The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1897-02-27
THE BARMINSTER MYSTERY.
By O. CAxxINas.

Bx q. CANNIN6S.
"And IL the verdict should go against
me, Rose?"
''But it can't, Arthur"
yet circumstances would seem to
point to my guilt, and circumstantial
evidence"
Lilies as often as it speaks the truth.
Your counsel will show that it lies In
your case"
"Still, should the verdict be adverse?"
II refuse to believe such miscarriage
of justice possible"
BE reasonable, darling. Look pos
sible contingency in the face. Men
have been convicted on circumstantial
evidence before now, and will be again,
even though their innocence has after
wards been made manifest. Witnesses
may lie-I have more than one enemy in
the world. Or they may misstate un-
consciously, and their misstatements
may just turn the scale against me-"
but you are innocent, dear; and the
Judge who tries the case will know
must know-that you are, and will 80
direct the jury. You must regard an
adverse verdict as beyond the pale OF
possibility"
II want TO be prepared, Rose. In the
affairs of men all things are possible,
and If the jury should say am guilty"
arthur, love, it would not alter my
feelings towards you! / would still
think-know-thst you are innocent.
Nay, il knew you had committed the
murder, should still love you as fer
vently as ! do now!"
A Courthouse In . Country Town-A
Judge Summing Up.
The history of the case,
then, gentlemen, is as follows: Mr..
John Conroy, an elderly gentleman,
lived at house known as the Towers,
- Barminster, q small seaside resort
seven miles from here. Close by him
lived his nephew, Arthur Vereker, bar
rister, who. like many another men,
Der of the bar, had. in the absence of
briefs, turned his attention to litera-
ture, by which means he earned slen-
der income. Yet, poor as Arthur was,
he had somewhat large expectations
from his Uncle Conroy, who, it was well
known, had made his will in the young
mans favor. Uncle and nephew APP
pear to have been on friendly, though
not on such cordial terms as one might
expect would have been the case be-
tween such near relations. One point of
disagreement undoubtedly existed, and
led to some estrangement between the
two-namely: with respect to certain
investments which the uncle contem-
plated making, and of which Vereker
strongly disapproved. You have had
Mr.. Conroy's stockbroker before you,
and he has shown you that, had the
speculations In question been persisted
In, they would have ended disastrously.
Nov, imprudent as you may con-
slider such step to have been in the case
of a man of means so limited as Mr..
Vereker's, he had nevertheless engaged
himself to be married to young lady
named Rose Manners. And it was this
projected marriage which made him
doubly anxious that the legacy which he
had good grounds for thinking one day
would be his should remain intact, and
not be squandered away in hazardous
ventures. Miss Manners, as you re-
member, lived with an invalid father
at cottage residence about mile and
u half from Barminster. The little
housewa situated some 200 or 300 yards |
from the steep cliffs which, having their |
rise in the town of Barminster, ascend |
rapidly from there and extend several |
miles along the coast.
"On the Sd of March last, at as near |
three o'clock as it has been possible to
determine, Arthur Vereker and his |
uncle start from the Towers. The uncle |
is going, as is his almost daily GUS
tom, for a stretch along the cliffs, and |
his nephew is bent on visit to his in
tended. The two mems roads, there
tore, lie for certain distance in the