Weekly commercial herald. (Vicksburg, Miss.) 1884-18??, 1886-01-01

] NC ~ OuCe ufODbug hnL . A9e~N~N
prefecture.
There we found N. Blery, in his napless hat
and shabby gray c%vercoat, just as he had up
peared in Rome, and whocouldtelh how many
other European capitalist The room in which
he received US was small, but well lighted; its
furniture consisted of twochairs Gnda bureau
in common pine wood; on the bureau lay an
almanac, a Paris Directory and a Universal
Guide to all the railways of the world. M.
Blery gave each Of us a chair, and himself re-
manned standing with his back to the light.
"Messieurs,' he said, II I'm charmed to
have the honor Of this visit. I rush at once
into tie middle of things. In the converse
tion which l had with NJ. Marsal Is days
ago, there was one point we did not discuss
namely, theapparent want Of motive for the
crime. Ipresume, however, that Monsieur,
in his very intelligent examination Of the
case, did not fail to give this point his atten-
tiong'
''No,n 1 said; II considered the point, and
came to q certain conclusion"
"We may suppose" said M. Blery, 'that
the assassin of Meissnar had one of two OBJ
jects in ~view-either revenge or plunder. II
it was simply revenge, why did he ransack
the strong boxes ind cabinets3 II it was
plumber, why did he leave SO much portable
booty behind? The Judge-again fitting the
facts into tie theory-accounted for this by
the eccentrictty, amounting to insanity, of the
criminal, terror-stricken by his crime. How,
Monsieur, do you account for it,"
81 account for it, / said, Sin quite another
way. I account for it by the conjecture Of
q search on the part Of the assassin; and,
since all the lock-fast places were not opened,
by u search for q special object"
EXACTLY, u said N. Blery; ''the conclusion
to which any unbiased mind, possessing suffi-
Gent acuteness, would naturally come. What
were the Judges words9 This he said, is
the obscure pointo Of the case, but the difficulty
here tells as foTcibly against any other theory
of the crime as against the theory that
Girard is the guilty person. A somewhat
rash assertion, Monsieur the Judged The cir
cumstances certainly make against his theory,
but they confirm ours. Yes, search for a
special object, that is It'll And the special
objectF"
"a compromising paper suggested Sapi-
maud, 'left in Meissner's hands by one of his
~clients.n
IAN excellent hypothesis, :" said Blery: 'halt
here, fortunately, we can dispense with by
potheses; we have facts, as | shall show you.
Since leaving N. Marsal, a fortnight ago, /
have been in London, Brussels and Rome. I
have been in search Of the missing dagger.
Istarted here in Paris, at the Palais Royal. /
found it correct, as did my friend Ply, that
there wasnow no dealer in curiosities there to
whom Girard had sold his weapon. But /
found that two years ago there was a dealer
in curiosities there; q man who had fed by
night, carrying tho valuable Part Of his stock
in trade with him, and leaving his rent I'M
paid. Itracod thism man to London; with the
help Of my friend Briggs, CT Scotland Yard,
1 find him. He has by this time sold the dag
ger, but he names the purchaser. 1 go to the
purchaser, but he also has parted with tin
brief, I followed this dagger to Brussels, I
followed it to Rome. In that city it has come
into the possession Of a French artist, who is
by no means we'll off. I tell him for what
purpose l require the dagger; he agrees to
sell it. 1t is then in pledge; we go to the
pawnshop, we redeem it-and I leave Rome
with it in my keeping. Here, Messieurs, is
the dagger" M. Blery laid it on the bureau
before us. "Observe tho one word written
beside tho flower; compare it with these
characters, traced byM. Beauvais, and which
stand for the word 'sorrow'-you see they
are the same. Thus the conjecture Of M.
Marsal is proved to be perfectly correct; this
is the missing dagger Of the three-the one
given by Meissner to his nephew two years
ago."
Icould not look without emotion IN this
a which had so nearly proved fatal to
my friend, and which now had been found
just in time to save him.
so much for the dagger" continued NJ.
Blery, nov for the key" He touched q
hand-bell on the mantelp;ece; the door opened
and a little man, red-haired, pock-marked,
and with furtive eyes, appeared.
''This, Messieurs, is Pilotin,' y observed M.
Blery, with the air Of one exhibiting an IN
forior animal, "Pilotin, one of my aides.
You will tell these gentlemen, Pilotin, what
were the instructions l gavo you before I left
for London"
"Monsieur gave me this key" said Piloton,
laying it beside the dagger on the bureau.
"Monsieur told me he had reason to believe
that a key had been fabricated from this as q
model, about two months ago, by q locksnith
living within q certain radius of the Passage
de Ma7arin. Monsieur also gave TO q dcscrip-
ton Of the person who had ordered the key to
be fabricated, and directed me to discover the
locksmith."
"Apd you mado inquiries3' prompted Bile
~, whose aide spoke in a monotonous voice,
with the infection Of one who repeats a lesson
by roto.
81 begin by consulting the directory and
visiting all the locksmiths within the radius.
No result. 1 widen my circle; still no result.
1 begin again by inquiries into tho private life
of certain locksmiths, who arc in the habit of
doing work at home; still there is no clew. I
begin to despair of satisfying Monsieur, when
Imake q lucky find. Passing along the Rue
st. Louis I observe q small shop whose shut
tiers are closed; it5eEterior is freshly painted;
above the door is a sign: Il. Bencit, Lock
smith Imako inquiries. Ilearn from the
neighbors that Benoit is q young man, very
sober, very Industrious, who carn9 from Linn
oges to Paris about three months ago and
opened this shop. About a fortnight ago he
had injured his hand with one Of his tools,
and had been taken to the Hotel Dieu for
proper treatment. l conjecture that this may
be our man; the fact Of his shop being so re-
Gently opened accounts for his name not being
in the directory. 1 go to the Hotel Dieu, but
am told that l cannot see him; he is suffering
from blood poisoning and is very i'll. I ask
who is the doctor attending him, and am
informed that it is the Doctor dc Bourbon. M.
de Bourbon, as Messieurs will remember.
was one Of themedical witnesses a~ttheinquiry
into the murder Of Meissner. [ see him: | tell
him that my mission is connected with the
affair of the Pacsap a da Mogar;,, M J..