Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1885-05-01


ri trust Monsieur and his friend as men
of honor"
"And has made notes of his discoveries
and his ideas in reading the evidenceg'
eyes; have noted down whatever oc-
Cured to me-that is, whatever seemed
worth preserving"
think, would be the quickest way of going to
work. With permission of Monsieur, will
light cigar and listen"
l took out the notes had made and read
them; at first not without some trepidation
in submitting my amateur work to such a
critic. But the attention with which NJ
Blery listened treasured me-
The first point taken up in my notes was
this-that Girard could not be supposed to
have premeditated the crime. Had he done
SO, he would not, on the very night of the
murder, have applied such language to his
uncle as he had done; he would not have
used and left behind him weapon that must
infallibly connect him with the crime A
mailman might act in this manner; but
Grard, when he left the Cafe de la Source,
when he parted from his betrothed on that
fatal Christmas eve, had been perfectly sane;
Of that there was no doubt whatever
"Girard then, I went on, s'did not premed-
itate the crime. If he murdered his uncle
a0ithout generalization, what is the most
natural thing to suppose? Surely this-that
he entered the room, asked his uncle for
money, was refused with taunts and insults
that dashed him into fury, and finally, in
paroxysnl of fury, slew the old man with a
single blow.
''But against this conjecture there is the
medical and police testimony as to the position
in which the corpse was found. All the wit
nesses concur in stating that he was found
lying between his chair and the writing
table, as if he had been struck suddenly and
silently from behind. Had the blow been
preceded by an alteration, that would GER
tainly have been heard by the copyist Pernet,
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 third. He supposed that Girard
had armed himself with dagger merely to
brighten the old man, and that he had been
led to murder him in a moment of homicidal
Misunderstanding his purpose before a word
had passed. This conjecture is one way out
of the difficulty"
Ingenious, but unsatisfactory" observed
n. Blery.
st am charmed to find that Monsieur agrees
with me. Now, as to the question of time"
'tAhl as to the question of timeg'' said NJ.
Blery, relighting his cigar.
Gas to that, there are three witnesses of
chief Importance 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 besetaside On the night of
he murder Girard parted company from me,
as you will remember, at 10 o'clock precisely;
going by the Rue de POdeon, he can scarcely
have reached the Passage de Mazarin before
twenty minutes past ten Sophie Mouton, "a
little before or a little after tent quote her
words exactly-sees the figure Of man, not
one Of the tenants, pass her doorgoing towards
the court. If this was q 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 the man rushed past him in the Rue de
Biche. Girard himself asserted in bis evidence
that it was half-past ten o'clock when he
came to the Passage; ne has since explained
this to M. Sapinaud, his counsel, by the state
ment that he did not follow the most direct
way from the Rue de rOdeon 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 janitors daughter saw fastening through
the passage were not one and the same per-
son. The former aUas RaouJ Girard;; the
latter avas the assassin"
"Ah another pointl And now shall I tell
Monsieur how he goes ons He has shown that
Girard did not premeditate the crime; he
goes on to show that the real assassin did
that he had his plan of operations. Is it not
so?''
THAT is certainly how I go on" answered,
admiring the readiness with which the de-
tective took up my train of reasoning.
EYES," continued Blery, ''that is the next
up and down the room as he spoke, empha-
sizing his words by fourishes of his cigar,
which had gone out. "Girard entered Meiss-
ner'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 be not?'
eyes, he is trained gymnast."
"Ah, but was the ASSASSIN trained GYM
nasts The balance OF probabilities is against
it. No; he did not enter by the window.
How, then, did he entera You say, naturally,
by the door. I say yes, but howe The door
of Meissners 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 second key to
fit the lock of Meissners door. I say, good;
but again, howe You tell 1ne-but no, for
get; Monsieur cannot know this; be has not
seen the key of Meissner's door"
s'No; you were beforehand with me there"
ssWell, here is the key AZ. Blery laid it
before me ON the table-'O assassin hes his
plan Of operations; that is agreed. What,
then, does he doc His natural course is to
obtain temporary possession d Meissner's key,
IN order to have duplicate made from it.
Now, observe the key. It il Of simple con-
struction; an expert locksnith could fashion
one like it in half an hour. This key Of Mejss-
hers was always in one Of two places either
ii hung on its nail in his room, when he was
at home; or on the rack in the janitor's room,
when he was abroad. Wesuppose our assassin
to have watched Me;ssner's movements care