The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-08-06


Copyright. 1885. by
CHAPTER IV.-THE BOX OF CLUES.
CThe pages which follow are from Miss
Fairbanks journal. begun afer the con-
clusion Of the notes already given to the
reader)
wednesday night have resolved 10
record carefully each day the progress /
make IN my examination Of the house.
I began to-day at the bottom-that is,
with the room least likely TO contain any
clue. the parlor. I took a chalk line and
a yard stick. and divided the floor into
square yards, and every one OF these
squares I examined on my hands and
knees. ] found in this way literally moth
ing on the carpet but dust. lint, two com
mon white pins and three inches Of blue
sewing silk.
At last I got the dust pan and brush,
and yard by yard. swept the floor. I took
the sweepings In a white paste-board box
out into the yard in the strong sunlight,
and examined them. There were nothing
but dust and lint and five inches Of brown
wooden thread-evidenuy a raveling from
some dress material The blue silk and
the brown thread are the only possible
clues which have found to-day and they
are hardly possible. Rufus wife can prob
ably account for them. l have written TO
her about them.
Nobody has come to the house all day.
I went down TO the store this afternoon
-feFr,
people stopped talking when I came in.
The clerk took my money as If it We're
poison.
Thursday night.-To-day have search
ed the sitting room, out of which my IA
theirs bedroom opens. L found two
bloody footprints on the carpet, which
no one has noticed before-perhaps be-
cause the carpet itself is red and white.
I used a microscope which I had in my
school work. The foot prints, which are
close to the bedroom door. pointing out
into the sitting-room. are both from the
right foot; one is brighter than the other,
but both are faint. The foot was evidently
either bare, or clad only I'm a stocking
the prints are so widely spread. They are
wider than my fathers shoes. l tried one
in the brightest print
I found nothing else new in
the sitting room. The blood
stains on the doors, which have
already been noted, are still there They
had not been washed away. first by order
Of the sheriff, and next by mine. These
stains are Of two kinds; one looks as if
made by a bloody garment brushing
against il; the other, ] should say, was
made in the first place by the grasp OF
a bloody hand, and then brushed over
with a cloth. There are none of these
marks upon the door leading into the
nd obi Tb1
china closet is really pantry although I
used it only for my best dishes and pre-
serves.
Friday night.-To-day searched the
closet. One Of the shelves, which was
about as high as my shoulders. was blood
stained. 1t looked TO me as If the muir
derer might have caught hold of il to
steady himself. Did he turn faint after
his dreadful deed? Some tumblers Of jelly
We're ranged on that shelf and they had
not been disturbed. There was only that
bloody clutch on the edge
found on this closet door, under the
shelves. as If it had been rolled there by
a careless foot. a button, evidently from
mans clothing. It is an ordinary black
enamelled metal trousers button: Il had
evidently been worn off and clumsily
sewn on again, for quantity of stout
white thread is still clinging to il. This
button must have beonged either 20 a
single man or 10 one with an idle Wife
II one black button has been sewn on /
with white thread another Is likely 10 be.
] may be wrong, but l regard this button
as a clue.
The pantry was thoroughly Swept
cleaned. indeed, by Rufus wife, the day
before she left Neither my father nor
Rufus could have dropped it there. and
they never had occasion 10 go to the closet
The murderer dropped the button
! have a white pastbOard box which
have marked. Clues" In it I have put
the button
This afternoon Phoebe Dole came in.
She is very kind. She has recut the dyed
silk, and she fitted II to me Her great
shears, clicking in my ears. made me nerv-
Gus. did not feel like stopping to thInk
about clothes. I hope did not appear un-
greatful, for she is the only soul beside
Henry who has treated me as before this
happened.
Phoebe asked me what I found to busy
myself about, and l replied. Il am search
ing for my fathers murderer" She asked
II l thought I should find a clue, and I