The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1895-08-11
CHAPTER 1.-THE KNOT OF RIB

BON
think 7 rz.szf have tainted away; for
presently / found myself upon the floor
and for minute / could not remeber
what had happened. Then j remembered
that | had seen my fathers murdered
body on the bed: and an awful, unrea-
soufug terror seized me. j must lock
all the doors quick I thought. quick. or
the murderer will co1e back" ] tried
to get up. hat could not stand i sank
down again. / had TO crawl out or the
rom on my hands and knees.
I went first 20 the front door. IL was
locked with a key and a bolt. j went
next 10 the north door. and that was
locked with key and bolt. / went TO
the north shed door. and that was bolted.
Then 1 went TO the littie-used east door
in the shed, beside which the cat has
her little passaeeway, and that was las
tened with an iron hook. 1t has no
latch.
The whole house was fastened on the
inside The thought struck me like an
lev hand. 1.-THE murderer is In this
houser' I rose 10 my feet then, / I'M
hooked that door aud ran out of the house
and out of the yard. as for my life
took the road TO the village. The nrst
house. where Phoebe Dole and Maria
Woods live. is across a wide field from
ours I did not intend to stop there, for
they were only women and could do MOTH
ing; but seeing Phoebe looking out or the
window ran into the yard. She opened
the window.
What is it?" said she. What is the
matter Sarah Fairbanks?
Maria Woods came and leaned over her
shoulder. Her face locked almost as
white as her white hair, and her blue eyes
were dilated. My face must have irignt-
ened her.
"Father-father is murdered in his bed"
said.
There was scream. and Maria Woods
face disappeared from over Phoebe Dole's
shoulder-she had tainted i don't know
whether Phoebe looked paler-she Is al
WAYS very paie-but / saw in her black
eyes look / shall never forget, / think
she began to suspect me at that moment
Phoebe glanced back at Maria, but she
asked me another question. Has he had
words with ANYBODY said she.
.Only with Rufus,' said. but Rufus
is gone" Phoebe turned away from the
window to attend to Maria. and l ran on
TO the village.
A hundred people can testify what did
Mexican tell how i called for the dec
tor and the deputy sheriff: how l vent
back to my own home with the horror
stricken crowd: how they focked in and
locked at poor father-but only the DOC
tor touched him. very carefully. TO see IL
he were quite dead; how the coroner
came, and all the rest.
The pistol was in the bed beside father,
but IL had not been tired; the charge was
still in the barrel. 1t was blooc-stained.
and there was one bruise on fathers
head which might have been inflicted ly
the pistol, used as a club. But the wound
which caused his death was in his breast,
andmade evidently by some cutting instru-
ment, though the cut was not a clean one;
the weapon must have been duh.
They searched the house, lest the muir
derer should be hidden away. l heard
Rufus Benefits name whispered by ale
and another. Everybody seemed to know
that he and father had had wor1s the
i.eht before; / could not understand how,
because had told nobody except Phoebe
Dole. who had had no time to spread The
news, and / was sure that no one else had
spoken of 1t.
They looked in the closet where my
green silk dress hung. and pushed IL
aside. to be sure nobody was concealed
behind Ii, but they did not notice any
thing wrong with ii. 1t was dark in the
closet. and, besides. they did not look for
anything like that until later.
All these people-the deputy sheriff.
AMI afterwards the high sheriff and other
out-of-town officers for whom they had
sent. and the neighbors-all hunted their
own suspicion. and that was Rufus Ben
nett. All believed that he had come back
and killed my father. They fitted all the
facts TO that belief. They made him do
the deed with long. slender screwdriv-
err which he had recently borrowed from
one of the neighbors and had not re-
turned. They made his fingermarks,
which were still on my fathers throat.
fit the red prints on the sitting room
door. They made sure that he had re-
turned and stolen into the house by tho
east door, while father and l sat on
the doorstepS the evening before; that
he had hidden himself away, perhaps in
that very closet where my dress hung,
and afterwards stolen out and killed my
father and then escaped.
They were not shaken when I told them
that every door was bolted and barred
that morning. They themselves found all
the windows fastened down. except few
which were open on account of the heat,
and even these last were raised only the
width OF a sash. and fastened with
sticks. so that they could be raised no
higher. Father was very cautious about
fastening the house, for he sometimes
had considerable sums of money by him.
The officers saw all these difficulties in
the way. but they fitted them somehow
10 their theory, and two deputy sheriffs
were at once sent 10 apprehend Rufus.
They had not begun TO suspect me then,
and not the slightest watch was kept on
my movements. The neighbors were very
kind. and did everything to help me, re-
leying me altogether OF all those last Of
nces-in this case much sadder than usual.
An inquest was held, and / told freely
all knew, except about the blood stains
on my dress. i hardly knew why / kept
that back. J had no feeling then that /
might have done the deed myself, and 1
could not bear TO convict myself. if ] was
innocent
Two OF the neighbors. Mrs. Holmes and
Mrs. Adams. remained with me all that
day. Toward evening, when there were
very few in the house. they went into the
psrlor TO Put il In order for the funeral.
and / sat down alone in the kitchen. AS
] sat there BY the window I thought of
my green silk dress, and wondered IL the
stains were out. ] went TO the closet and
brought the dress out 10 the light. The
spots and streaks had almost disappeared.
! took the dress out in the shed and
II