The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1896-01-22

train, that that official admitted the
accident was due to the negligence of
the railway engineer.
''That's right, Mr.. Gresswell," said
the guard with bloodless lips.
"Well, just tell this gentleman
about it," responded the passenger
sharply, and in tone of annoyance.
The guard recovered something of
his composure, apparently, as the ef-
feet of his asperity, and proceeded:
ga few moments before the-the
fatality, l happened to look along the
train, and / noticed that the handle
of this gentlemans compartment was
not fastened"
"How did you know il was this
gentleman's compartment from that
distance?" interjected Mr.. Yorke.
"Of course, he didn't know till he
got there" put in Mr.. Gresswell,
hastily.
"No, of course didn't know till 1
got there" repeated the guard. "I
suppose, looking back now it's all
over, it would have been wiser to have
stopped the train, but we were slack
ing down our speed passing Evesham
Woods, rs we always do, aud the car
riage was not far from my van, so |
started out to turn the handle. The
lady fell out just rs / was about to
reach the door. With another step
l could have prevented the accident"
"Did she full out backwards or face
foremost" asked the journalist.
"Ohl backwards, sir" was the an
swer.
"No, 1 think you're wrong, guard, )"
again interposed MIR. Grosswell with
n snap.
"Let me think moment" snid the
guard, placing a shaking hand to
his clammy brow. "Yes, she fell face
foremost, of course. 1 can sec her
now."
In the meantime the tall passenger
or, as the guard called him, Mr..
Gresswell-told the journalist the
story he desired to have published.
His wife, he said, had suffered from a
painful illness, which he specified,
and had been under the care of DR..
Steinway, of Victoria street. He was
taking her down to the seaside at her
own wish. Certain suspicious which
had been forming in Mr.. Yorke's
mind took definite shape from the
moment of this lame explanation. If
he now became an apparently more
sympathetic listener, it was by dint
of the stimulation which discretion
suggested as a cloak to the hostility
which began to take possession of
him.
"My wife rose to see if it was rain
ing" proceeded Mr.. Gresswell, 'and
looked out of the window"
An obvious lie, reflected Mr.. Yorke,
for the person who was lifted into the
carriage in the helpless condition of
this invalid could not rise and go to
the window unassisted. But he said
nothing.
"As looked around" continued
the bereaved husband. "I saw her
falling forward. L clutched at her,
just caught the edge of her dress, and
it came away in my grasp as she dis
through the door which had
been SO negligently left unfastened
Here is the piece of material which
was left in my grasp, and here is the
place from which it was rent"
Now Mr.. Yorke saw the reason for
that contradiction of the guard by Mr..
Gresswell, and the necessity for the
story that the lady fell face foremost.
The rent was exactly in the center of
the back, in the edging.
Before he had finished his interview
with Mr.. Gresswell the journalist was
confident that he was treading upon
the heels of n murder. He was not
surprised that there had been no
feminine cry of terror. He felt con-
fdent that the lady had not met her
death on the line at all, but that she
had been murdered and then thrown
in front of the express train, in order
that her body might not remain avail
able for the proof of the guilty means
which had compassed her death. For