The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-01-05
CHARFER II.


I stage OF dress and urdreSs came pouring
out OF the doors; even policeman. in such
cases often the last to arrive, appeared upon
the scene. They found a strange 81 Int
/ awaiting them. A dead man, whose dress
| proclaimed him an officer OF the Salvation
army. lay on the pavement; and beside
| him, IN the snow, knela "tae blind parson. ~
as they had long ago niclznamed Francis
belmont. And no one elss was near.
There was no Light in that upper window
from which the dead man-well-known to
them as Stephen Eyre-had fallen or been
thrown TIE houss Itself was quiet as the
| grave The persons with whom he had
been struggling had entirely disappeared.
/ Who was 1t that had taken posse sion of
THAI empty house and committed what was
very like an ac5 of murder, whether in self
defence or notl NJbody conld tell The
house was supposed to be empty; a care
taIer who lived at No. is, took care of al.
three houses; aud sne had not even been
aroused
Where is the boy! The bow who
brought me here" inquired Mr.. Helmont.
VINO had risen from his stopping position
| beside poor Stephen Eyre's body, and was
standing, with rather CHASTITY look upon
his face, against the wall of the house. The
gashgbt tickered oddly on the motley
crowd around him; on the dead mans i'm
passive face; on the snow that had lately
been so white and was now fouled and be-
smlrched oy trampling feet. Francis Hell
mont could not b3hold the scene with his
bodily eyes; and yet, he knew the place so
Wei, he could picture to himself so wildly
the faces and figures with their surround
| lngs that 1t seemed to him for a moment al
most as though he looked upon them in
reality. he had to press his eyes with his
hand for moment before he could diSpel
the illu ion and remember that he only
dreamed aud could not see.
He was well known to IN )st of the persons
present, and his question met with quick
| response
"Wh hat boy was it, sirp'
"Rlch4rd Eyre, Stephen Eyre's brother"
The little hunchback. He amt here
maybe he's in the house"
He left me TO 20 upstairs. Has any one
gone up?o
I'm going up now, Mr.. Helmont, sir,n
said voice, which thu clergyman recog-
nlzad at once as That of policeman with
whom he was well acquainted. "MY
mates gone up already. There must be
somebo ~ up there. l take it there was
scuffie?n
Yes, there seemed to be sort of strug-
gle; but you know | cannot see, so have no
evidence to give"
''All right, sir: dare say we shall secure
the parties upstairs, aud they can tell their
own story. VIII you come up with me,
sir!"
Helmont assented. In spite of his blind
ness ()r perhaps because of it), he was a
power in the neighborhood, aud he felt it
possible that he might be of use. So he
LAID his hand on the policeman's arm and
entered with him at tAe door of No. 90
They went up the first and the second
flight, of creaklng stairs. All was in dark
ness; all was silent save for the sounds
hat 49,, H., i H.
made. They went up the tllrd fligh-.
Here they met the mtn. VINO had previ-
ously entered, and who were now standing
doubtfully at the door of a room which
seemed to be in great confusion. Clouds of
dust still hung about it, aud the floor was
covered with debris of various kinds.
TIE floor of the room above has given
way, that's what it is" said one of the
policemen, turning the light of his lantern
full upon the reeklDg masses of broken wood
and plaster, land If there was anybody in
that room. it's pretty certain that they
must have come to grief"
The room above is the one fro which
the man fell, suppose" said Helmont,
quickly.
ut seems like it, SIR"
"You have been into itp'
''It was quite empty" said one Of the
men, rather reluctantly. 1--WE could see
.. a
yawning cnasm in the middle of the floor.
The person that pushed Stephen Eyre out
o. window, If there was Slcl a psrs N, has
gone through-tnat seems pretty clearn
Yielding to Helmont's representation,
they all tramped upstairs again, and looked
in at the door of the room, from the win
dow of wnica Stephen Eyre had been pre-
cipitated. 1t was SO evidently unsafe to
enter that the men looked at it from the
door without crossing the threshold, and it
certainly seemed at first as if it contained
no place in which man, woman, or clild
could take refuge. But at last a man
pointed out what looked like a tiny cup
board, in tue corner furthest away from the
door, and suggested vaguely that lit might
lead somewhere" WhereupOn a shrill-
voiced boy who had stolea il with the ex-
ploring party shouted out that 1T did;
there were steps from that there door on TO
the roof And the policem 81 looked at
each other significantly. This, then, was
the mode of escape chosen by the mys-
FERROUS person or persons who had caused
the death of Stephen Eyre.
There was a little hesitation, however,
before the steps to the roof were reached.
TIE floor was so manifestly unsafe that a
valiant but burly policeman might well
hang back before sklrting that uncJmforta-
ble-looking hole in the middle. But at last
the exploit was performed, and a ladder
was D. occurred and laid across the rent
and shaking boards, so that they could be
traversed in safety while the search for the
fugitives was made.
But all search proved to be in vain The
little door did indeed open upon a steep and
narrow stair, from which the fiat roof with
its stacks of chimneys was attainaole; but
here there was no trace of any living person
to be seen. The snow, however, had been
swept away to the sides of the roof--a sure
sign that somebody had been at work there
that day, and in the open space thus left no
trace OF footsteps was to De found. The
natur al inference was that the persons had
made their way into one of the adjoining
houses, and the g had therefore to be ex-
amined by the police.
The house on the one hand proved to be |
quite empty. The caretaker lived in No. |
is, with which there was no communica- |
ton with the other houses; but from 10 to |
20 it was very easy to pass. No trace of |
recent occupation could, however, be dis |
covered in it. On the other side, the buiid- |
ing-formerly factory-was less easy to |
search, but, as was the case with No. 10, it |
could quite we'll be entered from trap-door |
in the roof. On this building the hopes of the |
police we're fixed, as it was well-known
sleeping-place and rendezvous for tramps
and people of bad character. but their
hopes were again destined to disappoint-
ment. They found several persons in the
house, but these did no look as if anything
had disturbed them for hours. The only
man who was a stranger to the police was
moaning and babbling in the delirium of |