The Wichita daily eagle., 1894-01-04

there Maybe he was suddenly inter-
rupted. Now it's an interesting ques-
ton who interrupted him? Whoever it
was he never spoke of it afterward. If
it was some confdant of his own, of
course the dissection would have pro-
ceeded If it was a stranger, he would
have told of it-provided he was alive
to tell But if he were murdered in
order to prevent his telling, where is
the murdered body? No one is missing
in this town: and there has been only
one body found that could have been
murdered. and that happens to be the
body of Talbot himself. The inference
is, that it was he who broke in upon
this surgeon in the midst of his work.
He may have suspected something. you
see, and followed him up. And that
would also account for the otherwise
inexplicable fact that both the bodies
were found in Talbot's house. For.
after numbering Talbot, it would occur
to the surgeon that the best way out of
the scrape for him would be to take
both corpses out OF his own house and
leave them at Talbot's, where they
would ultimately be found, and the In
ference drawn that was actually
adopted at the inquest 1t all seems
reasonab BILE enough SO far, doesn't it?
Now the next thing to determine is.
who could have been the surgeon who
dug Up the body, began the dissection.
was interrupted by Talbot and killed
him to save exposure. There are three
medical men in town. believe, besides
you and me. It must be ono of them,
no doubt All we have to do is to find
or where he was, On the night of the
murder; then tGke the one whose
whereabouts are not satisfactorily &C.
counted for, and investigate all his cir.
cumstances and conduct on or about
that time. until we get tho evidence to
convict Eim. Do you agree with me"
"'You are very Ingenious said the
doctor. in husky sort of voice. J
am really not competent to aid YOU
"'You see, you took everything for
granted And thsn you went of to
see that patient next morning and
were gone two or three days. BY the
way, you must have travelled by Q
roundabout route to get to the place
you said you were gong to; the ticket
you bought at the station would have
carried you almost in the opposite di.
rection. 1t must have been an impor.
tant case, too, if one could judge by
the size of the valise you had with you;
it was big enough to hold lady's
dress. Speaking of that, doctor, do
you recollect some weeks ago sending
me = parcel Of books that asked to
borrow of you7 It's an odd coinci-
denOe, but they were wrapped up in .
bit Of the same sort of black cambric
that was used to cover the body OF MrA
Talbot And not only that, but
"Well," continued my poetical-look.
ing friend, poor Bacarac broke down
at that point He couldn't hold out
any longer. 1t was a rather sorry spec.
tacle. and l was really sorry for him.
had all the evidence to finish him, had
he held out; but believe, in the midst
of his agony and collapse. he was more
relieved than otherwise to confess.
And he explained, in his confession.
one or two points that had remain ed
puzzle to me, aud they relieved him OF
much of the odium of the deed, too
HE had been deeply interested in
the case ard in the woman herself, az
we'll; and, though he had never done
anything ovcrtly wrong, he had shown
enough of his feeling to make Talbot q
bit suspicious Of him. When she died,
he was still in doubt as to the real na-
ture of her disease. which was in some
respects sn almost unique complica.
ton; and the idea occurred to him to
get the body and investigate it. BE
was prompted to do it, however, only
partly by his scientific curiosity; he had
q morbid craving to have in his pos.
session all that was left of the woman
he had loved. too. He went out alone.
dug her up with his own hands, filled
in the grave and brought her home in
his wagon without discovery-as he
thought But. in fact, Tai bot was
dogging him all the while. He got her
into his workroom, prepared her for
the table and had begun work. when
he was nearly stunned by tremen-
dous blow on the back OF the head. He
turned and there was Talbot, with q
club in his hand and foaming at the
mouth He had the club up and made
a rush for him; there was no question
but he meant to kill him. Bacarac had
IA his hand the instrument Of dissec.
,tion; he thrust it out iustinctively as
the other came on, at the same time
lodging the downcoming blow. The
point went through Talbots heart and
he fell dead. That's the story" added
my friend. getting to his feet as tho
train drew into the station.
But what did you do?" asked.
''Well, didn't want to take the re-
sponsibility Of hanging him; on the
whole, l didn't think he deserved it
But made him write and sign COM
plete confession. which l kept, to be
used or not, as 1 might determine ]
never used it. He died a month ago;
and yon are the first man to know the
facts in the case. have destroyed the
written confession; and, as began by
sayin& the incident taught me what
was really good for. and got to be-
come what1 am now Good morniag>"
Italian Hawthorne. il Oass . We
Course ot tha Colorado River.
Lieut. Robertson. q. S. A. recently
returned to Los Angeles after making