The Manitowoc tribune. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1866-1878, 1876-01-27
turned it toward me and held out her

y
she said; 81 know you canssave me. Is
it not horrible? How could kill man?
Why should II Why do people come
to my house to die? To die horribly,
with black faces and startling eyes, as if
some one had choked them! Ugh! Oh,
good heaven How horrible l''
I sat down beside her. took her
hand. Madame Matteau,'' said, ssbe
calm collect yourself. As your lawyer
1 must know all. Tell me, from first to
last, what happened--what was said,
what was done. If you"
I Ipaused her black eyes had flashed
upon me. I could not ask her whether
she had any confession to make. saw
that she had not, unless she was the
best actress who ever lived Madame
Matteau was innocent of any crime.
IF you have have any suspicious I
added, ''ten them all to me. -
sThere is no one to suspect" sobbed
the poor woman. ''In the house was
Gabrielle, my daughter, whom you have
seen; old Hannah, the cook, Mr.. and
Mrs. Beaucamp, friends of my poor,
dear hus band in his boyhood-the best,
the k1ndest people; MIR. Gray, very
old man, too feeble to leave the house :.
poor, deformed Miss Norman, and the
librarian, Mr.. Brassford. None of these
would murder mouse. See how kind
they are they remain in my house );
they send me word that they have no
doubt of me. On the contrary, how
s'And this man who-"I began.
eyes," began Madame Matteau, sI
will tell You; he was fair, young,
hand somelY- dressed man; he asked
Mr.. Brassford at the depot if he knew
of any one who could accommodate him.
Mr.. Brassford brought him home. My
| only empty room was the one in which
| those two strangers died. I could not
bear to put him in there; but Mr. Brass
ford laughed at NE. 49, 1t was late when
he retired-late for quiet household
Hannah had made fire. She came and
told us she had done so. He said good
| night.
-ssAfter he had gone we found he had
left his watch on the table. He wore it
only with bunch of seals, and had been
setting it by the clock, and showing it
to us as something very handsome.
knocked at his door to restore it to him.
He had left us but fifteen minutes be-
fore but he must have been asleep al
ready, for he made no answer. So [
kept it for the night, and wore it down
to breakfast the next morning. AS [
came down I met gentleman in the
hall. He inquired for Mr.. Glen. This
was the newcomers name. I sent Han
nab to wake him. She could not do so,
andgrew alarmed. She had key that
would open the door, and used it. The
next thing I knew we were all in the
room, and the windows were wide open,
and the doctor had been sent for and the
young man that had called was scream
ing that his brother had been choked to
death and there was an inqu est, and
then they arrested me. The brother
said the first thing he noticed was that
L wore Mr.. Glen's watch and seals. I
had forgotten it in my terror
$50 Hannah had key to the room 2"
1 said
Eyes; at least it was key that would
open it. 1t was the key to Mr.. Brass
ford's door. She knocked the other out
with a stick and put that in"
''The people who were there on that
night were your boarders when the 9TH
er men were found dead ?' asked.
"Oh, yes 81 u
"And Hannah was there also"
"All my married life Hannah has hv-
ed with me-
'Your daughter oversees your house
hold in your absence 2"
"Yes, poor child, with old Hannah's 8
help"
L thought a little while.
Madame" L said, ''there is some
strange mystery liz this affair. do not
despair of proving to all the world your
entire innocence. Meantime be as calm
as possible, and endeaver to remember
everything connected with the sudden
deaths that have occurred in your house.
The incident that seems the least impor-
tant may really be of the most immense
value"
So I left and went home. Strange
enough, on the way met the doctor
who had been called in. He was dull,
heavy sort of person, considerably given
to beer drinking, aud my opinion of his
ability was not very great. However, I
questioned him on the subject, and he
replied: ...-..
"Well, you see, I don't say the old
woman murdered him. If she did, 1
should say by sitting on him or smoth-
ering him with the bolsters suppose
the cause of his death was asphyxia.
Well, then, what is asphyxia? Well, too
little breath to keep one living. He died
because he was short of breath. I wash
my hands of that matter. Only there's
the watch that looks dark
I had learned nothing from the doc
tor. The Coroner lived near me. His
jury had been twelve of the most ignor-
ent men in the town. This is al he
told me: ssHe was smothered, that man
was so were the other two. Men don't
smother themselves. We made it in
scrutable providence tother time. We