The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-10-07


seen 70 pass the night of the murder. and
was again rewarded by another clew. A
nelghDOrlng farmer informed him that a
ndtIeSS colller on strike and on tram.
nao eeen found by him covering near the
nreooX OF his thrashing machine engine
pIooaoly Tor warmth-that very night
ana al about an hour or so after the time
calculated for the murder.
Had he broken nose?" asked BAR
rett, eagerly.
Nay, aw couldn't tell whe'er he had
or no. II wor on the edge o. dark. tina
Rnaws, an he himself wor as dark as n
Niger. A man mud as wael wear man
as d olacK lace an 20 can only tell one
SoIiIef lro' another as yo' can tell one
lump o. coal fro another-by its si1e.'
was there any coal near the engine2n
asked Barrett sharply.
Ay, there wor heap O. slack for fir
ing I engine next day"
BY George." cried Barrett. turning TO
tIG constable who accompanied him.
ne an old 'un He is that He black
eueu MS lace with the slack, both as
mask and to pass for collier driven on
tramp by the strike! Where did he make
Ior after you turned him out?"
Nay, aw ne'er turned him out, puir
chap He said he had tramped fro Wales.
an wor balm for Liverpool to seek wark,
ms WIFE an children he'd left in Wales,
fair clemmed, he said"
"Clemmed! % asked Barrett of the CON-
stable. '''o e0"-
Starved, that is" he replied.
he an old 'un!' reiterated the Lon
don detective, with renewed and in
creased admiration. Did he talk like
collier2n
Nay, he talked outlandish. He wor
moan Lancashire, tina knaws."
"Ay, know that well enough. Did he
spend the night here"
Nay; he wor goan when ay coined abt
WI some vittles to gil him"
Having ascertained by farther ques-
tlonlug that the supposed tramp was
ABOUT the Australians hight and age and
was fairly dressed, as far as the fading
ilght allowed the farmer to see. Barrett
informed him of his suspicion, which was
now almost certainty, of the identity
OF the trespasser with the murderer of
| Spaight.
Two hundred pahnds! By gum" ex-
claimed the farmer, and stood staring
and blinking with open mouth, wide
eyes and woebegOne visage, rooted to the
spot long after the detectives he'd disap-
peared round a turn in the road
lies still tramping the country as a
collier on strike,n pronounced Barrett
confidently to the local detective tits
the very best disguise of his broken nose
and scarredcheek he could possibly assume
and he'll not drop it till the hue and cry
Is over. We've only to wire TO all stations
TO look out for tramping collier with a
broken nose and SCARED right cheek, and
we shall have him within a week"
Hurrying headlOng back to Manchester
they set the wires working and within less
than an hour from their discovery of the
clew every police station in the kingdom
was on the qui vive to follow it. But, as
no police officer was ever more on the
qui vive for clew than press man for
news of a clew, need hardly say that
every evening London paper of the day
following contained three or four tele-
grams announcing Barrett's discovery of
an important clew over and over again in
slightly varying forms of words
This news famed into renewed flames
the smolderlng interest and discussion in
the Burleigh club, where the colonel
sneered at it, Skinner questioned it,
Marsden reloiced over it, while Grifiths
(who had feminine idea that he had
special interest in the matter because his
cousin was on the eve of sailing for Aus
tralia) wavered feebly between these con-
ttlctlng views. For the two days follow
ing the papers were blank, but on the
evening of the Sd the fifth edition of the
Hesperus was sold in tens of thousands by
the telegram from its alert Manchester
correspondent: Arrest of Brough in a
Great was the exultation of Marsden.
who stood to win tidy sum by the CON
viction Of the Australian for the murder;
but Skinner, who pronounced the tee-
gram bogus, had his innings two hours
later when the Bellman came out with
the Disappointing news:
The man arrested this morning In a farm
house near Manchester under suspicion of
being Brough, the Australian, who is wanted
for the murder under atrOctous cite instances
OF the late William Spaight, turns OUT to be
a welsh collier named owen Jones, on his
way home from Liverpool, whittier he had
tramped in a vain search foc work, of which
the coal strike at home had deprived him.
How the police came to make such an tncon-
ceivaby stupid blunder remains to be ex-
planned. Jones had not a single one of those
marks of the identification of which the pub
lie have heard so much AID so often-neither
a cast in his eye nor a scar on his cheek, nor
broken nose. If no other explanation of
the blunder is forthcoming, out the gross
stupidity and inaptitude Of the local police
even when reinforced by the sagacity of the
aStute MIR. Barrett. then the escape OF so
marked man as Brotgh becomes at last m
t6lligtbe.
The only explanation forthcoming was
the farmer, who had supplied Barrett
with his clew, sent a special messenger to
the police station that morning ANNOUNCE
ing that BrOugh was in his house. and
would be detained there till officers ar
rived TO arrest him. The officers on their
arrival found 4 man as little like the Aus
tralian as possible, who. however, was
certainly the hatiess collier who had
stopped in the farmers premises for rest
and warmth on the night of the murder.
He explained his being hatless by his
having hidden some potatoes he mad stolen
and roasted on the embers of the engine
fire in his hat when he heard the farmer
approach.
Next day all England was laughing at
the willy Barrett's mares nest, but as
they laugh who win, nobody found the
detectives failure so entertaining as
Skinner, who stood to pocket fair sum
by the escape of the murderer But Skin
ner's laugh died out later on when Crit
fths staggered into the club and called
for brandy.
I'm not drunk and I've not imagined
it. saw him as plain as see you there"
As the lad was evidently neither drunk
nor dreaming, they waited breathlessly
for his tale. He said he had just been to
the docks to see his cousin on board the
Australian liner Tasmania. Having gone
with him on board and stayed to see his
quarters and have a farewell talk, he
Quilted the ship only at the last bell. just
as he was leaving it Spaight absolutely
rushed by him on board by the same
He had no more doubt of its
being Spaight or his ghost than he had of
his own existence. He shouted after him
twice, "Spaightr and he turned round
but instantly aVerted his