Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-12-28
MYSTERY OF A MURDER.
| Peculiar Story of SOmnambuIism and
the Dilemma of the Narrator.

MYSTERY OF A MURDER.
Peculiar Story of SOmna m uIiEm and
the Dilemma of the Narrator.
A Star writer is in receipt of a letter,
duly stamped, bearing the postmark of
Eden. Ill. dated December IS, written on
a typewriter and unsigned. Evidently the
| writer of the letter knows The Star writer,
as the letter will show, but The Star writer
is absolutely at a loss to determine who
the letter writer is. Neither is he sure
that the letter was written by a person in
Eden, Ill, inasmuch as it is easy to mail
a letter at any point, however remote the
writer may be from that point. In any
event, The Star writer will give the letter
for what it is worth, and let it go at that.
II is as follows:
my Dear Friend: You will no doubt be
surprised to receive this letter, and you
will no doubt wonder from whom it comes
and why 1 should have written 1T TO you;
but there are reasons why l should write
as I do, and think the writing of it may
be of assistance TO me in extricating me
from Il painful dilamma. The facts in the
case are as herein stated
about six months ago my office partner,
a young man of unusual ability and char
acter and associated with me as friend
and partner for seven years, visited a town
of considerable Importance in an adjoining
county on business for the firm. He re-
manned there week or ten tdays, attend
ing to the matter so successfully that our
profits in the transaction were in the
neighborhood of 5000 He was stopping
at the best hotel in the town. which at the
time was full of guests, owing to an influx
of visitors attending fair or convention
or something of the kind. and on the third
night of his stay a man was murdered in
his bed in a room on the third floor, my
partner occupying room on the floor be-
low.
1.-The murdered man had evidently been
Smothered to death or choked, and ap-
parently for the purpose of robbery, for
nothing of value was found in the ROOM
The door of the room was unlocked, but it
w"e evident that the murderer had come in
through a window opening on to she'd
from the roof of which a ladder reached
to the ground at the rear distance Of
only a few feet, as the hotel was situated
on sloplng ground. The night was warm
and the window was up, thus inviting the
marauder to his ugly work. OF course
there was great excitement in the hotel
and in the entire town. and the police
made the most diligent efforts to find some
clue upon which to act, but their efforts
were entirely futile and beyond one or
| two suspicious circumstances and deten-
ton Of one or two suspects. nothing could
be done, and the affair is now merely wait
ing its own solution unless by a strange
fatality, or whatever you may call 1t,
am in possession of the true facts in the
case.
Among the most active in the search for
the murderer was my partner. that kind
of work being in our line. and my partner
being one of the most skillful in such work
that have ever known, and / have known
them all. Since the murder he has been
devoting some of his spare time to unrav-
cling the case, but entirely on the quiet,
and recently he has been giving his nights
to 1t. Ten days ago when l retired on Mon
day night at H. I left him porting over
diagram of the hotel floor with all the
points of importance marked in red ink
At ! o'clock 1 was awakened by noise
in my partners room, which adjoins mine
and called to him.
Receiving no answer to several calls, I
went in to see what was wrong and found
him on his hands and knees in his bed
clutching the bolster under him and ap-
parently choking the life out of 1t. 1t was
so ludicrous that l fairly shouted. but he
kept on at his work, and then 1t occurred
to me that he was asleep. l soon found
that he was, and, after considerable shak-
ing. l got him awake. Then We both had
a laugh over 1t, and 1 made him go to bed
after a lecture on nerves and the nervous
system and the necessity Of proper rest
Two nights later he was doing the same
thing again, and after the third time
gave him a dose of bromide and sent him
to he'd before 1 retired.
Three tights ago he went to bed before
did, and he was snoring peacefully when
l turned in. 1t was well, too, for We had
received two important commissions, and
we needed all the strength We had to carry
them to a successful finish At or about 3
o'clock l was awakened by heavy weight,
as l supposed. falling on me, and thought
I was dreaming. but in an instant I knew
that somebody at my throat and that
had some fighting to do or l would be a
dead mar. 1t was as dark as pitch in the
room, and l had no idea who my asSailant
was but I did know he had me at a great
disadvantage, and the first thing did was
to twist my throat out of his clutches and
yell for Tom, my partner.
A,-1 hon a r-ntl ann frra hive
times, and then suddenly the hands. feel
ing for my throat, relaxed, and right over
me Toms voice, stammering and half
awake, came with: "Wh-wh-wh-what do
you want? Is that you, Fred? What's the
matter?" and then he laughed and began
swearing at himself like pirate, and went
back to his own bed and 1 heard him
snoring within ten minutes. But there
some tall thinking. And the conclusion of
it WAS and still is that my partner is on the
chase for himself in that hotel killing. I'm
sure he killed that man in his sleep, and
killed him because, 1t happened, the
doors of the other rooms were locked, and
he simply wandered into the first room he
could get into. I know 1t. but 1 cannot tell
him my suspicious. and it would do no
of it, and there I am. Now, what would
you do? The law can't send him to the
gallows. the penitentiary or the lunatic
asylum, for he has committed no crime
and I'll swear he isn't crazy So what is
to be done?
Yours in grave doubt"
The Star writer is no expert in matters
of this kind. but as a suggestion he would
suggest that this peculiar somnambulist
have time lock put on his bedroom door
set to open at 8 am, when everybody in
the house is up and able to defend him.
self.
1T WAS AN OFFSET.