Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 199, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 August 1912 — Page 2

The Silver Watch

By THOMAS COBB

It was only the Importunity of his wit® and daughters which induced Mr. Markwick to take four seats in Whitekail for the coronation, and fortunately he was also persuaded to substitute for his gold English lever a comparatively valueless silver watch which had lain in one of his drawers for several years. Mr. Andrew. Markwick—forty-five, looking very well fed, self-satisfied, and aggressively prosperous—found himself wedged in the crowd whilst deft hands passed stealthily over his white waistcoat. Still, as Mrs. Markwick subsequently remarked, how forttffiate it was that he had left his gold watch at home. This occurred on the Thursday, and the following morning he did not go to the city as usual. -—Late in the afternoon he set out for a stroll through some of the more deserted streets, and on reapproaching his house shortly after six o’clock saw a man of about bis own age standing on his doorstep —a taU. slenderly-built man wearing a blue serge suit a little the worse for wear and a soft felt hat. He had a somewhat pale face, a moustache, and a' short pointed beard. "For you, sir,” said the butler, handing Mr. Markwick a small cardboard box.

‘‘Good gracious !*' was the answer as he removed the unsecured lid, “It’s my silver watch.” That it should have been stolen in the crowd was not very astonishing, but why In the world should the thief take the trouble to return it? How did he know the address. If he was stricken by remorse why had he not brought back the fountain pen, the few odd shillings, and the pocket knife as well? As he stood looking from the watch to the restorer, who certainly had not the appearance of a thief, Mr. Markwick’s thoughts momentarily flew back nearly a quarter of a century. He was back at Chesterborough—a boy again, Tn his case the child had not been father to the man. What a young fool he was in those days. He would have given the world for Muriel Castelet, at whose death the capacity for those more romantic sensations had passed away. Although he had married a few years later and lived as contentedly with his wif as a man may in an imperfect world he had never felt towards her as he once had felt towards Muriel.. They used to read poetry together in those days. Good heavens’ . Mr. Markwick could have smiled at the -recollection if he had felt less surprised by the restoration of his watch. “Kindly walk this way.” he said, turning towards his smoking room at the end. of the hall, and after a moment’s hesitation the visitor followed him. "‘•‘l feel curious,” Mr. Markwick added, “to hear what is your object in bringing back my watch. I presume you are aware it was stolen from my pocket yesterday morning.” “So you don’t recognize me,” was the answer. ■ “Certainly not,” said Andrew Markwick.

“Look again,” replied the visitor, and raising a hand he held It in front of his pointed beard. “Dlmsdale,” he added. “Good heavens! You can’t be Jack Dlmsdale,” he added. “Nobody else, I assure you,” returned Jack. “A beard makes a world of difference. Now you haven’t altered much —stouter, of course, and all that, but then the change has been gradual and I’ve known you about town by sight a long while.” “Why didn’t you speak?” demanded Mr. Markwick. “Oh, well, you see you've got along in the world. I haven't.” “Yes,” said Mr. Markwick complacently, “I’ve not done so badly. But then I have worked hard. How the Bight of you takes one’s memory back. Not that I should have known you from Adam. You haven t, Mr. Markwlck added, "told me how my watch came into your possession. You can scarcely have been the man who picked my pocket." “Scarcely,” replied Jack. "It must be—good gracious!—it must be pretty well twenty-three years since we'met,’Dlmsdale.” “To think.” muttered Jack, “that Muriel can have been dead so long. Markwick,” he continued, “do you recollect how you and I used to dodge one another—the tricks we used to play to cut each other out? There was never another . woman in the world.” His jacket was unbuttoned,- and Mr. Markwick recognized the thfn gold chain which hung from his waistcoat. As a matter of fact it was attached to a cheap gun-metal watch. “Do you remember that morning a week after her funeral?” said Jack. “Yes, yes, as if it were yesterday.” waiShe answer. “When old Castelet asked us to go to the house and suggested that we might care to have something she had worn? He gave you the first choice and you took her sliver watch." • “What I can’t make oat,*’ urged Mr. Markwick, “is your having possession of it. I can’t understand that for an Instant.” “Old Castelet." Jack continued, “gave me her chain.” He took it between his fingers. "It has been round my neck every day since. When Muriel died all my hopes seemed to die, too.” “After all,” said Mr. Maikwlck, “a

man has to llvi his life. It is of bo use to cry over spilt milk. The world is still going round. You ought to have pulled yourself together—you ought to have married." “Oh, of couse you’re quite right,” Jack admitted. “You behaved very sensibly.” “Ah, well,” said Mr. Markwick contentedly, “you were always a bit of a fool. It’s no use, Dlmsdale; if you don’t get on the top the chances are you’ll stay at the bottom.” "Anyhow,” exclaimed Jack, "I was sorely tempted to stflk to that watch.” “I wish to goodness you would tell me how you got hold of it,” said Andrew Markwick. “I never knew anything more bewildering. I hadn’t looked at the thing until yesterday for nineteen or twenty years.” “Not it!” cried Jack. “I shouldn't have seen it then if my -wife hadn’t insisted I should run a risk of having my pocket picked. Surely enough my wife was right. I did get my pocket picked, and now you whom 1 haven’t seen all these years coolly brink it back to me. That beats everything.” “The fact is,” said Jack, “I’ve been a good many things in my time. I’ve spent four or five years on a cattle ranch in Texas, I've hawked vegetables in the streets of Sydney, I’ve tried to sell illustrated Bibles on commission all over England, and now ” “Good graciousl you’ve "not fallen so low—” • “As to pinch your watch. Not quite. At present,” said Jack, "I happen to be a journalist of sorts. You remember the Trensham robbery last year?” “Trensham is a friend of mine." answered Mr. Markwick with an air of pride.

“Well,” Jack explained, “I was doing odd jobs for the Dally Magnifier, and I tried to play the amateur-detective. I knew I should score if I got to the bottom of the Trensham affair, but of course there was no such luck. However,” added Jack, “in the course of my investigations I made one or two rather Interesting acquaintances —Jem Davidson amongst the rest.” “Who is Jem Davidson?” asked Mr. Markwick. .“The man who went through your pockets.” - “How did you find that out?” demanded Mr. Markwick. “I saw him in the act,” said Jack. “Jem is a member of a pretty low down gang of thieves. I had at one time and another stood him a good n?any drinks. We grew quite chummy. I have told you I have known you by sight about town for a good many years. Sometimes I felt I would give anything for a good jaw over old times, but Well, you see, Markwick, 1 didn’t feel certain I should meet wtfh any reciprocity.” “No one can say I ever turned my back on a friend,” was the answer.

“Anyhow,” Jaok continued with a. smile, “I happened to. be on the look out for copy in the crowd on Thursday morning when I spotted you just In front of Jem Davidson. I saw some of his pals wedge you In while he went through your pockets. Jem Is supposed to be a skilful craftsman. I knew he would pick you clean. He wasn’t likely to leave your watch behind —Muriel’s watch. I Imagined you as being Immensely cut up at your loss. I could guess what that would* mean whether you were married or not. No man who had ever known Muriel Castelet'could ever quite forget her. So I tackled Jem Davidspn,” Jack explained. “In the end we compounded a felony. After swearing he had not got y&r watch till he .was blue In the face he let me have It for a couple of pounds.” ■ “.“Good heavens!” exclaimed Mr. Markwick with an expression of righty ecus indignation, “twice as much as it was worth.”

There was silence for a few seconds. Jack drew in a deep breath as he stood gazing at Andrew Markwlck. Then he slowly buttoned his Shiny blue serge jacket. “Now you know the whole story,’ he said in a different tone. “I shouldn’t have troubled you if you hadn t caught me on your doorstep.” “Still, I can’t allow you to be the loser,” answered Mr. Markwick, taking out his purse. “Two pounds mean more to you than they do to me.” “Odd,” said Jack, picking up the watch from the writing table by which he was standing, “what a few bits of old metal do mean to a man.” "Well, here you are,” cried Mr. Markwick, holding put'fils right hand with two sovereigns on its palm. “Oh, none of that Markwick,” exclaimed Jack.

“I Insist that you allow me to reimburse you.” said NJr. Markwlck while Jack still held the silver watch. “You think It was dear at the price?" he suggested. “Dear!" was the answer. “It was one robbery on the top of another." “Then suppose we make a compromise,” suggested Jack. “A compromise!" “Yes; suppose you keep your money and ease your conscience by letting me have the watch.", “With the utmost pleasure," said Mr. Markwlck, replacing the two sovereigns in his purse whilst Jack’s fingers closed tightly over the watch as he turned towards the door. "Well, goodby, Dlmsdale,” exclaimed Mr. Markwlck, holding out his hand. “Strange we should have c'ome across one another again after all these years.” “Goodby,”. answered Jack, “and thank you immensely.” He could not have looked more supremely delighted if he had come into a fortune even greater than that of Mr. Andrew Markwick’s.

DR. BELISAkiO PORRAS, former minister of Panama to this country, has just-been elected president of Panama. He and Mme. Porras were married by proxy Immediately before he returned to Panama from Washington.

BIG SALMON CATCH

Forty-Nine of These Fish Caught in Seven Days. Two Brookline Men Landed the “Beaten ties” in Famous New England Stream—Terrific Battle Follows “Strike.” Brookline, Me. —Seven days’ fishing with a catch of forty-nine salmon, all weighing between three and five pounds, was the luck of George C. Stevens of Winthrop road and Charles R. McWilliams of Manchester road, Brookline, during a recent trip to New England’s celebrated salmon fishing ground. Grand Lake stream, Maine, says the Boston Herald. Success like that might cause the occasional disciple of Izaak Walton to yearn for many a day, but Mr. Stevens and Mr. McWilliams, both veterans of the rod and line, are not unduly elated by it. That was the sort of eport they went after and expected; the sort of sport they had had many times in the past. They are willing to admit, however, that the capture of a dozen “beauties” in one day was an w achievement to be rather proud of. For season after season the pair have visited the two broad stretches of placid water set deep in the pine woods, Grand lake and Big lake, and the little darting river which links the two and which is known to every devoted angler as Grand Lake stream. Each season has equaled its predecessors and each season’s record has spread the fame of the region abroad.

Today Grand Lake stream is known In every corner of the country where there Is an enthusiastic lover of the game fish. Each year brings together at the camps along the shores of the lakes the pick of the salmon fishermen of the continent. There are many tales of notable catches. One man, fishing with a fly late in May, took 29 in one day and another is reported to have landed 120 in 16 days. Lying 169 miles north of Bangor. Grand Lake stream Is reached only after the Washington country railroad is followed to Princeton. Then there is a jaunt of 16 miles by motor boat and cart to the camps deep in the forest The journey is a long one, perhaps, but no true fisherman thinks of that once he has glimpsed the broad expanse of water sweeping before him for 50 ( square miles. He has only to watch a while for one of the canoes which dot the surface here and there, until he sees a shimmer of silver as a fish jumps clear to strike and the fever is upon him. After that he is busy, except at the Interval when he snatches time to eat and sleep. Either a light bamboo or a light steel rod is employed, with silk line, double leads and a 2-0 hook. On this a minnow is securely placed in such a a manner that the little fish turns and twists to glye a close imitation of natural swimming. The salmon Is something of an epicure in his tastes; he is particular about his diet and will not rise to dead bait or offal; he Is to be lured only by a bait that Is in motion. As the guide paddleft leisurely along some 50 or 75 yards of line trail behind and then the angler waits for things to happen. Pretty soon there is a flash of gleaming white and a tug at one lines; It is the strike. The salmon has parted at the tempting minnow, has leaped In a graceful curve a good three feet out of the water and is off. Now comes the hum of the reel, a song dear to the heart of every devotee of the gentle art, and the play begins. While the pleasant whirr continues the ounaniche tries every trick to hold him safe. The salmon will fight for liberty with a pertinacity greater than that of any other denizen of lake or stream. It takes a'good half hour of playing before he can be reeled In and during

PANAMA’S PRESIDENT AND HIS WIFE

that time he struggles all the time. For a moment he gives in and then is off again with a new lease of strength: Throughout his battle is punctuated with a series of picturesque jumps, qften as many as a half dozen, before hfe finally quits. While all this is going on everything is forgotten in the excitement of the sport. There are no cares, no worries, no schemes of business for the man with the rod. There is just one thing in the world, and that is the fish on the end of the line.

SEND PHOTOS BY WIRELESS

Experts Say New System Is Being Perfected That Will Speed Up the Transocean Service. London. —Wireless messages will be sent across the Atlantic and to other parts ot the world by a new system, according to experts, within four months. Not only will transmission be much faster than by the present systems, but it will be with such precision that it will be possible to send pictures by this means. The new system has been taken up by one of the big European telegraph companies and will be given a thor ough test by a syndicate organized under the auspices of the teKgraph company, so far as the transmission of wire'ess messages is concerned. Stations are to be erected at Lyons In France and at Washington, D. C, and the inventor claims that he will be able to send at the rate of 200 words a minute. The improvements consist in being able to control a continuous wave as compared with intermittent waves by the present system. » After the Franco-American line Is working the company intends to extend the system to the coast to Africa and to the British colonies. The British government has investigated it, but is apparently satisfied to let some other nation test it before adopting It In the British isles.

Aided in Death of Woman

Man Surrenders to Police, Declaring That His Conscience Has Been Troubling Him. New York. —Evan Evanson of 1425 Bath avenue, Bath Beach, an elderly man of Impressive appearance, called at police headquarters in Manhattan and asked to see the person in charge, if there were any one on duty so latent night and it was n<st too much trouble. Lieut. James Dunn, who lately has grown a little sensitive to criticism of the difficulties which persons who desire to surrender for crime or give testimony against criminals are said to have experienced, sent out word that Mr. Evansdn was to come right to - T "Fifteen yean ago,” said Mr. Evenson, "I was responsible for the death of a woman, Margaret Lens, In Brooklyn. My conscience troubles me In my old age and I wish to surrender.” ' The telephone helped to find two detectives in Brooklyn who were willing to come over and take charge of him, and Mr. Evanson was locked up in the Adams street station over night. When he was arraigned before Magistrate Dodd, Assistant District Attorney Lee, who had been looking up the death of Margaret Lens, told the magistrate that the health department books showed that Margaret Lens died July 30, 189R,' of Bright’s disease and that Coroner Delapha had 90 certified. vi “I know that,” said Evanson. “I am not exactly a murderer. But I want to tell the grand jury how I am respon ible.” Magistrate - Dodd committed Mr

FLY BRINGS END OF MARKET

Famous Institution In New Orleans Will Be Sacrificed to the Cause — of Sanitation, New Orleans. —The French market, which was established in the latter part of the eighteenth century, is soon to pass into history. The bazaar where four generations of New Orleans housewives bought their meat and vegetables, where artists and story writers haunted dark nooks for echoes of ancient New Orleans, Is -to be sacrificed on the altar of modern sanitation. War on the house fly is mainly responsible for conditions that led up to the edict compelling almost complete reconstruction of the market.

MOVING HABIT DIVORCE PLEA

Minneapolis Man Says His Wife Has Changed Abode Twenty- ~ nine Times. Minneapolis, Minn.—ls -a 1 man Is compelled by his wife to move twen-ty-nine times in the seventeen years of his married life, is it ground for a divorce? W. P. Crawley of this city believes if is, and has asked that the court grant him freedom. In his petition he declares that the “moving habit” formed by his wife has become unbearable: that she “beat him up" with a broom, and that he gave all his earnings to his wife, who spent them, forcing him to borrow from his brother to provide for bls needs.

Old Lady Swims Five Mlles.

New York. —Gray-haired, sixty-five years old, mother of ten children, Mrs. Elizabeth Berio, of Edgewater, N. J., t swam along and across the Hudson from Edgewater to the Washington club, at the foot of 152 d street When she and her eighteen-year-oid daughter Kitty, who accompanied her. had completed their four mlle-and-.a-hali swim in 45 minutes, she was forcibly restrained from trying to make the return trip as she had come.

Evanson to the Kings county hospital for observation for five days.

BOYS BURN MAN TO DEATH

Pour Gasoline and Whiskey on Clothing and Apply Match as a Joke. Memphis.—Mitchell Cabanlss, eighteen years old, and Clarence Shaw, aged ten years, were charged with a murder, to which they smilingly confesed when arrested. They explained that they had thought to give Robert M. Ellis only a scare and occasion for a quick plunge into the pool in Forrest Park when they poured a mixture of whisky and gasoline over his clothing while be slept on a park bench one night recently, and then applied a match. The whisky, Cafcaniss, just out of an asylum to which he had been committed for insanity, took from the victim’s pocket, and the other boy found the gasoline where a park employe had concealed it under bushes. The mixture flamed all right, but instead of seeing Ellis run for the lagoon, they saw policemen making frantic efforts to tear Ellis’ flaming clothing from him. He was dead, however. before the blaze went out

Legs Broken, Boy Goes a Mile.

Mount Holly, N. J. —With both legs broken by a fall from a tree, Henry Bergen, nine years old, dragged himself more than a mile to, his home, and then fainted on the door step, where his mother found him. The boy’s clothing were worn through and bls abdomen lacerated’ from dragging himself over the ground.

OBEDIENT TO NATURE’S LAW

Constant Change Goos On, But Amerkj can Race Is Not Threatened | With Extinction. , An effective argument against the theory advanced once in fc while that Americans are becoming degenerate and are bound to die out; a complaint also made by the English concerning themselves, & advanced by Lieut CoL Charles E. Woodruff, Medical corps, U. S. army, who Is now stationed in the Philippines. S “There is no ground for such absurd pessimism,” says Woodruff, “though’ as a matter of- fact there Is plenty of evidence that certain types in each nation -(British and American) do have a higher death rate than others and Xhat there is a constant slow change In the general average. Both civilizations have been built up by immigrants and it is a laWsof nature that change of racial residence Is always followed by extinction or alteration of type through the survival of the fittest for the new environment. “Moreover, there has been a constant immigration Into the British Islands from the beginning of things human, and the Influx of new blood has always kept civilization humming, even if each invasion in olden times did destroy part of what it found. The same phenomenon is being repeated in America with the sole difference that the Invaders, except in Mexico and Peru, have not destroyed, hut are constantly building up. The process of decay of certain types is also quicker in America and the new blood comes into prominence sooner than in England. “Very few of the. descendants of the signers of our Declaration of Independence are in public life and most of them are nonentities, while immigrants and sons of immigrants are in the seats of the mighty. The descendants of the signers of Magna Charta controlled England for many centuries, though none of that stock is in evidence now, while the present controlling elements date back some centuries and very few are recent arrivals from the continent. “It is high time that we find out who are the fittest in each part of America. Every bit of evidence is of some value and that is the reason why the tremendous victories of the American Olympic athletes have such a scientific and popular Interest.”

Puritan Verse.

Among the offenses of the Puritans, for the most part left behind them when they came to this country, was that of turning bits of the Bible and parts of the New Testament into English verse. They were much given to the printing of objurgatory and defamatory pamphlets, for which from lime to time a scribbling offender* would not find repose at “mine inn,” but in the stocks to the amusement of all the idlers of the town. It was soon after the Reformation that this spirit of versifying th® Psalms and other parts of Scripture began, and most of the collections* published with quaint titles are now worth several times their weight In gold to gatherers of curios. Alliteration’s artful aid was much in evidence in such titles as “Seven -Sobs of a Sorrowful Soul for Sin,” which comprised the seven penitential Psalms in meter, and a “Handful of Honeysuckles,” in which were collated various blessings out of the book of Deuteronomy. William Hunnis, chapel master to Queen Elizabeth, turned the entire book of Genesis Into rhyme under the title of "A Hiveful of Honey,” and Christopher Tye, a contemporary of Hunnis, rendered the Acts of the Apostles in English verse. But these were before the Puritans, the chief offenders, especially In pamphlets, had arrived.-

Depraved Benevolence.

“One of the queerest old human freaks in New York shows up around the police station whenever there is a report of runaway boys in town," said a policeman. “His purpose would not be exactly approved by the Bible societies. He does not want to lecture the boys or send them home or improve their morals in any way. He simply -wants to gratify their thwarted ambition and show them Coney island and the Bowery before they are yanked back home by-angry parents. That is what most of them run away for—to nee Coney island and the Bowery—and this old codger argues that any boy who. has grit enough to stand the hardships of a stolen ride to New York ought to be allowed to see those places. His benevolence isn’t all wind, either. He is willing to foot the bills if the boys will be allowed to go; but very few of them are. That Is breaks the old gentleman’s heart. He lays aside a small Sum of money each year for this peculiar charity.”

Short-Change Dog.

Charley Ellison is Tip on horses, but was not up on dogs. At one time in Hot Springs he paid for a bird dog, partly through a fanciful notion and partly because the dog was a handsome animal. He sought the seller the next day and said: "I thought you claimed this was a bird dog. He was gone for three hours yesterday and didn't bring back a single bird.** Passing up the hunters and going In for trick animals, Ellison had a dog to which he would give a smell of a $5 bill and later send it to bring the money home. A .visiting horseman located- the plant before the dog did and substituted a |1 bill. When the retriever showed up, Ellison said: “Prince, what have you done with the other 14?”— Chicago Evening Post.