Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1899-07-05
CHAPTER V.

been decapitated 1t would, of course,
be extravagant to suppose that suicide
could discover means of beheading him
self and hiding his head in some place
where it could not be found and his
body in another and difficult hiding
place. So, at the risk of puzzling Miss
Maxwell yet more, I am afraid shall
have to say that the idea of suicide had
not occurred to me.
"The condition in which that body
was found furnished the clew to the
whole case. l am surprised that the
clew has not occurred to all Of you.
Perhaps it has to some of you. The one
startling fact that stood out above all
others was not that the body was head
less, but rather why was it headless.
"Can you conceive any possible rea-
son for the murderer beheading his vic
tim2 You might venture the theory
that it was for the purpose of destroy
ing his identity. That would be the nat
ural thought and also the reasonable
one except for the other facts in the
case. 1t is these other facts that make
it impossible to believe it. A murderer
seeking to destroy the identity of his
victim would never leave his victims
body clothed in apparel that would
identify him just as surely and swiftly
as his face could do it, Yet we find that
this body was 80 clothed 1t had upon
it suit that several different persons
could swear was Damon's, but to set
all doubt at rest, on the vest was the
tailor's mark. bearing the name Of Da-
mon-proof conclusive that the suit
was his There were, moreover, other
articles on the body to identify it.
There was the intaglio ring with an old
English D. cut in the stone, and en-
graved on the inside of the band were
the initials M. L. D. Damon's friends
could swear the ring was his; also in
one of the pockets was found cardcase
containing six cards engraved with the
name Mr.. Martin Luther Damon It
could scarcely be questioned whose prop
erty this was.
"Quite as remarkable as the things
found on the body was the absence Of
certain other articles. Damon's watch
and pocketbook were not found. Those,
of course, might have been stolen,
though the theory held by the police did
not embrace theft as a motive for the
crime. But the mans keys, his pocket
knife, his match safe-it seems Damon
was q smoker aud carried one-even
his lead pencil student carries
one-were missing. Most singular of
ALL not even pocket handkerchief was
found in the pockets 1t is idle to sup
pose a man in Damon's class would be
without handkerchief. Yet all those
articles were missing-a most remark
able circumstance, I maintain. Every
article found could be used for purposes
Of Identification. Not an article was
found that could not aid in doing that;
not any one of dozen trifes that might
belong to one man as well as another
In fact, you might say that the body
suffered from overidentifcation. 1t
was enough to arouse suspicion.
"And yet over against these circum-
stances to prove the mans identity was
the missing head-removed presumably
for the purpose of destroying identity
seemingly two opposing circumstances.
"That the head had been removed
for the purpose of destroying the iden-
tity entertained no doubt in spite OF
the easily identified articles found upon
the body. Inasmuch as the murderer
would not be foolish enough to seek to
both destroy and preserve the identity
of his victim, there was but one reason
able deduction to be made, and 1 have
no doubt many Of you have made it
namely, that the body found was not
the body of Damon.
cit was equally clear that it was in
tended to be taken for his body, Da-
mons clothing and other property be-
ing witness to that.
eff not Damon's body, then whose
was it2 That was the next question to
be answered. Il did not look too diff
cult. You must bear in mind that
had already formulated theory, which
was helpful to me in indicating the
course to pursue. visited the public
reading room and looked through the
files of daily papers bearing date some
days prior to Wednesday. At last l
found what was looking for. 1t was a
brief item stating that on Monday an
unknown man had been run down by
train at street crossing and fatally in
jured. He had been removed to Mercy
hospital, the item stated.
81 next paid visit to Mercy hos
pital and there was permitted to see
the hospital record of the unknown
man. He had never recovered conscious
ness and died Tuesday night.
II ought to state here that, after
visiting the undertaker's Saturday in
company with Mr.. Rice and Mr.. Sex
ton, returned and made careful ex-
animation of the corpse. I discovered
that the big toe and the second toe of
the left foot had been cut off. The
amputation was an old one. The hos
pital record showed that the same mem
bers were missing from the body of the
unknown man who had died there
Tuesday. had expected to learn that,
for was convinced that the body found
in the vacant house in Taylor street
was probably that of the unknown man
killed by the train.
~ was also given, though somewhat
reluctantly, the information that the
hospital sometimes furnished cadavers
for the use of surgical practice by stu