Democratic Northwest and Henry County news. [volume] (Napoleon, O. [Ohio]) 1894-1905, 1897-06-10
CHAPTER XIII.
IPossESS MYSELF OF THE SECRET OF JAMES
BAKEwELL GREEN,

bAkEW ELL GREEN,
When look back upon that moment
find myself wondering Mt the singula
effect which the discovery Of the deat
mans identity had upon my nerves.
turned them in seconds space from
quivering and twitching strings to cord
of iron. 1t acted upon the brain as
cold douche acts upon the body. 1t wa
as if man had staggered, heavy Will
drink, to pump and after once dipping
his head under the tap had come up per
fectly sober. And the mental effect wa
equally curious.
do not think am in the genera
way unsympathetio or indifferent to the
misfortunes of others, but on this occa
sion found myself as coldly calculat
ing the possible advantages and disad
vantages to myself of Green's untimelJ
end AS if had been housewife reck.
oning up what she had made or lost by
the sale of eggs.
My first procedure was to secure the
piece Of paper which had found in the
bottle. II may want Captain Shannon's &
autograph one Of these days." said to
myself, "and even were it not so |
should be unwise to leave this document
upon the scene. If, when the body is
found, it is believed that Green was
drowned by misadventure, there ia less
chance OF awkward questions being ask
ed and inoonvenient inquiries made.
Such inquiries might bring to light the
fact that he was engaged, by my direc-
tions, i'll Investigating Mullen anteoed-
ents, and the matter might come to tho
,ars Of Mullen himself.
And now, another thing. I'm efraid
Green's papers have been taken by the
murderer; otherwise l ought to secure
them. They might contain clew to the
secret to which the poor man attached
such Importance. Ahl 1 thought SO.
They've gone, for the pocketbook which
1 know he carried is missing, although
his watch, chain, money and other be-
longings are left. But stop a minute.
When / gave Green my address, re-
member he took out his cigar case, re-
moved the cigars and showed me that
the case had secret pocket for papers,
He said that he never carried important
papers in pocketbook, which is the
first thing thief or rogue who wishes
to abstract a document goes for, and
that he had had his taken from hins
twice-once by force and once by q cum
ming theft.
"But Mullen would not know that
Green kept documents in his cigar case
and probably wouldn't trouble to take
it. Let me see. Yes, here it is, in the
breast pocket, and think l can feel pa
pers inside the silk lining, Well look
at them by and by. Anything else in
his pockets that might require? No.
Then I'll slide the body back into tho
water. He's evidently been dead many
hours, and it can make no difference to
him, poor fellow. That's it. He's just
as he was when found him. Now TIL
be off. Good night, Mr.. James Bake
we'll Green. I won't press you for that
I. o. u"
Still wondering at my heartlessness.
I turned and walked in the direction Of
Yarby. But I had moro important mat
tiers than my own mental attitude to
consider, for the first thing which I had
to ask myself was, "By whose hand did
Green meet his end?" 1t was of course
possible either that he had committed
suicide or that the paper bearing tho
signature of Captain Shannon" had
been placed where found it by some
one who, for reasons Of his own, had
taken GREEN'S life and hoped, by at
tributing the crime to Captain Shannon
to divert suspicion from himself But
soon decided that neither of these alter
natives was worth consideration. For
the motive of the crime one had not far
to look. Green had, on his own show
ing, discovered something which might
lead to Captain Shannon's arrest, and
there could be no doubt that, should
the fugitive get wind of this, his first
step would be to rid himself of so dan
gerous all enemy.
From the circumstance under which
discovered the body Of my unfortunate
agent l came to the conclusion that he
was on board yacht when the crime
was effected.
Having often yachted off Yarby, was
tolerably familiar with the coast and
knew that the place where I found the
body was the very spot toward which,
with every incoming tide, a strong cur
rent sets, And as matters stood it look
ed as if the corpse had been carried
thither from the open sea. That it had
not been placed where it was by any
one on the shore-at all events since the
outgoing tide-was evident from the
fact that my own were the only foot
marks on the soft, smooth stretch of
sandy mud which led down to the wa
ter's edge. But what struck me as espe-
cially strange was that, though Green
was otherwise fully dressed, he was
wearing no boots. Tt was very unlikely
that he had walked two miles along
rocky beach with unprotected feet. But
If he had for any reason been persuaded
to go upon Yacht it was quite possible
that he might take his boots off-frstly,
because no yacht owner who prides him
self upon the trimness Of his craft and
the whiteness of her decks cares to have
a visitor tramping about In heavy and
perhaps muddy boots, and, secondly, be-
cause landsman who is SO shod would
find it difficult to get o safe foothold
upon the slippery decks Of small ves-
sci. My theory was that Green had
been decoyed upon yacht under some
pretext. or that he had been foolhardy
CA9TORIA.