The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1889-07-11

ly. They boarded in the same house, on
West Washington place, and he very
seldom went out in the evening. Did he
go out the night before last? No; they
parted on the stairs going to their respec-
tive rooms at twenty minutes before 10
o'clock, their usual hour for retiring. He
could have gone out afterward without
her knowing it? Yes, but of course he
didn't. f
When / got back to the inquest the
coroner's jury had just returned a YER
dict that the deceased had come to her
death by violence at the hand orhands of
some person unknown. / had made UP
my mind to arrest John Wardrop on sus-
picion, but was in no hurry about it. As
l had not been on the stand / did not
have to tell anything of my suspicious
and the potato could not give anything
away, for I had it safely in my pocket,
wrapped in tissue paper. The reporters
went away to write the case up as a pro-
founder mystery than before. John
Wardrop went to borrow some money
from his employers to give his poor wife
a decent burial. And 1, having taken
time to get a warrant for his arrest, fol-
lowed him.
"He paled slightly and showed some
embarrassment when l entered the dye
room, where he was doing ONE work
that had to be done by him and could
not wait until the morrow. Still he con-
trolled himself, and sought to cover his
nervousness by talking. I said little,
and let him talk on, which was the worst
thing he could have done, for thinking
up SO many words led him away, now
and then, from the straight story he had
madeup. AT last, when l deemed the
time ripe for it, I slipped the potato out
of my pocket and, suddenly holding it
up before him, said:
"'You should have washed your hands
before you grabbed this potato out of
the dishpan ON the table
"He threw up his hands with a shrek
and sank down on a bench, all limp and
broken up. Before he could recover him
self he confessed. He and Harriet had
~quarreled for years and finally separated.
Then after a time she had made up her
mind to get possession of him again,
found where he was and sent him word
that he must visit her late It might, when
she would be alone, to discuss the situa-
ton. He went, but the sight Of her and
thoughts of Jane Blair, with whom he
had fallen in love in the meantime, since
parting with his wife, made him des-
perate.
81 asked him how he had managed to
strangle her SO quietly and without
any struggle, when she seemed to have
double his strength. He explained that
he possessed sufficient mesmeric force
to render her passive, and had employed
it on that occasion.
"Having rendered her completely I'M
conscious by mesmerizing her, the rest
was easy. I could not help feeling some
! sympathy for him when he said she was
a tartar still business was business, and
when I had heard him through / told
him:
"'Now, John, get your coat on and
come along
In a moment, sir. Let me wash off
some of this dye first
81 assented. He washed, pouring
some stuff over his hands from a bottle,
to take the color out, as l supposed.
Suddenly he turned the bottle up to his
lips and took a big swallow of its con-
tents before l could jump to him and
grab him. AS I seized him the bottle
dropped to the floor and smashed, while
he dropped into my arms as dead as a
maui. Cyanide of potassium, as I sub
sequently learned, was his final nip, but
it was the fatal potato that killed him