Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1880-07-28

cOllh hHhiInI thht lIioy We'o w Nc'.
embarrassed state. But the corone
cut me shorts
ut Ia hardly proper Mr., Wilson, II
the ihce Of the evidence, TO insinuat
either that Mr.. Drscoll committed su
lcide, or his nephew murder"
All, the witnesses had been exam
ined but the gray.heaaed doctor wh'
had made the autopsy, and who nov
took tho stand. lle was ore Of YOU
grave, taciturn men, who keep thei
own counsel ill the fitting time come
to speak,
"Tell us, Doctor" continued TIN
coroner, atier few preliminary ques
ftious, "wha. II any wounds you dis
covered on the person Of the deceased 7
With minute precision tho witness
described the bullet wound In thu
head, giving the diameter and depth tc
q fraction.
"In your opinion was that woune
the cause of deathi'
ut was not" was the answer, in {
tone whose calmness and composure
were not ia tho least rufllad by the
murmur of astonishment which greet
ed the words.
''Pray explain" requested the coro
ner, with ill.concealed surprise.
"There were no signs" replied the
doctor, preserving the same quie'
manner, "of either external or internal
hcmorrhagc, which would necessarily
have followed the severance OF the
blood.vesscls by the pressure OF tho
bullet, had the man been then alive,
When tha, shot was fired he was al
ready dead"
"To what, then, do you attribute
Mr.. Driscoll's death q
"To poison" A careful examina-
ton Of the organs revealed the pres
ence of u quantity Of pussic acid,
which must have entered the stomach
during life, as was clearly shown BY
its inhamed condition. "''' y
As suddenly as the belief in Volney
Kendall's guilt had sprung into being
new suspicion dashed on the minds
of all.
1t was true, then, that Seth Dris-
coll, with ruin staring him in the face,
and his wa:ds money to account for
had taken bis own life. And the shot
that must have been fred by Jonas
Wenlock, on discovering his uncle's
dead body, and the evidence OF suicide
afforded, most likely, by the phlal
which had contained the deadly
draughl. He had thus hoped to Sc.
cure the insurance money, which would
have been forfeited by death selt,in-
ficted. True, there was no direct
evidence OF all this, but none the less
did every one believe it.
"Everythiug seems cleared up bu
the tracks and the pistol said the
coroner, when the doctor had COLI
cluded.
Sand these it is my place to ex-
plain, Mr.. Kendall having declined te
do so out of delicacy toward myself
interrupted Kate Dunseth, fastening
forward from where she and Volney
had beer holding an earnest colloquy
for the last five minutes.
"My guardian had forbidden Mr.
Kendall the house and the latter sem
me message requesting secret in
tervlew in the garden. The message
miscarried-perhaps was intercepted
and Volney--Mr. Kendall l mean
not finding me at the place appointed
in returning over the wall, accidentally
let tall the pistol which he carried fol
sclf-protection in case of encounterlns
a certain person who was his deadly
foe, and who always went armed.
Here she cast wlthering glance a
Jonas Wenlock, who was careful MOI
to meet it.
The verdict OF the jury was that thu
deceased had come to bis death frou
poison administered by his own hand
and voluey Kendall: went forth fre'
man. Kate. Dunseth's fortune wa
irritrievably lost, but it was not to
that that Volney had sought her love
and he was prouder man, the day HI
| led her to the altar, at the though
that she could have no doubt now tina
it was herself, and not her wealth
that he had wooed.
Jonas Wenlock never sued for tn
insurance money.
In describing q new organ a rura
editor says: "Tbe swell died ava.
lin suafocatiou, like one singing q swee