| Show i ka KILLING WAS NOT MURDER by H M CoWlE 1 by W a 0 chapman PH murder er occupies a good position in ler tile social world of ills native town lie Is bolee iolee president of lie he board of trade n respected bust busl eq man a good citizen find and has an all ding wife and children lie ile goes goei to tio church on sundays arid and walks home wit ith a clean conscience js Is murder justifiable preston had find lored dorothy tor for years before rankin upon the scene with ills flashy ways find tilles ot of warr derIng 4 ini ad adventures nd ventures ue ile was just the type of if man v 4 w would captivate tho bicart of an inexperienced girl like dorothy preston to whom she vv was it 4 more than half eng engaged gaved saw tier her slip sill I 1 pin away from him dorothy married rankin and then ensued five of the bitterest years of her life ile he took tier money and spent it partly gambling partly on oil ather women dorothy Dorot liy ought to have divorced him perhaps but she shrank from that step nothing like lie it had blid been known in tier her family and widle while she was still deliberating rankin was tilled killed in the train accident that occurred after the watertown races where there tie lie had gone to play the body was mangled among a heap of others and only identified by Is a c card ird in a card case it occurred to nobody that 1 ankin might have given his card to some chance acquaintance upon the train dorothy did rint not pretend to mourn him six months later she married preston and tier her real benl honeymoon began two years of ideal happiness passed preston was at tills this time representing his firm on the road it HP was away for a week when dorothy seated happily on the porch of their house and thinking of him saw a 1 ragged tramp approaching along the road something in the mans appearance in ills his slouching gait arrested tier lier attention tent lod suddenly sh she 3 sat up in her chair rigid rl id her eyes fixed with horror upon the face of the man who had been tier her husband nankin advanced up the little wall walk of the garden ile he grinned amiably as became to aholt a halt tn in front of tile the ter terrified rIfled girl and removed its ills battered hat flat with ill a mock liow how well wife lie said Is that all still anu lare fire to say to me arent you glad to tn see me again after all these years dorothy only ffrank fron him rankin observed the movement and he grinned not so amiably as before 1 I gues swed better have tills this thing thin out ont right away lie he said taking ills his seat beside tier her so you thought I 1 tons nas dead and got married again ejiu ei and I 1 guess 3 oure olare happler happier thin than you yere were with me and you like to be disgraced gifted and have to take me back ill never do that cried dorothy ll ailie not he admitted all tile tl tame same give n I 1 good teal deal to get rid of me and not let your husband know it toy my body that was found how much Is it worth to iou ou what do you mean cried the girl cirl 1 I mean said lid rankin sullenly hint flint im down own and in out when I 1 heard you thought me lead dond and had bad got hitched up again I 1 meant to star my away you vou the only one that was sorry to have got married mir ilar ried life all beams and roses for me either now then ito bow w much it Is it worth to 10 ou off to set me on oil my iny fret feet knowing ill never come come back slake it tie hundred you yolk want dant me to deceive my illy husband cri cried d I 1 lie girl ani im bour our bu husband shand sat said I 1 rankin vath another grin come rame now live five hundred squares it I 1 know know ou can nn raise aise ihk I 1 run through all your money I 1 wish I 1 had but now flow 1 seems jus ns as well I 1 dorothy Dorot liy row and fazed faced aitho scorn fully you mean that hint if I 1 give you five hundred dollars you will never see rn me she he asked chats about the size of it lie he tin nn si tl ered vered 1 I liae hae live hundred left anti oi shall hall have it by the first post tomorrow said the girl igie ahe tile me your parker hotel s kid ild rankin flint the gil ell I 1 drew nit all her willoney nut of find mailed it t if illin vo no answer cine of willell ilie wast was glad but no ranion rel resumed ill ned and dorothy nerved herself to lier her on ills return anti and heep alip llio maiter from him for fir ills sake aliv wit you look quite worn tout ou said paid preston Irp ston have to lo run rull into tile hie country for a few days eb evange Ilia nep ange slip top oung to him hysterically 1 I 1 blont want to leave you lawrence she he elfed what anonson el lie ile kissing her it will to do you god dear you fire re as white as a TK rag come I 1 want you to KO go oft off or on n R little trip art and freshen up dov dothy athy ri nud preston pant a week in town alone it was on nn the third day hint flint n R tramp shuffling ailing tl tho road mad looked up at the saw irkston Irp ston and hesitated then lie went brazenly up tile the pati arid and stood before lim film preston areston rec the nian man arid and grit gasped frankini Ran kini nl hp pried cried youve rot got nio mr answered rankin Itan klu 1 I though you were dead de bd 1 I guess ou both did wheres dorotia Dorot Doroti lii 3 r i mrs preston Is away said pros prea ton hotly rankin grion grinned w od and seated himself upon poo the porch lots talk like men 1 I he said how much knuch liona much lucli for rile me to go 90 away and never turn up again you b blackmailer I 1 licki oh cut t out the adjectives said rankin 1 I guess its worth live hundred to you not to let do I 1 ruen mean mrs Pre breston stork know five hundred and you dont hear bear of me again preston thought his eyes fitch on rankins nan kins face ile he was in a trap and for dorothys Dorci thys sale sake lie he must submit ill give you five hundred he said and listen you hound 1 if over ove r I 1 see loll 1011 ou IH kill you im a man of iny illy word and I 1 mean just alint hint all right answered rankin nankin eastly easily vive hundred goes ile he back in ili nn an hour said tres pres ton and you shall have it an hour later inter preston handed kan kan ills money and tile alic man inan shun out of sight along the lie road preston watched wat clied him ile he had meant what lie ha sold said for dorothys sake lie he was resolved to kill 1 il rankin if lie entered their lives again li kinkin who had lost tile the live hundred in a gambling hell t took cook the second amount to 0 o the lie place lie he lassure was sure lie he could easily get all he wanted out of preston lie he inquired and learned that dorothy would not return for al day or two the second live five hundred followed the first rankin nankin did not call at Pres tons house again perhaps he had 61 a lurking fear of violence lo lence perhaps his nerve was not equal to in seeing preston ile he wrote a stend asking for live five li hundred nildred more it was wag a letter typical of such a man now flow threatening now flow imploring and winding up with the statement lint lie meant to take the money tin and go west preston received lite the letter when lie he crime came home from business when lie lia had find read it he sat with hardened fac face e thinking inkIng tb ile he saw this blackmailer a chronic feature of af ills his tire life ile he saw that in the mans mails death benth iny the only chance for dorothys hap alness and he be meant to protect D dorothy or illy at t the cost or of ills his ure life or or of ills soul rout nankin had asked preston to meet diedt him on tile the blidge across the aler in a lonely annely spot in a deserted quarter of the town given over only by day to factory activities preston put a loaded revolver in into to his pocket that night anti and walked briskly through the town until lie he reached the rendezvous As lie he stood on the bridge lie he saw tile the ragged figure approaching him from life die low lacov quarter of tile lie town in which the parker hotel botel was situated nankin saw preston and hurried forward 1 lie stopped slopped a lev few feet away und and looked looked n nt him inquiringly 1 I 1 got your letter said preston calmly yes said rankin deceived by the others manner 1 I meant to keep my promise to you put but I 1 was slugged and robbed and ive got tn t go west an and d im stranded if I 1 stayed in tow town you know id ile be recognized and tit ha truth would out come out it would 11 preston agreed ive got to get out of town then said rankin better hand li andover over that five hundred and ill take the first train for california in tile the morning nankin nank no tn said paid preston you tire are supposed to have died in that train wreck yes hut but I 1 so the use of till talking kinz as d rankin nankin with a super sneer thinking aliat ili it tile the other was temporizing zing No nobody boly knows you dle die sold said preston 1 I guess they will soon if you dont conle come across sald said rankin threaten threat en 1 angly you fire are as good gond as lead dead any anyway wity said ton lon as if talking to hini himself self Is five hundred the least you win will take nankin not ol 01 a cent less and its that or exposure ri ie answered tile hie other nil there Is cli if demanded rankin nankin vint this pl drawing the frol froll l ilia pocket find hill alining it at it bankins nan kins heart it HP saw tit alif terror in th blackmailers bacs then pressing pres Inq the muzzle to lo his arpa t lie he fired without rk a faunl pound fiu nl file haicl toppled into the IS tream 1 orphin pr pHin drooped in afi the weapon after him and w walked Pi 11 home oil 1 p |
