Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1875-03-31
THE UNKNOWN DEATH.
A DETECTIVES STORY.

phla-Or, at least, so 1t was supposed
and the papers were full of it. The
journals were divided in opinion about
the matter, some maintaining that it
was q case of simple suicide, others in
clining to the belief that there had been
foul play, and still others arguing In
favor of death from natural though un-
known causes. Indeed, it would ap-
pear, at first sight, as if the latter were
the true supposition, and the majority
talked over the affair at home or in the
streets the next day, seemed to have
very little trouble in arriving at a like
conclusion.
All that was known was this an es-
teemed citlzen-a man of wealth and
high stauding-had retired to rest the
night before apparently in sound health
and good spirits, and at two o'clock the
following morning had been found dead
in bed, without one visible mark of
violence upon his person. His son,
who had returned home from pleasure
party at that hour, had entered his
fathers chamber to deposit the front
door key there, and had made the hOr.
steady, reliable and devout church
member and Sabbath school teacher,
had then aroused the house, and had
communicated the ill-tidings to the
terror-stricken family.
At the coroner's inquest l was pres
ent, and there the son after repeating
substantially what has been said above,
called the attention of the Jury to the
following additional and important
facts that on entering the chamber he
had found everything undisturbed and
not rumpled, and that the position of
the deceased, as he lay, was SO natural
and easy that it was not until he had
noticed the absence of the deep and
regular breathing of the sleeper that he
suspected, for AN instant, that anything
was wrong.
was not on the jury, but was there
at the request of the family, in my off
cial capacity of murder-detective, and
it is needless to say that subjected
the body and its surroundings to the
closest scrutiny. 1 could discover
nothing, however, that appeared in the
least suspicious, or to warrant sup
position of foul play. The post-mortem
examination failed equally to satisfy,
and developed no indication of poison
in the system but one thing it did
develop; and that was, that up to the
time of death the internal organs of the
deceased had all been in q state of
healthy and vigorous action.
For once in my life 1 was at fault,
and must confess that L did not know
how to proceed but still, for all the
absence of proof, and the seeming regu-
larity of things, i felt in me q deep
mistrust that murder had been done in
the premises and by no unskillful hand.
Whilst was celebrating how to act,
the son came over and begun a conver-
sation. He talked on the all-absOrbing
topic of the moment, and was as ner'
vous, restless and agitated as man
could be. We were walking rapidly up
and down the chamber where lay the
corpse, still fresh from the searching
hands of the coroner's physician, and
as We paused now and then to gaze in
its pale, inanimate face, 1 remarked
that my companion shook with q slight
and well-defined tremor. L made
mental note of this, but at the same
time did not attach much Importance to
it, as considered it but the natural
effect of the trying and painful scenes
through which the son so recently
passed, and whose recollection was re-
freshed by these momentary views of
the dead. / did not, of course, for q
moment imagine that the man at nay
elbow was q patricide but murder
detective, from habit, is always on the
alert, and as L had no clue whatever to
follow in this matter, l was merely
searching for one everywhere-that was
all.
We continued our walk about the
room.
"This affair passes my comprehen-
sion," said L.
"And mine also," said the son.
/ was about taking my leave when
small piece of red rag on the floor, Just
under the edge of the bed, attracted
my attention, and / stopped to pick it
up.
The son observed my motion, and
said:
81 wonder how that got there? l
have the rest of that article in my
drawer-it belongs to me T.
"Do you want the piece ?" l asked.
"Not at ALL" he replied; but if you
would like to have the remainder, i
will get it for you.
He left me without waiting for any
reply, and quickly returned with the
rest of the handkerchief. He handed
it to me and said as he did SO:
81 am at loss to conjecture who
could have torn that handkerchief, for
1 thought it was safe in my apartment
when l went out early in the evening""
put the piece he gave me with the
other already had, and took my leave.
Once at home and in the solitude of
my chamber, L sat down at my table
and, with my face buried in both hands,
fell to thinking and reasoning. l
thought of the scene / had Just left,
and could not doubt that the verdict of
the coroner's jury would be "death
from causes unknown" l thought of
the son and of his torn handkerchief,
and I spread out the latter before me
on the table, and fitted it to the por-
ton had found wet and limp under
the bed of the deceased. Then took
the wet piece in my fingers and felt and
looked at it. 1t did not seem to have
been stepped in water. and to the touch
it was Just in the slightest way sticky.
1 further remarked that it had q very
faint white tinge in spots, as if some
kind of foam had recently been upon it.
Just at that instant l caught sight of a
paragraph in a daily paper lying in
front of me, and mechanically read it.
The paragraph was as follows:
"a ghastly scientific discovery is re-
ported from Turin, where Professor
Casturini, the celebrated oculist, has
found a way Of killing animals by