Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-06-29


do not see me shall be at rest in the world
forever. I cannot be unhappier in hell than
am nowl"
With these words she vanished, to fall
lifeless under the oul murderer's hand.
My assistant, Grope, brought me a num-
Der of letters he found in poor Elias room.
These were all written by Cyril Durand.
They ran through nearly year. Arranging
them in proper order reached the follow
ing facts: The earlier letters were all in
one tsne, that of the deepest love. The man,
Durand, regrets his poverty-he was an
inventor, the creator of some kind OF cleo
trical machine of which he had the highest
hopes, but which be could not sell, as it
was supposed to infringe on some otner
patent, whereas he asserted the patent in
fringed on his rights. He was not rich
enough to 60 TO law, but he was
ever on the lookout for some mon
interest in him. One of the sentences
from an early letter I extract as OF
some bearing on the case in hand.
II read: ''Oh, Ella, darling, if you only had
a little fortune, few thousand dollars, we
could speedily become millienaires. But
there is no luck for US, and you must labor
and I starve." The question of money was
always cropping out, and by degrees it
seemed to absorb his love. The letters be-
they developed into a note like this: Dear
Hlla-I shall not see you for some time.
hear there is project of lighting Egiatine
Hill by electricity, and am told that it
can prove my claims to priority OF inven-
tion, I shall have a chance. / am going
down there. Please, now, put a chain on
your lmpetuosity; don't dog my footsteps.
In place of being a stimulant, you are a
weight Oh me, with your wild jealousy. Ny
success means happiness to both. If you
love me, trust mei otherwise I am in de-
spair."
From this point the letters grew savage;
now and then there break out little phrases
of tenderness and remorse, but as the rule
the words must have been poisoned arrows
to a tender heart. Here are some specimen
sentences extracted fren several letters;
'You must not come here again. Your per-
petual dogsing is an humiliation. If you
insist on PLAYING the tyrant, ! will kill my
selfi must have money, and 1 will have
it. Your jealousy and persecution drive
me to drink and the gaming table. 1 am
becoming reckless and cruel. have ceased
to be worthy OF you. Ny hopes are shat
tered, and 1 only know peace when L
have dulled my brain by alcohol. Do not
come near me now; 1 am more british than
humanl Ny poor little Ellal That was a
sigh from the dead past. Forget me-"
The following is the last letter; if the
woman was sensitive, she would not have
ielt her death blow after reading it.
'FYour suspicious are right. Make the
most OF my admission. 1 warn ycu to keep
away from me now, for 1 am dangerous. 1
hate you'll hate voul l hate you'll Curse
the world! myself included. Think of me
as you please, but keep away from me, or
iciH Kill you. q, Detective Fox, italicize
these significant words) 1 have lost my
selfrespect; am ground groveling In the
dust; am beast coward, hypocrite, a
slave. l hate you, and, knowing nv cow
ardly nature, you know what that means.
Amy change is preferable to my present con-
dition, which have brought on myself, and
deserve. You must not see me again. II
you do, you will take the consequences of
meeting human hound who deaders his
soul by alcohol!'
This letter was written and posted two
DAYS before the murder and to it, 60 doubt,
poor Ella referred IN her parting with her
1andlady. l will, add that Crepe questioned
the conductor of the train that stops at Eg-
Iantine Hill, and this conductor distinctly
remembers having received on the day of the
murder the fare from young woman whose
description corresponds with that of Ella
Constant. He recognized her. as she had
been frequent passenger on his train, and
always attracted his attention by her nerv-
business and anxiety Three times on the
day in question she had said to him: 'Be
sure and stop at Byzantine Hillr'
u Under the circumstances the arrest of Cyril
Z 1rand was imperative; but it was equally
Imperative that I should not leave nv
present field of research. had seLt one
message to the city concerning this man,
and by Grope now sent another urging a
particular lookout for Cyril Durand, whom |
I again described for the benefit of our polit- |
ical superintendent. My duty was more |
ardusus and puzzling, but its complexity |
only added to my energy.
Having dispatched nv agent to the city, |
1 strolled in the direction of the old house |
By the pond, trying to hammer into shape |
certain ideas that were haunting me- Ny |
actions were mechanical, but when the de- |
cayed old building looned in front of me 1 |
determined to give it one more search. |
Glancing down at the pond saw that the |
water had risen above the line of the foot |
prints that had measured yesterday, but |
nowhere was ii over a loot deep, and could |
see clear through it to the bottom mud. 1t |
was alive with tadpoles, and couple of |
bare-footed boys were amusing themselves
by aiming at the harmless animals with |
heavy sticks.
Entering the old house gave a compre-
hensive glance around me, and was will
ing TO swear that some person or persons
had been here in the intervals between nv
two visits. In the first place, discovered
the stump of candle, which 1 am willing
70 swear was not Ia the house when I first
visited it; in the next place, the ground
everywhere had the appearance of having
heen disturbed. Here and there the tall
grass was rooted up in patches, and over
in corner a large coleny of toad
stools had been deliberately knocked
of their stems. What surprised me was
that the party or parties made no attempt
to conceal their depredstioDs, they had
seemingly acted In defiance of the fact that
the lynx eyes of detective were surveying
the entire field Of action. What were they
alter? People don't come 10 t-of.the-way
places, and tear up grass for the fun of the
thing; and it was natural conclusion that
the unknown visitor or visitors, had come for
the purpose of finding something. Was it
something they had lost? l did not think
SO, and for this reasen-the grass was only
torn up in certain places. When thing is
lost it might be lost anywhere; the depreda-
tins in this place suggested system. Were
they looking or anything? That is, for
something that had been hidden and not
lost. 1t was probable. Travelling over the
ground on hands or knees this probability
became certainty, for here and there
found the ground disturbed as if somebody
had been digging into it. L saw the marks
OF feet on the mould as if somebody had
been pressing it down to conceal
their work. counted five disturbed
places. determined to indulge in
q little exploration on nv own account. /
took out nv penknife and amused myself by