| Show mv yv f STORY OF LOVE AND MURDER REVEALED BY HERMITS DEATH queer character of whom L atle was known dies in montana kius rival in germany and fides to america vm bridges mont letters and papers discovered dib covered in a rusty old tin box li adden beneath a board in the floor of a little old weather beaten dilapidated niner s cabin ingma to a mountainside not tar from here tell e of the strangest bt that has comi to bigit in this region in many ears tie stoby Is of an old her mit who d ed in the cabin in which the papers and letters were dincov ered the name ot hermit was roscoe for years before he died lived alone in the little old cabin an I 1 wandered over the mountains hereabout in quest of game and gold it was always supposed by who knew him or rather by those who aaa him for no one hereabout here abou s I 1 new bilm that was mentally un balanced and that he was extremely poor in the twenty odd years that he made his home in the little old cabin on the mountainside he never spoke of his own free will to any person adver raised his eves to look into those of a man or woman with whom he met face to face and never bought groceries or clothing at a stole in twin bridges or any other town in this part of montana the furniture in the one room of his cabin was of the meanest sort the clothing upon the old man s back was shabbier than the furniture in his A dog was the hermit a only friend and companion for the dog he seemed to cherish a deep warm at faction while the faithful animal s love tor him was well nigh human in ts tenderness and constancy f the strange silent old man fell a few weeks ago in his shabby little cabin on the mountain side and could not leave hia bed hereafter no one knew he was ill until the day he died when a prospector happening to pass that way stopped at his door to ask tor a drink of water and found him byeng before a doctor could be reached the hermit went to his final rest A careful search of the dead man s cabin brought to light a rusty tin box containing a few gold coins and the letters and papers which tell in part the story of his life before he came west to spend his declining years in loneliness hoscoe was born in ger many according to the story these letters and papers tell his father s was a well to do merchant in berlin and he gave his son a university edu cation intending him to adopt the pi bession of medicine in his student days yo ing paid court to pretty katherane Kather lne meller and final won her consent to marry him katherane Kather lne meller had had another suitor before she met his name was matthew and he belonged to a dignified family at frankfort flew into a high passion when he learned of miss meller s engagement to sought out the girl s accepted lover and picked a quarrel with him in he quarrel stabbed beldt who died of his wounds soon afterward revealing the identity of his slayer well night crazed with grief went immediately to his sweet heart and confessed his crime to her she begged him to flee to the united states promising to join him in this country as soon as he should send tor her to come to him the death of was still shrouded in mystery so far as the polite and relatives and friends of the dead man were concerned when over hardt left germany and fled to paris he remained in paris a few weeks and tl en went to london whence a few weeks later he came to the united states he sought and obtained employment n new 1 under an assumed name but fearing that the mystery sur round ing s death might be cleared up and that he might be dis covered and arrested there as his slayer he set out for the west he IN THE QUARREL STABBED spent a few cincinnati being attracted by the laige german element in the population then he went to louisville where he remained several months from louisville he went to st louis and from st louis to milwaukee he remained in mil walkee waukee six months meanwhile he was writing regularly to and receiving letters regularly from his sweetheart in germany he told her that he should send tor her as soon as he should settle down and be come able to support her and himself in comfort on coming to this state he began prospecting tor gold and within a year he struck a rich lead thereupon he dispatched a letter to his sweetheart begging her to come to him at once she answered his letter saying that because of the illness of her mother she could not leave her home A few weeks later he received another letter from her saying that her mother was better but that tor other reasons she could not then come to the united states to join him apparently realia ing finally that his sweetheart did not intend to join him ceased writing to her and abandoned hope he disposed of his mine several months after he received his last let ter from his sweetheart and coming to this region built the little cabin on the mountainside in which he spent the rest of his miserable life it la believed that in his loneliness and his grief his mind finally became deranged and that was responsible tor his eccentric habits what became of the fortune which the old man real iced from the sale of his gold mine 1 a mystery |
