The Bottineau pioneer. (Bottineau, N.D.) 1885-1895, 1893-06-03
IN. THE FOREST.

door. -
Come with me to the forest" he
said, to Mi. Mordaunt, in some ex-
element. There has been a terri
BILE murder committed there, and 1
want your advice"
Mr.. Mordaunt was a retired law
yer, who had been particularly cele-
brated in criminal cases, and who
spent his summers at the estate he
owned, called Cliffhurst, q few miles
from Berkton.
"Willingly," he said. II confess I
Still take an interest in all difficult
cases."
When they were seated safe in the
carriage Mr.. Gresham said:
IL was not more explicit before the
ladies, because the accused is one
they know-Miss Stray. She has
killed her father!'
"Impossible" cried Mr.. Mordaunt,
in an accent of horror and incre-
dulity.
$50 / said when I first heard of it.
But the proof is unanswerable. She
is now in Berkton jail"
The Locks, as the name implied
were on the canal. There had al,
ways been a small settlement theret
but since the railroad had been bull,
and a station followed by a postotfice,
the hamlet had grown considerably.
Close by was a gap in the South
Mountain, which led to what was
called the forest, a wild stretch of
woodland, from five to ten miles
wide, running between nearly paral-
lei hills and extending for some
thirty miles from northeast to south
west.
In n of the widest parts of the
forest, high upon a spur of the sand
stone hills, lived, or had lived, old
Wilhelm Stray, a usurer, a miser, the
%cruelest of creditors, it was said, and
a tyrant to his family and all under
him. He was supposed, however, to
be the richest man in the county,
and it was his only child who was
now accused of his murder.
cit seems" said the district attor-
ney, ''that his daughter had been
clandestinely meeting a young man,
and that her father, hearing of it,
fell into a great rage, and threatened
to turn her out of doors. There was
nothing against the lover unless it
was his poverty. His father, Colonel
Wolcott, was once member of con-
gress for the adjoining districts; he
himself is a rising young lawyer.
The girl had first met him at the
house of an old schoolmate.
:'She al at Mrs. Collingwood's
boarding school, as perhaps you
know, for stingy as old Stray was he
appears to have wished his only
child to be brought up a lady. What
passed in the interview between
father and daughter is not fully
known. The servant girl overheard
angry words, but could not always
distinguish their purport.
"She is sure, however, that just
before the alteration was over the
father threatened to disinherit the
daughter. Shortly after the, old man
left the house on foot to walk to the
Locks, where he intended to take the
train to Berkton.
almost Immediately Miss Stray
followed. Within twenty minutes a
forgeman going home came on her in
a gap, standing over the dead body
of her father. Her agitation on be-
ing detected was, as he says, conclu-
sive evidence of her guilt.
'But that of course is only opin-
ion. The damning facts are the quar-
rel, an intelligent motive for the
deed, blood on the linen cuff of her
right hand, and the finding of an
oriental dagger, which she had long
used for a paper-cutter, in a thicket
close by, as if flung there. when she
heard the forgeman coming. The
dagger was still wet with the Grim
son stain, by-the-bye, when found"
The two gentlemen first visited the
scene of the murder. There were no
signs Of a struggle, such as both had
expected to find. But Mr.. Gresham
said: ..". ~.
1.-The stroke was too quick and sure
for that, | suppose. The old man
fell and died like an OK stunned by a
single blow" y
but what is this? ?" cried Mi. Nor
daunt.
He stopped as he spoke and picked
up, about two yards from where the
body had lain, a euriously shaped
button with a fragment of green
cloth attached to it. The button lay
just at the edge OF the :thicket, con-
cealed by the oVerhanging laurels.
Here is something that may give
aclue. 1t looks as If the button had
been torn off in . struggle"
..PshaW,7' said the district attorney.
"a mere coincidence. The button
has been thcre for years probably.
Don't you see that it is quite UNI
like any that you over saw before ''
Nevertheless, note down where
we found it
The next place visited was the
house Of the murdered man. The
corpse was lying on the bed, but with
the clothes still on, awaiting the
coroner's jury. "A constable kept
watch TO prevent any interference
until the inquest should have met.
He was 90 garrulous - Dogberry
himself.
.I'l take my sdavy.' that WILL
he said, s.that the gals sweetheart
pat herNpto il The thing stands
ID natur. There's where the dagger
went il, he added, lifting the sheet.
sA single blow seems to have been
sufficient, remarked the District at
torney.
lit was q much stronger one ia my
opinion said Mr.. Mordaunt. after 4
pause, than any girls hand could