The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1897-08-15
A Woman's Revenge.
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boldly claimed that Fletcher had conveyed
the body TO Stratsord River, and had then
driven back TO restore horse and wagon
70 the owner Everybody fell in with
the IDEA at once, and as a consequence the
river was dragged for miles until it gave
up It's last snag The body was not TO be
found The detective then suggested that
the victim had been burned by fire In
the woods, but that was going too far
ana he was discharged from the case
Fletcher was aTraigned at the assizes.
and' according to law, he should have been
set at liberty, but popular feeling was so
intense that his case was All journed TO give
lheefowh more time to complete the search
reward OF $3.50 was offered to any
one Who should discover the body and
people Ewing fifteen or twenty miles from
the scene went about looking into bitches
and beating up the woods
have not mentioned that Fletcher had
relatives in London Who were wealthy and
influential. They believed in him from
the 1rst and employed counsel for him,
and by and by first-elass private de
tectlye was sent down to work in bis
interest. People wondered what he could
do, but hf didn't worry over that. He
started 10 by believing the Young mans
story. A photograph Of Miss Jones was
SHOWN him, and he sized her I'D very
speedily. Fletcher and the domestic
agreed exactly as To the queer expressions
Miss Jones had used-dragged in for .he
pene1t or the girl. She must have been
planning when she did that, aud what
mere natural than to believe she was
p aiming revenge On Fletcher? She
had suggested queer walk after dark;
she had snrieked out with needless energy:
she had brought him home by another
route. ali these things counted with the
detective, and all counted in Fletcher's
favor. As a first step in the actual work
OF unraveling the mystery, the detective
drove TO the several towns around STRAIT
ford, and in each case his business was
with men who sold clothing.
After q few days he fouHd his cIew At
certain date, a week previous 10 the
murder, d young woman OF Miss Jones de
scTiption had bought a mans suit OF
clothes at certain store, saying they
Were for her brother. 1t was a working
suit, and now, as the detective began To
ride back and forth across the country, he
called at all the roadside inns and care
fully looked over all the stable boys Mean
while Fletcher was taken sick with brain
fever, and though given the best medical
Attendance he grew worse and worse and
finally died When first taken i'll he de.
claIeG his nnocenc DEF the crime imputed
TO him, and an hour before his death, when
the coming of the grim destroyer brought
him a lucid interval, he reiterated his
declarations.
As the hearse containing Fletehef's body
took its way to the depot 10 ship the re-
mains to London for burial, the detective
drove up TO the country goal with a stable
boy on the seat beside him. That stable
was Gone other than Miss Nancy Jones,
very much alive in the flesh, though mas
querading in male attire. She had plotted
to revenge herself On Fletcher, aud she
glOried in the fact that she had ausesi him
great trouble and driven him 10 his death
For we eEs and weeks she had wOTkei as a
stable boy and Ter sex had been UnsuS-
pected. but il needed detective with
fGains To find the clew TO unravel the case
do not recall the technical offense with
which she was charged, but she was put
on trial convicted. and sent TO prison for
seven years 1t was accounted one Of tie
most singular cases in legal jurisprudence
and il was the general opinion that had
Fletcher lived and the woman remained
undiscovered for II few weeks longer be
wotAd have been duly convicted aud exc
cuted. CHARLES Is. LEWIS.