The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1891-11-27
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fact my friend, the coroner, has put me
In rather an awkward dilemma"
'Oh, the coronerr Mrs. Evesham said,
considerably relieved. pray command
me in any way"
"You see, madam, in the case of a
person dying among strangers, it is con-
ducive to the interests of justice and
material to the satisfaction of the
friends of the deceased, that q photo
graph should be taken of the body.
am an artist, and my friend, the cor
oner, insists"
"Oh, certainly" Mrs. Evesham inter
rupted. So her distinguished visitor
was after all only photographer. Why
on earth couldn't the man at once have
stated his business without so many
stammering apologies?
"You will perhaps at once permit me
to visit the room where the corpse is
lying?" he continued.
"Yes, but" Mrs. Evesham in turn
hesitated. 81 could not offer you any
assistance; even my servants am sure
would dislike"
mot for worlds" the stranger inter
rupted eagerly. 81 require no aid in
my manipulations-in fact would rather
be free from interference. The whole
thing will not occupy me more than
half an hour"
How could she refuse so natural re-
quest? So she ordered the servant to
show him to the death-chamber, and re-
turned to her children.
Mrs. Evesham's sensitiveness would
not have been shocked had she accom-
panied her visitor into the somber pre-
cincts of number six, with its drawn
blinds and the undeinable shadow of
the presence of death.
The stranger, though he must in his
professional experience have been ac-
customed to such gruesome scenes, was,
however, evidently impressed with the
gloom, for after locking the door with
deliberate care he stepped noiselessly
over the carpet and paused for mo-
ment al the foot of the bed where It
was lying covered with a sheet. He
had apparently peculiar ideas about
taking the picture of a dead man, for,
instead of arranging his camera and
posing his subject, he turned to the
wardrobe, where hung the clothes the
deceased had last worn, and nervously
searched until he found bunch Of
keys. With these he unlocked drawers,
desks and bureaus, and piled every
scrap of paper he could find upon a
table. His search was hurried and eff
fective. When the last likely receptacle
had been ransacked he opened his
leather case and into its capacious jaws
stuffed his findings, examining them in
to his pockets too, until the last scrap
was disposed of. Then, replacing the
keys, he for the first time raised the
sheet from the dead mans face and took
one long, intense gaze on the waxen
features. "Poor fellow" he muttered,
latter life's fitful fever he sleeps well!'
And now, seizing his leather case, he
quietly unlocks the door, steals silently
downstairs, and, unobserved by any
one, is lost in the hustle of the crowded
streets.
The next excitement for the Eve
sham on that eventful day was the ar
the body, and, shortly afterwards,
fussy official came armed with author
ity to examine and seal the effects of
the deceased.
But the worst trouble of all was Civ
ing testimony at the coroner's court in
the afternoon. Poor Mrs. Evesham had
a sad time of it. Never was coroner
more exacting nor witness more timid.
If she had been tried for her life, she
could hardly have felt her position so
acutely. Then, she could tell them so
little, and her examiner made her feel
at her lack of knowl-
edge and shrugged his shoulders so and
winked so hard at the jury while she
gave her evidence, that he created the
that she was suppressing in
formation.
All she could tell them was that the
deceased gentleman's name was Am
brose Arlington; that he was appar-
emily about thirty-five years of age
certainly not older; that she believed
he followed no profession, but lived on
his means; that he spent most of his
time in his room, only going abroad as
she supposed to his meals or for walk;
that he rarely received letters and never
by any chance a. visitor; that he was
iomiciled in the house when she took
possession of it, and consequently had
given her no references; that he had
retired in his usual health on the pre-
Fious evening; and that she had heard
no more of him until she was sum-
noned by her servant to find him in a
lying condition; that she had at once
sent for physician; that she had never