The Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1837-1867, 1865-02-10

the strangest part of the affair was, thu
none OF them heard the report Of the pi:
tol or gun.
He entered his library after supper
and, as was his usual custom, sat ther
reading until the hour for retiring-whic
was eleven O'Clock. They discovered hi
dead body in the morning, and at ono
gave the alarm
All these particulars Mr.. Croft relate
to me, and he had little faith in my abilit
to make any more out of the affair tha
he had done.
reached the mansion, and at once en-
tered upon the business that brought m
there. l examined the room where tn
murder had been committed, and discov
cred that MIR. Simonds had been sittin,
with his back towards the window at tn
time he was shot, and so true had beel
the aim, that the ball sped through tn
heart, completely severing it in two, a
was ascertained by a post mortem s1ami
nation.
A broken pane Of glass in the Ibrar,
window attested whence the shot came
The library was on the second floor ant
situated in the north wing of the man
sion. TO gain access to this window
the only one the room CONFERENCE.-The
murderer must have encountered mucl
difficulty, unless he used ladder to reacl
it.
There was one other way, which wa:
to climb to the window by the leaden wa
ter spout. l examined the ground be
meath the window, and could see no sign
of ladder having been placed there; nol
trace of footsteps was visible, and
came to the conclusion that recourse wa.
had to the spout.
procured ladder and placed it be.
side the water spout, and made a careful
examination of it from the ground up tc
the library window.
l was soon assured that the murderer
had made use of that means to reach the
window. The lead was soft and yielding
and it bore the finger marks of the assas.
sin-each finger having made an impres.
sion on the metal
When had finished this part of the
examination, l sat down and pondered
we'll over the matter. | had made two
very important discoveries: one was the
assassin must have fired the weapon with
his left hand; for l was perfectly con.
vinced that no man could have held him
self by the water spout with the left hand
and reach the window with the right. SC
as to enable him to fire at an object in
the middle of the room, where Mr.. ST.
monds invariably sat while reading, and
where he was found seated when discov-
cred In the morning. Now, what could
| deduct from this circumstance, but the
fact that the assassin was left-handed 7
My reason for the conviction was a good
one. None but left handed person could
have made so fatal shot from the posi-
ton he must necessarily have occupied at
the time, and that he knew how to use
the weapon was also manifest, for nc
chance shot could have been so fatal in a
thousand trials This, then. was conclu-
sive evidence, and though made the dis
covery, communicated it to no one.
The other discovery was no less impor-
tant. The man who climbed by the spout
had but three fingers on the right hand
This was plainly seen by the finger marks
on the metal the spout was marked but
in four places by the right hand-the
thumb and three tingers-the index finger
was gone.
| gave instructions not to allow anv one
to meddle with the spout, aud deputized a
constable to see that my orders were
strictly obeyed.
| next questioned the servants of the
late MIR. SimOnds-four in number-and
elected the following information:
On the evening previous to the finding
of the dead body of Mr.. Simonds, a fe
male mendicant stopped at the mansion,
and requested permission to stop over
night. The woman, a delicate looking
creature, seemed much worn out by he1
tramp during the day, and the kind-heart
ed cook bade her stay, at the same time
asking her to take a cup of tea and some
thing to eat.
The poor creature was half starved,
and ate ravenously; after satisfying bel
hunger, she laid down on bed the cook
had prepared on the floor for her, and in
short time fell asleep.
The woman had small black travelling
bag with her, which she placed under he1
head before laying down.
Next morning, the woman had gone
before any one else had arisen, and, strange
to say, she had left the black valise lyins
in some bushes in the rear of the house
1t was not discovered until after the de-
parture of Mr.. Croft, the detective.
Instantly asked to see the vallSe; i
was produced, and broke the lock with
out hesitation, hoping might further gel
some clue to the perpetrators that th'
(probably pretendeD mendicant was al
accomplice.
1he vallse contained absolutely moth
ing it was empty. was on the poin
OF throwing it aside, when 1 felt the rust
ling OF paper in the lining; l fshed it ou
from ITS hiding place; it proved to be .
letter. its date was three weeks old
The envelope had no address upon it, no
had the letter any signature.
1t ran thus:
"Hsw1cH, June 2, 1859.
~