Helena weekly herald. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1867-1900, 1886-04-29

heard them saying, "Whdt, then, IS The
letter upon it?'
that!'-"Ah, but look at the knifel What q
curious knife What droll charactersla-
'Heavensl Look at the stain ON it'll 1t is the
blood"
Ipassed ON slowly with the crowd; came
in front of the white board that hung ON the
iron grating; took one look at it--no, can
not write down what my feelings were at that
horrible moment. The thing had hideous
fascination for me; could not avert my eyes
from it, A cold sweat broke out over me !;
my brain reeled as if in a vertigo; l believe
/ should have fallen, but the pressure of the
throng held me up. The sight made me sick
and faint, and yet ! could not tear my eyes
away.
This was what saw, exhibited on that board
at the Morgue: A white ivory button, about
the size of a two-franc piece, with an initial
G. upon it; under this was written: "Wrist-
stud found beside the body, supposed to be-
long to the perpetrator Of the crime" Below,
long, keen-edged dagger, its hilt Of lac
quered wood its blade of dark-blue steel,
with some eastern characters craven on it,
and, stretching from the point about half
way up the blade, dull stain upon the
cleaning metal. Under the weapon was
written: ''Poniard of japanese manufacture,
found beside the corpse of Joseph Meissner,
with which the fatal blow is supposed to have
been struck" At the foot of the board were
these words: "Any person having informa-
ton to give with respect to the murder of
Joseph Meissner is requested to communicate
with NJ. r.. Roguet, judge of instruction, at
the prefecture of police"
All this has taken time to describe:
seemed, however, to grasp all the details in
single glance; it was as if these fatal pieces
OF evidence burned themselves in on nv
brain. You see, l recognized, or thought
recognized, the wrist-stud and the dagger,
and the possibility they suggested TO my mind
overwhelmed me for the moment. | gasped
for breath; / strove to raise my hand, that
might press it over my eyes and shut out that
terrible testimony that stared me in the face,
and would not let my vision 90. But the
pressure of the crowd held my arms as if
plnioned and swept me slowly along past the
bars of the outer gate; then relaxed, and left
me free to move. / had become separated
from Thouvenot in the crowd; for this, even
then, l felt a momentary thankfulness. Ny
sole desire now was to escape from that
CHASTITY Morgue, to leave it far behind l
had come to it as a scarcely curious specta-
tor; i left it with the frenzied haste almost of
a mailman. l am persuaded that, had either
of the skilled detectives afterward concerned
in this case seen my manner of leaving the
MorgIe, they would have arrested me on sus.
picion there and then.
Whittier went after recrossing the bridge
I cannot now remember. l walked on, or
rather half ran, quite aimlessly; dull, red
mist seemed to hang before my eyes, and
prevent my seeing anything distinctly. /
was unconscious of being looked at or pointed
at, unconscious of time or of fatigue My
one clear idea was that must fly as fast and
as far as possible from that hateful Morgue
and its choking atmosphere of crime.
When l came to myself-for in truth had
been for the time distraught-I found myself
on one of the quays on the left bank, in the
extreme west of the city. The thought came
to me that must do something; that must
think calmly of what that something ought
TO be. Darkness had come on; the lights of
Paris stretched in long line before me down
the right bank of the river; snow had again
begun to fall. / sat down on the quay-wall,
looking into the black water of the Seine,
and forced myself to reflect / cannot think
that any criminal was ever more wretched
than | at that hour.
do not know how long l sat there, alb
sorbed in most miserable thoughts. But at
last something like plan came into my
mind. Retracing my steps toward the Rue
nr''~hi"" ss.nn"Ad a. a ii"Sb on the Boule-