St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1873-11-21

driwal it had left the tell-talc piece o
tow sticking in the joint of the hasp.
| | WAS rather pleased with that dis
covery, hut WAS still as far as ever from
the object of my inquiry. namely. who
WAS the guilty man and the only thing
WAS To proceed SyStcmatically. | anC
the police were working at different
ends of the question. and besides my
natural desire to clear my friend from
the charge. ! was also animated 10y Il
SENSE of rivalry that sharpened my wits
wonderfully. They had marked down
Il man. and were striving to follow the
clue from him up to the crime. on
my part marked down the crime. and
Str"Vc to follow the clue from that Ia
the man: in Other words. they were
working from II theory. | waS working
from Il fact, and very lcSirouS of prov
ing that my system WAS the right one.
In pursuance of my plan. having now
discovered, a> imagined. the place of
entry, the HcNt thing to bc done was tu
find out how the murderer could have
got there, and this was Il difficult uucS-
ton. | made inquiries at the ware
mouse i'll the rear. and found that was
closed every night at nine o'clock. Su
that there would be no one To overlook
the back ot Crawlcy street. measured
with my eye the distance from the
warehouse to the fatal window. and
WAS satisfied that no one could have
effected Il communication between the
two: thought of the watcr-pipcS. |
Thought of the narrow cornincc. hut
could find no solution To the problem.
and .I.su.l,,l,nt
50 the week passed. and was pres
cut III the adjourned inquest. OImcrod
WAS ais" there. very nervous and agita-
ted hut carefully avoided meeting
his eye, ~ feared that in his present
state he would forget the caution had
given him. and make some sign of rec
OgnltIOn. The whole of the proceed
ing> that day assumed the form of an
accusation against my friend. and the
police seemed quite confident that they
had got their man. The old servant
WAS recalled to prove At what time he
left traWlcN street. the waiter to prove
at what time hc returned To the inn
and then came the most damaging piece
of evidence of all Il note which old
Hartley had received the very tlaN of
the murder WAS traced tu OImtrOd. The
latter. WHO WIS NOW terribly agitatcd
insisted upon making Il statement. the
til~t pant of which WAS all very we'll
being simply an explanation of how
that mote came int" his p">>c>~i"m. it
being Il pant of the money his uncle had
given him. lint the last part completed
the case of suspicion already raised
against him he could NOT tell The real
reason for his absence that night. 80 he
told u lie about it. and - transparent Il
Ii" that it WAS di>proNcd at once.
The verdict WAS "Wiltul murder
against John Ormcrnd." and he WIS
committed on the cnroncr'> Warrant.
CHAPTER III.
Three more days PASSED in this hope
less way. and had discovered no new
light. had paid more than one visit
To the house and To- the Warehouse.
and one day at the latter place came
upon Martin nr Martini. He Informed
me that h" WIS engaged a. u packer
there during the day. and reminded m,
that | had not Witnessed his prrfurm-
ancc. also SIM Miss l. L-. and did
Hot fall in love with her: hut resolved
that if OlmrIod remained obstinate. IT,
| feared he would. would not respect
the confidence hr had placed in me.
but bring Miss l. into the witness
box. tn stale what she knew of the mat
tel.
At Last. one evening. when wa>
th"r"ughl, worn out with my anxiety.
thought of my pr"mi>" Ia Martin. and
determined tn have What relaxation the
place of amusement could afford me;
and that was the happi">t resolution l."
which could hay" come. for II gave
me the first Inklmg of the truth.
Maltln> performance" WAS on the
tight-r"pr. and NrIi clever it WAS.
have no doubt bat | confess am not
interested III such things. and vas not
taking much notice of what WAS going
ON. when some hitch occurred Martins
foot slipped while he WAS on the rope.
whcIcupnn he descended and rc-chaIkrd
his feet. Those white marks upon the
brick c"Inicr flashed across me at once.
and felt that the sudden excitement
OF the thought made me flush and trcm-
BILE. However. soon calmcd myself.
and sat ont the rest of the performance
without observing it, however. for
my thoughts were otherwise occupied
| felt there WAS Il great difference he
tween walking on Il tight-ropc and on
Il narrow cOrnlcc against Il wall. tnI il
the latter case the centre of gravity
must necessarily be Disturbed but |
could not then arrive at any satisfactory
solution of that difficulty. and had to
wait until the next morning. and that
morning sci my doubts at rest.
WAS at No. 10. CraWley street. the
first thing, and amy doubt | might have
had WAS cleared up: saw that the
white marks extended from the window
of that house Ia the window of No. 9.
and no further. Then examined the
wall more infinitely what | had sup
posed To he the holes left 10y the vine
nails observed with Il fresh interest
they extended III an irregular line.
about six feet above the cnInicc. and
they also appeared only between the
two windows. The inference waS at
once obvious he who with chalked feet
had crcpt along that cornice, had Crap
pied the wall with some short hook nr
spike. and thus saved himself from
falling.
! had forged the second link of my
evidence. and it brought me at once to
'h' hl'lh, ''' ! sun i'l' 'htl' NdH ul'''h
to do before the ease WAS completed.
| remembered his statement that he
had heard groans at half-paSt eleven.
and | therefore assumed that WAS not
the time the murder had been commit
ted : | made no doubt that he had vol
untccrcd the statement to make himself
doubly secure that having planned
the whole thing with consummate
ability. and hatiled the police aS to the
how. he had, to complete the mystery,
also endeavorpd To battle them a> To the
when, and had succeeded but | was
not without hopes that this final piece