Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1896-12-31
CHAPTER II.
HORACE PREBLE.

mere ii 2 ponce 9fLlcGf IN " est Point
who has considerable reputation Is a
detective. His name is Bernard Kelly.
Within an hour after the message was
sent out from Sunnyside Kelly arrived
Meanwhile we had made several i'm
portant discoveries. First we ques-
toned the servants. There were six.
Three Of them believed that they had
heard a sound like pistol shot. about
the time when the crime must have
been committed. The other three were
sure that they had not. OF the latter,
Hanley, the butler, was the most inn
portant witness. lie was nearer to the
Long Room during the critical period
than any other person not actually
within it. He had heard nothing, but
he had seen something of consequence
namely, a man whom he did not
lnow, walking hurriedly away from
the house. This person che butler had
seen from a window He attached no
Importance to the circumstance at the
time; indeed, he cid not mention it
until had sharply questioned him.
This was just before Kelly arrived, :.
| Ny first vague suspicious had CEN
ed only upon his demeanor at the time
when he and l were together in the
Long Room Immediately after my dis
covery of the crime. Certainly there
could not have been a more perfect pic
ture of guilty terror than he furnished
then. His horror of the body, and es-
pecially of the blood; his eagerness to
escape from the room; his dread of
questioning, were all suggestive.
But | could not at first supply mo-
tive for him. That came later, When,
with Kelly's assistance, we examined
more closely my uncle's desk. Our first
examination of it had but one object;
we wished to trace the course of the
bullet. This was not difficult. After
passing entirely through my uncle's
body it had penetrated the back of the
desk, and the wall also. l was amazed
at the power of the proiectile; but
Capt. Marshall was not. 1t supported
his theory that the new explosive for
small arms figured in this case. He
was an expert upon this point; indeed,
he was at that time conducting expert
ments with rifle intended for the
army. This dreadful weapon when
fred on level from the height of
mans shoulder would send bullet
nearly two miles, and at two thousand
yards would drive it through the bodies
of seven men.
He stated these facts to me with pro-
fessional calmness; he even offered to
exhibit them to me if I would go some
day to his laboratory and proving
ground, which was on the outskirts Of
West Point His knowledge of the sub
ject was undoubtedly great, and the
more L thought upon it the more i'm
portant, in my mind, became the CO.
incidence of the presence of such man
in that house at time when a mys-
terious and terribly powerful weapon
had been murderously employed.
My interest became horror when /
found soon afterward that this circum-
stance impressed itself more strongly
than any other upon the mind of Ber-
nard Kelly. Through Margaret he
learned from Mrs. Holiday that she
had left Marshall alone in the parlor
for fully ten minutes. He seemed not
to have moved when she returned, but
he had had time to go to the Long Room
and return.
Margaret told me of Kellys ques-
tions, despite his warning to her to
keep absolute silence about them. She
said. frankly, that they indicated to her
his suspicion that Marshall had com
mitted the crime.
That is not to be thought Of" said
the girl. ''He, Of all others, had most
reason to wish my father to live"
Perhaps; yet it is true that living
father may change his mind about a
daughters marriage, but the expressed
desire cannot be recalled when death
| has scaled the lips.
Then came that other discovery rela-
tive to the desk, and it threw all my
| theories into confusion.
On the forenoon of that day had
| seen a pile of bank notes in drawer Of
| the desk, and the topInost had been of
| the denomination Of one hundred dol
| lars. Hoy much was in the pile / did
not know. NY uncle had closed the
drawer Immediately. / had seen only
one OF the bills When we searched the
desk under Kelly's direction there was
no money at all in it. Ny uncle had
only few dollars and gold watch III
his pockets
Ii robbery was the motive, whom
should we suspect? thought Of Han
ley instantly; and, in private, l de-
scribed 10 Kelly the demeauor Of the
man at the first alarm. The detective
received my communication without
any comment whatever. Indeed, he
did not speak ten words, except in
questions, while he was in the house.
About an hour after he had gone
away, 1 received telephone message
from him saying that the case would
soon be cleared up. lie spoke as If he
already had his hand on the murderer
shoulder. | begged him 10 name the
guilty man, but his onIy rep.v was that
he would be at Sun lyside early the
| next morning.
The night in that house was one
which l shudder to remember. Sus-
rasoip,, ~r-aa t., 1870, a