Show 0 biver by george barr mccutcheon ten syndicate BORN TO BE HANGED heros heres a clever story about A man born to be hanged before he wa was thi thirty r ty f tor or a crime he Cs commit mit the way a gypsy queen told his fortune tb the night be b was wai born and what more the gypsy qu quern een was right she ehe wax was a palm reader who knew her business and afraid to admit it so olivers father disappeared and the neighbors cried murder and before long they also yelled oliver and finally just six days day before olivers thirtieth birthday came along a lynching lunching lyn ching bee strung him up but just the same all this did not prevent olivers getting betting elected to the state senate and winning a pretty wife and living happily ever after by george georg e barr enough said bald CHAPTER I 1 1 oliver born bom in october oliver october baxter jr w ans as born lii la the town of rumley on a vile october day in ISDO 1890 rumley rowley people were divided in their excitement over this event and the arrival of a band of gypsies ies camped on the edge of the swamp below the baxter house olivers parents were prominent in the commercial social and spiritual life of the town ills his father was the proprietor of the hardware store a prominent member of 0 the presbyterian church and a leader in the local lodge of odd fellows ills his mother mot lier mary baxter a comely capable young woman was beloved by all no finer than oliver october had ever been born according to mrs serepta grimes and serepta was an authority on babies it was she who took command of oliver his mother and his fattier father the house bouse itself I 1 find and all that therein was As the story of 0 oliver october really begins at 7 in the evening of his birthday we will open the narrative with sir joseph sikes sir mr baxters old and trusted friend hovering in solitary gloom over the base burner in the sitting room of baxters house ile he was interrupted in his gloomy meditations by the elie slamming of the kitchen door ills ilia brow grew dark this was no time to be slamming doors Iju rushing to open the door he be was confronted by a pair of total strangers a tall tail man mail with short black whiskers and a frail little woman with red wind smitten cheeks 1 I am oliver easters baxters sister announced the woman and this Is my husband sir mr good gooch we drove all the way over here from Hop hopkinsville kinsville to take charge of things tor for ray my brother well I 1 guess if you are ills his sister better rome come luto into the sitting room end and take your things off said mr sikes leading the way mrs booch ouch having baving herself ot of coat scarf bonnet and overshoes straightened her hair before the looking blabs while tier lier burband surveyed the room and its contents with the file disdainful air of one used to touch blauch better 0 things gooch typified prosperity of the meaner kind over in he was considered the richest and the sting stringiest stingiest stin giest lest man in town ile he was aas what Is commonly called a tax shark tie ie riving it 11 lucrative and obnoxious jn in rome collie through his practice of bu ing up ap real estate at tax sales and holding li it until it was redeemed by the hard pressed owner or ns as it happened la in many instances acquiring the property under tinder a provision of the state law then in operation whereby after a prescribed lapse of time he was enabled to secure a tax deed in ills his own name no oae clae not even ills his fellow church members had been known to get the better belter of him 1 I shall ahall take chAr charge gebere here mrs gooch gonch announced to mr sikes Is this the way upstairs mr sikes nodded but it if I 1 was you he said id ask shrepty grimes crulies before I 1 took charge here 1 I wm soon get rid of mrs grimes crimps said she tossing her head As she bile started to leave the room a 0 loud knocking tit at the front door ruse above the howl djoa I 1 of the wind ind returning ills his office as master of ceremonies tu pushed his way past mrs gooch and open apen edthe door to admit 1 a woman and two men the first to enter the sitting bitting room was a tall tail man wearing a ellin ihan black overcoat and a high slik ellk list tills was itea herbert sage bace pastor of the presbyterian church of Rui ulry the alie lady was wa ills his wife the other member of the trio a fat red faced jolly looking man of indeterminate age was silas link the undertaker upholsterer and liveryman of rumley rum ley be Bei beveren eretta eren sage was a good looking young man of thirty threadbare and a trifle wan with kindly brown eyes set deep under tinder a broad intelligent brow hla his wife was surprisingly enough a 9 handsome dashing young woman she was lall fall willowy and startling site she wore a beal bearskin skin coat at least it looked like sent with sleeves that ballooned randly grandly tit at the lie shoulders rather stun olne coral earrings up of bradu sted ced globes lobes tad and slinky satin skirt 0 of black r good evening mr alkes sli drawled as she scuffled past him into the sitting bitting room nice balmy weather to be born in it 7 mr sikes taken unawares forgot himself so far as to wink at the parson and then in some confusion stammered st step right in sirs mrs sage and have a chair let me ine make you acquainted with olivers sister from reverend sage mrs gooch mr link mrs gooch and this Is olivers brother in law her husband also of ever body bowed now how Is your dear brother mrs gooch 7 inquired mr sage 1 I know there was wag anything the matter with with oliver there anything the matter with lith him said mrs sage that a good stiff drink of whisky wont cure ahem coughed her husband lie ile had the worried manner of one who neier neer knew what Is coming next ills his wife n ife looked up into his bis face nee and smiled a lovely good humored smile that was slowly transformed into a mischievous grimace im always making breaks am I 1 noff not herby dear its a terrible strain mr gooch being a parsons wife grunted mr gooch at this juncture the sitting room door was opened and the proud father followed by serepta grimes entered the room beaming be surveyed the assembled gathering lies iles got the finest head you ever saw he be announced got a head like a statesman freelend Re elend sage had bad moved over to one of the windows while the other occupants of the room surrounded boxter baxter and was gazing out between the curtains across the gale swept porch into the blackness beyond he shivered a little poor chap at the thought I 1 f the light fell full upon a face close to a window pane of going out again into the bitter unbelievable bel levalle night at the thought of ills his cold little home at the lie farther end of the Nil milage lage lie he was thinking too of ills his wife and the mile wait she would have to take with him into the very teeth of the buffeting gale when tills this isit was over she had vollie come to tills this wretched litt little ae from a great city where houses and floes were warn warm and snug ile he thought of the warm little room on the third floor of the boarding house where ho he had bad ined anti and studied fur for two full years it v Rs as in tills this house that lie had net met Joselit illie judge she was the daughter of the kindly willow widow N who ho con thisted the lie boarding bour dins floesl a tall fall slim girl irl alio used slang tind a nd was wn gay and blithesome and had ambitions ambitions she wanted to become an ac actress tres she nag struck ile he was not a theater going youth ile he had been brought up with an au ab bor barrence rence for the stage and all its ea in so lie he devoted himself alart lie in and soul to the saying saving of the misguided ni mulden alden with astonishing results they felt fell in ive with each other and were married lie he tre presh ed pd ills face against the cold gansl pan striving to rid his hi wind 0 of f the hie doubts and worries that beset it suddenly he drew back with an exclamation cla mation the light ml full upon a face close to the window pane a face so go startling and so vivid that it did not appear tu to be real A pair of dark gleaming eye 4 met his for or a few se sec ands then swiftly the fuce face was withdrawn lie he leaned forward and peered intently two indistinct figures took shape in the unrelieved at the corner of the tha porch to women he made out joaeph Job eph lie called there are two strange women on the porch perhaps you go co lire who it Is 1 joe commanded mrs lies grimes crimea crisply slices sikes hastened to obey and returned return td presently in great excitement say ollie ollic he burst out theres therell a couple of women out here her from that gypsy camp they claim to be fortune tellers one of em cm wants to tell the babas fortune she says she knowel it a couple of weeks ago that he was go ing to be born today what she says well im not going to allow an any y gypsy woman to go nigh that infant 1 cried sirs mrs grimes she anys it aint necessary to even see the baby she says the only reliable and genuine way to tell fell a babas fortune Is by reading its fathers hand band mr baxter arose bring her in joe now dont kick sarepty Se repty my minds made up im going to know my sons rons future mr sikes rushed from the room A moment later he returned followed by two Oil silvering vering women who stopped just inside the door the host with a nervous sort of geniality beckoned to the strangers better come down to the fire bre queen he said the elder woman fixed a curious look upon mr air baxter baiter 1 I am the queen of the gypsum mister but how came you to know it she asked in a hoarse not unmusical voice always best to be on the sate safe side aide said easter baxter but look here do you mean to say queen that you can look at my hand and tell ahead of my boy upstairs first you must cross my palm with silver the company drew their chairs closer as baxter dropped some coins into the gypsye palm silence pervaded the room every eye was on t the dark impassive face of the fortuneteller as she seized ollies 11 hand a nd and began 1 I see a wonderful child he Is strong and sturdy I 1 can s see ee tills this son of yours mister as a leader of men great honor la Is in store for him and great wealth I 1 see men in urd uniform forin following your son many men mister and all of them armed I 1 see him as a successful man as the head of great undertakings he has been out of college but bill a few years that will please his mother said baxter sh put in mr sikes testily 1 I see him continued the fortuneteller as lie he Is nearing thirty rich respected and admired he will have many affairs of the heart I 1 see two dark women andone and one two yes three fair women abut would seem to show that hes going to be a good looking sort of a feller would dt it said baxter proudly 1 I he e w will I 1 grow up to be the image of his father mister the gypsy leaned back in her chair spreading tier her hands in a gesture of finality 1 I see no more she said Is eliat all mr baxter sniffed well queen I 1 guess you took us all in neatly outraged royalty turned on him you scoff at me for that you shall have the truth troth all that I 1 have told you will come true but I 1 did not tell tel you of the end that I 1 saw tor for him hark ye I 1 tills son of yours will go to the gallows ile he will swing froin the end of a rope for a crime of which he Is not guilty she was now speaking in a high shrill voice her hearers sat openmouthed open mouthed as if under a spell that could not be shaken off it Is all as plain as the noonday sun he will never reach the age of thirty that Is all that Is the end I 1 have spoken the truth you forced me to do so 1 I go 90 well olivers not got quite a career ahead of him can he live up to it ITO TO BE CONTINUED 1 |