HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Wingham Advance-Times, 1936-03-19, Page 6PAGE SIX WINGHAM ADVANCE-TIMES Thursday, March 19th, 1936
WOMAN
chair. She was aroused by the blare
of an automobile horn and. by the
sound of voices, A car in which were
several men had stopped before
house; one member of the party
stepped down and was trying to
engage the wire fastenings of
gate; another, was getting out.
FIRST INSTALMENT
For two days now an almost con
tinuous stream of traffic had flowed
back and forth along the road. The
weather was dry, and dust thrown up
by passing vehicles had settled upon
grass and shrubbery. It penetrated
Mrs. Holmes’ house and covered its
scanty furnishings with a thin, gray
coating; it hung in the air and chok
ed her. Dust was nothing new to her
—in fact, dust, grime, disorder were
nearly always present in her house—
but now its taste was irritating and
it caused her to revile the sightseers
who had turned this back road into a
busy thoroughfare.
All were morbid curiosity-seekers;
they were bound to or from.the scene
of the Ethridge murder.
Mary Holmes had heard the news
of the crime .while she was feeding
-her geese two mornings before, and
had hurried up the road as fast as
she could go. She had been one of
the first to reach the scene of the
tragedy, arriving nearly an hour
ahead of the policemen and the news
paper reporters. Inasmuch as she had
known Amos Ethridge quite well and
was his nearest neighbor, naturally
she had come in for a good deal of
questioning. She had little to tell,
nevertheless it had been an exciting
experience; it had reminded her of
old times to answer and to parry
quick, searching questions, while re-
portorial pencils flew to keep pace
with her words. The reporters had
stared at her curiously and had want
ed to know who she was—all about
her, in fact—but she had been sly
enough to give them no satisfaction.
She had remained there all day,
mingling with the ever-growing
crowd, discussing the case with
townspeople whom she knew only by
sight, rubbing shoulders and talking
with utter strangers; she had walked
home at dusk with a new feeling of
consequence, with her head higher
than usual, and with her heart pound
ing. As she prepared her supper she
had even ventured cautiously to sing
a few notes—the first in more than a
year.
Anticipation of seeing her name in
print once again had affected her so
queerly that she slept
the night and was up
agitatedly for the rural
But when she had read
papers, when she had
through the eyes of those reporters,
she had been stunned, stupefied.
“The pert-on living nearest to the
scene of the tragedy is Mary Holmes,
a middle-aged, slatternly creature
who occupies a wretched hovel and
runs a small chicken ranch at the rear
of the Ethridge estate,” the first ac
count ran. Mrs. Holmes read on dizz
ily, “She is reputed to be a drunken,
irresponsible character of violent tem
per qnd eccentric habits, nevertheless
she shows surprising intelligence and
unmistakable signs of education, She
was positive in her statement—” etc.
The other paper had been equally
uncomplimentary. It referred to her
as “the goose woman” and it des
cribed her as “a queer, bedraggled,
old hag with the stride of an Amazon
and the airs of a queen.”
Mary Holmes had torn the papers
to bits, and later, when representa
tives of the afternoon papers came
to interview her, she had refused to
talk to them. But the Ethridge case
had grown in importance; the Chi
cago papers had rushed men to West
land by the first train and these new
comers were even more inquisitive
than the local news-gatherers. This
morning, in self-defense, Mary Holm
es had wired up her gate, and nailed
a
her
had
dis-
the
The
man at the gate started to climb the
fence, but he was halted midway by
a challenge from the house, and look
ed up to discover a tall woman in a
faded gingham dress had emerged ■up
on the porch and- was facing them
threateningly. She was a vigorous
woman, long-limbed and erect, and
she carried her chin high. In spite
of her “ill-fitting garments, her flat,
shapeless shoes, and her untidy hair,
there was an air of command about
her and an appearance of some con-
caused the
into immo-
sight of a
little during
and waiting
deliveryman,
the ’morning
seen herself
NEW DEFENCE HEAD
Sir Thomas Inskip, attorney-gen
eral for England since 1032, who has
Veen appointed, in a surprise move
by Prime Minister Baldwin, as the
new minister to co-ordinate the de
fence forces of the United Kingdom.
FORD HOTELS
ChoosS
WTfS1
1150 ? to
Swcuiii
loam
mutks
sign to it which read.
Keep off. Reporters trespassing on
this place will be shot.
She sat now inside the open win
dow of her front room where she
could watch the automobiles coming
and going and hear what the occu
pants said when they stopped to stare
at her premises or to read her sign.
Evidently the 'term “goose woman"
had stuck, for she heard it over and
Oyer again. The manner in which it
was used, the laughter and the com
ment evoked by her warning sign,
were so offensive that she turned for
comfort to her* gin bottle.
As to the crime itself, it had creat
ed a genuine sensation. The murder
of a man as prominent as Amos Eth
ridge was bound to prove -front-page
news, for he was more than a figure
of local importance. To begin with,
he wasA or had been., a man of im
mense wealth—the richest man in the
whole state—a political power, and in
all probability the next Governor.
Moreover, the manner of his slaying,
the circumstances surrounding it and
the evident ferocity of his assassin,
had rendered the crime peculiarly
shocking. 1-le had been shot to death,
riddled with seven bullets, while re
turning to his home late Thursday
night. His body had not been dis
covered until the following morning;
then it was found lying in a lane
which connected a back toad with
the rear of his handsome estate and
upon its breast was laid a cross made
of two dead twigs which had been
hurriedly tied together. Neither the
body nor its immediate surroundings
revealed any clue to the identity of
the slayer; nothing indicated any rea
son whatever for the crime unless a
letter found in one of Ethridge’s
one of Ethridge’s pockets was an in
dication. This letter, which, by the
way, was delicately scented, had come
through the mail and bore the local
Westland postmark; the writing upon
the envelope was in a woman’s hand,
and inside was a sheet of plain note
paper containing the one word,
“Thursday.” There was no signature.
Why, in the first place, a bachelor
who'could come and go at his will
should make use of a narrow, un
lighted back road instead of the broad
macadam thoroughfare which passed
his massive front gates was puzzling;
why that cross had been laid upon
the body; why, in fact; anyone should
wish to kill Amos Ethridge—all were
matters of pure conjecture, Questions
like these lent mystery to the affair,
and that laconic, perfumed note which
might have t>ecn tither a warning or
an assignation spiced it with a sug
gestion of scandal just sufficient to
intensify general interest
Mary Holmes doused In fret rocking
sequence. That which
fence climber to freeze
bility, however, was the
shotgun in her hands.
“Hello! You’re Mrs.
take it,” he began, cheerily.
“Get off that fence!”
“Tell her who you are,” one of the
fellows in the car directed. The photo
grapher hurriedly opened the clasps
of his camera case.
“We’re newspaper men from Chi
cago. We’ve been sent down here on
the Ethridge case and we—’’
“If you are reporters, you can prob
ably read," Mrs. Holmes told him.
“What does that sign say?”
“Now see here, this is a big story
and it’s getting bigger every hour.
You can’t shoot us for trying to get
the facts and—”
“Can’t I?”
“You knew Amos Ethridge, didn’t
you?”
“Perhaps.”.
“You heard
! night?”
“Did I?”
“That’s what
porters. Come
want to get your picture, too.”
“I’ve been talking to you and you
heard what I said."
“But Mrs. Holmes—”
“You want a picture, do you? Bah!
You’re all alike. Vultures! Jackals!"
The woman’s voice rose in sudden an
ger. “You read, what these Westland
papers said about me, didn’t you?
Well, get out?”
“Mr. Ethridge used this road a good
deal, I understand. At nght, I mean?
You probably saw or heard his car
that night? All we, want is a brief
statement from yon.” Unobtrusively,
the speaker shifted his weight, lifted
himself further over the fence. “We
city men have an altogether different
theory from these—”
The woman on the porch cocked
her shotgun and raised it, saying
grimly:
"I shall count three.”
“Oh, come now! Don’t be foolish.”
“One! Two!”
“Go ahead, Jim!” urged the cam
era man. “She can’t pull anything
like that. If she shoots you, it’ll make
a corking picture.”
The trespasser now had one leg ov
er the top strand of barbed ware and
he steadied himself upon a post —
neither a graceful position nor one
of great stability. He was about to
let himself down.inside the yard when
Mrs. Holmes cried:
“Three!"
Simultaneously she fired. The dry
grass and weeds beneath the teeter
ing figure exploded into a dusty cloud
as the charge of bird shot mowed a
path through it. With a yell, the man
flung himself backward, leaving a
fragment of his trousers leg upon the
fence. He picked himself up and
shook a fist at the woman, shouting:
“You damned old harpy! I’ll have
you arrested for that! What d’you
mean, anyhow—”
He paused as he heard the omin
ous click of the second barrel, and
hurriedly backed closer to the car.
The photographer made haste to fol
low him.
“Don’t let me catch yott climbing
my fence again. I keep this gtm for
hawks, but it will do as well for buz
zards!” Mrs. .Holmes’ voice was harsh
and strident; she appeared to tower
I higher as her rage mounted. “Poke
; fun at me, will you? Well, you’ve got
| something nasty to write now, so be
as* nasty as you can. You want to
I know who killed Amos Ethridge, do
| you? Rats! You don’t care who kill-
i ed him, AB you want is to choke
your filthy papers with scandal and
lies and dirt. It’s all you can write,
all you can think about. Lies! Dirt!”
She had quite lost control of herself
now and broke into an incoherent tor
rent of invective. She checked it only
when, the objects of het wrath had
slammed the car door and the ma
chine had rolled away.
When she was alone she strode
back into her house and stood the
fowling-piece in its corner, then
tramped about the living room, her
head high, her back straight, her deep
bosom heaving. Sol They’d get a
story out of her, wt>ttid. they! Publish
het picture! Use her for a bit of local
color, ridicule her, abuse her! Welk
she could give them batio as good as
they could send in the line of per
sonal abuser The scum! The black-
Holmes, I
1
*
the
you
on,
shots, Thursday
told the local re
talk to us. We
guards! She was sorry they had fled
so swiftly—while her mouth was still
so full and her tongue so bitter. For
once in their Jives they had heard
something which they could remem
ber. They knew now that she was
no common country lout, no mere
“goose woman.”
As she reflected more calmly upon
the encounter she felt some pride in
the way she had carried it off. It had
been her scene: she had held the cen
ter of the stage and she had played
it well—as well as anybody could play
such a scene, upon short notice. After
all, only an artist can rise to dram
atic heights; none but the finished
actor can portray sincere emotion.
She, “a bedraggled old hag!” Old, at
forty-five! “A drunken, irresponsible
character of violent
wished now that she.
reporter in the legs.
The next day, not
teihper!’*
had shot
only the
She
that
local
Westland papers, but also the big
Chicago dailies, carried amusing and
highly colored accounts of that shot
gun encounter, and Mrs. Holmes de
rived a grim enjoyment from reading
them. Again she flared into fury at
the uncomplimentary things tiiey said
about her; but indignation is a fire
that? quickly burns itself out and it
gave her some satisfaction to read of
her victory. This satisfaction increas
ed as she reread the stories. After a
while she experienced an actual thrill
at realizing that she had become a
figure of importance in the biggest
news sensation of the day and the
people from Maine to California were
reading about her. They saw the
name “Mary Holmes.” And after
twenty years! She wondered if any
of them would remember having seen
it before.
(Continued Next Week)
GEMS FROM LIFE'S
SCRAP-BOOK
*
ART
at
$ *
imitate, but _ inter-
*
poem without
*
“The true work of art is but a
shadow of the divine perfection.”
Michael Angelo.
“We are all sculptors, working
various forms, moulding and chisel
ing thought.”—Mary Baker Eddy.
*
“Art does not
pret.”—Mazzini.*
“A picture is
words.”—Horace.*
The artist belongs to his work, not
the work to the artist."—Novalis.* * *
“Many person feel art, some under
stand it; but few both feel and und
erstand it.”—Hillard.
“I wish,” she sighed, "that we liv
ed in a house where everything was
done by touching buttons."
“And
“that I
tons to
I wish,” said her husband,
lived in shirts that had but-
touch.” '
•j A
hl}'-'
A HEALTH SERVICE OF I IlllU
THE CANADIAN MEDICAL \ ffiwg
ASSOCIATION AND UIFEKS^^^
INSURANCE COMPANIES .
IN CANADA
CARE OF THE MOUTH
Business and Professional Directory
Wellington Mutual Fire
Insurance Co.
Established 184Q,
Risks taken on all clashes of insur
ance at reasonable rates.
Head Office, Guelph, Ont.
ABNER COSENS, Agent.
Wingham.
DR. R. L. STEWART
PHYSICIAN
Telephone 29.
Dr. Robt. C. REDMOND
M.R.C.S. (England)
L.R.C.P. (London)
PHYSICIAN AND SURGEON
DR. W.M. CONNELL
PHYSICIAN AND SURGEON
Phone 19.
W. A. CRAWFORD, M.D.
Physician and Surgeon
Located at the office of the late
Dr. J. P. Kennedy.
Phone 150 Wingham
cay occurs.
Despite the claims advanced for
certain products, the mouth cannot
be sterilized — bacteria cannot be el-
iminated from the mouth. The mouth
wash cannot replace the toothbrush
'as a cleansing agent any more
perfume can take the place of
and water.
Sugars and starches cannot,
should they be, eliminated from the
diet. There is much to be said, how
ever, in favour of raw fruit rather
than a sweet to finish the meal. In
all cases, we have to rely upon the
than
soap
nor
The teeth are part of the body, and,
as such, they reflect, to some extent,
the health of the body as a whole.
Particularly are. they affected by the
condition of other parts of the mouth,
most notably the gums and jawbon
es. Healhy teeth will
set in diseased bones
by gums that are full
As is the case with
the body., proper use of the teeth
improves the health of'the mouth.
The act of chewing, particularly of
the coarser foods, cleans the teeth
and massages the gums. There are,
however, sheltered points which are
not rubbed clean by mastication and
which may easily escape the tooth
brush.
Such
a stick
saliva,
stick. The sugars
food, are broken
which are always present in the,
mouth, and lactic acid is formed. The I
acid, if allowed to collect, eats into I
the tooth structure and so dental do-
not be found
or surrounded
of pus.
other parts of
I
I
I
points become covered with
insoluble
to which
material from the
particles of food
and starches in the
down by bacteria
MONUMENTS at first cost
Having our factory equipped with the
most modern machinery for the exe
cution of high-class work, we ask you
to see the largest display of monu
ments of arty retail factory in Ontario.
All finished by sand blast machines,
We import all out granites from the
Old Country quarries direct, in the. rbugh. You can save all local deal
ers’, agents’ and nijddleinan profits by
seeing ns,
E. J. Skelton & Son
at West End Bridge—WALKERTON
ADVERTISE
IN THE
ADVANCE-TIMES
J. W. BUSHFIELD
Barrister, Solicitor, Notary, Etc,
Money to Loan.
Office — Meyer Block, Wingham
Successor to Dudley Holmes.
J. H. CRAWFORD
Barrister, Solicitor, Notary, Etc.
Successor to R. Vanstone.
Wingham Ontario
A
R. S. HETHERINGTON
BARRISTER and SOLICITOR
Office — Morton Block.
Telephone No. 66
F. A. PARKER
OSTEOPATH ’
All Diseases Treated.
Office adjoining residence next to
Anglican Church on Centre St.
Sunday by appointment.
Osteopathy Electricity
Phone 272. Hours, 9 a.m. to 8 p.tn.
proper u.se of the toothbrush to reach
those points where food collects, be-
.tween rather than on the exposed sur
faces of the teeth.
The dentifrice, such as precipitated
chalk, is used to aid in the mechanical
cleapsing of the teeth without caus
ing damage to the enamel at the same
time. Alkalin dentifrices cannot keep
the whole mouth alkaline. It is not
the general acidity of the mouth that
leads to recay, but the acid which is
concentrated at one point.
The value of any dentifrice depends
upon the efficiency of the toothbrush
MM MMNMM
HARRY FRY
Licensed Embalmer and
Fuaeral Director
Furniture and
Funeral Service
Ambulance Service, '
Phones: Day 117, Night 109.
A
THOMAS FELLS
AUCTIONEER
REAL ESTATE SOLD
Thorough knowledge of Farm
Stock.
Phone 231, Wingham.
It Will Pay You to Have An
EXPERT AUCTIONEER
to conduct your sale,
See
T. R. BENNETT
At The Royal Service Station.
Phone 174W.
1 ALVIN FOX
Licensed Drugless Practitioner
CHIROPRACTIC - DRUGLESS
THERAPY - RADIONIC
EQUIPMENT
Hours by Appointment.
Phone 191. Wingham
A* R. & F. E. DUVAL
CHIROPRACTORS
CHIROPRACTIC and
ELECTRO THERAPY
North Street — Wingham
Telephone 300.
which applies it. The mouth-wash is
a rinsing solution, not a therapeutic
agent or an antiseptic treatment. A
teaspoonful of salt in a pint of wat
er to which is added a pinch of bak
ing soda provides a good mouth-wash.
The mouth should be kept clean as
a preventive measure, and by periodic
visits to the family dentist, a regular
check should be maintained as to the
health of the mouth.
Questions concerning health, ad
dressed to the Canadian Medical As
sociation, 184 College St., Toronto,
will be answered personally by letter.
NOTICE!
Subscription Renewals
Due to an advance to us of the rates of some of the various daily
papers with which The Advance-Times offers clubbing rates it is
necessary that the new schedule of prices listed below go into
effect at once.
You may renew your subscription to your favorite daily with your
Advance-Times subscription and effect a saving. Use the facili
ties we offer you:
The AdvanceTimes and the Toronto Daily Star...........
The Advance-Times and the Toronto Daily Globe ......
The Advance-Times and the Daily Mail & Kmpire.......
The Advance-Times and the London Free Press....... . .
The Advance-Times and the London Advertiser
The Advance-Times and the Family Herald and Weekly
Star •■».......>..>.............. <....,, •. •. »
$7-50
6.50
6.50
7.00
2.60j
The prices are strictly cash in advance. Remit by Post Office or
Express Money Qrders, or cheques payable at par to
THE WINGHAM
a nv a Fwiyxgig*
i
r
h
y
! J
Box 473, Wingham Phone 34