The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1894-01-06
. force that he could not have applied


himself. No weapon Of the sort
speak of was found about the house
In short, IL Is certain that Talbot
could not have killed himself; he was
murdered
"'Take care what you are sayingr
said Bacarac.
"'Wait till you hear me through
said I. There was something peculiar
about Mrs. Talbot's corpse, too
"'Ahr said Bacarac.
"Yes, there was an incision on the
left side, just below the breast. 1t was
made by surgeon, and with just such
an instrument as that which killed
Talbot If had been going to dissect
the body with view to finding out the
condition Of the heart, I should have
made the cut right there, and In pre-
cisely that way. But whoever the SUR
geon In this case was, his dissection
never got beyond that first incision
For some reason, he stopped right
there. Maybe he was sudden inter-
rupted. Now it's an interesting ques-
ton who interrupted him? Whoever IL
was he never spoke of it afterward. II
IL was some confidant of his own, OF
course the dissection would have pro-
ceeded. If 1t was 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 tho
body OF Talbot himself. The inference
is, that 1t 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 Talbots, where they
would ultimately be found, and the in
ference drawn that was actually
adopted at the inquest. 1t all seems
reasonable 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. 1t must be one of them,
| no doubt All we have to do is to find
out what each one of them was doing,
or where he was, on the night of the
murder; then take the one whose
,,,1,< 1,,, E., NJ
counted for, and investigate all his cir
cumstanccs and conduct on or about
that time, until we get the evidence to
convict him. Do you agree with me?'
"'You are very Ingenious said the
doctor, in husky sort of voice. I
am really not competent to aid you
"'You see, you took everything for
granted. And then you went off to
see that patient next morning and
were gone two or three days. BY the
way, you must have travelled by a
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 you? It's an odd coinci-
dence, but they were wrapped up in a
bit Of the same sort OF black cambria
that was used to cover the body of Mira.
Talbot. And not only that, but
WELL" continued my poetical-lools.
ing friend, ''poor Bacarac broke down
at that point He couldn't hold out
any longer. 1t was rather sorry spec.
tacle, and 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 remained q
puzzle to me, and they relieved him ot
much of the odium of the deed, too.
"He had been deeply interested in
the case and in the WON an herself, as
we'll; and, though he had never done
anything overtly 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 ma.
ture of her disease, which was in some
respects an almost unique complica
ton; and the idea occurred 20 him tc
get the body and investigate it. He
was prompted to do it, however, only
partly by his scientific curiosity; he hao
a 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. Talbot wa.
dogging him all the while. He got hel
into his worlsroom, prepared her fol
the table and had begun work, wher
he was nearly stunned by tremen.
dous blow on the back of the head. HI
turned and ther. was Talbot, with ;
club in his hand and foaming ut the
mouth. He had the club up and made
rush for him; there was no question
but he meant to kill him. Bacarac had
in his hand the instrument of dissec
ton; he thrust it out instinctively a!
the other came on, at the same time
dodging the downcoming blow. The
point went through Talbots heart anc
he fell dead. That's the story" addet
my friend, getting to his feet as the
train drew into the station.