The Key West Citizen Newspaper, January 10, 1952, Page 12

Thursday, January 10, 1952 t BARNEY GOOGLE AND SNUFFY SMITH By Fred Lasswell\ i Peme E/ THEM EXTRY ONES WILL apa ~ LAWSY, YES HUTTY-TWO PAIR? ) RIDDLES Tay ONES Wit 2 TH WIMMEN rag Believe v LAND o" LIBERTY j BARLOW! aoe Iai INVITED TO Page 2 THE KEY WEST CITIZEN BUT WE-UNS GOT THAT'S TOO DURN (T AIN'T FOLKS SHORE GIVE \ THUTTY-TWO PAIR | |WANY BOOTEES FER NO SICH BABY SHOWERS YE A BODACIOUS OF BOOTEES BABY SHOWER-- es aes DIDN'T THEY, CRICKET ? YES, MR. SAM CARTER, I DID VOW 1D RUIN Oe AND... | - | ANT BOT! HMM STILL > Monin AND FATHER UNCONSCIOUS. HERE WHEN THAT BOY ~ 4 DIDO THE POLICE COMES TO 2 ITS A . p LOCATE HIS FOLKS MATTER OF LIFE or “ bi: 3 my 4 OGATH.’ 1% SIR-THE ASEBALL SEASON '@ OVER-ISN'T IT? HURRY-JIGGS-OR WE’‘LL BE LATE FOR | QUESTIONS - THE BRIDGE PARTY- WRAP IT WHAT'S DELAYING - SHINS ARE STILL SORE Fi UP-I'LL TAKE YOU ? THE AST TIME: tT WITH ME- " Y | m MOTHER ASKED ME TO STOP IN AND TELL YOU | TO BE HOME EARLY AS YOU ARE GOING TOA BRIDGE PARTY: DON'T ASK radiate, lx , World rights served = Ficur mi’ crown’ _ Jato usten To ov BONY PARTE 1F YOU WANT SOME EXPERT COACHING... & | stood up and called me a liar and “s | HANGMAN’S COULEE Es E an By AL CODY % Chapter 23 “1 suppose I might tell you that, Shock “A MAN was nanged this aft noon,” Gentleman Jim s: “Some of you were shocked, were even smugly complacen it was a good deed well done. So far as the welfare of the munity is concerned, that is or ably true. There’s no doubt that} he deserved what he got. But if we were to get what we deserve— would any of us be any better off? “T’'m not going to lecture tonight. T'm going to talk to you—more honestly than I’ve ever done be- fore. And to begin with, Big Nose llivan was a man whom I both admired and hated. And, in a manner of speaking, he was also my friend.” He saw the startled looks on the faces below him, went on levelly. “I'm well aware that I’ve been a strange sort of a professor since I came here. That I’ve done a lot of things wnich have puzzled and shocked some of you. What I'm going to say to you now will be even more so. For my own part, I have only one request to make. That is that you will suspend judgnfent ana listen to what I have to say, first. I'm going to talk about myself. “I've only one defense. I could 0 away from here without saying anything. as I had once intended to do, Maybe some of vou will think I'm a fool not to do so. Maybe 1 am. But there’s that coutse—or this one. And, strangely enough, I prefer this one.” His smile, for a moment, broke gravely through. “The other evening I told you something of what my life had been. But I told only a part. There were two reasons then why I made the confession that I did. One was because my foster-father had a scoundrel—which I knew to be the truth. The fact that what he said was true had enough effect on me that I had to admit it.” T= were listening now with tense interest. There had been drama in his confession before, but they sensed that this would be more so. cost! agree? switch! an that. I’ve talked to you about that 1 didn’t know I be- in—and I find that I do! I intend to do anything like i came here. In fact. rely different plans in n I headed this way.” He caught Maita’s intem look on him, and for a moment his voice faltered. Then he went on, like aman wading a swift, cold stream. “Please understand that ’'m not making any excuses for myself. It's only that I’ve come up against some square and decent people— including my foster-parents, for the first time in a good many years. They are go:ng to be shocked and hurt, but maybe, in a small way, they can be proud of me, too— that I’ve got at least a little man- hood in me. The other way they would be even more shocked and hurt. I've worked myself into a corner, and I’m not being noble. There’s only two ways out—to walk out or to drop through a trandoor.” Again he was silent for a mo- ment and silence held the au- dience. They could sense how hard it was for him to say these words. As though #ach one had been the deep-bedded quill of a porcupine. hooked on the end, which he must jerk out of the quivering flesh. “You hanged Big Nose Sullivan today. And I hated Big Nose for what he was—a cruel and brutal man, a killer. I hated him because he had me more or less in his bower. It was partly, maybe large- ly, because of him, that I came kere in the first place.” He was aware that Maita’s eyes were on him, but now he dared not look toward her. “My real purpose in coming here was not to lecture to you or to talk about civic improvement. That was to be only a blind. What I intended was to steal that hun- drei thousand dollars which you of this community have raised for the railroad, to insure that it should pass through this town. oe Nose Sullivan was to help me jo it,” had a change of heart since} wr ing to your town. In a way,| C would be true. But it’s more| he it on. “In my day I have played a great many roles, so that I nave become something of an actor. { was sure that I could play the role 01 a professor and do ** so well that you would a.1 be fooled. And that, after gainine vour confidence in such a manner. I would have lit- tle difficulty in getting hold of that money, and decamping be tween two days. Let me repeat that I’m not telling you this for an excuse. { deserve to wear 4 trope about my neck as much as Big Nose Sullivan did, and once I'm finished, if you want it that way. I'll be right here. “What I dian’t count on was the friends ['d make—square-shoot- ers, decent folks. Or finding mv foster-parents here, and the effec: it would have on them if I went iginal pro: I’m just telling you why ing all this. I couldn’t hurt them. and double-cross the friends ad made here. Not any more than | could help.” Still no one moved to interrupt, and he went on. “One thing that affected me, | think, was the clothes that I'm wearing. The garments of a real man. I've no right to them, Dut I'm_wearing them. “They betong to the real Tim- othy Meader—who will probaply be among you, in good health, some day soon. I constrained him to let me borrow them, against his will. “T hadn't been here long before I became scared of the situation I'd gotten into. Frightened on ac- count of how what I was going to do would affect others. Particu- larly I was worried about my com- inion, who has played the organ. ‘ou’ve heard of him—not John Widdicombe but Happy Brant. Happy is a good-hearted, harmless sort of man who, like myselt. drifted downward until he was consorting with outlaws. But Happy is a mar. who, of his own accord, has never committed a crime or done a mean thing that I have ever known of. I hope that you'll give him a chance.” (Te be continued) CITY ELECTRIC SYSTEM ... and 50c Worth of Electricity, Please! If electricity were sold over the counter—like meat or shirts—chances are you'd sometimes .be caught with- out a kilowat in the house! But if you bought kilowats at the store, you’d be reminded often about electricity’s low Just one penny’s worth, for in- stance, will brew you 20 cups of coffee ... bring you a whole evening's radio entertainment . . . vacuum-clean six large-sized rugs .. . or swish the dirt from half a week's wash. Quite a penny’s worth of service, don’t you Your friends and neighbors in this company, under sound business man- agement—work hard to make this bar- gain possible. And it's a bargain you don’t have to shop for and cart home. It's ready and waiting at the flick of a lnk