11? fl 7
J Jlii S
F A XK 3 O 11 TIME 11 ,
Editor and Proprietor.
"Vol. IV.
In Published WecMy,
At New Rloomfield, Penn'a.
BY
FRANK MORTIMER.
SUBSCRIPTION TERMS.
OXE DOLLAll PER YEA 11 1
y Oil 10 CEXTS PEIt MONTH,
I TV ADVANCE.
Dr. Spencer's Crime.
J1Y CLARA AUGUSTA.
I WAS sitting alone in my office, half
dozing over an interminable article on
lefective nutrition in the last Medical He
me. The fire in the grate was low, the night
K-as stormy, and the clock was on the stroke
f eleven. I was just about to turn off
lie gas and retire, for being a bachelor I
lopt in a room connected with my office,.
khen there was a pull at my bell.
I started up suddenly, for this was some-
Ving new. Middlebury was a decorous
fort of a place, and people usually man-
ged to be taken sick at seasonable hours.
Old Mrs. Jerome had been threatening
o die for the past five years, and at every
isit I paid her she informed me solemnly
hat when the decisive moment did come
he desired me to be present. But as noth
ing ailed the old lady beyond now and then
tidigestion from too much high living, I
ad never yet been called upon to be pres-
nt at her death.
Now, I thought, it must be that Mrs.
erome is going.
I took up my night-lamp and went to tho
oor. A strong gust or damp, sleety wind
early extinguished the light, but shading
with my hand I dimly discerned the
rm of a woman.
"Come in," said I, holding open the
oor, but she declined with a gesture of
npatience.
" You must come out ?" she replied, in
sharp, imperative tone, "and be quick
bont it."
I put on my overcoat without demur,
licked the surgery door, and stepped out
lto the storm. As I did so, tho woman
lid a firm hand on my arm, and putting
ier face close to mine, said :
"Dr. Lockwood, can you keep a secret?"
"I think so, madam.'!
"Swear it."
"Is this secret of yours of professional
iharacter? That is, is it anything you
ish to confide to mo as a medical man ?"
"It is."
"Very well, then, I swear it I"
"That is right. A man respects an
tth, though why he should, is a mystery,
uce most men's mouths are running over
itn them."
" Whither are you taking me, and for
Iiat purpose ?"
"To Clifton House, to see the mistress."
I started. Clifton House was the old
ansion recently taken by Dr. Spencer, a
lianger to every one in Middlebury..
encer was a tall, dark, rather distinguish-
looking man, who had hung out his
u in the village only a few doors above
hie, but as yet he had got no practice.
He was unsocial in the extreme. He
oided his neighbors persistently, and
icn he did speak, he was not likely to at
mpt prolonging the conversation.
He had a wifo, it is said, but no one ev
saw her. She was an invalid ; and a
iss Melrose a friend of the family pre
led over tho establishment, and sat at the
ad of the table.
AN INDEPENDENT FAMILY
Nov Uloomfielcl, I3si., October 11. 1S70.
Miss Melrose was very beautiful, and
won tho admiration of all who visited at
Clifton House, by her graco of manner and
her fascinating conversation.
"As we walk along," said my compan
ion, "let mo explain to you just what it is
necessary you should know. My mistress
is ill."
"I beg your pardon is it Mrs. Spencer,
or Miss Melrose?"
She laughed bitterly.
"Miss Melrose ! I would stab her to tho
heart sooner than own her for a mistress !
My mistress is a lady ; noble, loyal, and of
gentle birth. It is an honor to any one to
serve my mistress."
" And she is ill? How long since?"
"Ever since she married him curse
him !" she muttered in a fierce undcrtono ;
"but I must not get excited. I must tell
my story, or rather hers. Two years ago
through tho desire of her dying father,
whom she loved passionately, Alicia Ilern
don became James Spencer's wifo. Before
that she was a healthy, blooming girl im
mediately after the marriage sho began to
fail. Do you see anything singular in that
sir?" sho asked keenly.
" Not necessarily."
Let me enlighten you further. Dr. Spen
cer at one time was engaged to Miss Lu
cille Melrose, but he broke the engagement
and married my mistress instead. Miss
Melrose was poor as Job's turkey ; Miss
Herndon was an heiress. And Dr. Spencer
was deeply in debt and hard pressed by his
creditors. Do you see any thing singular
in that?"
"Perhaps. Goon."
" When my mistress married Spencer,
she was only seventeen, and sho had been
taught to obey her father in everything.
Sho was a gentle affectionate child, and it
would have been easy for Spencer to have
won her love. But he did not care for that,
it was her money ho wanted. It paid his
debts, it bought him fast horses, it set his
table with costly dishes, and it put it in his
power to keep Miss Melrose robed like a
queen. And all this time my mistress has
been slowly but surely failing. And look
you, Dr. Lockwood, I believe that she is
not dying of disease, but of " She low
ered her voice to a whisper as she spoke the
word,, "poison !"
"Impossible I This is a grave charge "
" Of poison given her by her husband,
who at her death will have sole control of
all hor property, and be free to marry Miss
Melrose! There is no time, to explain to
you in detail the ono-thousand-and-one
circumstances which have led me to this
belief, for we are almost at the door. It is
never the case that both Spencer and Miss
Melrose are out of the house at the same
time, or I should have called another phy
sician before ; but to-night they are called
away by the death of Miss Mclroso's sister,
and will not bo back until to-morrow.
With tho consent of my mistress I came
for you, and oh, Dr. Lockwood,. I pray
you save my dear mistress ! I nursed her
when her mother died and left her a help
less infant all through her babyhood and
her innocent youth she was like an owu
child to me 1 and now to see her fading
hourly before my eyes ! Good Heaven I if I
knew beyond all doubt that he was guilty;
his life should pay the forfoit !"
I was already beginning to feel a strong
interest in this Mrs. Spencer, although I
had never seen her, and began to take it
for granted that she was a much-abused
woman, and liko her old nurse I was in
clined to feel a keen animosity for Dr.
Spencer, as a man who had inflicted serious
wrougs upon a defenceless woman.
Mrs. Spencer received me iu hor cham
ber. It was on the second floor, and was
furnished with with exquisite elegance.
Everything in the room bespoke the taste
and delicacy of the ocoupant. The warm
air was fragrant with the faint odor of
heliotrope, and glancing around I saw the
purple blossoms and green leaves in an ala
baster caso on tho ledge of tho south win
dow. Sho was a woman, who, once seen, could
never be forgotten. I lmvo met in my life
many beautiful woman but never one so
lovely.
She was tall and slight, with purely oval
face, large, liquid eyes, and a dash of hec
tic in her cheeks, which is never seen iu
any person's countenance whilo in perfect
health.
She received mo as I now know she did
everything, gracefully, and though there
was a slight embarrassment in her manner
when I spoko of her illness, sho answered
my professional inquiries without hesita
tion. As for myself, I laid aside all false deli
cacy, and questioned her plainly as to her
symptoms. Mis. Ilurd, her nurse, remain
ed in tho room, and, added many little im
portant items of information.
When she spoke of her husband it was
with a sort of hopeless sadness which dis
tressed me greatly.
Not a breath of suspicion against him in
hci answers to my questions, and I felt
sure that at present she knew nothing of
what Mrs. Ilurd had such serious appre
hensions. I was glad that it was so, for
with her finely-strung organism it might
have produced serious results.
I made my examination of the patient as
close as I could, and drew my own conclu
sions. I could have sworn that Mrs. Spen
cer daily swallowed arsenic in small quan
tities, and the deadly drug was telling fear
fully upon a constitution never".very robust.
She said in answer to my questions, that
she had had no physician except her hus
band. He had thought himself better ac
quainted with her case, and, therefore, bet
ter qualified to treat it. He nevor left med
icine with her to take ; he always brought
it himself fresh from his office, and admin
istered it personally.
There was littlo enough that I could do
in such a case. Anxious to do everything,
the very circumstances of the affair left me
nearly powerless.
A charge of such a grave nature, of
course, I could not make against Dr. Spen
cer without tho amplest proof. If I hinted
a suspicion every one would at once set it
down to professional prejudice ; and if I
could not substantiate my statement, the
doctor could make ino pay dearly for such
a slander uttered against him.
The only dependence seemed to be in
Mrs. Ilurd. To her I unbosomed myself
freely. I told her, without reserve, that I
believed Dr. Spencer was killing his wife
by slow poison, and besought her to be con
stantly on the watch to save the victim,
and to discover some proof by which we
could fasten his guilt upon him.
She smiled grimly, and promised obedi
ence. I gave her a powerful antidote for
the poison I suspected and went home,
strangely perturbed and auxious in mind.
I did not sleep that night, and all tho next
day I was in a high fover of excitement.
A ring at the bell made me tremble a stop
on the gravel outsido my office stopped my
breath. I hardly knew what I expected to
hear, and yet felt sure that before I slept I
should hear something.
And now I must tell the story as it was
told to me.
Dr. Spencer returned home the morning
after my visit to Clifton House. He look.
ed wretchedly, the old nurse said, and ap
peared unusually gloomy and depressed.
Miss Melrose came with him, and was
decorously sad over the death of her sister.
Women of her stamp always mourn to per
fection. They never overdo nor underdo
the thing as women with feelings are like,
ly to do.
Dr. Spencer came at onco to his wife's
chamber. He thought she looked ill, and
prescribed a cordial at once, saying he
would go and fetch it.
" You are always ordering cordials for
her," said Mrs. Ilurd, musingly. "Why
not take something yourself? You look
like a ghost 1"
NEWSPAPER,
Ho eyed her keenly, but replied, com
posedly :
"I think I will tako sonio of tho cordial
myself ; for I do not feel quite well. Ali
cia, dear, shall I bring it hero and drink
your health?"
Mrs. Spencer smiled sadly in assent sho
never disputed her husband and ho went
out. Presently ho returned with two glass
es. Both contained liquid, colorless and
inodorous. Mrs. Ilurd was watching him
with her heart in her throat ; for, as she
told mc,she felt that a decisive moment had
como. There was something in the gray
pallor oh tho doctor's rigid face that told
her of a desperate purpose in the man's
soul.
He lifted the glass on tho right of tho
tray, and gave it to his wifo.
"Drink it, dear," he said ; "it is a pana
cea for all evils. I also, am going to take
a glass of it !" and ho pointed to tho glass
still on the tray.
Mrs. Spencer accepted it, and was put
ting it to her lips when Mrs. Ilurd inter
posed :
" If you will bring a tumbler of water,
doctor ; Mrs. Spencer complains that the
cordial leaves a bad taste in her mouth.
And my old bones are so full rheumatism
that it kills me to go down stairs."
The doctor turned and bent on her a
look as if he would read her though and
through. But she kept her face impassive.
If he had any suspicious, her manner qui
eted them, and putting down the glass he
left the room.
Then Mrs. Ilurd changed the position of
the glasses.
When ho came back, and he was absent
only a moment, the nurse stood just where
he had left her, and Mrs. Spencer was ly
ing back in her chair with closed eyes.
Again he lifted tho glass ; this time it
was tho one he had designed for himself,
and placed it at the lips of his wife. She
drank the contents, swallowed a littlo of
the water he had brought her, and thank
ed him in her sad sweet way.
"Now for my own cordial," said he, with
affected gayety. " I indulge myself in
something a little stronger," and, as ho
spoke, he tossed off the mixture.
"It made me stone cold to my fingers'
ends to see hiin do it," said Mrs. Ilurd, iu
relating the circumstance to mo ; "but
Heaven is my witness I felt not a singlo
twinge of conscience. I argued like this.
If it wan simplo cordial, as he had said, it
would do him no harm. If it was poison,
his blood would be on his own head."
He went to bed a half-hour afterward,
complaining of fatigue. Iu the morning
they found him dead 1
I was called to the post mortem examin
ation, and we discovered in the stomach of
the deceased a sufficient quantity of one of
the deadliest poisons known to modern
science to kill a half dozen men.
My brother physicians agreed that tho
man was insane, and had probably taken
tho drug in one of his unsettled fits of
mind. I did not dispute them, but, even
before Mrs. Hurd told me her story,
had my own theory in regard to his death.
There was no publio exposure however,
Mrs. Hurd and I agreed that it would
benefit no one to make tho wretched aff air
public and we kept our own counsel.
Miss Melrose, iu spite of my conviction
that she had been au active party to the
conspiracy against Mrs. Spencer's life, I
could not help pitying. Such a miserable,
worn, and haggard faco as hois I have
never soon, and when they buried Dr.
Spencer, she was confined to her chamber
with brain fever.
I attendod hor in that illness, but though
she recovered her health, she was never
herself again. She was a harmless maniac,
whose delight was in gathering flower
and decorating the doctor's grave with
them.
She is living still, and she still gathers flow
ers and lays them on that grave, singing to
herself, meanwhile, a sort of low incan
Terms: IX ADVANCE
i One Dollar 2cr Year.
IVo. -11.
tation, which no ono ever pretends to un
derstand. Not until Mrs. Spencer had been many
years my wife, and faithful Mrs. Ilurd
slept under tho violets, did Allicia ever
know of the perfidy of her first husband.
How I Got Invited to Dinner.
M
Y getting tho better of my wife's
father is ono of tho richest things on
record.
I'll tell you how it was. You must
know that he is monstrous stingy ; the
complaint seems to run in the family, and
everybody round our parts used to notice
that ho never by any chance asked any
body to dine with him. So one day, just
for a chunck of fun, I said to Jeddy Dow-
kins a dreadful nice feller is Jeddy " I'll
bet you a penn'orth of shoe strings gainst a
row of pins that I get old Ben Morkms
that's my wife's father, to ask me to din
ner. "Yeouget eout." said Jeddy; "why
you might as well try to coax a cat into a
shower bath, or get moonbeams eout of
cowcumbers."
" Well," said I, I'm going to try.
And try I did, and I'll tell you how I
went to work.
Jist as old Ben was sitting down to din
ner, at ono o'clock, I rushed up to the
house at a high pressure pace, red hot in .
the face, with my coat tails in the air, and
my eyes rollin' about like billiard balls in
convulsions. Rat-tat-tat ding-a-ling-a-
ling. I kicked up an awful rumpus, and
in a flash out came old Ben himself. I had
struck tho right minnit ; ho had a napkin
under his chin and carvin knife in his hand.
I smelt the dinner as he opened the door.
0, Mr. Marking," said I, "I am tarna
tion glad to see you. I feard you moughtn"t
be at home I'm almost out of breath.
I'm come to tell you I can save you a
thousand dollars 1"
"A thousand dollars I" roared the old
man ; and I defy a weasel to go "pop"
quicker than his face burst into smiles.
" A thousand dollars ! X eou don't say so !
du tell 1"
"Oh," said I, "I see you aro just havin'
dinner now. I'll go an' dine myself, and
then I'll come back and tell you all about
it."
" Nonsense," said he ; " don't go away ;
come in and sit down, and enjoy yourself
like a good fellow, and have a snack with
me. I am anxious to hear what you have
to say."
I pretended to decline, say in' " Id come
back;" but I had thoroughly stirred up
tho old chap's curiosity, and it ended by
his fairly pullin' me into the house, and I
made a rattlin' dinner of pork and beans.
I managed for some time to dodge the
main pint of his inquiry. At last I finished
eating, and there was no further excuse
for delay ; besides old Ben was gettin' fid
gety. "Como neow," said he, "no more
preface. About that thousand dollars
come let it out."
" Well, I'll tell you what," said I, "yeou
have a darter, Misery Ann, to dispose of in
marriage, ain't yeou.
"What's that got to do with it?" inter
rupted ho.
" Hold your proud steeds don't ruu off
the track a great deal to do with it," said I
"Neow answer my question."
"Well," said he "I have."
" And you intend when she marries to
give her $10,000 for a portion?"
"I do," he said.
" Well, neow, here's tho pint I'm comin
tew. Let me have her and I'll take her
with $9,000 ; and 0,000 from 10,000, accor
ding to simplo substraction just leaves
1,000 and that will be clean profit saved as
slick as a whistle !"
The next thing I knew, there was a
rapid Interview going on between old Bon's
foot and my coat-tails and I am inclined
to think the latter got the worst of it.