The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1896-03-19
"A Secret Of the Heart.
lcopyright. 1886 by Bachelor. johnson and
Bacheller.l
PART v.
A QUESTION OF TrMK.

A QUESTION OF Tr6E
("This bit Of paper was caught upon
the weapon that pierced your uncle's,
heart" he said. Il have that weapon
here"
Not Norman's stilettol" cried, re-
plembcring that he had taken it.
There was no stiletto in the case"
lie said. "The weapon was peaceful
implement suddenly perverted to a
deadly use. There it stands"
He indicated an ordinary spindle on
which documents are spiked. 1t was
simply a bit of steel wire about five
Inches long, mounted upon q metal
standard, and sharply pointed At the
end.
"It was all done In moment of pas
sion." said the detective. "Your uncle
held ta that 5uSg fata p Rs eaPns
syour uncie's words at the moment must
have maddened the murderer He
struck suddenly and surely with tho
first thing that came to his hand. Wili
lard Davis fell mortally hurt. AS ne
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 thatbit of paper was pinned
down upon the victims heart The
murderer dared not leave il there. He
secured 1t at the cost of wetting his
hands with blood. The paper was
soaked. 1t would not burn. Distract1
ed with fear, the murderer rolled the
paper In his hands and thrust il 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,
"What are you telling me?" / ex-
claimed. .'This is all new. What has
become of the theory which you ex,
plained to me with such care-my
uncle struck down, the door locked
with his keys, the paper taken, ths
fatal thrust given at last because the
victim revived while Stalbridge and \
were at the door,"
"Up to thetime when was ten years
old" replied johnson, "I was a very
truthful boy. Then happened to no,
tice that lying was not directly prohib5
Iited In the commandments. Since then
i have made it point never to tell the
truth unless there is a very pressing
need of 1t. Thus have risen In my
profession"
"But why was 1t necessary to lie to-
me?" / demanded.
LET me show you why" he said earl
rnestly; 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 tho
heart are popularity supposed to be inn
mediatcly fatal, but that IL not true.
There are many cases"
II know all about them," broke in.
Smpaticntly. "Butyou forgetthat when
u entered the place / saw that door,
ceading to the rear room, close: and
that it was locked when reached it.
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 half
On hour. Is that credible?"
1T Is not" replied the detective.
''But 1 can solve your difficulty. In
the first place let me show you how I
measured the time. 1t is rather pref.
ty."
He led mo to the bowl beneath the
glass, and called my attention to the
fact that there was small leak from
the faucet. He asked me to observe the
kteadiness of 1t, and then attempt to
place the faucet in such q position that
there would be different rate of Leak
age. found that the thing could not
be done. The faucet worked by a law
of its own, and wherever placed, 1t
would spring at once to the position 1t
seemed to prefer.
"Just after the crime" said johnson,
"when you and bent over this bowl
looking for bloodstains, noticed that
leak. Instantly / marked the level of
the water in the bowl. Afterwards I
Experimental and found that the time
required for the bowl to be filled to
that point was fifty-one minutes. Take
twenty-five minutes Off for the time
between the discovery of the crime
coincident with your uncle's death
and my marking Of the bowl. That
leaves twenty-six minutes. Now add
four minutes for the time taken by the
murderer in washing his hands. That
makes just half an hour that your
uncle lived"
This is guess work." said I. slow
do you know that the murderer left no
water In the bowl?"
because, my dear sir, the last thing
he did was to push down this bit of
paper. and he wouldn't have done that
while there was water in the bowl. He
didn't let any run afterwards, other
wise the paper would have been soaked.
lie pushed 1t in, supposing that II
would fall down the pipe. Then he re-