Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1889-08-28

theory that no one but a tramp could have
been guilty of the crime. Upon reaching
home he displayed considerable grief ana
emotion. In fact, he rather overdid It, It
was more like acting out part The peo-
pie were indignant that he should be sus-
pected, and he was not put under restraint
Indeed, no warrant had been issued for
him.
Early the n ext morning, satisfied in my
own mind that Fergus was the murderer
l drove out to his aunt's found that he
arrived there at seven O'clock Saturday
| night. Halt an hour later he complained of
headache and went to bed, saying he would be
down again by nine o'clock. AS he did not
keep his promise, the hired girl knocked on
his door at that hour, but receiving no re-
ply, was told not to disturb him. He was
not seen by the inmates of the house until
seven o'clock Sunday morning. The girl
was up at five, and as she crossed the
yard she saw that his window was up,
and some of his clothing was hang
ing in the sun. At the barn / found the
cooper's buggy washed clean. Fergrs had
done this Sunday forenoon. He had not
made good job on the horse, however, and
! / found plenty Of mud on his fetlocks As
it was dusty Saturday night when he was
driven over, this mud must have been
picked up after the storm. found the
| harness stiff and damp from being wet, and
the cloth cushion of the buggy was still
damp. Hunting further, found the fresh
tracks Of horse and buggy turning into the
barn-yard after the rain. The window of
the room occupied by Fergus opened on the
roof Of the shed. At the lower edge of the
roof stood a leach. On the edges of this
leach and on the roof found mud. On the
carpet in Fergus room l found more of it.
He had scraped and cleaned his boots and
flung the dirt into stove, whence got
half pound.
! All this got without the aunt suspecting
that was after proofs then returned 70
! the scene Of the murder, and after an hours
search discovered the place where a horse
had been hitched for some time. It wasin
the rear of the house, on an open space and
under tree, and the horse had paved up
the ground and gnawed the bark of the tree.
| The footprints Of man could be family
traced across the garden, and l had no
doubt that Fergus came and went this way.
On the fourth day after the funeral l
| learned from the insurance man what he
| had seen during the storm, and then a war
rant was issued and Fergus was taken into
custody. By this time the townspeople had
| begun to think 1t queer case Fergus had
| gone over the house and declared that moth
| ing had been taken. No suspicious charac-
tiers had been noticed in the nelghborhood.
Jewelry and money had been left lying on
| the bureau, showing that the object could
not have been plumber. Did the woman
have an enemyl No, not one, as far as we
could learn. Who could profit by her
death? No one but Fergus. and yet this
was one Of the strong points he brought
forward It was known to score of people
that she had made her will in his favor
Would not every thing be his at her deathi
To clinch our case and make circumstan-
tial evidence good we must show motive.
This seemed hopeless, but ! went at the
task, hoping evidence might aid me il Fer
gus was guilty. / examined his personal
effects over and over again in search of a
hint, but for two weeks after he had been
sent to jail l discovered nothing. Then I
got the clue where ought to have secured
1t before. In drawer ID his desk found
several advertisements plainly in the inter
est Of swindlers. One Of them read:
"a steady young man with $4,000 cash cap
ital can double 1t In one year in legitimate
enterprise. For particulars address Box s9l,"
etc.
Another read:
"If you have nerve and q, 1000 In cash we will
mako you millionaire in one year. We per-
NIT the fullest investigation before invest
msnt. Write for particulars"
A third just hit his case:
"Are you young and ambitious man, feel
ing that you could get ahead Improperly backed
and encouragedi Have you any money! Can
you get from 1000 10 e. oOOS II so we will pos
itively guarantee you 600 in return for every
dollar, and inside OF year"
felt sure he had written some Of these
parties, but as could not find any letters
from them set out to hunt them up in per-
son. They were bold-faced swindlers, and
they bothered me some, but in the end I
got five letters written by Fergus. In one
of them he stated that he would soon have
money to invest and expressed his salts
faction at the particulars of the speculation
as far as given him. The greed of gain,
then, was his incentive. The woman who
had been mother and sister to HIM came Of
long-lived race, and was in good health,
and month before her death was told by
doctor in the hearing Of Fergus that she
was likely to live to be ninety or one hun
dred years old. Until her death the young
man could hope for little or nothing, as she
was obliged to make the interest Of her cap.
ital support her.
Murderer or not, the boy was the legal
herr, and he employed the best legal talent
in the West to defend him. The lawyers
might take every dollar if they could but
clear him. 1t was a veritable fight for life
| with all the money and most of the talent
on one side, but that web Of circumstantial
evidence kept drawing closer and closer,
and it could neither be broken nor explained
away. Had Fergus been innocent frank
reply to each question would have explained
it. Being guilty, his evasions only made
matters worse. The jury were out fourteen
hours before finding verdict Of guilty, but
within an hour he had made a full confess
sion. BE told me that he had been plan
ming for two mnnthQ md that ha ha1{ovyaI
he had arranged details until his case could
Withstand the most minute investigation of
the highest detective talent.-N. Y. Sun.