’t you-ali just turn him loose and take me instead?” The fspector fought a go: self-control and lost it. “By fight for God, young woman, he isn’t worth it!” he burst out; but she put her hand on his arm and straightway forgot her part. “Oh, yes indeed he is, Mr. Jaf you don’t know Lafe, and you nev’ know how much I—I love him! Cayn't you take me?” No,” said the inspector roughly, driven to the last rescrt of the sorely tempted; “you go back home and I'll see what car be done toward getting him off easy—no. don’t say anything more; you don’t know what you ask.” Before he could stretch out b prevent her, she went on her knee his chair. “I do know she said piteously, “and it’s such a little, little thing—just to let me go in his p What do you care as long as you get somebody to own up to everything you ask?” “Get up, Miss Godfrey,” he said sternly. “I repeat, you don’t know what you ask. ‘The law is not to be set aside or tampered with simply because workings happen to hurt some of us.” “Oh, no, it isn’t that," she went on, un- mindful of his command. “I don’t mind the hurt only for Lafe’s sake. It'll kill him, Mr. Jaffray, it'll spoil his whole life, and I reckon the law don’t mean to be that hard. Oh, please, take me and let him go, won't you?” “No, I tell you once for all. Now get up and go home before I get angry and say things I'll be sorry for.” . is hand to beside he knew that the boy was trying to r his face with bis hands. *Cause I didn’t have no better sense, I reckon"’—the inspector heard something like a sob, and then the hoy went on. “I wish to God you'd thes pit me out o’ my, mis'ry, Cap'n Jaffray! “How?” “Any way: Y ddéh't keer how. ; Thess lemme git outside, an’ then ye can make out Ike I Was a-tryin” to git away, an’ turn loose on me with you-un’s gun.’ “And you'd rather die than stand trial?” “For shore 1 would—for Willie's sake; hit uldn’t be nigh as hard on her.” ‘Lord, Lord,” groaned the inspector be- hind his teeth, “did anybody ever hear of two such young fools!"”"—then to Anderson —"You mean that, do you?” Fore God, I do, Cap'n Jaffray; thess you try me an’ see.”” “Then as the Lord liveth you shall have your choice,” said the irspector, solemnly. “Get up. Anderson obeyed. “Now climb out of that window—no, hold on till 1 take the irons off; i don't want the name of having shot a handeued man. Now, then, out with you.” : Lafe climbed out and dropped to the ground. Then he took a deep breath of the free night air and began to realize dimly that it was going to be hard to die in the full flush of youth and health. None the less, he turned quickly and faced the in- spector, who stood with cocked pistol at the open window. “I'm ready,” ne said, firmly. Jaffray snorted. “Run, you damned fcol! Do you suppose I'm going to commit a cold- blooded murder and shoot you standing?” Lafe hesitated a momen, as if in doubt as to whetHer he had heard aright; then he turned and walked slowly away. At the third step the pistol barked thrice, and Layne’s dog, chained in the barnyard, set up a sympathetic howl. After that all’ was still until the farmer came hurrying to the porch bed room with a light. The inspec: or was standing at the window peering-out into the darkness, and he put back his hand for silence. Layne heard rapid footfalls as of some one running over the dry leaves in the grove; then there was a glad little ci and the impatient shough of a horse, quici ly followed by a diminishing clatter of hoofs and silence. “Layne, he’s gone, and I'd be willing to bet a hen worth fifty dollars that I never so much as winged him,” said the inspector coolly. “How d’ you reckon he got loose” asked the farmer, excitedly. Jaffray heid up the locked handcuffs. “You can see for yourself: I got here just in time to hurry him a little.” Layne put the lamp dowr to examine the fetters. “By Jacks! I wouldn't have be- lieved it; but then Lafe’s hands nev’ was no bigger than a woman's. Shall I caddle the hawsses?” “To chase him tonight?--not much. I'll know where te find him when I want him. Go you back to bed and tell the women there’s robody killed. And , Layne; when this thing gets itself taiked about just tell the facts as you know them. Good night.” The next morning Layne looked to see the chase organized in due form, but he was disappointed. - Inspector Jaffray ate his breakfast leisurely, never once referring to the events of the night, and afterward took the train south. The farmer wondered at this leck of zea? until he went around he- hind the porch -be¢ room and saw bullet scars on the brick walk under window. ‘3 “Well, by Jack a was all he said at the time; but later the day he went down to the Cantrell boys’ store and lied to the corps de loisir uhtil inspector Jaffray’s re utation for darifig Dravery v econd 0: to that of Buck Prgnnan. the revenue col- lector, whose déeds=but they are recorded elsewhere. 3 oe Ps Dangers of the Hammock. From the Detroit News> “Yes, I paid $6 for that hammock last spring,” observdd a Pesident of avenue, as he surveyed & frayed id tangled mass of strings. “My wife got some steamer chairs ard we were going to iive on the lawn this summer. The first day litue Jimmie fell out of it and broke his arm. Then my wife got her foot caught in a mesh and sprained her ankle, so that she was laid up three weeks. I broke my watch chain in it twice and lost a diamond charm the second time. There’s a record for you.”” “That is pretty tough.” Yes; but that isn’t the worst of it. That j hammock was the cause of my hter marrying a blamed chump of 2 divinity student, who depends upon Provi- dence ard a rich aunt for support. I ain't as much stuck on hammocks as I was last year.” ARE YOU LOW-SPIRITED? Take Horsford’s Acid Phosphate. roery) sews than SSeS a man sick wicker. Worry comes largel m_ nervousness. jorstora’s Acid Phosphate Clears the brain and Strengthers the neives. WITHOUT WIRES How the Telephone of the Future Will Bo Used. A CHAT WITH INVENTOR BELL His Laboratory in This City and His Experiments. HABITS OF WORK (Copyright, 1895.) BOUT TWENTY years ago a young, olive-hued, black- haired Scotchman was experimenting In Boston upon a machine by which the deaf might be made to hear and the dumb taught to speak. In doing so he made a discovery which practically an- nihilated distance as far as sound is con- cerned. He discovered the principle of the telephone, and thereby created one of the greatest industfies of the world. The cap- ital based upon his invention now amounts to hundreds of millions of dollars. The creator of this wonderful industry has been here during the past week. I vis- ited him by appointment at his labora- tory yesterday, and for three hours chatted with him about his work and the things concerning which he knows more, perhaps, than any other man in the world. I refer to Alexander Graham Bell, one of the best- known and least-known men of the United States. He is best known because every one has heard of him as the inventor of the telephone. He is least known because he seldom talks for the newspapers, be- cause it is impossible to get him to write an article for the magazines, and because hig modesty and retiring disposition are such that be does not let the world know of the great work in invention and science that he is constantly carrying on, only a le of which now and then filters out ugh the paient office, or in his letters the great scientific ‘societies of the to world. The Volta Bureau. My appointment was to meet him at the Volta Bareau. How many of you have ever hoard of it? It is the greatest insti- tution in the world as regards the scientific study of the deaf. What the Smithsonian Institution is to general science the Volta Bureau Is to the science of the deaf. It contains the most complete library upon uch subjects in the world, and its col- jection of statistics regarding the deaf of the United States is more complete and more valuable than any other such col- lection in the world. Here are to be found the deductions and the experiments made hy Mr. Bell, which have so benefited these unfortunate people. He has shown how to make the dumb speak and the deaf hear, and this bureau was founded by him for the furtherance of this science. It is lo- cated in Georgetown, about a mile and a half from the White House. It is a two- story building of Milwaukee brick and stone, about 50 feet wide by 100 feet long. It has a flat roof, and its architecture think of the houses of Pom- is fireproof, and in its basement for time is stored Mr. Bell's scientific library, which came so near being burned when the fire broke out in what is now ex-Vice President Morton's house on Scott Circle, but which at that time belonged to Mr. Bell. How the Graphophone Was Invented. The story of how Mr. Bell founded this bureau is an interesting one. Connected with it came the invention of the grapho- phone, which the courts have lately decided has priority -rights over the inventions which make Ediscn’s phonograph now practical. It ‘llustrates one side of Mr. Bell's character; thai of his love for science, and also his desire not to take anything unless he can give something in return. He told me the story “The Volta Bureau,” sa‘d he, “is the out- come of theVolta prize. Napoleon Bonaparte founded this prize when he was Emperor of France in the honor of Volta, the Italian, who invented the voltaic battery and other things in electricity. It consisted of 50,000 francs, or about $10,000, and was to be voted by the French government on occasion to any one deemed worthy of it as having in- vented something for the benefit of human- ity. It has been awarded only three or four times since Napoleon founded it, and it was Voted to me on account of the tele- phone. It came when the telephone was al- ready a success, and had made me finan- cially independent. Upon receiving the money, I decided to donate it to the im- provement of the deaf, and J did it in this way. I had associated with me Mr. Charles s er Tainter and my cousin, Mr. Chi- chester Bell, who is also an inventor. I proposed to them that we take the money and establish a laboratory, each of us put- ting in our own labor as a part of the cap- ital stock, and the Volta prize to be a fcurth part of the company, and to be used as a working fund. With this we were to establish a laboratory with the understand- ing that in it each of use should devote a part of our time to our special hobby in the way of invention, and at the same time we would work together on some one invention, which would be commercially profitable. This was agreed to, and we went to work. My hobby was the study of the deaf, Mr. inter had an invention in optics which he was trying to perfect, the exact nature of which I do not feel at liberty to give, and Mr. Chichestec Bell was working on his wonderful experiments in regard to record- ing speech by means of photographing the vibrations of a jet of water. We looked about for some time for the subject of the invention that was to pay the bills, and makes you It peil. concluded to take up and develop the pho- 1 graph. The idea had been originated by Mr. Edison, and he had produced a little tinfoil phonograph, which was a screech- ing, squeaking toy, but of no practical value. The needle made the indentations on the tinfoil, and these were liable to be bulged upon or erased. The result of our work was the invention of the graphophone, yy which the record of the sound was cut in- to a cylinder of wax and a permanent im- pression made. After we had made the dis- ecv we attempted to form a combination with che company owning the Edison pat- ents,but Mr.Edison to a certain extent repu- diated their claims, and we organized a ecmpany independent of them. There is no doubt in my mind of the value of our pat- ents, and I expect to see the graphophone go into general use. Well, we organized a company, and I sold the stock represented by the Volta prize for $100,000. $25,000 of his ave to the American Society for z Speech to the Deaf, and with the remainder I established the Volta Bureau.” Telephone Bell's Labratory. This conversation took place while Mr. Bell and myself were walking together through the libraries of the Volta Bureau. After the above remarks he went on: “But perhaps you would like to see the place where the Volta Bureau originated. I will take you where no newspaper man has ever been before. We will make a visit to my laboratory.” He then led the way out of the bureau. We crossed the street and stopped at the back of the lot on the opposite corner be- fere a tittle red brick uilding of two stories, not more than forty feet square, and looking for all the world like a stable. “This,” said Mr. Bell, “is my laboratory. It wi my father’s stable, and we have turned it into a workshop. Here I have made a great many experiments of late years, and in it I have all of my models.” We entered, and, passing through a work- shop containing benches and machinery, came. into a large room walled with shelves, filled with models and instruments of all kinds, and reminding me much of one of the model rooms of the patent office. In the center, filling up nearly the whole floor, was what at first sight seemed to be @ model of a new threshing machine. It was at least 100 feet long, and had a wide inclined plane running up into the air at an angle of forty-five degrees. I asked what it was, and was told that it was a type-setting machine for the instruction of the deaf—a sort of a lino-type, as it were, to be used in deaf schools, by which words could be put upon a blackboard and the letters distributed again. On the shelves ——>>S== Highest of all in Leavening Power.— Latest U.S. Gov’t Report Royal Baking Powder ABSOLUTELY PURE in the walls at the left were perhaps fifty models of telephones, and among them the first one that Mr. Bell ever made. It con- sisted of two telephones, as it were, and was exceedingly clumsy in appearance. Beyond this were scores of cylinders used in the experiments upon the graphophoue, little bottles of silenium, containing, Mr. Bell told me, the largest quantity of this almost invaluable material in existence in the world today, and which he used in his experiments of telephoning without wires along the beams of a ray of light. There were many scientific instruments, inven- tions illustrating new and yet unexplained theories as to the property of matter orig- inated by Mr. Bell, and, in short, so maay different things that the mere mention of them would fill a page of this newspaper. Telephone Bell’s First Invention. As we looked at the original telephone, I asked Mr. Bell if he could remember the time when he first realized that he had in- ventive power, and if he had a model of the very first invention he had ever made. “As to the first question I can't answer, but here is a part of what I suppose to be my first invention,” replied Mr. Bell, as he took down from a hvok a kind of a cross between a rat trap and a human jaw made in the shape of a mouth of what appeared to be shoemaker’s wax and rubber, or oft leather. It had rubber lips, which opened and shut, and the jaws were hinged like those of a man. “This,” continned Mr. bell, “is my first attempt at a speaking machine. When I was a little hoy my father took myself and brothers to see an automaton which-uttered some words, and when we came back he offered a prize to the one of us who could invent a machine that could speak. I made the instrument of which this is a part, and I succeeded in making it say some words. We were liv- ing in Edinburgh at the time, in one of those Scotch flats in which each family has a floor, with a common hall. When I nad completed the machige we took it out into the hall one day and made it cry Mamma.” It made a noise much like that of a baby, and the other families in the flat ran out and asked where the baby was that was crying. I remember this deligat- ed us very much.” Teaching School at $50 a Year. “Your attention was turned very early to matters connected with speech and speech transmission, was it not?” “Yes; my father was noted as havin con- siderable knowledge of matters connected with elocution, He knew all about the physiological production of sound, and I was brought up, as it were, in an atmcs- phere of sound-investigation. I was edu- cated at the High School in Edinburgh, and spent a year at the university there, but my attention was early attracted to elocutionary studies, and I earned my first money as a teacher. I went out to teach when l was in my teens, and I received at first £10, or $50, a year and my board. Later on I got £70, or $350, a year as teacher of elocution and music. This was before I was twenty, and at that time I devoted a great deal of attention to music. I used to compose, and one of my early dreams was that I might become.one of the great com- posers of the world.” “How about your musical comp* Mr. Bell? Were they of real valve ‘I don’t know about that,” was the reply, with a laugh. “I suppose not, but they seemed of great value to me at that time. Grent Scientific Discovery. “I suppose your work in music helped you toward the invention of the tele- phone?” “It7may have done so,” was the reply, “as I worked for a long time attempting to transmit musical sounds. When I was about sixteen I discovered what was to me a wonderful physiological fact, and that was that each of the vowel sounds has a different pitch, which is formed by the change in the size of the cavity in the mouth in making them, and not by what are popularly known as the vocal organs. I found that I could produce a similar pitch in the taps upon a pencil laid against my lips and tapped while changing the cavity of my mouth, as you do when mak- ing the vowels. You can, in fact, play a tune in this way. You can do the same with a pencil laid upon your throat, but here the sounds are reversed. I was much excited by this discovery, and I wrote the facts regarding it to Sir Alexander Ellis, a celebrated English authority on phonetics and mathematics, and received a request to call upon him when I came to London. I did vo, and when I met him he told me that my discovery had been made only a short time before by Helmholtz, the famous German scientist, who died last year, and that he had written a book on the subject. This was in German, which I cquld not well read. Sir Alexander Eliis told me about it, however, and ave me to under- stand that by means of vibrating metal, a tuning fork perhaps, and electricity, Helm- holtz had reproduced sounds. I understood from him that he had been able to trans- mit these sounds by electricity. In this I was mistaken, and it may have been from my misconception that I was thus early made ready for the idea of the telephone. I had aceustomed my mind to the fact that vowel sounds had been transmitted, and if vowel sounds, why not the congonants? It was while endeavoring to transmit mu- sical sounds by electricity many years af- terwards, you know, that I arrived at the discover: ‘Telegraph to the Telephone. “Had you devoted much time to electri- city .before this?” 0,” replied Mr. Bell. “I knew abs lutely nothing about electricity, and It was to carry out my investigations of this ques- tion that I began to study it. I commenced with telegraphy and learned to telegraph. I had a friend at school who was interested In electricity, and we worked together. Later on, while teaching school near Lon- don, I had among my pupils one young man whom I was trying to cure of stammering. I gave himone of the instruments and prac- ticed my telegraphy on him. All this time I was studying and teaching the physiology of the voice. I had this knowledge of the different pitch of the vowels, and as I car- ried on my experiments with the telegraph the idea came to me of multiplex telephony. I thought that signals of different pitch might be used in telegraphing, and in these the sounds in one pitch could be arranged so that they would-not conflict with those on another pitch, and thus a number of messages could be sent over the same wire ‘ions, — at the same time. I worked upon this for years, and the telephone was the outgrowth of this idea, and of my studies in connection with the deaf and the effort to produce some kind of an instrument by which speech could be made intelligible to them. It was while I was teaching in Boston that I succeeded. 1 had discovered that I could transmit musi- cal sounds by wire, and from that it was only a step to the conception of the tele- phone or the transmission of speech. The discovery came slowly, and I had all sorts of difficulties, both imagirary and real, to contend with. I had first a number of reeds as sounding instruments at each end of a wire, with permanent magnets attached to them, these reeds being of different pitches, I then found I could produce the same re- sult with a battery and one steel rod. I worked for months after I had the idea that speech could be transmitted under the im- pression that the power of the voice would be so lost in its transmission that though I knew wee sounds conla be transmitted, I ot believe they would be loud en: to be audible to the. human ear. een Working With a Dead Man’s Ear. “I made all sorts of experiments at this time in testing such matters, and in my investigations I wanted a diaphram as near like the human ear as possible. One day, in talking about this to Dr. Terrence Blake of Boston, he remarked, ‘Why not use the ear Itself?” I said that that would suit me exactly, but asked him where I could get a man who would give me kis ear and how I could possibly keep it in good condition after I had gotten it. He replied that he would get me one, and shortly after that 1 re- ceived from him a human ear cut from a dead subject, and so treated that I was able to study it and use it in my experiments.° This was of great value to me.” “Have there been many improvements 2 the telephone since your original inven- ion “No,” replied Mr. Bell. “There have not. The principle of the telephone is unchanged. There have been mony improvements, but they have been in the line of transmitters and reéeivers, and things connected with the telephon2. As to the machine itself and its fundamental principles, it is about the same as when it was first made.” Telephoning Without Wires. “Will we ever be able to telephone with- out wires?” 3 “Yes,” replied Mr. Bell; “I think so, though the distance may be limited. I re- member some experiments that I made one day in a field near New Haven, Cona. We had about fifty feet of wire stretched be- tween two pokers, which we had driven into the ground and had attached a bat- tery to them. I put the receiver to my j ear, when I heard the sound of a clock ticking. There was neither clock nor watch at the other end of the wire, and by listen- ing to the ticking, I recognized that it was the ticking of the University electric clock at leest half a mile off. By this clock a num- ber of the clocks of the city were regulated, and the sound had evidently traveied from these wires to the batteries connected with our pokers, and that for a long dis- tance without actual wire connection. I think that our great steamers, by means of the heavy dynamos, which they carry, could telephone each other on the sea when miles apart, and I have no doubt that we will in the future be able to telephone for limited distances without wires.’” “How about telephonic cables? Will we ever be able to talk across the ocean? “It may be, but there are difficulties there which have yet to be overcome. These will have to be mastered by some one who has the cables at hand to experiment with. I have never made much investigation along these lines, While in the laboratory I picked up from one of the shelves a piece of pine board about half an inch thick and eight inches square, out of the center of which extend- ed a speaking tube, which apparently rest« ed against a thin disk of bright metas sunken into the opposite side. This metal was like a silver mirror, and was about as large around as the bottom of a tumbler, I asked Mr. Bell what it was, and he told me that it was the instrument with whi he discovered that he could talk from one point to another through the medium of a sunbeam, or in other words, could send sound along a ray of light without the aid of the electric wire. He took the instru- ment and put the tube to his mouth, hold- ing the mirror so that it caught the sun, and cast a little shadow-disk of light on the opposite wall. Then by breathing slight- ly he made this shadow increase and di- minish and go-into all forms of shape by, the action of his breath against the mir- ror diapHragm. “That shows you,” said he, “how the action of the diaphragm is carried along that ray. Now, if you will put a little bottle with some soot in it where that shadow is on the wall, and speak into the tube, you will find that the sound will travel along that ray of light, and by having a receiver connected with the bottle, one would be able to hear what you were saying. We have spoken by this means to and from points 200 yards apart, _ and there seems to be no reason to doubt that speech may be sent along a beam of light for great distances. In our experi- ment in this we first used selenium, a very rare substance, and very sensitive to light. We have found, however, that we can pro= duce very good results with common soot, and discoveries may yet be made which will make such an invention commercially practicable.” Mr. Bell’s Habits of Work. Upon the back of this board I read the * record of the invention, stating the time when it was discovered, and signed by Alexander Graham Bell and Sumner Tain- ter. As I looked at it I asked Mr. Bell as to whether he always recorded a discovs ery as socn as it was made, and told him of a recent interview which I had with Mr. Charles Brush, the inventor of the electrio light, in which he told me that such rec- ords had proved to be of enormous value to him. Mr. Bell replied that he tried to do so, but the excitement at the moment of dis- covery was so great that he often forgot it. He carries on all his investigations at night, beginning in the evening, and sel- dom going to bed before 4 o'clock in the morning. He leads, in fact, two lives—one by day, that of the ordinary man, and an- other by night, that of the inventor. He finds the quiet of the night conducive to study, and that his sleep from 4 a.m. until 11 is amply sufficient to keep him in good health, and as restful as that which other men take in the dark. FRANK G. CARPENTER. HOME AGAIN, From Lite, And we are glad to her. nee st