Central Aroostook High School - Arostookan Yearbook (Mars Hill, ME)

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THE AROOSTOOKAN sat down and tried to think. I under- stood now, why I had been lured here --to make me appear as the murderer. Knowing that I would immediately be suspected of the murder I tried to es- cape. I ran to the window, but a crowd was gathering in the street be- low. As I watched two gendarmes detach themselves from the crowd and enter the building. My escape by either the door or window being barred and gendarmes on the way up, what could I do? Nothing, but wait for them to take me to prison which they promptly did despite all my protesta- tions of innocence. Once there, I tried to collect my scattered thoughts, but to no avail. I had no one to look to for aid, no one believed what I said. At the trial, Madame Moreau, prov- ed to be Madame DeCourcy, the wife of the murdered man who had been a wealthy manufacturer in Paris. She told she following story on the witness stan . 'I dined that evening at the Hotel Beauveau while waiting for my hus- band, who was to come for me there and we were going to the theatre. Growing tired of waiting for him I re- turned home and found him, Cpointing to mel in the act of killing my husband. I rushed down stairs, after locking the doors and extinguishing the lights, and went for the gendarmes! Slowly they wound aweb of evidence around me from which it seemed im- possible to free myself. I had nothing in defence but my own word. I was found guilty of murder in the first de- gree and was sentenced to be beheaded the next day at high noon, by the guillotine! I, an innocent man, was condemned to death to pay for that woman's murderous deed! Do you know what I did then, Aunt Martha? I awoke. I had dreamed all of that story. The old maid aunt fainted. Linus Stitham '35 A B C'S OF THE JUNIOR CLASS A is the rank the Juniors all get, B is for the Bennies who haven't flunked yet, C is for Criticism which never fails, D is for Donald who watches the mails, E is for Ellen so studious and bright, F is for Fay who stays out late at night, G is for Gordon whose hair is so red, H is for Hallett, a star athlete 'tis said, I is for Ideas to carry us through, J is for Josie who likes oyster stew, K is for Knowledge which teachers impart, L is for Linus who has a big heart, M is for Mildred studious and wise, N is for Nita with lovely blue eyes. O is for Opal we all know her size, P is for Pearl who is always a style, Q is for Quizzes to which we often succumb, R is for Ransford who plays the big drum, S is for Sammy who is not very shy, T is for Thomas, who's little--but My! U is for Underclassmen who think we're so fine, V is the Virtues we'll leave behind, W is for Warren who's musical bound, X marks the spot where the Juniors are found, ' Y is for York so studious and bright, Z is for Zenith we'll get there all right. And so on and so forth, as onward we drive, Next year we'll graduate as Class '35. Sara Gray '35 EIU CALAMITY Miss Prye, a spinster of Oakville, certainly lived up to her name. She knew more about other peoples' af- fairs than they did themselves, and could give the pedigree of every man, woman and child of the town, from

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THE AROOSTOOKAN MURDER IN THE FIRST DEGREE Yes, Neal was back,--back after traveling in Europe for three years. He had been able to go by the kind- ness ofa maiden aunt, and now he had returned, full of interesting facts, sights he had seen, and above all, stories which his aunt loved to hear. He had been entertaining his aunt all evening with stories, and now at last he said, Well, Aunt Martha, I'll tell you one more story that will climax the rest of those. His aunt, who was a typical old maid, wore a long dress with a high collar, her hair pulled tightly back be- hind her ears and possessed all the other earmarks of a spinster. She leaned forward attentively and urged him to begin. Neal, with a sort of hidden twinkle in his eye, began this story. Last fall, when I was staying at the Hotel Beauveau in Paris for a fortnight, a most astonishing thing happened to me. I dined as usual in the hotel dining room. A large number of people be- ing already there, I had to take a small table facing the entire room. I sat down, ordered my meal and then looked around me. Many well dressed and apparently wealthy people were present. Of these, one woman in particular held my attention. She was a tall, dark complexioned woman, strikingly dress- ed, sitting alone at another table quite close to mine. Just then, my first course was served, and I thought no more about her until after finishing my dinner, I was smoking a cigarette-- No, Aunt Martha, I don't smoke very many. . Well, -as I was saying, I was smok- mg a cigarette when I noticed this woman beckoning to me. I went over to her table. She introduced herself as Madame Moreau and-- No, Aunt, I wasn't doing anything improper by meeting a strange woman. Don't be so old fashioned. Now where was I, oh yes! She in- troduced herself and said that she wanted someone to talk to. She proved to bea very interesting per- son telling me about her recent trip to Spain with-- Yes, she was married, Aunt Martha, you needn't worry! Iwas just going to say her trip to Spain with her husband. While she was talking I had an op- portunity to observe her more closely. She was, I should say, about thirty- five years of age and had a peculiar, restless air while she was talking, which should have warned me. Since I had nothing to do that even- ing and since she apparently had no desire to leave, we remained and talked for quite awhile. Finally she asked me if I would do something for her. I said, 'Yes, of course'. She gave me a parcel and told me to take it to an apartment situated in Wellington Arms, and to put it on the table in the living room. Now, to be sure, that was a strange request. But anyway, Iwent to the house, found the living room and put the parcel on the table when, as if at a signal, the lights in the room went out and the door banged shut, leaving me in utter darkness. I rushed to the door, it was locked. Istumbled over a chair, barking my shin then-- No, Aunt, I didn't swear. Now please keep still, or I may-- Remembering another door I had seen on entering I groped my way to that, it was unlocked. I opened it-- and paused in utter horror. There on the floor, in a pool of blood, lay a man, his throat cut and a bloody razor lying beside him. My mind in a whirl, I

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THE AROOSTOOKAN the Mayor, who lived in a large white house on the hill, to Mrs. Jones, the widow who had fourteen kids and took in washings. Miranda, that was Mrs. Prye's christian name, was a great lover of all gatherings such as the County fair, held five miles from Oakville. She had attended the fair regularly for the past twenty-five or thirty years: but this year she hadn't the least bit of a notion how she was going to get there because Mollie, her only means of transportation, had died with the colic and Miranda was too nervous to drive a Ford. However, one day while sitting in her garden she heard two voices. They seemed to come from beyond her back-yard fence. She drew closer to the fence and put her ear to a knot hole. As she listened her eyes began to sparkle: and the more she listened, the more they sparkled. After a while she withdrew her ear from the fence, walked quickly up the path, into the house and upstairs. In a few moments she came down again, dress- ed in her best and carrying a parasol. She hurried down the path and out the back gate. Then she peered a- round the corner, saw no one about, and went quickly inside a small build- ing which was Holden's garagefor what was meant for onel. She climbed in the back of their car, a new Model T, just bought that year, and covering herself over with a robe which she found there, she waited. In a few moments she heard voices, then steps in the garage and mingled with these, a terrific squealing. Guess these ought to win first prize, hadn't they, Bill? They both weigh right around 500 lbs. apiece. And Miranda, lying face downward in the bottom of the car, could feel her backbone touching the floor as these things which she had sur- mised were pigs reposed comfortably, if squealingly, upon her. She groaned in spirit but dared not utter a sound. Wind 'er up, Bill. I've got the choke out. Miranda held her breath, not knowing what to expect next. There was a grinding and a sputtering then finally a loud explosion and she felt herself moving as the car was backed out and started on its way. Poor Miranda. She wondered if she would ever arrive at the fair all in one piece. Occasionally, above the clatter and clang of the royal jitney she could hear the hum of two voices. Suddenly-- Watch out for that hole ahead! Slow down! But it was too late. Miranda felt the car go up in the air and the first thing she knew she was rolling down a bank, with gwo pigs tied up in sacks coming after er. She brought up against alog and there she sat, her parasol still clutched tightly in one hand, her hat on the side of her head, and her glasses dangling from one ear, while she tried to collect her wits. Oh! the shame and humiliation of it all! To think that all her high am- bitions would end thus! And worst of all, there stood Bill and Jack Holden, staring at her as if their eyes were deceiving them. Well, I'll kissacross-eyed, bow- legged bumble bee if that aint Miss Prye! said Bill. What could she say? Well--why not make a bluff of it? For pity sakes! I must say that's a nice way to treat a lady. Well, don't stand there like two gawking fools. Take these creatures away from me. Ugh! The dirty nasty things! Help me up. Do you think I'm going to sit here all day with all this junk piled around me? With all these gol-rapped contraptions around, it's getting so a body can't even sit by the road and rest. Now you can just take me along wherever you're going. It won't put you out a great deal.