The Big Sandy news. [volume] (Louisa, Ky.) 1885-1929, 1889-06-13
CHATTER Nv

CHAPTER w.
As time wore on the situation Of the 90
cused became more serious Il was moro
and more impossible to believe that Mrs.
Brownlow had left the house OF her own
free will. After discussion Of all the the
cries they could possibly evolve, the report
ers, in order TO keep the matter well before
the public in an attractive shape, origin
ated this theory: That Mrs Brownlow had
simply gone with her husbands consent 70
take q journey, the object Of which they did
not care to reveal Although this theory
| gained credit in the papers, especially be-
cause Of efforts on the partof some OF Mr..
| Brownlow's friends to substantiate IL, the
detectives paid little attention TO it, II was
so evident that Mrs. Brownlow, had such
been the case, would have returned as soon
as she had heard The accusations directed
against her usband, that the theory seemed
to be OF no Importance. Day after day, Of
course, the detectives gave Mr. Brownlow
every opportunity TO talk and state his
side Of the case, but he obstinately re-
manned silent 1t was Disappointing TO the
detectives engaged upon the case that they
could not get direct and incontrovertible
evidence of the fundamental fact in the
case, namely, that Mrs. Brownlow was
dead The fact Of her disappearance need
ed no proof; the object Of the accused In
committing the crime was established; he
had refused TO account for the time passed,
where and how no one knew, during the
evening and part Of the night Of Tuesday,
the 14th And his attitude from the time
Of his arrest had been compromising in the
extreme; but there was still no evidence
that seemed to justify conviction. One day
the detectives found just the clew that they
seemed to have been waiting for so long.
1t came partly as chance and partly as
the result of keen detective work. Seth
Ketcham had reasoned with himself that as
Mrs. Brownlow had left the house, or had
at all events been last seen in evening
dress, and as those garments were not
found in the house at the time of the search,
she must have had them on whenever the
deed was committed. Next to the difficulty
Of hiding the body would be the difficulty OF
disposing Of this peculiar clothing. He had
made tlreless searches among the second !
hand clothing stores and pawn-shops of the
city TO seeif therein might not be found some
Of the garments which Mrs. Brownlow had |
worn, his idea being the vague one that |
perhaps Mr.. Brownlow had taken that |
means TO disguise any trace of the crime |
that might be found on the clothing. Hav- |
ing found nothing in any OF those places |
that he went through, he thought over the |
possible ways in which the crime might |
have been committed. Any noisy violence
in the city would be liable TO attract atten-
ton; therefore he concluded that the deed /
must have been done some other way, In |
the course Of his investigations he'found that
the deck hand of a ferry boat that had been /
crossing the North river upon that night /
about ten o'clock had seen man and won
an quarreling in low tones upon the after
part of the boat.
He had paid but little attention to them,
although he confessed that his post Of duty
should have been at that end of the boat.
He went forward to the engine-room for q
moment, and when he returned he saw the /
man standing by the rail alone. As he ap-
preached the stranger the man turned I
abruptly and walked into the gentlemen's
cabin. The deck hand had paid no atten-
ton to it because circumstances of that
nature are so common where crowds Assem-
BILE, and had thought nothing further Of
it until the detectives had put their usual
inquiries to him as to whether he had seen
such people as Mr.. and Mrs. Brownlow
come over on his boat on the night in ques-
ton. Ketcham reasoned from this that the
udu DCCn uOhC uDOn luO ltTI -OOhlJ
and he strongly believed that there was
clew to the crime. He was therefore watch
ing the river as patiently as possible
One day q ragamufin, who was fishing
from the end of long dock that ran out
INTO the North river, pulled up something
heavy on his line. He knew that II was no
fish, and was in some disgust that his line
should have caught in snag. But when
ha hrO1 oh "a 0hfart ~ ha nrfao - /
proved to be garment of some kind he
quickly pulled it up to the wharf and found
at the end Of the line a fashionable opera
cloak in an advanced state Of ruin. The
cloak was made In the latest fashion, in
black Indian cashmere, embroidered in gold
Few such garments are
worn by people who cross on the ferry
boats or who ramble about the docks.
The ragamuffin was much rejoiced at his
find, and, although the garment was so
nearly spoiled, he believed that he could
realize a considerable sum upon 1t by dis
posing Of it TO a secondhand dealer. As he
was going of the wharf with it policeman,
whose beat lay in that quarter, approached
him and demanded what he had with him.
The ragamuffin was obliged TO disclose his
find, and the policeman, believing that in it
might be found a clew 10 either some crime
or some accident, took him and the garment
to the station house There it naturally
came under the eyes of the detectives who
had been working upon the Brownlow case,
and the greatest sensation that had oc-
Cured since the news of the disappearance
was created by the identification of this
cloak as that Of Mrs. Brownlow's
Her dressmaker was hunted up, and
stated to the detective that the garment
had been made especially for Mrs. Brown
ow, and that none other like it had ever
been turned out OF her establishment. 1t
was, therefore, certain to the detectives