The Findlay Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Hancock County, Ohio) 1870-1881, 1877-11-09
&adr'sOncssII;s

a prepared plate, with such precision
that DO circumstance was omitted, with
such firmEess that even now l could
draw the chamber occupied by the
''little. old man of the Batignolles, :"
without forgetting anything, without
even emitting cork half covered with
green wax which | can still see on the
aoor, under the clerks chair.
The faculty of invest CATION. which
has been bestowed upon NE, is a very
extraordinary one. Ihad never before
had occasion to exert il, but it sudden
Iy revealed itself.
! At that time | was far too deeply az
/ itated to be able to analyZ II my impress
sions. / had but one obstinate, burn
ing, irresistible desire to approach the
i corpse, lying two yards away from HE.
At first struggled against this wish.
But there was fatality about it.
approached.
Had my presence been noticed: 1
I think not.
At any rate, nobody was paying any
attention to Inc.
Monsieur Mechinet and the police
officer were still talking together near
the window; the clerk WAS reading his
report TO the magistrate in low tone.
So there was nothing to prevent the
accomplishment of my plan.
Besides, i must confess, sort of
! feveri-h eaSerneSs had taken posses
sion Of ma, which made me inseusible
TO external circumstances and utterly
| isolated me-
| ventured 20 kDeel down b. the
side of the body. TO see it better and
more closely.
Far from thinking that somebody
was going to exclaim: What are you
doing hereT / moved slowly and
stradily, like man who, having re
ceived a mission, is going to execute
I it.
| The unfortunate old man seemed 10
be about seventy or seventy five years
old. He was small and very thin, but
had evidently been strong and likely
to live TO be a hundred. He still had
great deal OF hair, of a yellowish
white color, curled on tie back of his
neck. His grey beard, strong aud
thick set. did not seem to have been
shaved for five or six days: it must
have grown since his death. This cir
cumstance, which I had often noticed
among subjects brought to the hospit-
al for dissection, caused me no sur
prise.
What did astonish me, was the un-
fortunate mans face. WAS calm. nay
smiling.
The lips were parted a. is for a
friendly greeting.
Death had been terribly sudden,
since he had kept that pleasant express
sion.
This was the first idea which pre-
sented itself to the mind.
Yes, but how could reconcile these
two irreeoncilable circumstances; u
sudden death, and the five letters
Nonis-which I saw in characters Of
blood upon the floor.
What efforts must it not have re-
quired for the dying man to write that .
Only the hope of vengeance could have
given him such energy. And shat
must have been his rage to feel himself
dying, ere he could trace the whole
name IF his assassin!
And yet the face of the corpse seem
ed to smile at me.
The poor old man had been struck
ia the throat, and the weapon had cut
| utCh IIOIu " car.
The instrument of the crime must
have been poniard, or rather one Of
those terrible Caialonian knives, as
wide as the hand. which cut on both
sides aud are as sharp as a needle.
Never IN my life have / experienced
such singular sensations.
My temples throbbed with unpre-
cedented violence, and my heart swell
ed as if it would burst.
What was going TO discoveri
Urged on by a mysterious and ire
sistible power, which annihilated my
will. | took between my own hand
the cold, rigid hands of the corpse
The right one was clean; it was one
of the fingers Of the left, the forefnger.
that was stained with blood.
What, The old man lad written
with his left hand! Come, come!
Overwhelmed by a sort of giddiness.
With wild eyes, bristling hair, and q
face paler than the corpse lying at my
feet, / started up uttering terrible
cry.
''Greal heavenm
All the others, startled, surprised.
and bewiIdered. exclaimed in a
BREATH.
What is it. what is the matter:7
/ tried &c answer, but my emotion
stifl-d Inc, it seemed as if my mouth
was full of sand.
could only point to the dead mans
hands, stammering,-
There. there"
Quick as lightning, Monsieur Ne
chiDet had thrown himself Cd his
knees beside the corpse. He saw what
had seen, and received the same im-
preston. for, starting quickly to bis
feet, he exclaimed
''It was not this poor old man who
traced these letters"
And a. the magistrate and commits
siary of police stared at him with
mouths wide open, he explained To
them the circumstance that the left
hand alone was stained with blood.
And to think that didn't notice
it," said the commissary, mournfully
Monsieur Mechinet took snuff fur
iously.
That's always the way" he re
marked. 'The things in plain sight
are the very ones that are not seen.
Bot no matter. the situation il entire
Iy changed Since the old man die
not write the letters, bis assassin did =