St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-03-02
but the reporter recognized him as
Adolf Dexheimer, the model waiter at

When the waiter naQ taken MS receipt
and gone out. Arnold asked, with still
languid curiosity:
What is he expressing. I wonder?"
The clerk took up the package and,
looking it over, exclaimed with little
surprise:
Simply an old pair of boots"
The reporter rolled the subject about
in his mind a little, got up and looked
at the bundle and muttered:
'Why the devil should he send an
old pair of boots from Cincinnati to Bal
timore?"
ssAsk me something easier" replied
the clerk lightly. you've no idea of
the
QUEER THINGS
people send by express. Do you know
who he is?'
eyes. Adolf Dexheimer."
"Of course. [ know that already since
| made out his receipt"
''He is a waiter at Gilliland'S, where
those mysterious murders took place.
saw him there while writing the story
up"
ooh! Ahr'
Both men regarded the old package of
boots with increased interest and grow
ing curiosity. 1t was simply an old
pair of boots" There could be no
doubt of that, for the brown paper COW
dring them was torn so that they could
be seen. They were addressed to
"Gustave DeXheimer, Baltimore. To be
called for" Very heavy Irvine was
wrapped about them again and again,
and knotted many times very carefully.
Ned, want to open that bundIe,"
the reporter finally broke forth.
Thunder! No. Violation of strict
IL No. lNA
in two minutes if | allowed it,"
If it were found out, and no suffi-
GENTLY good reason apparent"
''What other reason can there be than
the mere qualification of your id
repOrtorial curiosity"
Much more, think. [ have very
strong presentiment that there is some
thing very important here. Perhaps,
improbable as you may think tive may
get clew to the perpetrator of these
murders"
.'You are crazy, JIM
mot bit. DO not let us throw away
a possible chance. You will admit that
there is something queer about sending
by express an old, worn pair of boots,
not worth the eXpressage on them, and
tied up with the care those are. yet left
SO exposed as to show their worthless
ness"
Eyes, that's 500
"Lets open the bundle. If we find
nothing but boots. we can do it up again
something elSO, as have powerful no.
ton we will, let events take their
course"
After much persuasion the agent re-
luctantly gave his consent, and with no
small difficulty the hard knots were
picked loose and the boots drawn from
their wrappings. Arnold thrust one of
his hands into one of the boot-legs and
Ned followed his example with the
other. Both stopped simultaneously
and stared at each other. Each had
found package stuffed tightly in the
toe of the boot he held. Excited now,
they pulled out the packages, and,
opening them, found in each a handful
COSTLY JEWELRY,
which Arnold believed he recognized
as the missing adornmentS of murdered
Fanny MountjOy. Judging from the de-
scriptions given by her friends at the
time of its disappearance.
Within an hour Adolf DeXheimer was
under arrest. His capture was effected
none too soon, for he had thrown up his
position, bought ticket for Baltimore,
and intended leaving Cincinnati on the
midnight train. In his possession, care
fully Secreted upon his person, and I'M
der a false bottom of his little trunk,
were found something over $4,000 in
bank bills, Tom Randall's gold watch,
and miscellaneous assortment of valu-
able rings, diamond studs, etc.-the
plumber, it was believed, that he had
obtained by the murders already re-
counted.
But how could he have murdered and
robbed those six persons under the cir
cumstanceS, not only without detect
ion, but without even awakening sus-
picion.
That would still have remained almost
an impenetrable mystery had not the
wretch broken down, when he found
himself caught, and made full confess
sion.
The room that he occupied in the at
tic was directly over fatal 80, and he
had found means to make peep-hole
in the ceiling of the latter-So small as
to escape observation from below
through which, by removing loose
board in bis uncarpeted floor, he could
see the inmate of the room beneath, and
govern his actions according to the cir
cumStances so observed.
Next he had arranged one-and-a-
half inch tube, or hose, in the wall, be-
hind the laths and plaster, its lower end
fitted to knot-hole in the ''wash-board"
of No. 80, and it's upper end, when not
in use, concealed under the floor of his
room.
This tube was about fourteen feet
long. When in use it's upper end was
connected with a small and very ingeni-
ously constructed charcoal furnace,
which would, when fire was started t
it and the connection made, pour a
steady flow of deadly carbOlic acid gas
down the tube and into the room be-
meath. That gas being heavier than the
air, would descend like water and grad
ually fill the death chamber below, SO
that person slumbering there would
never wake again if Adolf so willed.
Even if the person should be awake the
gas would not be noticed. 1t would
simply bring on sensation of
OVERPOWERING DROWSINEsS,
the precursor of death. The murder
having been done. how was Adolf to
reap the fruits of his crimn? That was
easy. The boxing of that narrow, dis
used stairway formed one side of his
room, and he had so fixed two of the
boards that he could at will put them
aside and pass out upon he steps, The
fact was known to him that in the old
days, when the hotel was Fay's, No. 80
was an apartment in which the panel
game" had been practiced with more or
less frequency. To that end that APP
parently firmly-nailed closet door was
cunningly contrived so that, by pressing
a concealed spring on the outside, the
door, with its frame, could be made to
swing back upon hidden hinger on the
side opposite the Ostensible lock, the
frame being actually double.
When he was assured that his victim
was dead all he had to do was to glide
down the stairs, operate that door and
means of pair of key nippers and SO
passed in. The washboard all along