Mexico weekly ledger., 1890-03-27
commonplace in

it's exactness and regularity. He attend
ed strictly TO business during business
hours, and stood well in commercial
circles. He took his pleasures soberly in
his hours of relaxation. He had no vices
and no entangling alliances.
Neither the clothes cast off by the
murderer in his flight, MOI the diamond
button found by Holbrook, nor the
knife left in the body of the dead man,
had proved to be clews of value to the
police.
The verdict of the coroner's jury had
been: "Came to his death by being
stabbed with a knife, in the hands of a
person unknown"
The police adopted the theory that the
man had been struck in mistake, and
that another victim had been intended.
Why? That wal a secret they guarded,
and they worked on that line.
A large reward for the detection Of the
criminal was offered by the authorities.
And the affair faded from the news
papers.
The funeral had been q quiet one.
There were but two mourners present
an elderly lady and younger one closely
yelled, both evincing great grief. There
were but few attendants from curiosity.
Neither Mr.. Witherspoon nor Flora
Ashgrove were present.
Holbrook, who was, noted this fact,
and contrasted her intense interest in
the murdered man the day after the
murder, with her absence from the fu-
neral ceremonies.
A few of Templeton's business &C
he spent the last hours of his life made
up the rest.
Apparently the tragedy was of one act.
and the drop curtain was down.
Holbrook's law Office was on the sew
enth story of one of those tall buildings
which In recent years have become a
conspicuous feature of lower New York.
His private Office was a corner room,
and from the window his eye could roam
over the roofs Of adjacent buildings,
across the Hudson river and beyond the
houses o the Jersey shore to the green
hills back of them.
One afternoon, two weeks after the
murder, he was resting himself from his
labors and enjoying the extensive view
| spread out before him.
In fact, he was reviewing that strange
interview with Flora Ashgrove the day
| after the murder.
Her manner, her emotion, her lager
ness, her anger, all dwelt wildly in his
mind, but his perpiexity was as great as
on the day he left her presence.
What connection, if any, had she with
| the murder? What did she know, if
anything? What relation had existed
between herself and the dead man? Why
| did she van to know SO particularly the
appearance of the murderer? What was at
| the bottom of the intense anxiety she dis
| played? And for whom was this anxiety
| displayed? She was tall and slim, or
would be if dressed in mems clothes
could it possibly have been herself? Was
| she the kind of a woman whom jealousy
would impel to such a crime?
These were the questions he had asked
himself again and again, and never had
found satisfactory answer to them.
They haunted him like a nightmare,
and at every leisure moment returned to
vex him. until he plunged deeply into
work to escape them.
OF this, however, he was conscious
his feelings toward Flora had undergone
a great change. As beautiful as she un-
deniably was, he preferred that she
should be some n eise's wife. In her
interview with him she had uncovered o
disposition he did not like. and the tor,
menting questions that would COM I'M.
hidden had finally bred in him a fear Of
her and he had taken alarm.
As he was thus musing, a clerk in,
formed him that two ladies desired to sex
him.
.tNhat are their names??s he asked.
'eThey would not give them; they said
they would conway poinformation. Ths1
A--