Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1891-06-12

amlned again the contents of his pockets.
There were eight dollars in money, two
or three letters addressed to Burton
Fairfax, Esq, of Poughkeepsie, couple
of receipted bills, and nothing else--ex-
cept a cutting from newspaper, headed
"Some Developments of the Trent Muir
der" which Keppel proceeded to read
with interest. It's date was apparently
Of tho day previous:
"The will of the late Harry Trent was
discovered yesterday in package Of
documents left by him in a bureau
drawer at the Bellevue hotel, in Phila-
delphia. He spent the night of February
twenty second last at this place, and
seems to have forgotten to take the docu-
ments away with him. The will is dated
February twenty, eighteen hundred and
seventy, and is very short, devising all
his property real and personal, to my
wife, Sarah Althea Trent 1t is proper
ly signed and attested. This will be Of
interest 80 those who ventured to express
doubts as to the genuineuess of the mar
rage announced in court last Tuesday
by Mrs. Trent--until then known az
Mrs. Sallie Matchin. Mr.. Trent at all
events appears to have shared her opin-
ion regarding its validity. The other
documents in the package were not Of
al important character.
at will be noticed that no provision is
made in the will for Mrs. Raven and her
daughter Olympia, who are understood
to have been distantly related to the de-
ceased, and to have been receiving from
him an annual stipend of some eight
thousand dollars. This fact will proba-
bly, occasion some comment, as it was
intim0ted at the late trial that Mr.. Trent
had proposed to make Miss Raven his
wife. Possibly the desire that he should
make such proposal was father to the
statement that he had done so. His will
seems to show not only the baselessness
of the assertion, but that for some rea-
son or other Mr.. Trent intended in tho
future to let these two ladies take care
of themselves 1t is to be hoped that
they possess independent resources.
In Mr. Trent's breast pocket at the
time Of his death was found a letter
written in cipher, the purport Of which
3
at the trial, as the prosecution was not
OF the opinion that it could throw any
light on the case. 1t Is now published,
however, in the hope that some cipher
expert may be able to elucidate it, and
thus, perhaps, furnish an explanation Of
some of the mysterious circumstances
that yet surround Mr. Trents tragic end.
The letter is as follows:
"'Slmpi f, npi. c q gnl F. pill pink
oghi mlhg npi. E. mlzpi c, Klmh T, pion
/ qolg G. qkin +, hqon qolg B Qllng f.
olmh qolg G mhgq omgk qlln B hkq F.
hnpq ngmo mioq S lmpi. f, oily Qolg
nlqg kgli kgli G lnho. +, Mogl. 9 okig
phno S. lmni G. omgk. f Hmm F. mlgi
c hqgi b. hiq S. pkol. G q knp olInp F,
hlkp hnio b. Mo. f, dim G ngil nixon S.
l1npi c ngil +. hqon MISC f, qopg q. &c
l G iko F. OPT @. pghq mAqn B qslp c
mkqn F. ongl oplln Z hqpm f, oinq I
| lnig F, hkom b imq c. ngoi. f. mpqn,
knh. OH hgo f. imqg E lipg f. hnoi [
mkpi f, hign iklnn'
The paper on which this curious eff
fusion is written appears to be Of French
manufacture"
Such was the newspaper article, some
passages Of which moved keppel pain
fully. Olympia, it seemed, would be re-
/ duced to want just at the time when he
/ was powerless to render her any assist
ance. The situation greatly perplexed
! him; for Harry Trent had told him with
his own lips that he intended reservine
Olympia for himself, and he had given
it out publicly that Mrs. and Miss Raver
We're to live with him in his new house
yet he was married to Sally Matchin at
that very time, and five days before haL
executed will cutting off Olympia with
out even the proverbial shilling. There
was something odd about this; it do
manded investigation. The first thing
to be done was to find out the real muir
derer of Harry Trent; the remainder OF
the mystery would probably resolve itself
But who would find the murderer out
Obviously, no one would concern himself
about the matter unless Keppel himself
did, and certainly he was in no position
to enter upon such quest at present
He could only promise himself that he
would never forget the purpose to do so
nor rest until it had been accomplished
As for the cipher, although Keppel wal
somewhat of au adept at cryptic writing
he soon perceived that here was prob
lem out Of the common run. 1t did no
respond to the usual tests, Thus, of tn,
seventeen different characters Comma.
and periods included) that composed it
three occurred six times or less, seven
from twelve TO twenty-nine times
and seven from thirty to forty times
Plainly, therefore, they could not bt
signs answering to letters Of the alphabet
Again, the cipher consisted of groups d
four characters (neither more nor less
and Of single capitals, OF the four char
acter ombinations-over sixty in sil--
only seven occurred more than once il
the course of the composition. OF tn,
separate capitals f occurred twenty-five
times, & seventeen times, b six, ) five
and Il four times. All this was very
puzzling, and was to be calculated, If a
all, only after prolonged study, of which
Keppels brain, at that juncture, was fal
from being capable, Meanwhile thu
hOusemaid knocked at the door and sum