The herald., 1897-10-03
Copyright. 1897, by Bacheller Syndicate.) }
SYNOPSIS.

Archibald Kefford, one of the leading citi-
clared his passion; Nicholas Kefford,,
r,Gh uncle Of Archbald,s, dies; and the he
the nearest relatives. But all the prop
ssrty is M lef: to The satbury Institution q,
is owred and conducted by DR.. Latimer.
Klefford,, but beyond possibly; holding
took any interest in the institution. Arch
ibald believes that Latimer forged the
viii and I'd engages the lay firm n Of Shall li
ness, to the will is dead, and the other.
Reuben Farrs, an old man formerly in
inner insists on sharing the expense of
bringing on this witness, for he declares
that he is all o his M s side Of the
is found insensibe in the street with
curious shaped circular fracture Of the
office window of Archibald Kefford. The
nature Of Farris's injury leads to the be- ,.
q round-headed instrument. such as g
hammer. Experiments prove, that 1t would
4sashea Fra from aae wnaow with %
ordinary hammer. But Mr.. Shallcross
learns that Archibald has a large collec-
lorg-handled adze. The hammer end of
this adZe was circular in shape. This dis
co9yery 90 impresses Mr. shalcross that,
cannot resist speaking. Of 1t to several
persons. among whom is the narrator ,s of
hospital. still unconscious and with his
life despaired Of.
PART II.
When Mr.. Shallcross had spoken to
me of what he had done, and of what
he felt bound to suspect, I became ex-
ceedingly angry. 1t seemed to me that
people-even the kindest and most hon
orable-were racking their brains to
make horrors out of trifles. concealed
nv feelings as we'll as I could, for 1 did
rot wish to quarrel, but with the intent
prove to Mr. Shallcross that the blow
he had summoned out of the regions of
his imagination could not have been
made with an adze. went to a hard
ware store. There I found that the
adze heads were sold separately from
the handles, and while I was looking
at some of the former, noticed that
their hammer ends had square sur
faces. I looked at others and others,
the hammer ends were all square, Then
asked the dealer If he had any with
round hammer ends, to which he re-
piled that they were not made in that
way.
hardware, examined heads;
their hammer ends We're square.
went into a carpenters shop and
talked to the man about putting up
some shelves in my Office. While we
were speaking, my eyes rambled about
in search of adzes. saw one; it's ham
mer end was square.
I did not return to Mr.. Shallcross'
office. Depressed, instead of encour-
aged, went to my own. From what
had seen of adzes and from what 1 knew
of the length of their handles. I could
not but believe that strong man
could reach out of the window and
strike falling blow with one 1t was
certain that Mr.. Archibald Kefford
owned an adze, the hammer end Of
which had a round surface about two
inches in diameter, and which was un-
like any other in the town. For an
hour, at least, sat and thought. To
suspect the father Of Natalie of a mur-
derous assault was impossible for me,
but it was as plain as daylight that
other people were doing that thing. The
consequences Of their suspicious would
be terrible, would be awful beyond
comprehension if fteuben Farris should
die.
In the case Of this assault it was not
probable that would be asked to take
part in any way, but in it determined
to take part. ! would devote myself
entirely and wholly, by night and by
day, with mind and body, with even
money If necessary, to the discovery
of the assassin of Reuben Farris and
to the removal of every suspicion from
the father of Natalie. I knew as well
as I knew anything that these two OBJ.
jects were the same.
The business of detective Is fasci-
mating to great many people, and it
had always been so to me, but now it
possessed an interest which overshad-
owed every other earthly purpose.
Apart from my desire to further the
ends Of justice, I was going to enter
the field in defense of the future of
Natalie, in defense of my own future.
If unjust fate crushed her father, 1t
would. through her, crush me. She
might never know it, but I should be
crushed. 1 rose to my feet and swore
that I would find the man who had
committed the dastardly crime.
In planning my search for the as
sassin my mind naturally inclined in
the direction of Doctor Latimer, but
reason soon told me this was foolish
The man had been at home in Satbury
during the whole of the night of the as
sault. But he might have employed some
one to do the deed. This, to my mind
was the most natural aspect Of the
case.
AS O. probable instrument of Lati-
mer's villainy, thought of the man
Hatch. 1t would have been a good
scheme for Hatch to station himself
in the back office of Mr.. Kefford, into
which he could easily have climbed
from outside, and it would have
been very prudent for him to supply
himself with a peculiar adze belonging
to Mr. Kefford. OF course he would
have returned it after he had used il
so that If an immediate search were
made, it would have been found in Mr.
Kefford's possession. But I also con-
sdered that little later Latimer may
have thought it wise to prevent Mr.
Kefford from concealing this adze and
to have it removed to Hatch's house
where it would be kept ready to pro-
duce in case Mr.. Kefford should be
brought to trial for the assault upon
Farris.
That afternoon, I walked out tc
Hatch's house. TIe was not at home
but in the back yard there was log
one side partly hewn, and by it stooc
the adze which he had borrowed.