Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1896-04-02
PART V.
A QUESTION OF TIME.


the weapon that pierced your uncle's
heart" he said. Il have that weapon
here"
Not Norman's stiletto!" cried, re-
Numbering that he had taken it.
There was no stiletto in the case"
lie said. "The weapon was peaceful
implement suddenly perverted to Il
deadly use. There it stands"
lie indicated an ordinary spindle on
which documents are spiked. 1t was
SIMPLY n bit of steel wire about five
inches long, mounted upon n metal
standard, and sharply pointed at the
end.
at was all done in moment of pas
sion," said the detective. Your uncle
held that fatal contract in his hands.
1t was burning. The spectacle and
your unclc's words at the moment must
have faddcned the murderer. Hi
struck suddenly and surely with tho
first thing that came to his hand. vii,
lard Davis fell MORALLY hurt. AS he
fell, his head struck the corner of his
desk violent blow. Thus, doubly
wounded, he lay upon the floor. The
murderer bent over him and slowly,
fearfully. withdrew the weapon"
"Why did he do that?"
because that bit of paper was pinned
down upon the victims heart. The
murderer dared not leave it there. lie
secured it at the cost of wetting his
hands with blood. The paper was
soaked. 1t would not burn. Distract
ed with fear, the murderer rolled the
paper in his hands and thrust it down
the escape pipe, where, fortunately for
me, it lodged. Then the criminal
washed his hands, dried them on that
towel, and walked out of that door. "
"Whnt are you telling mc?" l eX-
claimed. This Is all new. What has
become of the theory which you ex-
planned to me with such care-my
uncle struck down, the door locked
with his keys, the paper taken, the
fatal thrust given at last because the
victim revived while Stalbridge and
were ut the door"
up to the time when / was ten years
old" replied Johnson, 81 was a very
truthful boy. Then / happened to no.
tee that lying was not directly prohib-
tied in the commandments. Since then
] have made it Il point never to tell the
truth unless there is a very pressing
need of it. Thus l have risen in my
profession"
''But why was it necessary to lie to
NEE" | demanded.
Let me show you why" he said ear.
nestly; land now you're going to get
the exact facts. The great point of this
case is that Mr.. Davis lived nearly half
an hour with hole in his heart. There
was where you went astray. You took
my bogus medical report on top of the
natural error of the ambulance sur
geon, and believed that your uncle had
been instantly killed. Wounds in the
heart are popularity supposed to be i'm.
mediatcly fatal, but that is not true
There are many cases."
II know all about Them" broke in
impatiently. 'Butyou forget that when
I entered the place l saw that door
leading to the rear room, close; and
'hut ~ " go ioNhVd W iitb l. ICutlCsl IL
The murderer was just escaping; my
uncle was breathing his last. Then, by
your measure of time, the assassin had
remained with his victim nearly hal
an hour. Is that credible?"
at is not" replied the detective
But l can solve your difficulty. Ii
the first place let me show you how
measured the time. It is rather pref
ty."
lie led me to the bowl beneath thu
glass, and called my attention to tn,
fact that there was n small leak from
the faucet. He asked me to observe thu
steadiness of it, and then attempt t.
place the faucet in such position tina
there would be n different rate of leak
age. / found that the thing could no
be done. The faucet worked by a Law
Of its. own, and wherever placed, /
would spring at once to the position i
seemed to prefer.
| Just after the crime," said Johnson
when you and l bent over this bow
looking for bloodstains l noticed tina
leak. Instantly l marked the level o
the water in the bowl. Afterwards
experimental and found that the tim,
required for the bowl to be filled t.
that point was fifty-one minutes. TAX,
twenty-five minutes off for the tim,
between the discovery of the crime
,oincident with your uncle's death
and my marking of the bowl. Tha
leaves twenty-six minutes. Now ado
four minutes for the time taken by thu
murderer in washing his hands. Tha
makes just half an hour that you
uncle lived"
This is guess work." said I. "Hoy
do you know that the murderer left NJ
water in the bowl?"
Because, my dear sir, the last thin
he did was to push down this bit o
paper, and he wouldn't have done tina
while there was water In the bowl. II
didn't let any run afterwards, othe,
wise the paper would have been soake,
He pushed 1t In, supposing that !
would fall down the pipe. Then he ~
placed the stopper-or 1t fell into plac
and nv timepieca vas In grafton