The Vermont transcript. [volume] (St. Albans, Vt.) 1864-1870, 1865-02-10

-' ''''hOu Wy pOSt morton
examination.
( A broken pane Of glass in the win
dow attestsd whence the shot came
The library was on the second aooi
and situated in the north wing of the
mansion. To gaiu access to this win.
dow the only one the room con
tanned the murderer must have en-.
countered great difficulty, unless he
used a ladder to reach it.
There was an other way, which was
to climb to the window by the leadon
water spout examined the ground
beneath the window, and could see nc
sign of a ladder having been placed
there; nor trace Of footsteps was Wis
iblo, and ] came to the conclusion thai
recourse was had to the spout
procured a ladder ana placed Il
bcside-the water spout, and made {
careful examination Of it from the
ground up to the library window.
I was soon assured that the muir
derer had made use Of that means to
reach the window. The lead was
soft and yielding, and it bore the fin
ger marks Of the assassion--each fin
ger having made an impression on the
metal.
When | had finished this part Of
the examination, ! sat down and pom
dered well over tho matter. had
made two very important discoveries:
ono was the assassin must have fred
the weapon with his left hand; for [
was perfectly convinced that no man
could have held himself by the water
spout with his left hand, and reach
the window with the right, SO as to
enable him to fire at an object in the
middle OF the room, where Mr. Sim
onds invariably sat while reading, and
where be was found seated when dis
covered in the morning. Now, what
could I deduct from this circumstance
but the fact that the assassin was left
handed ? Ny reason for tho convic-
ton was a good one. None but a left
handed person could have made so
fatal shot from the position he must
necessarily have occupied at the time
and that he knew how to use the
weapon was almost manifest, for no
chance shot could have been SO fatal
in a Thousand trials. This, then, was
conclusive evidence, and though I
made the discovery, l communicated
it TO no one.
The other discovery was no less inn
portant The man who climbed by
the spout had but three fingers on tho
right hand This was plainly seen by
the finger marks on the metal; the
spout was marked bat in four places
by the right hand the thumb and
three fingers. the index finger was
gone.
I gave instructions not to allow any
one to NEEDLE with the spout, and
deputized constable to see that my
orders We're strictly obeyed
Inext questioned the servants of
tho late Mr.. Simonds-four in num-
Der and elected the following infor-
nation:
On the evening previous to the find
ing of the dead body of Mr.. Simonds,
female mendicant stopped at the
mansion, and requested permission to
stop over night. The woman, a del
icate looking creature, seemed much
worn out by her tramp during the
day, and the kind hearted cook babe
her stay, at the same time asking her
to take a cup of tea and something to
eat.
The poor creature was half starved,
and ate rayenously; after satisfying
her hunger, she laid down on bed the
cook had prepared on the floor for her,
and in a short time fell asleep.
The woman had a small black travel
ing yalise with her, which she placed
under her 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 lying in some bushes in the rear
of the house. 1t was not discovered
until after the departure of Mr.. Croft,
the detective.
1 instantly asked to see the yalise;
it was produced, and l broke the lock
without hesitation, hoping l might
further get some clue to the perpetra-
tors of the murder that the probably
pretended )mendicant was accomplice-
The yalise contained absolutely moth
ing; it was empty. was on the point
of throwing it aside, when / felt the
rustling of paper in the lining; l