Evening star., 1895-07-20

Ralph to be as innocent as-as l am; and
now let US not speak Of it at all. 1t is too
You may readily. believe" I concluded,
that made no further attempt at con-
Phillips had listened without comment.
II hope you do NOT think it worth while
to examine my nfede," yentured
Mono. think not" he replied. rousing
himself from what seemed to be fit Of
deep abstraction. Mot now. at any rate.
casually-at dinner, perhaps. The next
step will be, Think with your permission.
to look at the body-and the clothes in
which 1t was dressed when found"
rose and led the way into the darkened
bed room where the remains had been laid
upon the couch and. covered with sheet.
l had known enough to insist that they
should not be prepared for burial until the
course, the physician and the local coron er
had been obliged to take off the clothes,
chair
Phillips at once proceeded to open the
blinds. Then, with an even more serious
manner than he had yet shown, he ap-
preached the body and bent down over the
white face.
he queried. do you know whether there
was much blood on it when found?"
There was some blood from the mouth. +"
answered. II would not permit them to
do more than wipe 1t away with hand
kerchef."
But do you know that no water was
used before You came?" he pursued.
am very sure of it." answered. THE
nefghbor who discovered my brother rushed
at once to the house, where was at break
fast at the time. Within five minutes Of
the discovery I was on the spot. The body
lay on its back; and l noticed that two
slender streams of blood had run from the
corners of the mouth and formed a small
congealed or rather caked pool beneath the
neck.
Phillips took magnifying glass from his
pocket and carefully examined the wound
in the forehead. A flash OF intuition as to
the line Of his investigation came over me.
II think nothing he said shortly:
Strengthening up. There Is not a sign of
blood having flowed from this wound.
can readily see traces of it about the
mouth and neck. Nothing but a thorough
use OF soap and water could remove them.
Your brother did not die from the blow on
the head. He was dead for at least half an
hour before 1t was received"
A sensation of horror came over me at
the words. had been hoping against hope
that Phillips might be able to show that
the death was accidental after all. Now
saw at once the utter futiNty of entertain
ing such a notion.
Moreover" he pursued, eff you say the
blood was 'caked,' he must have been dead
for several hours before he was found. I
took the trouble to examine the railroad cut
on my way here. You will remember that
its bottom is entirely shielded from the
morning sun, the lack of which, together
with the heavy dews of the last two or
three mornings would tend to keep blood
more or less moist for some time
What did kill him, then?" 1 asked, at
last.
1--WE shall see," returned Phillips, and,
drawing down the sheet, he proceeded to
minutely examine the body, beginning at
the head Suddenly he stopped and straight
ened up again. l looked at him inquiringly,
and he pointed toward the left breast.
He must have had a pin or a needle in
his undershirt," I said. as I noticed a
scratch less than an inch In length a little
above the heart. sic
"a rather long pin 6r needle" muttered
pressed his thumbs on each side of the
hair-like line of bf6wning red scab, until it
broke apart; and 1'isaw a deep, gaping
wound. made undoubtedly by very thin
body between the RIBS, and seemed to range
downward at an angle of about forty-fiye
degrees. ot-'
For moment the iifterest in this discov-
cry overwhelmed the horror of it.
But the clothes%~T said, stepping to-
ward the chair. 'TheS examined them"
Phillips lip curled. -
Whats the goo1of examining anything"
tion based on the first-hit, of evidence that
appears. These .Spkels never got beyond
the idea that that wound In the head killed
the man. SO NIL their work was superficial
ard useless. Now, let'us see,"' he pur-
sued, and taking up the articles of apparel
one by one he scrutinized each carefully
especially the shirt undershirt and coat.
Where did the knife pierce these?"
broke in, as l peered over his shoulder
Il see no.
"It didn't pierce these at ALL" said Phil
lips. putting the garments back on the
chair. Your brother did not wear these
clothes when he was stabbed
But he wore these when he was found"
I said, vaguely, and with a consciousness
of added mystery dawring slowly upon me.
You see the dirty stains where they lay
in the cut?'
ut is perfectly clear" pursued Phillips
ignoring my remark, that whoever killed
your brother dressed him in these clothes
and then carried him out and threw him
down that embankment. This is probably
how this skull was broken"
And that accounts for there being no
blood on his linen," l put In.
II don't imagine there was any on the
that there was none on the skin in The
neighborhood of the wound-just enough
to form that tiny scab which you mistook
for scratch. l wasn't sure about it; but
I was looking for serious wounds and
found one. Perhaps you do not know that
a deep stab with very thin-bladed knife
hardly ever bleeds externally. The internal
hemorrhage was probably considerable, as
lie ultcuiHs lIOul Lie Woulu luOl-
cate, and death must have been practically
instantaneous"
was all at sea now, and my mind
whirled around amid a dozen half-formed
conjectures. Phillips picked up the shoes
that lay near the chair.
He had these onT' he asked.
I nodded.
You can see, then, that the last time
they were worn was in the house; that
he could not have walked to the cut in
them" he pursued, unwinding an unsoiled
thread of carpet from a projecting nail.
This disclosure came upon me with crush
ing force. 1t seemed to point to some one
IN the house as the criminal yet to whom?
1t was impossible for me to believe that
Anderson could be guilty, and yet who else
was there? Only myself and my niece. At
last as slowly gathered courage to ask
some question in order to relieve my sus-
pense, Phillips spoke again:
perhaps it would be as well to examine
your brothers wardrobe with view to as
certaining whether any garments are miss
ing. You see that the trousers on the chair
here do not match his coat If he were up
and dressed, you'll doubtless find that the
coat and waistcoat that do match them
If there were such-are gone"
Without trusting myself to reply, pro-
ceeded to search carefully, but without
avail.
You are right 1 said at last. ''They
are missing-both of them; ard it was the
suit he has been wearing every day.
cannot conceive my stupidity in neglecting
n rhs hla oSpocially