Fetters's friends and hirelings were openly hostile to young
Dudley, and Haines had been heard to say, in his cups, at Clay
Jackson's saloon, that when young Dudley was tried and convicted and
sent to the penitentiary, he would be hired out to Fetters, who had
the country contract, and that he, Haines, would be delighted to have
Dudley in his gang. The feeling against Dudley grew from day to day,
and threats and bets were openly made that he would not live to be
tried. There was no direct proof against him, but the moral and
circumstantial evidence was quite sufficient to convict him in the
eyes of Fetter's friends and supporters. The colonel was sometimes
mentioned, in connection with the affair as a friend of Ben's, for
whom he had given bail, and as an enemy of Fetters, to whom his
antagonism in various ways had become a matter of public knowledge and
interest.
One day, while the excitement attending the second shooting was thus
growing, Colonel French received through the mail a mysteriously
worded note, vaguely hinting at some matter of public importance which
the writer wished to communicate to him, and requesting a private
interview for the purpose, that evening, at the colonel's house. The
note, which had every internal evidence of sincerity, was signed by
Henry Taylor, the principal of the coloured school, whom the colonel
had met several times in reference to the proposed industrial school.
From the tenor of the communication, and what he knew about Taylor,
the colonel had no doubt that the matter was one of importance, at
least not one to be dismissed without examination.
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