Page:The facts in the case of the horrible murder of little Myrtle Vance and its fearful expiation at Paris, Texas, February 1st, 1893.pdf/15

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After the agony of the day and night, recorded in our last chapter, all the energy of an entire city and county was turned toward the apprehension of the demon who had devasted a home and polluted an innocent life. Organized effort was seen to be the only hope; so another mass-meeting was called and hundreds of dollars poured in, in a few minutes, to reward the person or persons who should bring Henry Smith to Paris and to justice. The whole tenor of the proceedings now took on the air of a settled and determined purpose. That purpose was the capture of the fugitive negro. Companies were sent out in every direction, searching minutely every nook in which a man might possibly be hidden. Sleep and rest were unknown quantities in the lives of these people for the time, and their numbers were recruited hourly from all parts of the country. The wily negro had left no trace of his actions from the moment he concealed the corpse of the child until he called at the home of his abandoned wife, whose companionship he had not shared for five years, and ordered her to get him something to eat. This was about five, January 28th, the conscienceless villain having come straight from the scene of his crime,