Feb 17 1893 issue Scio Press The Last Writing of Otto Serfling Below we give the last writing of Otto Serfling, which was done in a pass book. It is a sort of letter of instructions to his children, as its contents indicate, and was written the night of the tragedy. FROM YOUR FATHER, OTTO SERFLING I am sorry I am compelled to take my own life. It cannot be otherwise. That g__d__d w__, will not give me any peace. Please take good care of the little ones. I have left a will at W.R. Bilyeu's at Albany. J.A. Bilyeu will act as administrator. I am sorry for some of you, and not for others. As I have tesitfied in my will, I hope my friends will forgive me for my rash act. Bury me alongside your mother, in the place left for me. As for the g__d__d b__, I don't want her buried alongside of me. If there is a hell, Bob Ashby and that d__d w__e will get there. If anything happens, so not say I was insane, for I was in my right senses. Wid Bilyeu (W.R. Bilyeu) has some of the letters she has written to me, and there are some in my trousers. See that you get the money that I have loaned her to pay for some of the property. You will find an account in my book. Let John Bilyeu put the cattle into the straw stack. Let him have what hay he wants for about $10 a ton. Have a sale about the 15th of March. Sell everything there is. The farm I want sold as soon as convenient, I have made mention in my will. The crow bar lies in the fence corner where we quit trimming posts. I give George Serfling my watch and chain. She (Mrs. Serfling) had poison in the house ever since we had the first quarrel, and I think she put some in my broth before she left for Portland. If any body wants to know why I did this, it is to save my earnings for my children. I hope the court will not make much expense. Take off the turkeys as soon as you can after the storm is over, you will have to have some money. You can get the coffins at Myers'. Have my own team and hack haul my corpse. Bury me in my best suit; you will find it in the bureau, and five me a full dress. I hink Ihave earned it. Do not shave me; I wish my beard to be left on. Henry Titus owes me some. Jas. Crabtree, Mespelt, John Brunner and Will Serfling owe me some. Draw my pension after March 4, I owe Hibler, Shore & Holdredge. Have some wheat in Albany. The wheat receipts are in the book. Somers and Glass, $10. Give John Morris...note, it is my pocket book. I owe Wm. Moore and Calavan $10, after Wm Moore pays me $5 for threshing help. I owe Gill & Calavan and Blain in Albany. Backus owes me 75 cts for pair of shoes and some flour. The principal from Clark becomes due April 1 1893. He has promised to pay $500 and $200 interest. Pay Eddie Serfling for what work he has done since he has become of age. Get a keepsake for the small children from their mother and myself. TO ALL MY CHILDREN Do not take it too much to heart. I could not possibly have stayed much longer with you. If your mother had lived I might have been more contented. It is hard to be robbed by such a woman. Have Lawyer Montanye make application for the children's pensions. There will be four of them Feb 4 1:40 o'clock J.A. Bilyeu I take the opportunity to write you a few lines. When I bade you goodbye on the 19th, in Houston's store, you did not think it was the last time you would see me alive. Help bury me decently and be my kind friend, Yours forever, Otto Serfling You knew I was troubled when I left you in Houston's store. Thus closes a chapter of real life that equals the wildest imagination of fiction's vagaries. Whether the ..eeding severe language indulged in by the deceased was merited or not-our readers must draw their own conclusions. Probably there is a great deal concerning this purely mercenary marriage that will never be known. May not a lesson to the living be gathered from the tragic ending of these two lives.