Fort Worth weekly gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1889-08-29

tiiCTE DelOTG lueLi.-
He took out his notebook, and studied
it thoughtfully before he once more be-
gan to write.
'.Such wound - he wrote when he
commenced-'.s said the doctor, would
have bled 4 great deal, but there was not
a spot on the floor of the machine. The
body was laid straight. with the limbs
arranged in an orderly manner, not as it
would have fallen from the blow.
Conclusion Mrs. Ennis wits stabbed
in the water aud the body afterwards
placed in the machine. -
- The floor was quite dry with two eX-
ceptiOns-the place where the body was
lying, and
'sAnd this, said MIR Padger. un=
rolling the piece of paper he had recently
taken from the drawer
1t was blistered in places. as if it had
been wetted; and q line was drawn i'll
pencil completely inclosinE the damaged
portion. The outline was that of the
impression of wet foot. 1t was the left,
foot, ard was at once remar1ahtelfor the,
fact that the great toe was Missing ~
And this, - repeated a r. Padges,
tapping it gently with hiss forefngers
''ciew number two - ~ s
There was something writfsas on the.
paper, and he read it thOughtfuffy
NEARLY i'll the center of Che floor i
pointing outwards, eighteen inahes from.
The door. n. B. Not made k AIRS
Ennis.
Next he took q foot rule from tha man
tie piece and measured it with care. 1t
was exactly eight inches in length.
Rather large for a woman. Rather
small for man. Night have been
either. He reflected, ''but l believe
it was man.
He continued to regard IL with salts
faction which seemed altogether out of
proportion to its probable usefulness
Had 1t been hand the case would hays
been different, but people are not accusR
toned in civilized society TO wandee
about barefOoted, and it was obviously
Impossible to detect such Il small def
cheney through the friendly covering of 4
boot. Nevertheless, Mr.. Padger did not
seem daunted by the difficulty of the
problem presented to him.
''That is INV man, - he repeated me-
ChanicaIly again and again, as he turned
one question over in his mind How did
the owner of that foot obtain Abundance
to the machine.
From the front was on the face of it
was out of the question. Apart from the
impOssibillty CT entering without being
seen, Miss Ennis had declared that when
she left she had fastened the door after
her, and Mr.. Padger had ascertained
that the only means of reOpening it from
the outside was a key which Mrs. Mac
nally assured him was never out of her
own keeping.
The only alternative, assuming as he
did the innocence of Miss Ennis, was
haE he off Tod 10
hind. If the intruder had been a wo-
man there was little difficulty in accept
ing this theory, but if, as Mr.. Padger
unjustifiaDly forced himself to believe,
It had been man, the case was alto
gether different. The mems bathing
place, he knew well, was separated by
considerable interval from the women 5 ..
and the space between them was always
occupied during the bathing hours b9
a boat padded by an old sailor, to pre-
vent any intrusion on either side, and
to render assistance if necessary to any
swimmer who should presume too greatly
on his powers OF endurance.
That man could have eluded the Wig
lance of this guardian of public morality
was difficult TO believe, but if he de-
MED its possibility he was driven back
upon the certainty that the deed was
committed by woman, and if that was
once granted it was piece of gratuitous
absurdity to refuse to admit the validity
of all the evidence which pointed so con-
isisttGtly to Miss Ennis.
aA4Eearied at length, and irTitated at his
inasksst J. tos6qd any other explanation of
,M&E. Padger determined to
IS alsf hage ahS&her look at the spot and
ssess Ssiai9ee sid not throw some fresh
{;5efore sRtt4Ifg out fe.6eaIn slsS III lifbs
fAe outline '6f the t6iS+tale fddtssiafgssS
With its missing toe, ahF-having' read
through the manuseTipt he had+iuSt COM
pleted three or four times, in order to fix
its contents in his memory, he tore it into
nalf dozen long slips, and placing them |
i'll . heaHslpo5' the hearth, set fire 10
them with 4 match and watched theaf
until the last spark had fiickered out,
after which he ground the remaining
ashes to powder with the heel of his boot.
81 don t want anyone spying about i
and stealing my ideas, he said to him-k.
self, as he put on his hat and went out =
ITO be Continued Merit Week.