Crawfordsville Weekly Journal, Crawfordsville, Montgomery County, 13 April 1894 — Page 6

THE OLD MILL MYSTERY.

By\Arthur W. Marchmont, B. A.

Author of "Miner llnadlcy's Socrot,*' "Mail dine Power," "Hy "Wliose Hand,*' "Isa," &c. Arc.

[Copyright, .1892, by the Author.]

Ciiai'tku

11—Continued.

sue pare nun ners lor a moment, and then withdrew it. She could not be angry with liini. "Now tell me.are you really stronger? I want to know that particularly I have reasons." "Yes, I am quite strong.'1 "What caused your illness?" "I—I scarcely know. A chill, niost likely. Caught on the night wh.?n that strange explosion took place. Did you ever find out what that was?" asked Mary, shuddering involuntarily at the recollection of the time. "Never. But I have my suspicions." "What are they?" "1 believe an attempt was intended to be made upon the mill and that in some way, how 1 know not, it was frustrated."

Mary was silent. "But there is another matter I want to speak of. As the bother with the people is now over, there'll be no need to take such care where the hands lodge. You have done well to keep Savannah Morbyn here so long, but now she can look for some other place." "Are you going to keep her on at the mill?" asked Mary. "You would not have me turn away those who stood by me in the time of trouble, would you?" he asked, not quite at his ease. "But there is no reason why she should not get lodgings elsewhere." "I don't wish to turn her out," said Mary. "Mother and I are used to having her now in the house, though at first was a litllescareil at lief goings on at times. She's a bit queer." "Eh? How do you mean a bit queer? What does she do?" "Oh, she doesn't do anything," answered Mary, with a feeble laugh. "But she says curious things." "Then the sooner she is out of the house the better," said Gorringe, and. Mary was astonished at the earnestness of his tone.

Gorringe rose directly afterwards to go. "By the way, will you tell Tom that the new mule frames will be in early to-morrow, and that the earlier he can get at them the better?" "I will if I see him," answered Mary, not meeting the other's eyes. "Won't he be in, then, to-night?" "I don't know," she said, with a little hesitation. "Tf it's important you'd better leave word at his cottage." "Oh!" was all the reply that Reuben Gorringe made but Mary seemed to read in it plenty of hidden meaning. She blushed, and then, woman-like, began to make excuses for Tom. "lie has been so busy at the mili lately that he has not had much time to be here," she said. "Nay, not at the mill." answered Gorringe, his heart beating high at the knowledge that Tom seemed to be neglecting her. "I have not kept him late once. He must have some other reason some work at home, perhaps," he said.

But she understood the look he gave her when shaking hands, and she felt humiliated at finding herself in such a position.

When her mother came into the room she found Mary lost in her dreams. "Why don't you marry him, Mary?" she asked, after awhile, when she heard that Gorringe had been in. "Why don't you marry him?" "Why should I prefer him to Tom, mother?" was her reply. "If you think Reuben Gorringe is the better man, you're the only body in Walkden Bridge that thinks so." "lie's a man that knows his mind, whether he's better or worse in other tiling^" answered her mother sharply, "and that's more than some other folks seem to do. If he gets a bite, he holds on. Look at his money, too." "What of his money? lie's only manager at the mill." "Ah. maybe. But he's got a shed on his own account, and, I warrant me, lie's got a tidy sized stocking and that it's pretty full." "Very likely. But I don't want his money. 1 can earn enough to keep me, and I'd rather die a weaver lass and naught else than wed a man 1 couldn't love." "Well, then, set to work and love Reuben Gorringe. If yon weren't so precious obstinate, you'd have done it long since, instead of maundering on with that Tom Roylanee fiddling and faddling about and doing naught else. I've no patience with you."

Mary made no reply to this. She had had more than one dispute with her •mother on the same subject, and there had been high words between them occasionally. "Why don't yon do as I tell you, Mary, lass'.'"' continued Mrs. Asliworth, after a pause in which she had waited vainly for a reply. "I don't want to talk about it now I'm not well enough," said Mary.

But her mother did not mean to give up her efforts to induce Mary to take wlia-t she regarded as the proper course in regard to marriage. Moreover, she had turned against Savannah, and when Mary told her what Reuben Gorringe had said about the girl seeking some other lodging Mrs. Asliworth was pleased. "I'm glad of it, that 1 am. I'll tell Savannah this very night what he's said, and the sooner she packs the better. And there's no reason now why we should keep her. Where is she now?" "I don't know. Maybe with Tom's father." "More likely with Tom himself," said Mrs. Ashworth, speaking at random in her irritation, and having no particular meajjine.ior the-words.

"Mother!" cried Mary. "Mary," answered the mother, imitating her tone. "If you don't want to drive me out of the room you won't say such things as that," said Mary, quietly. "They pain me "All right, my lass, I won't say anything more."

She was fond of the girl, and had no wish to hurt lier feelings. But she was very anxioiis to see her married to Reuben Gorringe, and was thus very often a most injudicious advocate of the latter's cause.

She went now to the girl's side and bent over her and kissed her. "I'm sorry I grieved you, my lass," she said. "It's all right, mother," answered Mary, looking up, and smiling. "I know what you wish, but it can't be. I can't marry a man without caring for him. It goes against nature. Try not to wish it or speak of it again."

She went out of the kitchen then, and thus the discussion ended, as all the talk on that subject did, by each keeping her own opinion.

The next two or three days were a time of great, trouble to the girl. She recovered her strength quickly, though she was not able to go to the mill, and indeed was compelled to stop in the house. But what perplexed and worried her most was the fact that Tom Roylanee only came once to see her, and then only for a short time, during the whole of which he seemed ill at ease and quite unlike himself.

Savannah Morbyn left the Ashwortlis' cottage on the day after Reuben Gorringe had spoken about it. She went away with scarcely a word, simply telling Mary that she was go* ing, and where she had found lodgings.

Then came dreadful news. Savannah had been to sit with Mary two evenings, and on the evening of the day before Mary intended to go back to work she came in a state of great excitement. "What's the matter, Savannah?" asked Mary. "Have you heard any news?" asked the other. "News? How should I hear news? I have not been out." "Has no one been to see you?" "No." "Have you seen Tom Tom Roylance?" asked Savannah. "No. What of him?" "Nay. That's what I would ask you." "Is anything wrong, Savannah? What is it? Tell me quick. Don't keep me in suspense. What is it?" Mary spoke rapidly and eagerly. "I don't know what it is," answered the other girl, not meeting 'Mary's eyes, which were fixed upon her face. "But I have heard." "Then what is it? Tell me. You have come to tell me why don't you do so at once? If he is not ill, and nothing has happened to hurt him, it cannot be anything very serious. Is he leaving the mill, or has he quarreled with Reuben Gorringe?"

Savannah bent licr dark eyes on the others' face. At the look Slary seemed to feel a strange fear chill her heart, but she would not, show it, and smiled. "What I have to tell you will be a shock to you," said Savannah, deliberately. "Can you bear it?" "I can bear it better than your mysterious silence. What is it they say, and who are 'tliey?' "They say that Tom Roylanee is a tliief," said Savannah, in the same deliberate and impressive tone.

Mary Ashworth burst into a laugh. "Then they are fools, whatever they are," she said. "Tom a thief! The ideal why it's preposterous!" Then her indignation rose fast. "But who are they who dare to take away his character? And what is it they dare to say he has stolen?" "Money," answered Savannah. "The money of the sick fund of which he is secretary, and his accusers are the trustees. The money is missing." "Shame on them!" cried Mary, fuming with indignant anger. "It's a cock and bull stoiy at the best. Where is he?"

Savannah did not notice the question. "They say the books have been examined and are found to be wrong, and that there is a considerable sum of money which ought to be in hand, and that they can't get it. lie hasn't it." "Silence,- Savannah!" cried Mary, with sudden, fierce energy. "I'll hear no more against him from anybody. It's all a pack of lies from beginning to end, and I won't have it even spoken of before me. Whore is lie?"

Without waiting for a reply the girl rose from the easy chair in which she had been sitting, and taking down her hat and jacket from behind the door began to put tliein on, her hands trembling and quivering with suppressed excitement.

Before she had finished her mother came in. "Bless the girl, what's the matter?" cried Sirs. Ashworth. "I'm going out. Sly Tom's in trouble, and I'm going to him. Some villains dare to say he's stolen some of their paltry money, and I'm going to see what it means. I'm going to him." "You can't lo that," said Savannah, quietly.

Sirs. Ashworth looked from one to the other of the girls in wonder. "Who says that?" replied Slary, laughing scornfully. "Who'll stop me? Where my Tom is there I'll go." "You can't go to liim now where he is," said Savannah again. "Why not'."' said Slary. her face flushing. "Where is lie. then?" asked Sirs. Aslnvortli in the same breath. "lie's probably In gaol by this time," answered Savannah: and at the words Mary cried out, and would have fallen in her weakness if her mother had not caught her and half led, half carried her back to her chaix*.

Her weakness lasted only a minute, however, and then she sprang up and cried: "I_donlt care.-"inhere, he, is, lYhere

my Tom is, there I mean to be," and with that she turned to leave the cottage.

CHAPTER XIII. MARy'S SUSPICIONS.

"Stay, Slary you had better hear all I have been told before you go." Slary turned back, as though she thought the suggestion good. "Yes 1 should like to hear it. When did all this happen?" "Not long before I came here," answered Savannah. "Did Tom send you to tell me?" "No. I came because I thought it would be better for you to hear it from me than from anyone else." "Tom Roylanee a thief and in prison," ejaculated Sirs. Ashworth, lifting up her hands in amazement. "Silence, mother," cried Slary, angrily. "Tom is no thief, and those who have dared to put him in prison will have to pay for it. But now, Savannah, what is it these slanderers say against my Tom?" "They say that a week or two back something in the accounts was noticcd that puzzled them. They said nothing at the time, waiting to see what happened. Then they decided to make a sudden examination into the books, and to see whether the money was right. They came—at least, they went to the cottage—" "Were you there?" asked Slary, quickly, noticing the slip the other made in the use of the words. "I was sitting with the old man, and had been reading to him," answered Savannah, flushing slightly as she spoke. "Well, they asked at once for the books and for the money, and went into the thing then and there. They were in the front room, and after a time Tom came back to where I was sitting with his father, and he looked •cry angry and agitated. He went to a drawer, unlocked it and took out a cash box. "I heard him exclaim as he took it into his hands, and then he cried, suddenly: "Tffy God! I'm ruined! I've been robbed! Sly cash box has been broken open. I had all the money of the sick fund in it, and every shilling is gone! They'll think I've robbed them.' "At that moment one of the other men came to the door, and asked Tom if he would take the money into the next room so that they could count it and check it. 'Slurstone'—it was Slurstone, the over-looker, you know him, Slary—• 'Murstone, I've been robbed,'said Tom. 'The box is empty, and every shilling has been taken away!' "Murstone smiled a hard, disbelieving, mocking smile, which drew down the corners of his mouth, whilst his eyebrows went up, ?nd he shrugged his shoulders as he answered: 'That's unfortunate,'lii atone that showed he didn't believe a word of what Tom said. 'But come, let us get back and tell the others of your mishap.' "•Tom's eyes blazed with rage at the other's tone and manner, and I thought he was going to strike liim. But he kept his temper, and followed Slurstone out of the room, holding the empty cash box dangling from his hand as he walked. 'Poor fellow, I pitied him.' "They did not come in again for some time, and liis father lay back wondering what it meant. When Tom came he was alone. 'I'm going out for a bit. father.' I could read in the troubled look in his eyes that something very bad was the matter. 'What is the matter?' I asked him, getting out of earshot of the old man. 'There's trouble and a strange mistake about the business of the sick fund money. These men think I've taken it and they say they must give me in charge. Of course, I can't stop them if they like to do so. But we shall probably go over at once to Prosburn and see the head man there and have the thing threshed out straight away. If I don't come back to-night, try and prevent my father from worrying too much, and make some excuse. l*ut I may be locked up. I can't tell yet.' "And with that he went out like one dazed and half stupefied." "Did he send no message of any kind to me?" asked Slary, jealously. "No. He said no more than I have told you," answered Savannah. "Then I'll go down to liis cottage and see whether he has come back yet. Are you coming?"

The two girls left the house together, and on the way to Tom's home Slary plied her companion with questions. When they reached the cottage Tom was not there. He liarl not been back. "I'll wait," said Slary, quietly, and she took off her hat and jacket and sat down. "You've no call to wait, Savannah," said Slary, somewhat ungraciously, after a time. "Why are you angry with me, Slary?" asked Savannah, in her softest voice. "Tom asked me to stay with his father until his return, if he does return to-night. That is why I am litre. But you and I must not quarrel at a time like this."

Slary turned to her companion and said readily: "I was wrong. Savannah. Forgive me. But 1 am full of anxiety about this it frightens me. There must be some conspiracy against Tom. lie is so good-natured and open and trustful that anyone can impose upon liim. I wish he would come."

After a time she rose and made some supper for the invalid, who spoke very little, but lay and watched her as she moved about tlm room. The old man turned to Savannah: "Will you read to me, child? You will soothe me."

The girl went to the side of the bed and took up the book that was lying there—it was a copy of the "Pilgrim's Progress"—and as soon as Slary had finished her preparations began reading aloud from it.

Slary sat apart nearer the door, waitihg and listening for Tom's coming. PresenJJy ,_s he _cr gently from

the room and went to the door of the cottage to wait there. This was about ten o'clock: she knew there was a train from Presburn about that time. After a little while she saw her lover's tall figure coming up the street. He was walking slowly, and his head was bent as though he was in deep thought.

She gave a. sigli of relief when she saw him, for she had begun to fear that his not coming might mean the worst. She went to meet him. When he saw her he stopped and started. "Mary, you here?"

The tears were in her voice as she put out her hands to take his, wanting to make him feel her sympathy. "I heard there was some trouble, Tom. Savannah told me." "Why did she speak of it? She said she would not." "Not to me?" She was hurt to think he should wisli to have a trouble kept secret from her and known to another. "I did not want to trouble you while you were ill, Mary," said Tom, reading her meaning in her question. "I would far rather know it at once," she answered "It is only a cruel kindness to keep your troubles from me." Then she took his arm, and clung to him and wondered and grieved that he did not kiss her. If she had had a trouble, it would have been so sweet, she thought, to have been able to tell him and to kiss him for the ready wealth of sympathy which would be given to her. Such sympathy as her heart was bursting to pour forth. "Let us go in," he said, after a moment's pause, in which he had felt embarrassed. "Can you speak of this before your father and—and Savannah?" asked Slary. "You must not stay in the night air, lass you'll get chilled. Oh! yes I can say anything before—them." Slary guessed what he had meant to say, even before he added, as if to explain away her thoughts: "Savannah knows everything already."

They went in, and Mary was relieved to see he was brighter than she had thought.

She half hoped that matters were not so bad as she had feared. But the first words he spoke killed her hope. They were addressed to Savannah in answer to the searching,"anxious 15ok that~sEe directed upon him with tli one-word question: "Well?" "No, it is not well," he answered, playing on the word. "It is not so bad as it might be. But—," and he looked across to where his father lay. "He is asleep," said Savannah, interpreting thb look.

Then Tom drew the two girls across the room, and in a low voice told them the result of the journey to Presburn. They had not found the man whom they had gone over to see.

As soon as Tom began to speak of the matter, Slary read in his eyes and voice and manner how real and terrible was the trouble, and how deeply he was suffering, and she longed in her heart to have the task of comforting him. But Savannah's presence checked her "What is it they say against you, Tom?" she asked. "I mean, what is the actual charge they make?" "That I have stolen the money of the fund. Slary. That I am a thief. You know I have to collect certain subscriptions, and they—well, it is Slurstone who is doing it—seem to have got hold of the idea that I have been making the accounts all wrong, and that I haven't accounted for some of the money." "What a disgraceful shame!" she cried, angry and indignant at the mere accusation against him. "How much money is it that—" "That I have stolen?" he said, when she hesitated for a moment to find a word to use. "Tom! How can you even joke about such a thing?" she exclaimed. "I mean, how much do they say is missing?" "The amount they speak of now is about twelve or thirteen pounds but —but that is not all." He stopped and sighed heavily. "What else is there?" asked Slary, laying her hand gently on his arm, while her heart bled at the sight of his troubled eyes. "They dare to suggest that the books have been wrong for along time, and that there is much more money than that altogether." "Well, you can put the books into somebody's hands to-morrow, and show that's a lie," said Slary. "They've taken them to-night." "Tom, you surely never let them do that! Why, that's like admitting that things are wrong." "It was the only arrangement they'd consent to," he answered, as if feebly excusing his weakness. "But about the money," she said, after a pause. "Did you give them that as well?" "How could I do that?" he exclaimed, rather irritably. "Didn't Savannah tell you that it had been stolen out of the cash-box?" "Was it the fund money that was stolen?" "Yes, Slary of course it was," he answered, again speaking irritably. "Don't you understand? You know I put the money always in that cashbox just as I collected it, and kept it there until I paid it over to Lee when he came from Presburn. "When I went t.o get it this evening, to show that 51 tallied with the accounts, it was gone. That's the whole thing in a nutshell."

The tone in which lie spoke hurt the girl. It seemed as if he resented her questions. "But if it was only twelve or thirteen pounds—you have more than that in the savings bank, Tom and you can give them that, can't you? Surely they feannot punish you because some one has stolen the money from you. That, at the worst, would be your loss, not theirs. Bad enough, of course but not nearly so bad as—as the other."

This seemed to disconcert him more than the former questions. He turned away his head, and Slary fancied she detected a quisle clause flashed be­

tween Savannah and him. "You don't understand it,, Mary." His voice was a trifle more unsteady than it had been before. "I told them that the money was in the house and in the cash-box." "But if you have the money to give them, how can it be serious? Money is money, and twelve pounds taken out of the savings bank is the same to them as twelve pounds taken out of a cashbox. Surely that's all they want."

Again there was an awkward silence. Tom turned away and leant his head on his hand in an attitude of dejection. Suddenly he faced round, looked at the girl as if she were accusing him, and said—trying again to assume anger in order to cover his confusion: "Yes it's all very well to talk like that. 'If I had the money but what if I haven't the money? And I haven't." He looked at her lialf-defiantly and yet half-shamefacedly.

For a moment Slary could not reply. She glanced into his face, then into Savannah's, and then dropped her eyes lest he should read the doubts and fears which his words had raised. Doubts, not of his honesty—she had no doubt of that but of something that was even more to her. She knew that only a few weeks before he had had some twenty or thirty pounds of savings, just as she herself had for they had talked over all their little money matters like brother and sister. Now vague, disquieting fears as to what he had done with it, connecting themselves indefinitely in her thoughts with her growing doubts of Savannah, troubled her. But none of this feeling showed itself in her reply. "Then you should have relied on me, Tom," she answered, and her face as she spoke glowed with a smile that cheered and warmed the heart of the man. "That will soon be put right. You must have been strangely troubled, dear, to forget me at such a time. We must get rid of this bother first, and then we'll see about who broke into your cash-box. Will you take this money to Slurstone in the morning—or at any rate tell him you have the amount, whatever it may be, that the books make out to be due?" "You are very good, Mary," said Tom, very gently. "Nay, nay it's but what I'd look for from you. I'm glad we've had the talk. I shall sleep to-night now. But I must go."

Then she and Savannah left, and Slary walked home with a heavy heart for all her words.

The more she thought of the interview—recalling Tom's manner, and what he had said, and piecing it together with his neglect of her during her week of illness—the more she was troubled and harassed and restless.

An instinct seemedto warn her that the worst trouble lay underneath the surface, and that it was of a kind which threatened to wreck all her happiness. Of the particular trouble about the sick fund money she no longer felt much anxiety. That could easily be replaced. What she feared was a trouble that no money could avurt.

(To Be Continued.)

1IICKOKY GliOVE.

Sirs. F. H. Smith's sister visited her Sun da j'. Sirs. Frank Hitch's sister visited her last week.

Allen Robinson and family visited Alex Wilson Sunday. Henry and Frank Thompson visited LeRoy Wilson Sunday.

George Wilcox and family visited Nelson Winningliam Sunday. John Foster, of Sodom, was at Geo. Clouser's last Sabbath visiting.

Frank Hitch and wife spent Sunday with their uncle, Alfred Simpson. Frank Stout, our teacher, called on friends in this neighborhood Sunday.

Sirs. II. F. Smith and Mrs. J. W. P. Thompson called on Sirs. Frank Hitch Tuesday.

J. W. P. Thompson and family visited their son-in-law in the Lye Creek prairie Sunday.

Professor J. F. Stout, of Naug'le's Hill, we understand, is going to business college at Lafayette.

Henry Hitch, accompanied by Clarence Dodd, went to Ladoga Monday to get some strawberry plants.

Will Larsh and wife and Sirs. Ellsworth Baker and wife, of Indianapolis, are visiting friends and relatives near here.

WAKI-iINGTON.

W. .1. Owsley is moving his office. C. O. Tribbit is on the sick list this week.

W. C. Kimler is building the largest house in town. Shannon & Co. are out with a new delivery wagon.

Frank Clouser's new house is in the hands of the plasterers. .1. F. Slarsh lias bought James Hall's fine family driving horse.

Jim Wilhite expects to leave us for good the last of the week. F. P. Mount was with us last week explaining why and for what reason.

W. A. Buchanan had a number of sheep killed by dogs Slonday night. Suggestions for the good of Memorial or Decoration Day are now in order.

John (iuntie and W. C. Raper are each having their houses painted this week.

Bill Kelsey has done been 'gone and moved to the country again once more already.

Abe Galloway has moved his lamily into his wood house where they will live until he builds more comfortable quarters.

Town Board met Tuefdav night and failed to do any business except draw their salary.

John Howard has just finished repapering and painting the Hollingsworth rooms.

Uncle Ike Boolier, who has been confined to the house for some time with a complication of diseases, is reported better.

Rev. Shuey filled his regular appointment here last Sunday and immersed Sam Russell in the afternoon.

The Little Wonders delighted a good sized audience at the M. E. church last Friday evening with their recitations.

Remember the great temperen,ce play at Hulett's hall next Saturday night. Everybody turn out and assist in the good cause.

Only a few from here attended the encampment at Lafayette, last week, but all speak highly of their treatment while there.

L. W. Little having tired of the village of Terre Haute has removed with his family to this place. We welcome liim among us.

Slont Kennedy was out for exercise and pleasure and arrived here after dark Tuesday evening on foot. Slont is fixing them.

Bill Boots, one of our popular butchers, in slicing a ham Saturday evening let his knife slip and almost severed his arm from his body.

Our candidates for the town are warming up nicely and getting down to their work and from this time until the election we may expect them.

A good number of those that have traveled toward the east at this place will go to Linden Saturday evening and enjoy the hospitality of the brethren.

Frank Tribbit, while throwing a horse for Wm. Slote last Friday, in some manner let the horse fall on him, breaking both bones of his leg below the knee.

It is now currently reported and pretty generally believed that Miller and Martin, our marshal and clerk, have stole thousands each year from the town.

The ladies of the Presbyterian church gave a most excellent supper and entertainment at Hulett's hall last Saturday evening which netted them a very neat sum.

Not a single, solitary Democrat in town. Just nobody but Republicans and citizens. The rooster dropped from his perch and just a wee little bit of a star for an emblem. Truly the mighty have fallen.

Our citizens were somewhat shocked one day last week when they saw two young gentlemen and their ladies enter a saloon, but immediately recovered when they learned they were Crawfordsvillians and drank bock beer.

We have a few independent Republicans such as our busy man, that believe in Republican principles but must vote the Democrat ticket to show their independence and that they will not be led by Republican conventions.

W. A. Boolier is living comfortably in his own house to-day just from the fact that Lee Needliam and his boys, were at home one day last week and saw the first blaze arise from the roof, and a very few moments more he would have been homeless.

W. H. Custer is a candidate for the office of trustee in Sugar Creek township. llarve is every way well qualified and if nominated we will be willing to stake our reputation for truth and veracity that Zook will lack the vote of Sugar Creek township.

Several of our citizens on going to pay their taxes made the discovery that their lands had been sold and that Ezra Voris held the deed. All of them were men that willingly pay thentaxes, called for them and thought they were all paid. SI ad, they were madder, and Joel Owsley called tilings by their proper names and plenty of good men say they will remember tiltgang in the future.

A representative of the Chicago $utJaj Sun was here a few days ago to engage one of our many correspondents for his paper. He first found (i. P., of the Star, but as he wore eye glasses and had a far-away, dreamy look he was afraid he wrote too much poetry and scripture. He then found our busy man and he filled the bill but would not accept an engagement unti 1 he had his brother and brother-in-law elected as truetees of the town. Now as time was money to him he could not wait far that event. He then took after Coxey, but, as ever, lie was hard to find and when found was not open to an engagement, as the cemetery question was not definitely settled yet, but only waiting for another death, when he must needs be ready to record. Then he had just received a letter from Wringneck that a large number of recruits and supplies for his army were awaiting his order. He left without an engagement.

OFFIKL.

The early sown oats aud clover have been killed. James Weir, Jr., has a tine stock of pigs for sale.

Hannah Miller went to Indianapolis on Wednesday. We cannot boast of any candidates and only one college student.

The Stump brothers have finished a driven well on the Debard farm. The assessor has come and gone and we can once more get our breath.

Quite a number of young people attended the Y. P. C. U. at Union Sunday evening.

Fred Sliller and family, of this city, visited friends on the Creek a part ot" lrst week.

James Lewellen A-. Co. moved their saw mill to the farm of P. S. Kennedy last Wednesday.

Luella Douglas is improving and thinks she will be able to resume work next week.

James Smith and Sherman Vancleave are busy cutting pickets on the Swindler farm.

The Ripley Democrats and Jim have called forth more comment than the coming of spring.

Ed Duckworth and family, of the city, passed here on Sunday evening on the wav to visit Sir. Deliard ami wife.

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