The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1897-07-13


The squire had barely passed the
doorway when he uttered cry Of alarm
and hurried ACROSS the room. His COM
panions FASTENED after him and beheld
tho PROSTATE form Of a man lying upon
the rug in front Of the fireplace. The
squire leaned over the body for mo-
ment and then jumped up, with horror
depicted on every feature.
"TheIe has been terrible accident, p"
said he. my friend Lewis Is here,
deadp'
The others pressed forward. They saw
the motionless body Of man. He lay
on his side, with his head near the fire.
place, in which were the remains Of a
log FIRE. This fire must have been hot
one, as the face Of the dead man, which
had been covered in life with heavy
beard, was now scarcely more than a
mass Of charred flesh and therefore en-
tirely unacceptable. In spots there re-
manned the burned stubs Of the hair On
the face and more On the head, but in
many places il was burned entirely
away, exposing the flesh, a blackened
human charcoal.
Lewis gazed in a dazed and semi
conscious way at the awful sight and
in q low, hoarse whisper asked:
Is this my father9"
The squire started at the question,
and at once realized all the horror Of
the situation He did not reply, but
beokoned to the two detectives to follow
him aud quietly left the room. Accom-
panied by them, be led tho way across
the hall into the library, and then re-
peated what he had exclaimed at first
sight Of the body-that it was that Of
John Lewis, in whose interest they had
como 10 the house.
But" continued he, II cannot un-
derstand how it ia that we find him
dead and in such q position. 1t looks
at first sight like heart disease Or apo
plexy. How terrible that he should have
fallen into the fire and have been SO
dreadfully dis6gured"
did you ever fancy that your friend
had any physical ailment Of the kind2"
asked Mr.. Barnes.
why, no. I always considered him
the stoutest, heartiest man Of my ac.
quaintance.
"Is it not singular, then, that he
should be taken away so suddenly as
this2'
Nov that you suggest the idea, it
does seem so. The whole thing has been
80 startling and SO unexpected that I
have not collected my thoughts suffi-
GENTLY to analyze the situation. ! find
my friend dead on the floor of his own
house after having seen him alive and
we'll only last evening, and suppose I
have adopted tho first theory which pre-,
sented itself"
lyon say you saw your friend last
EVENING" asked Mr.. Barnes in a quiet
voice, keeping his eyes steadily fixed On
the squire
Something in his tone or in his man
ner of asking the question attracted tho
squire, and he turned and faced his in.
torrogator as he replied:
yes"
"Where?'
"Thers-in the very room where we
now find his corpse. l came to talk
about this business once more and to
try to dissuade him from pursuing it
further. "
"Can you tell at what time you left
him? Is there any circumstance by
which you can fix the time accuratelyP
Think well. may be important
"Important2' echoed the squire.
why, man, what are you getting at?
Susely you cannot think that Merci~
full heavenl Do you suppose that my
friend has been murdered2'
Squire Olney, cannot say that
have really formed such an opinion, but
man i'll my profession sees snch things
only too cf.en, and therefore when be
finds dead body under ANYTHING like
peculiar circumstances, such as these,
for example, his suspicious arc aroused
more quickly perhaps than might be
the case with other men. But if you
think your young friend, the son, may
now have sufficiently recovered from,
his shock we will 60 into the room
again An examination Of the body
may remove any doubts on this subject, y
Mr.. Barnes then started toward the
next room, and the squire followed,
hardly daring to think Of what they
might be about to discover,
Approaching the fact that the bust
ness before them was very serious, the
three men entered the parlor quite
gravely. As they did 80 Lewis, who was
bending over the body, rose and said in
o low voice:
Gentlemen, my father has been
murdered. The squire sank into the
nearest chair. His last hope was gone.
Lewis continued: II repeat he bas been
murdered. There is a bullet hole in his
left side, where il is almost impossible
for him to have shot himself; therefore
suicide is out Of the question.
At tho words BULLET bolo" Mr..
Barnes became all attention. Here was
something tangible. Here was real evil
denoe. The position of the wound, too,
that was quite important, and Lewis
conclusion seemed logical enough But
he had used the correct words when be
said "almost impossible Mr., Barnes
was careful man in forming opinions
and experience had taught him that the
seemingly impossible often occurs
Still, in the line Of thought suggested
by Lewis words, no turned to Squire
Olney:
"Can you tell US whether your friend
was left handed?"
Eyes, am sure he was not.
"Then it is probable that he was shot
by some other party than himself.
Squire, the affair is now serious. 1t be-
comes our duty to try to find the guilty
party
At the word "duty" the squire recov-
cred himself instantly and was all at
tention. Mr.. Barnes continued:
1.-THE coroner should be notified at
once
II am the coroner Of the county" y
replied the squire. I'm this town we