The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1895-11-10

whole pile sloped down toward the floor OF
the room.
you have made mistake Mr.. France"
remarked the doctor rather driIy For
I have examined the body OF your wife.
and / can prove that she has been dead
twelve hours at least. The body is stlff
in every part"
a sudden change came over Robert
France. IL almost seemed that his jaw
dropped. After a short pause he said
surlily:
That Is only your opinion"
TITS more than that" said the doctor
quietly. Even Mr.. Brown here" and he
Indicated the constable. could tell that
this woman had been dead many hours.
That she was murdered. suffocated, ia
fact. before you came UP here TO supper"
Robert looked up Then he turned round
sharply, and made for the door
The sergeant Where Is her. said he
between his set teeth.
You will see him all "a good tine. Mr..
France" said the constable. laying "A
strong hand on the landlords shoulder.
In the meantime Tn sorry 30 say I've
Got 10 take you into custody on suspicion
or numbering your wife"
Robert France uttered a low sound, like
a growl. but he did not speak again. Like
a whipped hound he passed cut OF his
house. ia the custody Of the constable,
between long rows Of wondering. horror
struck spectators. People wondered what
IL meant. this sudden, sullen submission.
without protest. without struggle.
The fact was that rs had seen. at one
stroke. his carefully thought 0ut story
scattered like shan IN the wind. Like
most criminals. he had forgotten some
thing; and that thing Vas the tsll-tale
rigor norris which. having had time 10
become complete. proved IL 10 have been
absolutely Impossible for the woman 10
have been kiiied during the three hours
which Sergt. Miles had passed alone IL the
club room.
And this suggestion once disposed Of.
there were innumerable other circum-
stances 20 prove that Sergt. Miles not be-
ing the murderer, that person was Robert
France.
In the nrst place. there was the fact tn3t
he had sent all the servants about the
place on different errands on the proceed
ing afternoon. There was, therefore. the
knowledge that he and his wife had been
lcft in the inn together lie was known
not TO have left the house himself. While
she had never been seen alive again.
Blt by BIT before the trial came on. the
story got known Ia all It's horrors. How
Robert France. IN a eliminating ct Of
Jealous. morbid rage. had stranglcd his
wife as she was getting some linen out
of the cupboard. sitting her cries under
tho curtains and cloths among which ha
held her down. How ne had left the body
in the cupboard. covered over. and had
concocted the plot by which he hoped to
throw suspicion upon the man he hated.
How the gradual slipping OF the body had
made the noise which had made him
Obliged - open the cupboard door. with
oct. however. betrsylng the fact that the
dead woman Nas concealed there. How.
after he hal drugged the sergcants wine.
and }eft him alone iU the room. the body
had slipped right down. bursting opcn
tho door which France had taken care
not N fasten again. How ne had been on
the watch for tho least noise from tire
club room, and had rushed 10 the room
on hearing the cry the sergeant uttered
when ne made the CHASTITY discovery that
De was in the room with the dead body
az Harriet France.
81 tho trial itself came Ninnies cVl-
druee that If was her scream which had
echoed through the house when she heard
EheG cry
Robert France was tried condemned
and executed within three mcatLs or the
committal of his crime
And 50 was NOT until two wears later,
when Che horror and the scandal mad died
Town. that Sergeant Miles came down
again % the village az Little DriunEham
to carry away from the scene which kept
alive such TERRIBLE memories, the little SIS
ter Minnie. who ha3 believed In his inno-
sence even In the drst heat and excite
rnept 81 the false charge.
Ana Ned FothergiN was the only wit
r,sss. besides the clergy man and the clerk.
81 the marriage.