Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1885-04-30

whose room is divided from Meissner's by
thin partition. Had there been hot dispute,
face TO face, between uncle and nephew, the
blow would almost certainly have been struck
in front, and not planted under the shoulder
blade.
There being difficulty in the way Of both
Of these conjectures, the judge Of instruction
adopted q third. He supposed that Girard
had armed himself with dagger merely to
frighten the old man, and that he had boen
led to murder him in moment Of homicidal
mania-changing his purpose before word
had passed. This conjecture Is one way out
Of the difficulty"
Ingenious, but unsatisfactory" observed
N. Blery.
II am charmed TO find that Monsieur agrees
with me. Now, as to the question Of time"
"Ahi as to the question of timer said N.
Blery, relighting his cigar.
"As to that, there are three witnesses Of
chief mportance-Sophie Mouton, daughter
Of the janitor; the police sergeant GARNER,
and Pernet the copyist. None Of these wit
nesses were able to make definite statement;
Pernet was SO positive in his uncertainty that
hisevidence may be taside. On the night Of
he murder Girard parted company from me,
as you will remember, at 10 o'clock precisely;
going by tho Rue de rOdeon, he can scarcely
have reached the Passage de Mazarin before
twenty minutes past ten. Sophie Mouton, q
little before or little after ten'-I quote her
words exactly-sees the figure Of a man, not
one Of the tenants, pass her door going towards
the court. IL this was little before ten, the
man cannot have been Girard; and "a little
after ten is probably not so much as twenty
minutes. The police sergeant GARNER began
by stating his belief that it was half past ten
when tho man rushed past him in the Rue de
Biche. Girard himself asserted in his evidence
that it was half-past ten o'clock when he
came to the Passage; ho has since explained
chis to NJ. Sapinaud, his counsel, by the state
ment that he did not follow the most direct
way from the Rue de POdeon to the Passage.
But putting aside Girard's statement, and
taking simply the evidence of Sophie Mouton
and of GARNER, apart from the judges in
spiration, reach this conclusion-that the
man whom the police sergeant saw rush by
him in the Rue de Biche and the man whom
the janitor's daughter saw fastening through
the passage were not one and the same per-
son. The former tcas Raoul Girard; the
latter tcas the assassin"
"Ah, another pointl And now shall tell
Monsieur how he goes onl He has shown that
iirard did not premeditate the crime; he
goes on to show that tho real assassin did
that be had his plan of operations. Is it not
so?'
"That is certainly how 60 on" answered,
admiring the readiness with which the de-
tective took up my train of reasoning.
"Yes," continued Blery, that is the next
step, undoubtedly" He was now walking
h. L..
sizing his words by fourishes of his cigar,
which had gone out. "Girard entered Meiss-
uer's room by the window; the assassin did
not. No man with plan Of operations would
attempt such a thing; he would calculate his
chances, and find them twenty to one against
his doing it unobserved. Your friend is a
man of unusual agility. is he notF'
''Yes, he is a trained gymnast."
"Ah, but was the assassin a trained GYM
mast? The balance of probabilities is against
it. No; he did not enter by the window.
How, then, did he enter. You say, naturally,
by the door. say Yes, but howi The door
Of Messner's room is found locked, the key
hanging within; the janitor has declared in
evidence that there is no duplicate key to any
room in the house. You tell me that the
assassin must have procured a second key to
fit the lock Of Meissner's door. I say, good;
but again, howe You tell me-but no, for
get; Monsieur cannot know this; he has not
seen the key of Meis3ner's door"
"No; you were beforehand with me there
"Well, here is the key M. Blery laid it
before me on the table.--"Our assassin has his
plan of operations; that is agreed. What,
then, does he doa His natural course is to
obtain temporary possession Of Meissner's key,
in order to have duplicate made from it.
Now, observe the key. It is Of simple con-
,truction; an expert locksmith could fashion
one like it in half an hour. This key Of Meiss-
81, was always in one Of two places-either
| hung on its nail in his room, when he was
It home; or on the rack in the janitor's room,
when he was abroad. Wesuppose our assassin
to have watched Meissner's movements care
fully; to be thoroughly acquainted with his
habits He knows that every evening with
out fail the old money y-lender goes out at SIX
o'clock, and returns at nine. Good; he will
seek to gain possession Of the key between
these hours. Now, Monsieur, you have talked
with Mouton the janitor, and with his daugh-
.er Sophie You have made notes Of your
conversation with these persons; I have made
none-I never do. Icarry them all here"-
NJ. Blery tapped his brow-"but should be
glad to listen to yours. You found the child
Sophie Mouton intelligent, did you notg'
Certainly. She appears to have been some
what agitated during her examination by the
Judge, but she answered my questions most
clearly"
GAS she did mine. And now, Monsieur,
for the notes Of your conversation"
''Very good; here they are: Sophie Mou-
ton states that about two months ago-th
exact date she cannot remember-a man
came to No. IS Passage de Mazarin desiring
to see Joseph Meissner. It was after six
o'clock; Meissner had gone out as usual. So
phie Mouton, who CHANGED to be alone in the
janitor's room, said 80 to Meissner's visitor.
"'The stranger, Sophie Mouton says, was
evidently foreigner, both from his appear
ance and accent. He was of medium height
and slim figure"
"Of medium height amt slim fgure-that
Is it," said M. Blery.
"'Had a dark complexion, straight black
hair, and very dark, sunken eyes. She could
not guess to what nation lie belonged; he did
not look like either an Italian or O Spaniard
seemed more foreign than that-such was the
phrase. He must have come from warm
climate
IA warm climate!" mu1mured NJ Blery,
"Proceed, Monsieur, proceedr'
"'Because he shivered constantly, anO
complained bitterly in his broken French Of
the cold. He was in evening dress, and WORE
fur cloak hung loosely over his shoulders.
"sWhen informed that Meissner had gont
out he seemed annoyed, end asked at what
hour he might be expected to return. The
oirl told him at nine O'Clock: then the stran