Old Cap. Collier Library No. 379: The Lawyer Detective — page 3: what you’re looking at

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

EACH NUMBER COMPLETE. MUNRO’S PUBLISHING HOUSE, 4% & 26 VANDEWATER STREET, NEw Yors&.—AvcustT 4, 1890. b> Cents OLp Cap. CoLLIER Lisrary Is IssuzD SemMI-MonTHLY.—BY SuBSCRIPTION $2.00 PER ANNUM. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1890, by NORMAN L. MUNRO, in the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D.C. [Zntered at ¢ Post Office. N. Y.. as Second Class Matter.) THE LAWYER DETECTIVE: The Mystery at Three Oaks Kanch. CHAPTER IL. AN ECCENTRIC FRIEND. WHILE Hilton Ragsdale sat at his desk in his uncle’s law office in Denver, a messenger boy entered and handed him a telegram. Hastily opening it, the young man read: ‘‘ RAGSDALE,—Olive has been found. Ter- rible mystery. Come at once. ‘* FLASH.” A perplexed, not to say startled look, over- spread the face of the lawyer’s clerk. The dispatch was dated at a station on the Union Pacific in Wyoming. ‘‘ Olive,” muttered the young man, ‘ Can it be that this refers to Olive Chester, my cousin, who disappeared so mysteriously more than a year ago? It would seem so, But who is Flash? I don’t think I have any friends of that name. I'll telegraph for par- ticulars.”’ Putting on his hat, the young man left the office and hurried to the telegraph station. He at once sent a dispatch in answer to the one he had received. He waited in vain for a reply. He hurried back to his uncle’s office, and communicated with that gentleman, who Bad come in during the absence of Rags- ale. The old lawyer scratched his bald pate and reflected. ‘‘T remember the circumstance of Olive Chester’s disappearance,” said the old gentle- man. ‘‘My sister married a _ worthless fellow, who was always speculating and never making anything. He died poor, leav- ing his wife and daughter to manage the ranch on the Big Horn. ‘‘T s’pose I ought to have communicated with Julia, but somehow I neglected it. Probably she has married again, and is get- ting on well enough. Let me see, you had met your cousin, I believe, Hilton ?” **Once, sir.” ‘* Rather a pretty girl ?”’ ‘‘Rather; but not so refined as a city belle.” ‘*No, I suppose not, brought up as she was among the hills of Wyoming. Besides, who who would expect refinement in one of Ike Chester’s offspring *” At the last the old lawyer indulged in a Jaugh. BY WILL WINCH. ‘‘Tf you can spare me, Uncle Jared, I be- lieve I will go out to Wyoming and look into this affair.” ‘* Do you wish to go ?” “Very much.” ‘‘T am not sure but what it would be a good idea,” said the old man. ‘‘ You can see your aunt, and tell her for me that I have grieved deeply at her bereavement in the loss of both husband and daughter.” ‘* Yes, uncle.” ** And tell her——” ‘“‘ Well, uncle ?” ‘‘Tell her that I should like to see her in Denver at an early day.” **T’ll do it, Uncle Jared.” Promising to communicate with his rela- tive immediately on his arrival in the Big Horn region, Hilton Ragsdale hurried to his room to make preparations for an immediate departure. he young man was deeply excited. He remembered about the mysterious dis- appearance of Olive Chester, and that whis- pers of foul play had fretted the air, and now that the mystery of the young girl’s disap- pearance was solved, nothing could keep Rags- dale from looking into the case. He was soon on the train speeding toward Cheyenne City. Just before reaching that town he purchased a newspaper of the train-boy, and almost the first words that greeted his vision were these: ‘THE MYSTERY OF A RANCH. Was OLIVE CHESTER MURDERED BY HER LOVER ?” Of course the young man was at once deep- ly interested. He read on down the column: ‘‘Olive Chester, a pretty young girl of twenty, living in Big Horn Basin, left her mother’s home on horseback to visit a neigh- bor one year ago in June, and failed to reach her destination. It was believed she had been drowned in the Big Horn, but the river was searched for miles in vain. ‘‘ About a week after her disappearance, Evard Domming, a prominent young man of the basin, left the region, and as he was the girl’s lover, paying her attention against her mother’s wishes, gossips reported that Olive had ridden to meet Demming by appoint- ment, and the couple had eloped. Demming, however, returned and denied the elopement story. He sold his ranch and left the country for good. Last Tuesday, Colonel Redhart, the purchaser of Demming's ranch, discov- ered the body of the girl buried in the earthen floor of a deserted hunter’s cabin, in an un- frequented part of the ranch. Coyotes had partially exhumed the body, and stripped the flesh from the bones. The identification was made complete by the clothing, and by a gold ring bearing the imitials ‘O. U.’ The head showed marks of a bullet hole.” - ae was the description read by Rags- dale. What an awful fate had befallen his pretty cousin! No wonder the heart of the young lawyer’s clerk was touched. And, naturally enough, a desire to avenge the girl’s death filled his bosom. “This man Demming must be hunted down,” avowed Ragsdale, inwardly. ‘‘I could never rest with my poor cousin un- avenged.” | ‘‘T beg your pardon, sir, but have you been reading of the discovery made in the Wind River country ?” A man on the seat in front of Ragsdale turned about and addressed him. ‘‘T have just been reading about it,” an- swered the Denver man. ‘It was a terrible affair.” 66 Yes.” ‘‘ Undoubtedly murder.” ‘‘ Undoubtedly.” ‘“‘Yet no one will ever suffer for the crime.” ‘I do not agree with you there.” ‘‘ That’s because you haven’t seen so much of the world as I have, young man. There'll be a few days’ talk, then it'll die down, and the mystery of the murder will always re- main a mystery.” ‘‘ Not if I can help it,” declared Ragsdale, ‘* Ah, you are interested ?” ‘‘The girl was my cousin.” 66 So ?” “ A pair of keen eyes searched the face of the Denver man closely. ‘Yes, and I mean to see that her assassin meets with punishment.” ‘‘ Well, I can’t say that I blame you,” re- turned the stranger, who was a short, stout- built man, with a very red face and shock of ECORNIE OOO G SS (S©)