Murdock

“ Mr. Murdock was very ready. “Well, we must meet again there.... It’s a lonely place for a girl without family or friends.”
“But I don’t get homesick,” said Ellen, with the sophisticated air of an experienced traveler. “I certainly wouldn’t be homesick in New York.”
From that moment Mr. Murdock began to regard her with a deeper interest. Perhaps he saw that by her side May had no points to be compared with Ellen’s air of quiet assurance, her youthful dignity, her curiously apparent respect for herself as an individual. She sat in the plush rocker within the glow from the bronze lamp. ”

“ Miss Murdock, now thoroughly alarmed, roused the neighbors and asked their aid. Men left their work and tramped the woods and fields far and near; but in vain. At half-past four a farmer driving into town brought a story of five children plodding along the highway not far from the nearest large town; and two hours later galloping horses brought to the door Kitty, Teddy, Budge, and the twins, frightened and hungry, but unharmed. ”

“ Between Murdock and the rest of us there was a difference of degree, certainly, but was there a difference of kind?"
"There is one thing which I cannot yet understand," said Thurston, "and that is, why Murdock should have pushed his audacity to the point of defying you to ferret out the mystery of this crime, when he might perhaps have avoided all risk of detection by holding his tongue."
"No man is perfect," answered Sturgis, sententiously, "not even an accomplished villain like Murdock, fortunately for the rest of mankind. Every human being has his weak points. ”

“ Once he sent Murdock to investigate a wreck on Apamama. The crew was found in a sorry plight; natives had given them food and shelter—but they had run out of liquor. So Murdock got a large demijohn and filled it with rum from one of the King’s hogsheads. He reported this to Timbinoka, who asked, “Where you catch im dis feller rum?” Murdock identified the hogshead and his King said, “Hum hum, hum. One time one feller man belong Sydney he like im one feller head belong kanaka. So he pickle him along dis feller rum.” ”

“ Murdock, by no means of a trusting disposition, but ofttimes furiously jealous—has nevertheless, in this respect, no suspicion of the priest, less from confidence than a sort of contempt for the pallid puny creature, whom he feels he could crush in a moment of mad anger. And broken though he be, the stalwart, and once strong, Englishman could still do that. To imagine such a man as Rogier a rival in the affections of his own wife, would be to be little himself. Besides, he holds fast to that proverbial faith in the spiritual adviser, not always well founded—in his case certainly misplaced. ”

“ He's always praising Tom Murdock, and hinting at the business, by saying he wishes he could see me comfortably settled; that he is growing old and is not the man he used to be; and all that. I know very well, Kate, what he means, both ways; and, God between him and harm! I say again; but he'll never see me Tom Murdock's wife. {788} I have my answer ready for them both."
"Well, Winny, as you seem determined, I suppose I may spake; and, to tell you the truth, I always thought it would be a pity to put them two farms into one, and so spoil two good establishments ”

“ This man is Lewin Murdock, in a state of helpless inebriety—in common parlance, drunk. He has been brought to the boat landing by the landlord of the Welsh Harp, where he has been all day carousing, and delivered to Dempsey, who now, at a late hour of the night, is conveying him homeward. His hat is down by his feet, instead of upon his head; and the moonbeams, falling unobstructed on his face, show it of a sickly whitish hue; while his eyes, sunk deep in their sockets, have each a demilune of dark purplish colour underneath. ”

“ If she ever gets as fine and upstanding a young man as Mr. Murdock ... a man so industrious and hardworking and well-behaved, she can thank her stars....” For a moment Mrs. Seton paused to recover her breath, greatly dissipated by this indignant outburst. That Ellen should scorn Mr. Clarence Murdock was not a thing to be borne lightly. Then she continued, “And this talk about going to New York.... How’s she going to get to New York? Who’s to put up the money, I’d like to know? Old Julia Shane, I suppose.... It’s not likely the old woman would part with a cent even if she could.” ”

“ In the fall of 1910, during the hunting season, two shots were heard from the Murdock farm about midday. The neighbors thought nothing of it, or supposed that old Murdock was killing rabbits. In the middle of the afternoon the next-door neighbor, Mrs. Heins—a woman who was always "running the road," as they say in the valley—came to the Murdock kitchen door to borrow some mustard, as an emetic for her son, who had been eating "musharoons" that were behaving as if they were toadstools. She got no answer to her knock. ”

“ But so accustomed was he to receiving detailed impressions of all that occurred before his eyes, that the chemist's actions, unimportant as they seemed at the time, were unconsciously recorded upon the reporter's brain.
Murdock opened the door of the extension and passed out of the room. Sturgis, watching his chance, snatched up a sheet of paper from the table, inserted it in the typewriter, and rattled off something as fast as he could. Looking up when he had finished, he saw that Murdock had returned and was observing him with a sardonic grin.
"More happy thoughts?" he inquired. ”

“ On the morning following the day on which the young stranger, Harvey Winthrop, had been shot down in the little ravine by the Kanawha river, and Virginia was carried off by the villainous tools of Clement Murdock, to the lonely cabin on the other bank of the stream to that on which the settlement of Point Pleasant was located, Murdock again stood before the cabin. The stranger, Benton, and the drunken vagabond, Bob Tierson, had remained by the cabin, still wearing their Indian disguises.
“How does the girl bear it?” Murdock asked, on joining the others. ”

“ If they gave him the slightest chance, he would lay into them and inflict as much damage as he could. But if there was no opening, he felt sure he could endure the punishment without a whimper. In that belief lay his chief consolation. They never would have the fun of hearing him plead for mercy.
"Get him out of the saddle, boys, and put hobbles on him," ordered Murdock, when they had reached the bottom of the small canyon which nature had cut into the hillside at a sharp right angle. "We'll hold this court in style." ”

“ The policeman hurried down the stairs.
Murdock's valise and package stood conspicuous upon the long pine box. But of Murdock there was no sign.
"Gone!" exclaimed one of the detectives deeply mortified at the thought that his quarry had slipped through his fingers. "Gone! How? Where? He cannot have escaped. He cannot——What is it, Mr. Sturgis?"
He had suddenly caught sight of the reporter, half way up the stairs. ”

“ People were in the habit of sending their horses five, ay ten, miles to Bryan M'Dermott's forge—"establishment" it might almost be called—and Tom Murdock himself, when he kept the race-mare, had sent her past half-a-dozen forges to get her "properly fitted" at Phil M'Dermott's.
Phil himself had served his time to his father, and was no less an adept in all matters belonging to his trade; and as to "driving a nail," there never was a man wore an apron could put on a shoe so safely. ”

“ Thomas Murdock was an only son, as Winny Cavana was an only daughter, and the two old men were of the same mind now as regarded the future lot of their children.
A few words now of Edward Lennon, and we can get on.
He was the eldest of five in the family. They lived upon the mountain-side in the parish of Shanvilla, about two "short miles" from the Cavanas and Murdocks. His father and mother were both alive. They were respectable so far as character and conduct can make people respectable who are unquestionably poor. ”

“ He points to a man making up the glen, threading his way through the tangle of wild bushes that grow along the banks of the rivulet.
“Coracle Dick!” exclaims Murdock, recognising the poacher.
“The identical individual,” answers the priest, adding, “who, though a poacher, and possibly has been something worse, is not such a bad fellow in his way—for certain purposes. True, he’s neither the most devout nor best behaved of my flock; still a useful individual, especially on Fridays, when one has to confine himself to a fish diet. ”

“ To say the least, Emon-a-knock came in for a share of it, and, as a matter of almost necessity, Tom Murdock was not altogether left out.
Kate Mulvey, after the éclaircissement with Winny, believed she could do her friend some good without doing herself any harm, a principle on which alone most people will act. ”

“ I'm sorry Jamesy Doyle came out so soon. I'd like to have heard what he was going to say of myself, but sure he said enough. Em-on-a-knock may despise himself and his threat." And she went into the house to prepare the dinner.
Tom Murdock, notwithstanding his shortcomings, and they were neither few nor far between, was a shrewd, clever fellow in most matters. It was owing to this shrewdness that he resolved to watch for some favorable opportunity, rather than seek a formal meeting with Winny Cavana "at wanst" as had been 'advised by his father. ”

“ He was not however in such good humor as to forward himself much in Winny's good opinion, and Emon-a-knock, who watched him closely, was content that he should be her sole beau for the rest of the evening.
Refreshments were now brought in; cold punch for the boys and "nagus" for the girls; for old Murdock could afford to make a splash, and this he thought "was his time to do it. If any one was hungry, there was plenty of cold mate and bread on the kitchen dresser." ”

“ She preserves her composure all through, and soon as the last course is ended, with a show of dessert placed upon the table—poor and pro forma—obedient to a look from Rogier, with a slight nod in the direction of the door, she makes her congè, and retires.
Murdock lights his meerschaum, the priest one of his paper cigarettes—of which he carries a case—and for some time they sit smoking and drinking; talking, too, but upon matters with no relation to that uppermost in their minds. They seem to fear touching it, as though it were a thing to contaminate. ”

“ The love of the game, however, had not died out even amongst those of riper years; and there were very many men, young and old, whose hurls were laid up upon lofts, and who could still handle them in a manner with which few parts of Ireland could compare. Amongst those Tom Murdock was pre-eminent. He had successfully led the last great match, when not more than twenty years of age, between the parishes of Rathcash and Shanvilla, against a champion called "Big M'Dermott," who led for the latter parish. He was considered the best man in the province to handle a hurl, and his men were good ”

“ Emon himself, though five feet ten and a half inches high, was about the smallest man of his party. In every respect they equalled, if they did not exceed, the Rathcash men.
"Come, boys," said Emon; "Tom Murdock is bringing on his men; we'll have to jump the bank. Shall I lead the way?"
"Of course, Emon; an' bad luck to the man of the hundred will lave a toe on it." ”

“ IS ONE OF THE REPUBLICAN CANDIDATES FOR THE ASSEMBLY FROM THE TENTH SENATORIAL DISTRICT If you prefer any candidate on any other ticket, scratch Murdock. If you require any pledge other than that he will vote according to his honest convictions, scratch Murdock.
His friend, Ambrose Bierce, spoke of him as the most scholarly man on the Pacific Coast. He was surely among the most modest and affectionate. He had remarkable poetic gifts. In 1892 the Thomas Post of the Grand Army of the Republic held a memorial service, and he contributed a poem beginning:
"Life's fevered day declines ”

“ Macready's eyes frightened me into an awed silence. Then I remember (I was about five) playing the rightful heir in a melodrama called "Meg Murdock; or, the Haggard of the Glen," where the bad man came on when I was sleeping to murder me! Of course I awakened, and we both traversed the stage from different sides, taking the greatest care not to meet, when I stumbled over a property pitcher, and exclaimed "Oh, it's only the jug!" which was always the signal for great applause, and completely baffled the bad man. ”

“ His moans were quite heartrending—he was evidently in considerable pain; and I was glad to get away, as that sort of thing always upsets me."
"Who is this Murdock?" I asked.
"Oh, the man who has looked after the place for years. I was referred to him by my solicitors. He seems a most capable person, and I hope to goodness he won't be ill long. If he is I shall find myself in rather a fix."
I made no reply to this, and soon afterwards Cressley shook hands with me and departed on his way. I went to my room, packed my belongings, and took the next train to town. ”

“ As he passed the chemist, the reporter caught his eye, and, in a flash, read there some sinister purpose, which caused him to hesitate, on his guard.
At that moment there came a knock upon the hall door.
"Pshaw!" exclaimed Murdock, "here comes an interruption, I suppose. Please step down stairs; I shall be with you directly."
With these words, he quietly but firmly shoved the reporter into the extension, and, with a rapid motion, pushed forward the door.
Sturgis almost lost his balance, but instinctively put out his foot between the door and the jamb. He felt a strong pressure from the outside ”

“ He was up and out before breakfast, wandering alone around the parental farm. He ate his breakfast silently, and no one intruded upon him with any social expression of sympathy. Mrs. Heins saw that he had food and drink; the others talked around him as if he were not there. They merely made it a point not to speak of the murder. When he had finished he asked where the nearest telephone could be reached, and went out to find it. As soon as he was gone the hired man drifted in from nowhere for his breakfast.
In about an hour Murdock came back with the sheriff and asked for this hired man. ”