Newspaper Page Text
■ THE
PRODIGAL
, JUDGE
) \By Va JOHANKESTER.
Juvs '/{Arms By D. Meivm
COProsQKT' /£// Thc M* 00/lL ib*&*rtr
is^ari
He Tossed the Glass and Contents in
Fentress’ Face.
the next meal or the next drink; he
had believed that as he knew him so
he had always been, lax and loose ot
tongue and deed, a noisy tavern hero,
but now he saw that he was tilling
what must have been the measure ot
his manhood.
“I tell you I had no hand in carry
ing off the boy,” said Fentress with
a sardonic smile.
“I look to you to return him. Stir
yourself, Gatewood, or by God, I’ll
hold so fierce a reckoning with you—”
The sentence remained unfinished,
for Fentress felt his overwrought
nerves snap, and, giving way to a
sudden blind fury, struck at the judge.
“We are too old for rough and tum
ble,” said the judge, who had dis
played astonishing agility in avoiding
the blow. “Furthermore we were once
gentlemen. At present I am what I
am, while you are a hound and a
blackguard! We’ll settle this as be
comes our breeding.” He poured him
self a second glass of liquor from
Fentress’ decanter. “I wonder if it
is possible to insult you,” and he
tossed glass and contents in Fentress’
face. The colonel’s thin features were
convulsed. The judge watched him
with a scornful curling of the lips. “1
am treating you better than you de
serve,” he taunted.
“Tomorrow morning at sun-up at
Boggs’ race-track!” cried Fentress.
The judge bowed with splendid cour
tesy.
“Nothing could please me half so
well,” he declared. He turned to the
others. “Gentlemen, this is a private
matter. When I have met Colonel
Fentress I shall make a public an
nouncement of why this appeared
necessary to me; until then I trust
this matter will not be given pub
licity. May I ask your silence?” He
bowed again, and abruptly passed
from the room. t
His three friends followed in his
steps, leaving Fentress standing by
the table, the ghost of a smile on his
thin lips.
As if the very place were evil, the
judge hurried down the drive toward
the road. At the gate he paused and
turned on his companions, but his
features wore a look of dignity that
forbade comment or question. He
held out his hand to Yancy.
“Sir,” he said, “if I could command
the riches of the Indies, it would tax
my resources to meet the fractional
part of my obligations to you.”
“Think of that!” said Yancy, as
much overwhelmed by the judge’s
manner as by his words.
“His Uncie Bob shall keep his place
in my grandson's life! Well watch
him grow into manhood together."
The judge was visibly affected. A
smile of deep content parted Mr.
Yancy’s lips as his muscular fingers
closed about the judge's hand with
crushing force.
“Whoop!” cried Cavendish, delight
ed at this recognition of Yancy’s love
for the boy, and he gleefully smote
the austere Mahaffy on the shoulder.
But Mahaffy was dumb in the pres
ence of the decencies; he quite lacked
an interpreter. The judge looked
back at the house.
“Mine!” he muttered. “The clothes
he stands in—the food he eats—
mine! Mine!”
CHAPTER XXV.
The Bubble Bursts.
At about the same hour that the
judge was hurling threats and insults
at Colonel Fentress, three men were
waiting ten miles away at the head ot
the bayou which served to isolate
Hicks’ cabin. Now no one of these
three had ever heard of Judge Slocum
Price; the breath of his fame had
never blown, however gently, in their
direction, yet they were preparing to
thrust opportunity upon him. To this
end they were lounging about the
opening in the woods where the
horses belonging to Ware and Murrell
were tied.
At length the dip of oars became
audible in the silence and one of the
trio stole down the path, a matter of
fifty yards, to a point that overlooked
the bayou. He was gone but a mo
ment.
“It’s Murrell all right!” he said in
an eager whisper. “Him and another
fellow—the Hicks girl is rowing
them.” He glanced from one to
other of his companions, who seemed
to take firmer hold of themselves un
der his eye. “It’ll ‘be all right,” he
protested lightly. “He’s as good as
ours. Wait till I give you the word.”
And he led the way into an adjacent
thicket.
Meantime Ware and Murrell had
landed and were coming along the
path, the outlaw a step or two in ad
vance of his friend. They reached the
horses and were untying them when
the thicket suddenly disgorged the
three men; each held a cocked pistol;
two of these pistols covered Murrell
and the third was leveled at Ware.
“Hues!” cried Murrell in astonish
ment, for the man confronting him
was the Clan’s messenger who should
have been speeding across the state.
“Toss up your hands, Murrell,” said
Hues quietly.
One of the other men spoke.
“You are under arrest!”
“Arrest!”
“You are wanted for nigger-steal
ing,” said the man. Still Murrell did
not seem to comprehend. He looked
at Hues in dull wonder.
“What are you doing here?” he
asked.
“Waiting to arrest you—ain’t that
plain?” said Hues, with a grim smile.
The outlaw’s hands dropped at his
side, limp and helpless. With some
idea that he might attempt to draw
a weapon one of the men took hold
of him, but Murrell was nerveless to
his touch; his face had gone a ghast
ly white and was streaked with the
markings of terror.
“Well, by thunder!” cried the man
in utter amazement.
Murrell looked into Hues’ face.
“You —you —” and the words thick
ened on his tongue, becoming an in
articulate murmur.
“It’s all up, John,” said Hues.
“No!” said Murrell, recovering him
self. “You may as well turn me loose
—you can’t arrest me!”
“I’ve done it,” answered Hues. “I’ve
been on your track for six months.”
“How about this fellow?” asked the
man whose pistol still covered Ware.
Hues glanced toward the planter and
shook his head.
“Where are you going to take me?”
asked Murrell quickly. Again Hues
laughed.
“You’ll find that out in plenty of
time, and then your friends can pass
the word around if they like; now
you’ll come with me.”
Ware neither moved nor spoke as
Hues and his prisoner passed back
along the path, Hues with his hand
on Murrell’s shouler, and one of his
companions close at his heels, while
the third man led off the outlaw's
horse.
Presently the distant clatter of
hoofs was borne to Ware’s ears —only
that; the miracle of courage and dar
ing he had half expected had not hap
pehed. Murrell, for all his wild boast
ing, was like other men, like himself.
His bloodshot eyes slid around in
their sockets. There across the sun
lit stretch of water was Betty—the
thought of her brought him to quick
choking terrors. The whole fabric of
crime by which he had been benefited
in the past or had expected to profit
in the future seemed toppling in upon
him, but his mind clutched one im
portant fact. Hues, if he knew of
Betty’s disappearance, did not con
nect Murrell with it. Ware sutked in
comfort "between his twitching lips.
Stealing niggers! No one would be
lieve that he, a planter, had a hand in
that, and for a brief Instant he con
sidered signaling Bess to return. Slos
son must be told of Murrell’s arrest;
but he was sick with apprehension,
some trap might have been prepared
for him, he could not know; and the
impulse to act forsook him.
He smote his hands together in a
hopeless, beaten gesture. And Mur
rell had gone weak —with his own
eyes he had seen it—Murrell—whom
he believed without Tear! He felt that
he had been grievously betrayed in
his trust and a hot rage poured
through him. At last he climbed in
to the saddle, and, swaying iike a
drunken man, galloped off.
When he reached the river road
he paused and scanned its dusty sur
face. Hues and his party had turned
south when they issued from the wood
path. No doubt Murrell was being
taken to Memphis. Ware laughed
harshly. The outlaw would be free
before another dawn broke.
He had halted near where Jim had
turned his team the previous night
after Betty and Hannibal had left the
carriage; the marks of the wheels
were as plainly distinguishable as the
more recent trail left by the four men,
and as he grasped the significance of
that wide half circle his sense of in
jury overwhelmed him again. He
hoped to live to see Murrell hanged!
He was so completely lost in his
bitter reflections that he had been un
aware of a mounted man who was
coming toward him at a swift gallop,
but now he heard the steady pounding
of hoofs and, startled by the sound,
looked up. A moment later the horse
man drew rein at his side.
“Ware!” he cried
“How are you, Carrington?” satd
Lhe planter.
“You are wanted at Belle Plain,” be
gan Carrington, and seemed to hesi
tate.
“Yes —yes, I am going there at once
—now —” stammered Ware, and gath
ered up his reins with a shaking hand.
“You’ve heard, 1 take it?” said Car
rington slowly.
“Yes,” answered Ware, in a hoarse
whisper. “My God, Carrington, I’m
heart sick; she has been like a daugh
ter to me —I—” he fell silent, mop
ping his face.
“I think 1 understand your feeling,"
said Carrington, giving him a level
glance.
“Then you’ll excuse me,” and the
planted clapped spurs to his horse.
Once he looked back over his shoul
der; he saw that Carrington had-not
moved from the spot where they had
met.
At Belie Plain, Ware found hi*
neighbors in possession of the place.
Tjiey greeted him quietly and spoke
in subdued tones of their sympathy.
The planter listened with an air or
such abject misery that those who had
neither liked nor respected him, were
roused to a sudden generous feeling
where he was concerned; they could
not question but that he was deeply
affected. After all the man might
have a side to his nature with which
they had never come in contact.
When he could he shut himself in
his room. He had experienced a day
of maddening anxiety; he had not
slept at all the previous night; in
mind and body he was worn out; and
now he was plunged intone thick of
this sensation. He must keep control
of himself, for every word he said
would be remembered. In the pres
ent there was sympathy for him, but
sooner or later people would return
to their sordid unemotional judg
ments.
He sought to forecast the happen
ings of the next few hours. Murrell’s
friends would break jail for him, that
was a foregone conclusion; but the
insurrection he had planned was at
an end. Hues had dealt its death
blow. Moreover, though the law
might be impotent to deal with Mur
rell, he could not hope to escape the
vengeance of the powerful class he
had plotted to destroy; he would have
to quit the country. Ware gloated in
this idea of craven flight. Thank
God, he had seen the last of him!
But, as always, his thoughts came
back to Betty. Slosson would wait at
Hicks’ place for the man Murrell had
promised him, and, failing the mes
senger, for the signal lire, but there
would be neither; and Slosson would
be left to determine his own course of
action. Ware felt certain that he
would wait through the night, but as
sure as the morning broke, if no word
had reached him, he would send one
of his men across the bayou, who must
learn of Murrell’s arrest, escape, flight
—for in Ware’s mind these three
events were indissolubly associated.
The planter’s teeth knocked together.
He was having a terrible acquaint
ance with fear, its very depths had
swallowed him up; it was a black pit
in which he sank from horror to hor
ror. He had lost all faith in the Clan
which had terrorized half a dozen
states, which had robbed and mur
dered with apparent impunity, which
had marketed its hundreds of stolen
slaves. He had utterly collapsed at
the first blow dealt the organization,
but hi was still seeing Murrell, pallid
and ?!■ ; eD.
BABY EASE
MAKES HEALTHY. HAPPY, PRETTY BABIES
IT 15 HARMLESS.PLEASANT. EFFECTIVE!. 25150* QtRTWHtRE.
P.Marshall.nrc.CHmisT. *•
./Macon, Ga., apkil io,
19 » , t hOU ', d Use B , AIiY EASr - b acts like a charm on
W iny little grand-daughter. It is plMsantto take. Keeps her bow-
<re,,ul babiei ' 1 highly
** - ■ •V'j* o. ' fejrrt
MR. DOYAL ROWAN
CALLED BY DEATH.
Well Known Citizen of Shakerag
District Died Last
Week.
Mr. Doyal Rowan died at his
home in Shakerag district on
Thursday morning of last week at
8 o’clock.
Mr. Rowan was one of Henry
County’s best and most prominent
citizens and possessed many
friends throughout the county,
who will join with the bereaved
family in mourning hisdea h.
He was 53 years ot age at the
time of his death.
The funeral and interment were
at Mt. Carmel, Friday afternoon at
2 o’clock.
Mr. Rowan is survived by his
wife; three daughters, Mrs. Sam
Foster, Mrs. George Anderson, and
Mrs. Elliott; two sons, Messrs. Tom
Rowan and Charley Rowan; and
two brothers. Messrs. George
Rowan and Henry Rowan.
The Rev. J. England conducted
the services.
Stockbridge.
Mrs. M. E. Ward left Tuesday to
spend two weeks in Atlanta and at
the Conference of the M. E. Church
which is held at Carrollton.
Mrs. Cornelia Dorsey, of Mariet
ta, is the guest of Mrs. Harriet
Hawkins.
Master Thomas Folds celebrated
his eleventh birthday with a party
Tuesday afternoon. Twelve little
friends were invited and a delight
ful time was spent in games. De
licious refreshments were served.
Mrs. Jefferson Davis, Miss Leo
Davis, and Master Jeff Davis re
turned home Tuesday night from
a visit to Atlanta.
Mrs. Sallie Flightower went to
Atlanta Tuesday for a few days
visit to her daughter, Mrs. James
Mann, and her son, Mr. Glenn
Hightower.
Mr. Will Swann and daughter,
Miss Serena, of Hampton, spent a
few hours here Monday.
Mr. and Mrs Parks Lee and
little daughter, Carnelia, spent
the week end with Mrs. Lee’s
sister, Mrs. R. A. Dunn at Warm
Springs.
The Halloween party at Miss
Artie Bellah’s was a delightful oc
casion for the young people. The
house was attractive with the
decorations of the season and
quite suggestive that Halloween
was here, with ghosts and jokes
to suit the occasion. Miss Bellah
opened her home on this evening
for the benefit of the U. D. C. Li
brary fund.
Mrs. J. C. Walden returned
home Friday afternoon from the
State U. D. C. Convention at
Athena. She reports a most
pleasant and satisfactory trip.
Rev. T. P. Cleveland, of Atlan
ta, will open the week’s meeting
at the Presbyterian church Sun
day, November 10th, at three
o’clock in the afternoon, and Rev.
F. D. Hunt, of Decatur, will con
tinue the meeting during the
week. We hope ail good people
of all the denominations will come
out and help us to make the
meeting a success.
The friends of Mr. and Mrs.
Joseph Cook are sympathizing
with them in the loss of an infant
son some weeks ago.
BOARD OF TRADE
MEETING TONIGHT
Messrs. Cooper and McKinney o*
Decatur and Atlanta Boards
Will Attend.
Because of the distractions ot
Superior Court and other things,
the pefection of the McDonough
Board of Trade’s organization has
been delayed.
A number of citizens have al -
ready been pledged as members.
But the whole town must be en
rolled in order for the work to
benefit McDonough as it should.
In the move to this end the
committees have found the need
for some convincing talk of the
purpose of such a board and of
some detailed information which
could not be secured from local
parties.
For the purpose of fully show
ing us the purpose and the work
of such an arganization, McDon
i ough has secured two of the best
1 men in the country in this line ot
I work.
Mr. Charles D. McKinney, Presi
dent of the Decatur Board of
Trade, and probably Mr. W. G.
Cooper, Secretary of the Atlanta
Chamber of Commerce, will come
down Friday evening to make
plain to us these matters*.
The meeting will be at the
Court house this< FYiday)even ng
1 at 7 o’clock.
Let all who believe in McDon
ough and McDonough’s future
come out and learn what each
can do to make McDonough grow..
Messrs. H. D. and J. D. Moore,
of Conley, ginned and shipped
the largest bale of cotton to Chi
cago last week that they have
shipped this season. It weighed
seven hundred and eighty pounds.
Mr. Ran Cates and children ate
dinner with his sister, Mrs. Vick
Cates, last Sunday.
Mr. Allen Estes had the misfor
tune of sticking a nail in his fool
last Friday. He is suffering a
great deal with it.
Mr- G. B. Stephens, Mr. and
Mrs. W. I. James, and Mr. and
Mrs. J. M. Avery visited Mr. and
Mrs. W. M. Stephens last Sun -
day.
Misses Rosa Lee Brown, Lucile
Tolleson, and Lillie Coan spent
the week end at home Miss Ella
May Freeman was the guest of
Miss Rosa Lee.
Miss Beula Atkinson will spend
the week end in Atlanta.
Mr. T. A. Sloan spent Monday
in Atlanta.
Miss Eunice Arnold, of Cochran:,
spent Sunday here.
Mrs. Carry Mayo spent Sunday
in Atlanta.
Mr. and Mrs A. K. Brown, Mr, i
and Mrs R. A. Sloan, and Miks.
Maffit motored to Griffin Sunday,.
Messrs. Hugh Kelley and Benton .
Thompson spent Monday i Atlan
ta.
