The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1880-02-26

| ullullI6S GuOH kuOCkcu again, duu CdllSu
loudly with his strong voice. No answer.
a vague terror stole into his breast and
made his heart beat with quickened mo-
tions. He felt under the influence of
the silence, broken only by the sad, irri-
tating cry of the weather vanes, and he
dared not knock again.
"No answerl" cried Bloch to him
from afar.
Then he advanced slowly, pushed by
curiosity only exceeded by his alarm.
"It is extraordinary! cannot ex-
/ plain it. How is it that neither Samuel
nor his servant answer to my call.
Could they both be dead3 Bloch, think
it is our duty to summon the chief of
police. / will send one of my boys.
Wait here"
Wher the police arrived, accompanied
| by his men, surgeon and locksmith,
he was obliged to traverse dense crowd
which increased every minute, surging
around like the waters of q river over
flowing its banks, and showing an eager
desire to penetrate the secret. The lock
was thrown back in a few minutes and
the door opened.
Every thing lent to the mystery. The
obscurity gave to the heteroclitic OBJ
! iects fantastic shapes. Samuel Stauffer
bought and sold everything, furniture,
collections, novelties, antiques, silver
goods and kitchen utensils-each was
an article of trade to him. A thick dust
"a sort of secular ashes, and always re-
spected, was everywhere blending the
colors aud softening the angles. The
spiders, working without fear, had fin
i@hed bv uniting bronzes, paintings and
| crockery.
The door was guarded by two police
men to prevent the ivasion of the Curl
GUS crowd. The chief, conducted by the
butcher and grocer, both familiar with
the household, and followed by the sur.
geon, ascended the stairs slowly, one
after the other, and arrived in front of
the old Jews room. They Knocked
pure formality. The door, closed only
with a latch, offered no resistance.
The policeman advancing few steps
found himself in the most profound
obscurity, and demanded if some one
had brought light. No one had thought
of it.
"Walk straight ahead" said the
butcher; I" the window is opposite the
door.
The chief having followed this advice,
opened the window and threw back the
blinds, which intercepted the light of
day. The light penetrating quickly into
the rooms, Lit up horrible ta61eau,
and feeling of terror caused those to
recoil who stood behind the policeman.
The disordered bed was not only mussed,
but trampled; the covers were thrown
about and dragged into the center OF
the room, with two chairs overturned.
On the table, soiled by greese which
had dripped from the candle, was ca
rafe half filled with water and broken
glass. Everything denoted a violent
| struggle, terrible resistance, that of
victim against murderer.
In front of the bed-hanging on the
! wall-was one of those clocks called
cuckoo. But what hidcous sight.
One of the weighted chains which hung
| from the cuckoo was wound about the
neck of the unfortunate Samuel Stauf-
| fer, suspended four inches from the
floor. The face already purple, the
| features inflated and convulsed, showed
that all hope was lost. Samuel was
dead.
The surgeon hastened to ascertain, as
soon as the body was stretched on the
bed. The iron chain was deeply in
crusted in the flesh, making fearful
bloody collar, horrible to see.
The hands of the clock, arrested on
the, face pointed to three in the morning.
There were therefore seven hours that
the broker had ceased to live. The mo-
ton must have left the clock at the same
time that the last breath left the lips of
the dead man.
Was it murder or suicide? Justice
in her turn should decide. If one
judged simply from the inspection of
the place, the struggle was startling
evidence of murder. The broker had
been surprised in his bed, sound asleep;
he had resisted as long as his weak body
| and age would permit. Two chairs
overturned, the broken glass, noises
which were lost in the storm; the muir
derer seizing the chain of the cuckoo
and strangling the Jew, and leaving him
hanging just grazing the floor; this was
the theory of the policeman-a theory
30 plausible that the assistants and even
the surgeon listened without dispute.
off you imagine a suicide" recon-
menced the policeman, who was warm
ing up to his subject and agitaJing his
arms, :" then Samuel Stauffer got upon
chair and, kicking it over with his foot.
remained hanging by the neck. 1t is
inadmissable. How can you explain
the broken glass3 Why two chairs over
turned instead of one? Why the dis
ordered state of the bed, the blankets
dragged to the foot of the wall, nearly
under the clock? Find a connection
with the theory of suicide and explain
it if you can!"
He stopped out of breath. Every one
was silent, regarding the corpse with
horror.
After a minute the surgeon said:
"Pardon me, masterl But from whence
came the assassin, and how could he
have opened the door?'
"You think it was suicide" said the
policeman, tartly.
"But," said the big butcher, coming
forward, "Samuel Stauffer had a SER
want"
"The servant, ahl l had forgotten
him." said the policeman, with trium-
phal regard towards the surgeon,
hQuiek! go and find himp
Herman and the chief precipitated
themselves into the room which was oc.
cupied by Jean Muller.
In one corner the domestic of the Jew
"a young man of twenty-five, half
} dresseI-was crouched on the floor like
some wild animal, holding his head il
his hands, without voice, without life
, haggard and appearing to be under a ter
, rible impression.
"What are you doingf''' asked the po
liceman, vino dared not approach:
No reply. Muller did not bulge
3 They assisted him to rise and supported
him under the arms He let taem do i
with complete indifference. Herman
: handed him his jacket and supported ol
:. each side the young man was conducte,
into the presence of his murdered mas
ter.
= When he recnrnized the rnonn q