Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1889-07-11


likely to habitually carry under his
finger-nails such an abundance of color
as would leave deposits like these?
Well dyer, for one. Yes. of course,
dyer; but there were more Overs
in the city. for aught I know, than
one could shake stick at, and it
would be ridiculous to seek blue hand
ed dyer, since hands that were blue
one day might be red or green the
next
The newspapers the next day in
their sensational treatment of the Incl
dent characterized it as a profound
mystery. and said that the police had
absolutely no clew to the murderer. ,
AS had hoped, that encouraged some
persons who had known Harriet
Wardrop to come forward. A small,
neatly-dressed, respectable looking.
middle-aged man, with keen. furtive
eyes and an habitually deprecatory
manner, presented himself at the in
quest. He came to see if the woman.
whose death he had read of in the
morning paper, was his wife, from
whom he had separated in Philadel-
phia a year before, and had not seen
or heard from since. His name? John
Wardrop. His occupation? Dyer.
Where did he work? With Henri
Detaille 4 Co., Partisan dyers, on
Blocker street Yes, the dead woman
was his wife. He recognized her per-
fectly, and the sight made him weep.
Poor woman. she was hard to get along
with. but she had good heart
Il made an excuse of his signing a
formal recognition to get him to take
off one of his gloves. His hand was of
brilliant orange tint. While the
coroner kept him in attendance at the
inquest l hurried to Detaille & Co. s
dye house to ask some questions.
Eyes, John Wardrop worked there.
He was quiet steady man and an ex-
cellent workman. They had employed
him about ten months. Did they know
any thing more about him? No. ex-
cept that they fancied there was likely
to be a match between him and Jane
Blair, a good-looking. plump woman.
about thirty years old who had been
their cashier for several years. Had
they done any dark blue dyeing lately?
Yes, only the day before yesterday.
Who did the work? John Wardrop.
81 saw Jane Blair. With good
deal Of hesitancy she admitted that
she and John Wardrop were engaged
to be married as soon as he got a
divorce from bad wife who had left
him, and expected that he would soon
be free. Was she we'll informed as to
his habits? Perfectly. They boarded
in the same house, on West Washing
ton 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 respective
rooms at twenty minutes before ten
o'clock. their usual hour for retiring.
He could have gone out afterward,
without her knowing it? Yes, but of
course he didn't
when got back to the inquest
the coroner's jury had just returned a
verdict that the deceased had come to
her death by violence at the hand or
hands of some person unknown. 1
had made up my mind to arrest John
Wardrop on suspicion. but was in no
hurry about it. As had not been on
the stand l did not have to tell any
thing of my suspicious and the potato
could not give any thing away, for I
had it safe 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 draw some money
from his employers to give his poor
wife decent burial. And /, having
taken time to get a warrant for his ar
rest, followed him.
He paled slightly and showed some
embarrassment when / entered the
dye-room. where he was doing some
work that had to be done by him and
could not wait until the morrow.
Still he controlled himself. and sought
to cover his nervousness by talking.
l 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 made up. At
last, when l deemed the time ripe for
it. Islipped the potato out of my pock-
ct and suddenly holding it up before
him, said:
You should have washed your
hands before you grabbed this potato
out of the dish-pan on the table
He threw up his hands with
shrek and sank down on a bench. all
limp and broken up. Before he could
recover himself he confessed. He and
Harriet had quarreled for years and
finally separated. Then after a time
she had made up her mind to get DOS