The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1894-11-10
MARKED IN BLOOD.

~ tS
preparing to go home, it being s a. ~.
and his night duty over, when he was
stopped by an elderly woman, who rush
ed into the room and cried:
"Oh, do send some one, sir, to lis
Wernham road. My poor old masters
been cruelty murdered. He's lying il
his room in q pool of blood like a river.
1t must have been done in the night.
Do come at once, sir"
On the way to Wernham road the in.
spector questioned the h~ousekeeper.
WHO sleeps in the house besides
yourself and the old gentleman?'' be
asked.
mot o blessed soul, sir, cried Mrs.
Masters. "Only me and my poor old
master. SIGH a nice, regular man as he
was, comm 'ome every night to is tea
and always in bed by 10 O'Clock. Oh,
it's a cruel thing!"
Did any one visit him last night
that you know OFF" asked the inspector.
Not that I know of, sir, but to tell
you the truth I was in bed myself early
last night, 'avin a bad attack of 'ead.
aSdS- 4AU ONu SSLtlcLldu always ACT
'imself in with lis latchkey, as he
nat 'rally would. He come to bed after
/ was asleep, for I never card i'm come
in.
"His supper was always laid U
ready for i'm in the dinin room, and he
wouldn't want no waitin on, so there
was nothin wrong in my bein off to bed
as / did, 'avin, as I said, a bad 'ead.
ache and bein very subject to sick cad,
aches, which, as you may know, sir,
are very unpleasant, to say the least Of
them, and"-
WAS the supper eaten?' said the in
spector, in~terrupting the woman's elo-
quence.
We'll, sir, to say the truth, I've not
thought of lookin. Directly I see i'm
a-lyin there / off to the station as 'ard
as l can go. can't sleep in the place
tonight. That l can't"
By this time they had reached the
house and went up stairs. The inspector
and his man went in and locked the
door behind them. A knock was heard
at the door.
Can I come in?'' said Mrs. Masters.
Certainly" replied the inspector.
open the door, Jenkins We shall
want her no doubt"
Poor, dear mani" cried the lady
again when she saw the body of the
old man. ""The monsters!'' She burst
into tears.
"You had better go for q surgeon -
said Mr.. Bevis to the constable. He
ought to see the body as soon as posi-
BILE, as we shall want his report ON it. -
While the man was gone the in
spector, accompanied by Mrs. Masters,
visited every room in the house. Every
thing was orderly and untouched.
The assassin must have left the
place by the ordinary means Of egress,
for all the windows were locked. The
front door, Mrs. Masters told the in
spector, would no doubt have been IN
bolted in any case, for Mn. Mayne cher
master, the man who lay dead never
bolted it If he let himself in, leaving
her to do SO.
They reached the dining room and
found that the supper had been eaten.
The bottle of ale was finished, there re-
naming only a small portion in the
tumbler. The old man had evidently
made a hearty meal and gone to his
room.
The constable returned in half an
hour with a divisional surgeon, Mr..
Brooks. That gentleman made a minute
examination of the corpse and said that
the cause of death was a knife wound
IN cYNa ~ tho uninS - 49, ILs-l
The old nan must have bled to death,
and the process of dying must have been
prolonged. He should have had an op-
portunity Of calling for help. Mrs. Mas
tiers was certain, however, that he. had
not done SO.
I'm a light sleeper, gentlemen, -
che said, addressing the three men,
land h slightest thing wakes me. If
he'd called out at the door, Unjust have
card I'M. It's a certainty"
Quite So" said the surgeon. 81
have no doubt, my good woman, that
you are not at all to blame, but we
shall, Of course, 60 further into the
thing at the inquest. At present there
seems nothing to show by whose hand
the old man died" Z
What's that book doing there?'' said
the inspector abruptly, pointing to a
dictionary which lay close to the old
man. II was not beside him, but on q
chair just above his head.
"A dictionary apparently. - said the
surgeon, glancing at il. by Jovei,
ne cried suddenly as he turned over the
leaves Whats this? Every now and
then i come to d word against which
there ID . mark I'm blood. This il
strange
is iS blood or red ink, STRIP asked
lArs. Masters. II know my poor old
master used to study a good deal, and
Its inst possible he's been markir
words down In that book which hi
might want n look up again"
"Thsre's no mistaking-it's blood, :