The Argosy, March 1907 — page 117: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

WHEN SUSPICION STRUCK HARD. cover what trains had left around mid- night and try to learn whether the big man with the grip had gone on one of them, and which direction he had taken. His step quickened again as_ he turned toward the depot. ‘The fresh sunshine and the shadow of a new hope were bringing out Radford’s optimism again. He took to looking around, and the false beard occurred to him again. Per- haps, at this stage, it was just as well to assume it again. Should inquiry be made, or had he been watched, the per- son who had just left the hotel was beardless. The druggist stepped into a little sa- loon, adjusted the thing and fastened it— and left by the rear door, rather to the astonishment of the bartender, whose sight the change had been made. The depot lay just ahead now, and he entered briskly. Ah, he might have expected that! Of course the night man was not on duty now. But the porter who had been there till after midnight would re- turn in a little while. Perhaps he could tell something. Radford walked to the back platform and sat down on the ~ lge. That porter was his only hope, but— but by the time he got there Catterson . might have reached Chicago and taken a train for New York! However, there was no helping it. The druggist looked about for means of diversion. His eye fell upon a some- what crumpled sheet; then it caught the -heading: 7'he Bonaville Morning News! Radford laughed oddly. So, somebody or other, desirous of catching an early train out of Black- field, had taken the long trolley ride from Bondville. They had _ brought along the morning paper and had thrown it aside here. That was, of course, if it happened ‘to be that day’s edition, and it seemed fresh enough to be. Curiosity arose within the druggist. What had Bob been able to think up last night in his defense? What sort of thunderous exoneration of himself would he find? He reached forward and picked up the News and straightened it out upon his knees. 8 A out of: against him. ‘His mouth opened ; he rubbed his eyes incredulously; he gasped once or twice. But there it was before him, abso- lutely irrefutable.in the glaring black- face display: DRUGGIST-MURDERER STILL AT LARGE! And there followed in smaller type: Radford, Arch-Criminal of the .Middle West, Escapes Justice! Detectives on \ Trail Motive for Hideous Crime Fully Established—Prosecuting Attorney Says Electric Chair but a Matter of Days for Albert Radford. Radford dropped the paper to the dust with a little cry of pure agony. Even his own brother had _ turned CHAPTER XI. TWO HARD BLOWS. MINUTE after minute, Albert Radford sat fairly petrified. The -News—his own brother—had turned squarely against him! The lit- tle sheet lay in the dust still, and Rad- ford stared dazedly into the hot, sandy space before him! What could it mean? His tired brain struggled hard over the problem—and without success. 3 Plainly, it meant one of two things, this attack by a paper he might reason- ably have considered his best journalis- tic friend on earth. Either something had occurred to convince Robert abso- lutely of his guilt, or—what? The latter he could not answer. The former seemed as absolutely impossible as anything his exhausted mind could have wrought. Why, Rober-plt: blood relationship apart—had been his dearest and _ best chum since his first recollection of any- thing. It had been Bob, years and years ago, who led him about by the hand when he could no more than toddle; it had been Bob who cheerfully and enthu- siastically thrashed everything afoot that sought to impose upon him; it had been Bob, despite his assumed cynicism, who had in later life given him the, soundest of advice and guidance—and Gomiecboo of Cold-Blooded Poisoner of _ . Bandmann! SHalElo) . el eet «4 fy OS ——_