Eugene High School - Eugenean Yearbook (Eugene, OR)

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.FHM ave r . M ., o .3 . 6 - ,,s-.,,1,:u-.r.,, :.:.,,,,v.v- 1- -- it 1- .- . Eltgene Y 1-L ,?5. ,fq41r1k.. W - ..'-Ju, . t s-5 .rw si-'hgfigp 5, -ja.: j :A 15: -jg. .V L. 4 .. --- , r , . ' 1 5 ' f 4 5' V ...3 3 V. .J i 8 K.. , qhfig, h ,VZ ,s ,.:,,, 4 L4 ,Ab 4- ,.,-.L P . I - Q 1' my .5255 I .j-1 555- L-ri ' 54 ' ,:l:,'i-K I ffm 'Mn W1 I I xi. f 7 ' 1 E . ' , Ttc 611 fy-Six D ' ' Qreggn scream. They forgot it was perfectly useless to try to make themselves heard above the roar of the ocean. My! there he is now-Oh! Just coming right in the window! Oh! Ohlw-for there, right in the window, in full view appeared the head--of a horse! VVith one supreme effort, the terrified girls pulled their scattered wits together and laughed. Oh, that horrid old horse, grinned the somewhat shakey Edith. D. Dunn, ,I5. he Mystery of the ureli Yard -l,ii EV. Smith, rector of Episcopal church, - murdered. Found dead in churchyard with his head crushed. My interest was at once aroused by the news of the crime. I had plenty of time at my dis- posal having but recently been admitted to the bar and, with my inquisitive turn of mind it was na- tural for me to investigate the matter further. The neswaper account of the affair was as fol- lows: Soon after midnight a man was seen running along Ferry street, He was promptly arrested by an officer. The man who is a prominent citi- zen of this section of the city, upon inquiry said he was going for a doctor and that somebody was hurt. No amount of questioning could draw any further information from him. H.-Xfter a lengthy search it was found that Rev. Smith lay in the churchyard next to his church. His skull had been crushed causing instantaneous death. Vtfhat perplexed the cor- oner's jury was how any ordinary person could inflict such a wound. The especially peculiar part of the mystery is that Rev. Smith had the robes of the church over his night clothes. The rector's room was in con- fusion as if a burglar had rifled it. On the floor the police found an old style revolver, probably a cowboyls. 'KEarly this morning the arrseted man was released. The police are at a loss to determine how such a crime could be committed seemingly under their very noses. This promises to be the most interesting case that has occurred for several yearsu My mind was now fully made up. I would see the 'very place where the crime had been com- mitted and offer my assistance to the officers. As my case at court was set for ten and it was now eight, I had two hours to look over the grounds of the old Episcopal church and I determined to use the time well. The church was built on the corner of Ferry street and Edward's avenue, even with the side- walk. Next to it the rector lived in an L shaped house, the short leg of which was horizontal with the street. The long side on the back pointed to- wards the church. On the long wing of the house opened a small window from the gable. The rector slept in the short wing just over the street. Between the two buildings was an open court which was bounded on two sides by a tall iron picket fence and on the others by the church and house respectively. VValks were laid out and stone benches placed under the old shade trees. Gnly two doors led into this inclosure, one from each of the buildings. Being known by all the officers, I readily obtained permission to enter the house. I ex- amined first the doors and the room. All showed that some persons new at the art had been at work. The lock to the door on the street had been picked. The room was turned topsy-turvey as if one had searched for something. The re- volver was found on the floor where it had fallen. VVhen the police came, the door to the room was found locked on the inside with the key in the lock. The place and position where the body had fallen were marked out in chalk, for the police of this town take every possible precaution. Blood was all over the stone bench and had trickled down forming a minature pool underneath. Wliile still in the room of the rector, I won-

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.- - ,,., ea.-.- . U I . E 'If' -J if ' -3559 5 'es-1 7 v V 'gl I lzngvzzr, y, . 1. 'w i' 1 .. .. 3? , 'I Pag- , e '..,1.a-1 rw ':.::,.2...-fra?-. -1:-.47 - t. . - . ,.- VI- 1.1 ' r U- Orcgout V' ftvclzty-fwc jumped through and although the water sucked me down quite a bit I finally reached shore. XYhen I got back to our camp I found that the Injuns had scalped Splandern but they hadn't taken nothing from the camp. I thought they would have took my gun but I guessthey didn't because they were afraid of it. I stayed in the same camp all summer until late in August when I decided to pull up stakes and go over the Cascades into the XVillamette valley to winter. Me and Splandern had cleaned about 320,000 between us and I thought I would hide it, where nobody could find it, until I could take it away. So I hid it in some little bags in a little hollow under the falls. During the winter I heard from someone that there was lots of snow in the - river country and I Become kind of scared about the money. Sure enough when I got back next spring there was a rapids in place of a falls because the flood had broken off the ledge. My money is still in them rapids and here I am, a poor old sheep herd- er the rest of my days --. Time to roll in, ain't it ? asked the old man at length as he knocked the ashes out of his pipe against his knee. I guess it is, replied Tom. A Tail of a Mysterious urglar sending forth its mellow beams which -A I gg lit up all the surrounding objects and made them take the shapes of numerous mys- terious uncanny-looking figures. The tall trees bent and swayed to and fro to the howl- ing of the wind. How it whistled and blew around the little cottage, apparently trying to blow it away! The loneliness of the night was intensified by the loud roaring of the waves as they beat upon the cliffs, ever fol- lowing their changeless course backward and again forward. Jack Frost, too, had not been idle for the wind was cold and biting and the ground crunched under foot as if resenting any disturbance. T was night. The big yellow moonwas 6 . - . v .. I 7 If Inside the little house it was warm and cozy, but the light was out and silence reigned for the two feminine occupants had gone to bed. They had been left alone for the night as the one and only man had gone to Newport. However, as both girls were very courageous and brave in spirit, they entertained no fear whatever at the prospect of staying alone in the little cottage on the cliffs by the seaf, The small bed room window was left open and the moon sent its shafts of light in where they fell on the two sleepers all unconscious of a strange visitor who was so soon to cause them so much excitement. It was nearly one olclock when Edith awoke with a start-'fOh! she gasped, f'Marie, quick! VVake up! But Marie was asleep and when Marie was asleep, she was very, very far from being awake. After ceaseless efforts, the now thoroughly frightened Edith succeeded in con- vincing her chum that something was expected of her, and that that something was not to keep on sleepingg so she sat up very dazedly and gazed stupidly around her. One look at Edith's face served to waken her surprisingly fast to the fact that something was radically wrong. She listened and this is what she heard: Crunch-crunch-crunch-somewhere near the house. This was enough, and poor Marie was put sorely to the test of exhibiting some of her bravery. VVhat's that Pl' she whispered. Ol1! I don't know, wailed Edith, 'ibut I'm sure its someone after our money-Oh! lNhy ever didn't Tom take it with him? Oh, Marie, what shall we do? just listen-there! They are creeping around close to the house! Marie was listening for the simple reason that that was the only thing she could do. There was no doubt about it-it was umnistakably the crunching of a man's foot on the frozen ground next to the house. She unconsciously reached for the gun that was not there, when Edith grabbed nervously at her arm and the next minute they both lay with hands clasped tight--just waiting for the time to

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ui'-Ignflffgfvs .-If E P ' -,feip-.e-14 fu- vq 'cr -'Q fi -El' ' V ' I , ., 1. , - Q. ', I I .- ... A fe ,VI 3 , -ig 'LE 3 w ig, N in f . . .L ' .. V. -q a ,L ., ,. ,Q . .J V, ,J ,L -- a 3 EM 1- -E Ati? -z if : 521: nav... fix -'F-.1 :' I? ,!YiiE cm 'If 1 WM 'di'-17 fm: i - g . . ,I ind 9 A' I y , , .- - i Oregon Tttcfnty sewn dered where I had seen that revolver before. In a flash it came to me. Yesterday afternoon while passing through the street on my way to my office I had seen a cowboy struggling with an officer. At the policeman's foot was the self-same six-shooter. I now had the man placed, a marked man at that. with a nasty cut across his lip causing sev- eral teeth to show. I figured it out this way: The man had come to St. Louis for the ex- press purpose of robbing Rev. Smith who, it was rumored, was a miser. Arriving at night he had picked the locks and ransacked the house, at the same time making enough noise to awaken the rector who had come up behind him and knocked the revolver out of his handi I got no further. The door of my office was thrown open and a man of perhaps fifty years of age with perfectly white hair, entered. He had a hunted look about him and with a feeble voice began, almost with a whisper. You are Alfred Boxer, Notary Public, I be- lievef' Yes I replied, and glad to make your acquaintance. I You won't be though when you know me, he piped. I want to make an affidavit. I was astonished. This was to be one of my first affidavits, yet I kept my wits, picked up a short hand pad and commenced to write what he dictated. s'1i.-wit or oREooN, 5 jss. COUNTY OF ST. LOUIS. j I, Richard Day, being duly sworn. depose and say, that I am either wholly or partially respon- sible for the death of the late Rev. Smith. You persons who hear this read will understand better the events of last night, the tenth of March, 1908, if I give you an account of Rev. Smith's past history. Ten years ago Smith and I went to the same training school. XVe two friends were both try- ing to become preachers. During that term of 1898 a young lady, the sheriff's daughter, re- turned from college. Wfe both loved her the first moment we saw her and each of us being of jealous disposition began to hate the other. He won the girl and became a rector, while I went into an active business life. My career was unsuccessful for the simple reason that I fell in with bad company and became mixed up in some fraud and embezzlement cases. I then wrote a letter to the leader of the gang, I told him all about my plans and how I had worked them out. In some way or other Rev. Smith got hold of the letter and has extracted money from me ever since to keep from making the matter public. All these last eight years, I have lived on pins and needles until the last year being unable to raise the money, I resolved to destroy the paper. I had no revolver so I procured one last night from a cowboy and went on my way. A little before midnight I crept up, picked the lock to the front door, then the one to his room and began to search for the paper. I had just begun to look for secret places when I was startled by the Rev. Smith knocking the revolver from my hand. I shook him off and ran at full speed down the steps and out doors. For some reason never to be known I lingered. In about fifteen or twenty minutes, I saw some- body clothed in black rise from the room and walk along the edge of it to the gable window, pry it open and put something white in, then start to return. About half way back the Rev. Smith gave a muffled cry and pitched down headlong onto a stone bench. I, as you probably have guessed. ran for a doctor but was caught by a policeman who took me to the station. I was released this morning, because my reputation was good, and allowed to return home. I, as you can plainly see, will not live long. My senses are weakening and my strength is feeble. The paper will never be found for the reason that the house, God knows why, went up in flames this afternoon. At my trial this paper is to be read, for I am now going to surrender myself to the police and serve the term which is destined to be mine and which I pray will be a short one. RICHARD DAY, Subscribed and sworn to before me, and in 1ny presence, this elevtenth day of March, 1908. Alfred Boxer, Notary Public. Pk X wk :if PF af :lf if At the trial Richard Day was sentenced for burglary to one year and one day imprisonment in the state penitentiary, ten month of which he never served and never will. IV. L. S., 315.