The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1873-04-04
SAVED BY A MARK.
A Detectives Story.
CHAPTER /.

A Detectives Story
CHAPTER l.
1 have worked up many hard cases,
and have cornered many notorious GRIM
inals, but never, before or since, have /
been engaged IN case so complicated,
or one which was so hard to clear up, as
that Stuart-FirstOne murder case.
You know that the Stuarts were very
wealthy, and the old man had only two
sons, Cecil and Gilbert; outlandish
names they had, to be sure, but they
were very proud of them, at least the
younger one. As I said, he had only
two to bother him, and to these, of
course, he gave the bulk of his proper
ty. Cecil was a cripple, the result of
being dropped by a careless nurse III
infancy.
Gilbert, the younger of the two, was
early known to all the sports as a Jolly
good fellow, partly because he would
always stand treat, and would play
billiards and such games and yet he
was never known to win them when
playing for a wager. In this manner
he sustained his reputation of being a
free-and-easy fellow. But in the mean
time his property was steadily decreas-
ing until, at last, his share-which, in
lAlt llLSb DidGt-, Nol1b nave DbGn more
than enough for men like YOU and me-
dwindled down to an insignificant sum,
and he had to look in some other di-
rection for money to pay his gaming
debts. He had often applied to his
brother for aid, aud had often obtained
it, together with good advice, which he
promised to heed, but never did.
Cecil was always very studious, and
had surrounded himself with all the
old-fashioned books that he could hear
of or obtain. And on account of his
lameness this kind of company had
charm for him that we in good health
would not feel.
Cecil was always very lenient towards
his erring brother, but at last hearing
from every source of his scrapes, he
was compelled, by a sense of duty, to
resolve TO refuse his application for aid.
And it was not long before he had to |
test his resolution, for Gilbert, after an |
"all night" of it in gambling saloon, |
came to him and begged for more /
money. Cecil reasoned with him, and |
with tears In his eyes begged that he |
would quit his. Wild habits. But all |
was of no avail, and he was compelled, |
much against his brotherly feelings, to |
refuse him the aid he sought. At this |
Gilbert flew into frenzy of rage and |
left the house, swearing that he would |
get the money in some manner.
As he was walking hOmeward, feeling !
anything but pleasant he saw his dead |
liest enemy riding with a young lady, |
to whom he had been paying attention |
for some time, but who now gave him |
the "cut direct" Maddened at this he !
rushed into a saloon near by, and call !
ing for whisky he swallowed giassful
Ill an instant, then went home and call
ed his bosom friend and counsellor to
him.
Albert FirstOne. the friend, was
broken-down gambler man who had
spent fortune on the turf, and was
now nominally acting as a Jockey for
Gilbert Stuart, but was in reality his
confederate in schemes of robbery, and, |
as the sequel viii show, of murder. !
These two friends were closeted to- |
gether for long while, and time show |
ed the result of their conference,
though would not spoil my story by |
revealing too soon their nefariOus de- |
signs.
OF course You remember the excite |
ment in the uptown circles when the |
news of Cecil Stuart's murder was cir |
one when it was known that his body /
had been found in the coal cellar of |
Roger Lyons brown-stone palace As
tOnishment was increased manifold by 1
the intelligence that Roger Lyon was
arrested and charged with the crime of
murder.
Although but a few were intimately
ACQUAINTED with Cecil Stuart, and a
scarcely larger circle barely knew him
as very eccentric man, yet the crime
being committed at the very door of
their mansion, made it seem the most
startling one in the records of our city:
and rs there were many influential per-
sOnages who loved Roger Lyon better
than all their friends beside, and many
a poor wasnerwOman who blessed the
day that he saved her bit of ground
from the auctiOneer's hammer-to have
him, the peoples favorite, charged with
such n deed, seemed to be an outrage
upon ali classes of our citizens.
l we'll remember when Lansing,
Lyons lawyer, called upon me and beg
ged me to try my best to clear up the
mystery. At this time 1 had been on
the detective force nearly four years
and of course knew the ropes pretty
well. But for a month confess that
aU TlmeS i was nearly DdEne0.
But I viii come directly to my story
As a first step, went to the cellar
where the body was found, and, as /
had ordered it to be left there after the
inquest till l could examine every
thing myself, it still remained there.
Being somewhat of doctor, natural
ly examined the wounds and was salts
fed that they would not cause instant
Il "a afh Rnk I IT1 ~ IL
cal skill In this, but sent for a physi- | !
clan. He came-a SHARP fellow bv the
nrme of Denniug- probed the | ,
One of the wounds went !
close to the heart, but the other two
were in the lungs, evidently indended [
to cause hemorrhage, which had follow
ed, but not sufficient to cause death ]
Roger Lyons knife, with which the
deed had evidently been committed,
affair, a present from 1
rome one, lay near the wall.
The doctor soon finished his work,
and giving me look that l interpreted
went out, taking Lansing
with him, to whom he communicated I
the result of his examination. When
they had gone l walked over to the
wall and picked mp the knife. As L {
stopped over to do this, saw some l
marks on the wall that appeared to have (
been made by sharp instrument of
some kind. While [ was examining
these, Gilbert Stuart and Albert Fir
stone entered. 1 was about to call !
their attention to the marks when a
sudden thought caused me to close my
noath upon the words that were on my
tongues end.
A ter obtaining permission they took ,
The body over 10 his late residence,