Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1880-11-21
THE DOCTORS EVIDENCE.


cry OF a great crime in their midst.
Seth Driscoll, a we'll known citizen,
was found at early dawn, lying dead IN
his own garden. A CHASTITY bullet wound
in the back of his head left no room to
question the cause of his death; and any
suspicion of suicide was rebutted, as we'll
by the position of the wound, as by the
discovery of footprints leading back and
forth from near the body to the garden
wall, at a point where the latter bore evi,
dent marks OF having been scaled.
But the browning discovery was that of
a pistol. recently discharged, lying near
the base of the wall where the murderer
had clambered ovel. It was picked up
by Jonas Wenlock, DR.. Drlscoll's nephew,
who gave start of surprise at the sight.
II know who owns this weapon!' he ex-
claimed.
"Who? who?'' questioned dozen eager
voices.
''Volney Kendall" he answered.
Had thunderclap fallen upon the lis
teners the effect could not have been
more startling. The young man whose
name had just been uttered was the last
person to be suspected of such an atroci-
Gus crime. At the first instance the very
thought was repealed with adherence;
but OF the second came stral ge revolu-
ton. 1t was remarked that Volney Ken
dali had been an earnest sutton for the
hano of Kate Dunseth, Mr.. Driscoll's
ward, and had received from the haugh-
ty guardian asupercillious rebuff, which
he had bitterly resented. There was a
motive for the deed, which, coupled with
the circumstances of the pistol, awakened
conviction in the very minds whence,
moment before, the slightest shade of
suspicion had been Indignantly secuted.
Within an hour young Kendall, pale
and agitated, was dragged a prisoner to
the scene of the tragedy, where fresh evil
dence was speedily added to that already
accumulated. His shoes were found to
exactly fit the tracks in the garden, even
to the print of the nails.
He acknowledged to the ownership Of
the pistol, but declined all explanation
of its presence at the place where it had
been found, or of his whereabouts on the
previous evening.
None longer doubted the prisoners
guilt, and he was placed in close confne-
ment to await the coroner's inquest.
Next day | was retained for the &C
cused; but from an interview with him,
permitted by the jailer, 1 came away
without the shadow ofhope; for, although
he asserted his innocence, he persisted in
maintaining silence On points the clearing
up of which were vital to his defense.
The inquest was held at the house OF
the deceased. The facts already stated
were laid before the jury; but when the
prisoner was questioned, save acknowl-
edging the ownership of the pistol, and
denying all knowledge of the murder, he
declined to answer.
Once he looked appealingly to Kate
Dunseth, who was present, summoned as
a witness with the rest of the household
She met his look with fearful, bewild-
cred gaze,and he turned away and bowed
his head in silence.
drew from Jonas Wenlock, whom I
was permitted to cross examine, that he
had a heavy insurance on his uncle's life,
and from another witness, who had under
taken the duty of investigating the con-
dition of Mr.. Driscolrs affairs, that they
were in very embarrassed state. But
the coroner cut NE short:
1T is hardly proper, Mr.. Wilson, in
the face of the evidence, to insinuate
either that Mr.. Driscoll committed suicide
or that his nephew murdered him.
All the witnesses had been examined
but the gray-headed doctor who had
made the autopsy, and who took the stand.
He was one Of your grave taciturn men,
who kept their own counsel till the fitting
time comes to speak.
"Tell us, DOCTOR continued the Cor
oner, after few preliminary questions,
"What, If any, wounds you discovered
On the person Of the deceased?"
With minute precision the witness de-
scribed the bullet-wound Ii the head.
giving the diameter and depth to frac-
ton.
''In your opinion, was that wound the
cause of death2'
at was not,'' was the answer, in tone
whose calmncss and composure were not
in the least ruffled by the murmur Of
establishment which greeted the words.
''Pray explain" requested the coroner,
with ill-concealed surprise.
There was no signs" replied the Doc
Or, preserving the same quiet manner,
'of either external or internal hemorrhage,
which would have necessarily followed
the severance Of the blood-vessels by the
passage of the bullet, bad the man then
been alive. When the shot was fired he
was already dead.''
"To what, then, do you attribute Mr..
Driscol's death?''
"To poison. A careful examination of
the organs revealed the presence of a
fatal quantity of prussic acid, which
must have entered the stomach during
life, as was clearly shown by its infamed
condition.
AS suddenly as belief in Volney Ken
all's guilt had sprung into being, a new
suspicion flashed on the minds of all
1t is true, then, that Seth Driscoll, with
ruin staring him in the face, and his
wards money to account for, had taken
his own life. And the shot-that must
have been fired by Jonas Wenlock, on
discovering his uncle's dead body, and
the evidence Of suicide afforded, most
likely, by the phial which had contained
the deadly draught. He had thus hoped
to secure the insurance money, which
would have been forfeited by death self
inflicted. True, there was no direct evil
dence of all this, but none the less did