The Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Or.) 1862-1899, 1895-10-24

toward a small town. Thither he
directed his steps, but fingered on the
outskirts for an hour or two until the
townspeople should be awake. Finally
he heard train coming, and managed
to reach the station at the same time
that the engine drew up at the platform.
Then, as it steamed away again, he
walked into the town, as if just arrived
from New York, and seeing plain but
comfortable looking inn near at hand,
he entered and asked for room and
some breakfast.
While his eggs and coffee were being
boiled he locked himself into his room
to think over his situation. But the
future was so vague that he was able to
come to no conclusion. AS soon as his
money should be gone he would be at
the mercy of circumstances. He ex
amined again the contents of his pockets.
There were eight dollars in money, two
or three letters addressed to Burton
Fairfax, ESQ.,, of Poughkeepsie. couple
of receipted bills, and nothing else-ex-
cept a cutting from a newspaper, headed
''Some Developments of the Trent Muir
der" which Keppel proceeded to read
with interest. Its date was apparently
of the day previous:
s'The will of the late Harry Trent was
discovered yesterday in package of
documents left by him in bureau
drawer at the Bellevue hotel, in Phila-
delphia. He spent the night of February
twenty-second last at this place, and
seems to have forgotten to take the docu-
ments away with him. The will is dated
February twenty, eighteen hundred and
seventy, and is very short, devising all
his property, real and personal, to my
wife, Sarah Althea Trent 1t is proper
ly signed and attested. This will be of
interest to those who ventured to express
doubts as to the genuineness of the mar
riage announced in court last Tuesday
by Mrs. Trent-until then known as
Mrs. Sallie Matchin. Mr.. Trent at all
events appears to have shared her opin-
ion regarding its validity. The other
documents in the package were not of
an important character.
1T will be noticed that no provision is
made in the will for Mrs. Raven and her
daughter Olympia, who are understood
to have been distantly related to the de-
C0CtSCu, anu W IldFO OCCH IOCOltlus5 IiOih
him an annual stipend of some eight
thousand dollars This fact will proba-
bly, occasion some comment, as it was
intimated at the late trial that Mr.. Trent
had proposed to make Miss Raven his
wife. Possibly the desire that he should
make such a proposal was father to the
statement that he had done so. His will
seems to show not only the baselessness
of the assertion, but that for some rea-
son or other Mr.. Trent intended in the
future to let these two ladies take care
of themselves. 1t is to be hoped that
they possess independent resources.
''ln Mr.. Trent's breast pocket at the
time of his death was found letter
written in cipher, the purport of which
was not made out. It was not produced
at the trial, as the prosecution was not
of the opinion that it could throw any
light on the case. It is now published,
however, in the hope that some cipher
expert may be able to elucidate it, and
thus, perhaps, furnish an explanation of
some of the mysterious circumstances
that yet surround Mr.. Trent's tragic end.
The letter is as follows:
60 'Slmpi F, npi. c gnl F. pill pink
oghi mlhg npi. E. mkpi G, Klmh F, pion
qolg G. qkin F, hqon qolg B qkng F.
olmh qolg G mhgq omgk qlin B hkq F.
hnpq ngmo mioq s lmpi. F, oilg qolg
nlqg kgli kgH c lnho. F, Mogl. G okiq
phno S. lmni c. omgk. F Hmm F. mlgi
c hqgi B. hiq S. pkol. G q knp olmp F,
hlkp hnio B. Mo- F, Ohm c ngil nixon S.
lmpi G ngil F. hqon MISC F, qopg q. go
G ike F. OPT G. pghq mkqn B qglp C
nixon F. ongl opkn c hqpm F, oinq E
lnig F, hkom B imq G. ngoi. F. mpqn.
knli. OH hgo F. imqg E hpg F. hnoi E
mkpi F, hign iknn.'
1.-The paper on which this curious eff
fusion is written appears to be of French
manufacture"
Such was the newspaper article, some
passages of which moved Keppel pain
fully. Olympia, it seemed, would be re-
duced to want just at the time when he
was powerless to render her any assist
ance. The situation greatly perplexed
him; for Harry Trent had told him with
his own lips that he intended reserving
Olympia for himself, and he had given
it out publicly that Mrs. and Miss Raven
were to live with him in his new house,
yet he was married to Sally Matchin at
| that very time, and five days before had
executed a will cutting off Olympia with
out even the proverbial shilling. There
was something odd about this; it de-
manded investigation. The first thing
to be done was to find out the real mur-
derer of Harry Trent; the remainder Of
the mystery would probably resolve itself.
But who would find the murderer out!
| Obviously, no one would concern himself
about the matter unless Keppel himself
| did, and certainly he was in no position
to enter upon such quest at present.
He could only promise himself that he
would never forget the purpose to do SO,
nor rest until it had been accomplished.
As for the cipher, although Keppel was
somewhat of an adept at cryptic writing,
he soon perceived that here was prob
| lem out of the common run. 1t did not
| respond to the usual tests. Thus, of the
seventeen different characters Commas
and periods included that composed it.
three occurred six times or less, seven
from twelve to twenty-nine times.
and seven from thirty to forty times.
Plainly, therefore, they could not be
signs answering to letters of the alphabet.
Again, the cipher consisted of groups Of
four characters (neither more nor lesD
and of single capitals. Of the four char
| acter combinations-over sixty in all
l