Daily Kennebec journal., 1895-04-04

did she meet her murderer? WHY did
she not come to me?'
''She came to you," said .he detect;re
gravely. Indeed. the fact that She
did SO is almost my only clew.n
'What! She came hereo,
MIR. Warren, don't want to starts
you, but it is an unquestionable fact
that, little after nine o'clock last
night, your daughter stood outside that
window and looked in upon Won as WOW,
sat at work"
What would the grief-stricken man
have given in exchange for the power
to take that knowledge back with him,
such little way into the past? His
life, gladly, for it would have saved
hers.
''You can guess how I know this. ;"
continued the detective. 1T was not a
difficult problem. Assuming that the
crime was committed here, | thopcht
it fair to believe that the girl came To
this town of her. own free win. Peonle
are not carried about the country
prisoners, in these days. BELIEVING
that, 1 knew where to go for traces of
her presence. l have seen too MANY OF
such cases to have any doubt what she
would do.
$50 1 made Investigations under YOUR
window. The snow was soft and wet
that night up to nine o'clock when the
cold snap set in. Her footprints.
formed in the wet snow, were perfectly
preserved. It was only necessary to
brush away an inch or two of light
snow that lay over them. Then l
made my measurements. I had lust
completed them when noise that I
made alarmed you in here, and had
to get away. By the courtesy of Capt.
Thompson 1 was enabled to compare
my measurements with your dead
daughters shoes, and the result leaves
no doubt as to the state OF the case.''
"Sir," said Mr.. Warren, st seems to
me that you solve this dark riddle com
pletely. At the time you mention, and
thereafter, the coffin which was sup
posed to contain the body OF Ned Aincs
lay in his fathers house. Who watched
beside it? Who permitted my daugh-
ter's body to be hidden in it?"
'"There, said the detective, laying his
hand on the clergyman's arm, ':you
touch exactly the point where the mys-
terry becomes as dark as the tomb.
Here are the facts. It was Mr. Alnes
who watched beside the coffin. We in
sisted upon it, and sent his son Frank
to bed after the latter had volunteered
for that duty. Frank was worn out
with his journey and at last consented
to his fathers arrangement"
''This is Madness" exclaimed War
ren. SIT makes Samuel Ames party
to this crime. Preposterous! l have
known him thirty years and I would
stake my life shat he had nothing to do
with this
$50 would l." responded the detec-
tive. calmly, though I've known him
only q few hours. When this case
stood in my mind as it stands now in
yours, / own that ] was stumped. But
knew there must be some way out, for
the facts were plain. If the girl was
here on Thursday night she couldn't
have been murdered in Boston several
days before. You see, from the first it
looked doubtful whether the crime
could have been committed there, for
in that case why was the coffin ripped
open after having been once closel?"
Il had thought of that, and it hac
seemed to me possible Ames might have
feigned death by the use of drugs anc
have permitted himself to be put into
the coffin"
"No, sir: not into that coffin, He
wouldn't have lived in it five minutes
1t was alright. No, say again, that
explanation wouldn't stand. The deed
was done on Thursday night in this
town, and the bodies were ex-
changed"
Exchanged! Then you believe that
Ned Ames is really dead?"
Il don't know. It's barely possible.
However, the essential point is that
your daughters body was put into that
coffin in the Amos house on Thursday
uight."
"While Samuel AIncs sat by and per
mitted it!''
No; while he was aslecp-drugged
of course"
"Drugged? Are you sure of that?"
'What he says makes it practically
certain. He remembers the first hour
alone beside the coffin. Then he knows
nothing until he found himself sitting
there with the light of early morning
into the room. He was
ashamed to own that he had slept, and
so he said nothing about it until
questioned him. Then he described
his experience, and his sensations as
awakening in such a way as to make
me perfectly confident that he was
drugged; and the thing that makes
his story certainly true is that he de.
scribed the effect of a drug about
which I'm sure that he knows nothing
ut all. It's a mixture of choral and one
or two other poisons of that class"
"How was it administercd?"
Easily enough. There's pitcher Of
water and glass on the table in the
lining-room of the Ames house every
Mr.. Ames drank from that
glass about ten o'clock. OF course the
drug was in it. Now, the man who put
it there is the murderer, but the trouble
is that any man in town could have
lo~a - Saora+ a,1trapoo IN fhof room,