Oxford eagle. (Oxford, Lafayette Co., Miss.) 1876-current, 1891-05-28

grow larger. While the thick beau that
covered The face Of this singular maz
kept twi,ching. as II every hair was in
stinct with life
Give me time he said. solemnly,
when had finished. land I will solve
this mystery. In few days may be
able 70 do it-perhaps not for a week
left him and went on deck Tom
was there, looking 80 downcast and
f0rlorn that l resolved 10 acquaint him
with the presence Of the detective, and
tell him what h. had said and 50. per
haps, brighten him up little.
dill ~. but my words had an efff.t
had not expected Rejecting a mo-
ulent. he cried out. Father. I believe
that man Is n humbug. But. whether
he b., detective or not. now suspect
that he Is thief and murderer; that
he knew % Miss Ncrwin'> having that
5000 bond. and that. in order % los
se>~ him self % it, he has killed her and
thrown her body overheard
stared at him in amazemcnt, and
told him feared that his grief had lis
turbed his reason How was it Psssi-
BILE. asked him, that the man cc-iid
have got th. body overheard without our
knowing it,
/ He could have choleed her to il ath,
carried her to one ~ the open cabin
Windows and dropped her through
that. he replied
Impossible answered. without
the splash being overheard by the man
a. The wheel. or hy some one on deck
Besides. doubt IL he could have
I squcszrd the body through either ot
our cabin windows. which. you know.
are very small
Tom. however, seemed 10 think it
could have been done. owing To- Miss
Nervin being 50 slender. and. in spite
Of all my efforts. could not entirely
rid BIZ mind Of that horrible idea
+ DAYS passed. for we had head ~ nds
which kept Us off our course, but a
yet the detective had nothing 10 tell
me. though he said he soon might b.,
able to explain the whole affair.
\ strange affair enough. Never ~
fore had had Such an experience. OF
anything approaching 20 il. in ANY
craft commanded The passengers
were equally puzzled: it was the TAX
all aboard the ship. As for Tom, he
grew paler. thinner. wilder every day.
1T last. one afternoon. when we had
entered ST George's channel he came
up TO me. and said in a husky voice:
1T is as thought, Quick, have
something to show you, Make no
noise,
| followed him. We both wore light
slippers, and without noise entered the
room Miss Merwiu had occupied He
pointed to erevice. which he had
evidently made in the partition, and
looking through il saw the detective,
in the next apartment kneeling by his
open carpet bag. from which now
prutruded the identical buslSins- i
could not mistake thsm-which Mis-,
Nerwin had worn. Spread out before
him. he held a i've thousand dollar
bond evidently the one which my son
had given the young lady.
You see he whispered Was |
not right2 He has murdered her
Low as the whisper was. the man
evidently heard IT, for he pushed the
buslcins and after them the bond.
hastily down into the bag. which he
then closed
Before I could hinder him, Tom
rushed out and threw himself against
the detective door with force which
broiSc the lock- and admitted him into
tho room He leN at the man. clutched
him and shook him when the fellow
drew 4 dirk. bu. in his futile struggles
70 use it-for held his wrists and soon
disarmed hIm-hiS beard fell off. show
Inglt was a false one, and at the sam.
time his shirt bosom was torn awavabout
I the throat Then both Tom and ut
tered simultaneous cry of surprise on
I perceiving that thi, pretended detective
was a woman over thirtv-fve years "a
age-or. in other words. It was Miss
Merwin, herself deprived of the cos
metics and other appliances which had.
while in the natural attire of her sex.
made her look 50 much younger than
she was.
I The whole truth broke upon me at
once This woman. | suspected. was in
reality Mary Youngsou. the mur,lcresS.
+ for her face and height now answered
to the description had of her; and we
found, while looking for my sons bond
in her earpet-hag. some articles bearing
her name and others marked with that
of her victim. In fact. afterward.
while I'll, she confessed to being Mary
+ loungson.
Her motive in Disgusting herself was
apparent. She had feared. after dis
covered the strange shortening of her
stature. that might suspect who She
really was, and, besides. the ruse
would. She thought enable her the bet
ter to escape from Tom and get of
with his $500. The mystery of her
having. n Miss Merwin. looked 50 much
taller than she was, we found explained
BY her buslSins. which proved like those
sometimes worn by actors on the stare.
to be provided with very thick cork
s"ies, to give an appearance of eleva-
tion to the stature.
On the night she 50 astonished me by
the difference in her height. she had. in
her hurry and alarm. come up in her
slippers. having forgotten to put on her
buSkinS.
IL Is hardly necessary TO say that the
detectives warrant she had shown me
was forged, written by herself: nor
scarcely need it be mentioned that Tom
was now Disguised with this woman
AMI entirely cured of his infatuation.
subsequently she died of malignant
fever while being conveyed a prisoner
PACK TO Engtand-thus escaping the
punishment she so richly merited for
her odious crime. although there were
not wanting those who stoutIy main