The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1896-06-08
The RObber of Brent Road.
BY HOWARD FIELDING.


robbed on Brent road during the pas,
year. The booty was found in closet
connecting with VIII Morrison's room
That wGs the substance of the ser.
geant's evidence, and Preble eyed me
questioningly after it had been present
ed.
"If you want 10 know what I think
yet" said /, "a few words will tell you
/ think it's a fake. It's plant. The
murderer put it there after the crime tc
throw suspicion upon Morrison. Look
at the stuff. Unless the thief was e
lunatic would he keep those old pocket
books in his own house? Nonsense"
II agree with you," said Preble.
AS the witness left the stand, police
man forced his way through the crowd
toward us. He was conducting a thir
and sallow little man, who, from the
peculiar stoop in the shoulders, the
shape of his hands and the stains upor
them, seemed to be cobbler. Preble
was evidently very glad to see him
After motioning the cobbler to n seat, he
whispered to me:
"Look at Dunning."
/ turned my gaze quickly toward Ire
"star witness" He was staring at the
arrival. His face was flushed. He hall
rose from his seat.
Out of the corner of my eye, i saw
Preble make sign to the cosvher. Tho
official nodded knowingly, and immedi.
ately summoned the detective to the
witness stand. He took number OF
parcels out of handbag, which had
been guarded for him by an officer, and
passed them up to the coroner just be-
fore assuming his place in the chair.
L had no doubt that the parcels con-
tanned other exhibits in the case, and
\ t strongly suspected that they might be
other portions of the Brent road rob.
ber's booty.
There was no attempt TO question
Preble, after the usual Introductory
formula. The course of his testimony
was left to his own discretion.
"After the arrest of William Morrison,
on the day following the murder. and in
consequence ct certain rumors relative
to his probable defense. which had
reached police headquarters, / was de-
tailed upon this case," said Preble.
I''The evidence that had already tssn
gathered was put IN my possession, and
Iobtained the custody of certain articles
found by the police and others in the
Morrison house. =
"Among these articles were the canc
of black wood, spoken of by previous
witness, and also the fragment found
by him in the fatal wound upon the
head of the deceased. This fragment
'resembled closely the exceedingly hard
wood of the cane, but upon careful ex.
animation / discovered that the ma.
terial was not wood. but iron. Itcould
not, therefore, have come from the
cane which had no iron about It; and,
consequently, the cane could not have
been the weapon that made the wound"
1t will be readily understood that this
testimony made a considerable stir. As
no mentj>n of any other weapon had
been made in the case, an element Of
mystery was thus introduced. X the
real weapon had been carried away by
the murderer, II would be strong
point for win MORRISON,
"The bit u iron," continued Preble,
"had been painted black. In spite of
that fact It had oxidized considerably,
showing that it had been long exposed
to the action Of the air. was in.
icliped to think, also, from micro
scopic and chemical investigation of
its structure, that IL had been exposed
to the weather. II was not the sort
of iron that is used in any implement
with which am familiar. thought
il was n fake from some ornamental
iron work, and the idea of fence sug-
lgested itself to me,
"About fifty yards beyond the Nor
,rison house, as one proceeds from
lWaverley avenue, there Is an iron fence
in front OF the grounds of Dr. Bishop.
1t is about as high as mans shoulder.
One end of II rests against the side of
DIR. Bishops stable, which projects a
little beyond the line Of the property
Ias marked by the fence.
Beginning at the wall of the stable
examined this fence carefully with
microscope i found a projecting Peiat
on the upper, ornamental rail, about
eight feet from the wall, where few
drops of blood and some minute por-
tions OF the skin Of a human being were
adhering to the iron.
Upon measuring the projection, and
comparing the results with measure
'ments previously taken, of the wound
in Douglass Morrison's temple, found
an accurate correspondents.
"On the ground beside the fence at
this point found "a confusion of foot
prints. There werc three different
kinds of prints. One Of them CORE
sponded with the shoes worn by Doug
zIL