Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1899-12-14

|
volunteer statements as to his condi-
ton and movements the night before,
which might do him harm. Yet, upon
the other hand. these very statements
might be of the utmost Importance to
the police in their efforts to get at the
truth of the unfortunate gentleman'S
death. L. therefore decided to await
furthey Developments. g.,
The room was poorly furnished and
very ul.tidy, as might be expected
from an occupant of Webb's bohemian
habits. The bed. noted, had not been
slept in overnight. though tile appear
;,nce of the countarpane Indicated that
some one wearing very dirty boots haG
lain on it. Upon an .old-fashioned.
hroad-seatcG sofa,lay the corpse. so en-
tircly covered in long cloak as to
leave nothing visible except brown
leather 'leggings and thick-soled boots.
\ constable was seated yard or so
AWAY, evidently in especial. charge of
| the remains.
no clue vet. l suppose, as to, his
! identily:" l remarked to Inspector
| Trail. who had accompanied me into
| the room, as glanced toward the sofa.
| No" was the reply. Except that the
style of the clothing seems to Indicate
y foreigner or one recently returned
| ll"w abroad. The pOSt-mOrtem this
afternoon may reveal something: but
so far. we only know that Il stranger
was; found here few hours ago strang.
led to DEATH
"Stranyled." repeated ''I'hat is
! rather cut of til" common nowadays
isn't it,;
"PcrlnpS So" he leioined: but the
| Indications are too plain to be mistak-
/ on in This case. SO saying. he made Il
| sign ~ the constable. who removed thu
| cloak sufficiently to expose the dead
; mans fac" ans! throat The inspector
WA: clearly right. The unnaturnlly
prominent eyes. the partly-protruding
turguc. the discolored skin of the
threat. pointed to the cause of death
plainly enough. The marks upon the
threat had fer me an especial interest
ar.! | studied them so long and care
full" that Inspector Trail looked at me
inuu 'ring,y when my examination was
over.
!, rho man who effected that Job must
! 'av" very large as we'll lis very power
FIJI bands" remarked. Judging from
! the Ip,r@th and width Of lis grip
lr%pcGter Trail pricked up his ears.
50 10 yorak. and nodded approviny!y
We lad often had friendly discussions
as the value of daductive methods
III difficult cases. and. although he was
wc:.i tc WAX very Scornful over the tic-
tit:nu% triun'plS of Vidocq and Shrr-
lock Homes. he was not above taking
WHh1 he termed Il reconnaissance hint
nEcn u point that had escaped his own
! observation.
That's So" he said. quietly. produc-
ing his nolr book: "Anything else:"
Yes" / continued. HE is member
CT the working class, probably an arti-
san in one of the So-called black
+ trades"
What makes you think so?"
az w"il-de1ined thumb-inark upon the
; Strlnglcd mans collar" l explained
~ dirty. coarse grained thumb-mark.
such as could only b" produced by a
, thumb well-stained by iron-hlings or
ether metallic dust
HIN" growled the inspector. "You
are pushing your Inference rather too
lcok at the mark myself. presently.
L
| why YOU seem to be so interested in
this case? Murders are not much in
your line. as rule. are they!"
Nc" answered, "they ere not But
I'm an Oil friend of the missing ten
,, ant of this room-Tom Webb"
'Tbe deuce you areH' he interrupted
''Then I'm afraid you're the friend Of
an extremely bad lot!'
you're wrongw I protested, warm
/ ~ There is no radical badness in the
! mnr. though he has wrecked himself
! through drink. I daresay the landlord
! here has given him an evil character
rs Il freQuenter of low pot-hOuses, and
who is always in arrears with his rent.
Likely enough; but I'd stake my life
h" is utterly incapable of hand or part
in Il crime like this
"rhen why run away like any other
guilty man?'
II don't believe he was able to find
his way back here at all in last nights
fcg." said. confidently. And, without
| further preface. l narrated how Tom
had left my rooms drunk, and with a
further supply of purloined whisky. at
i 9 a. IN. 1 added my conviction that
either some accident had befallen him,
| CT that he was lying in some lookup,
| toe hopelessly intoxicated to give any
/ account of himself.
Inspector Trail heard me out. and
then quietly produced a latch-key. ''It
was found upon the carpet here this
morning. and the landlord Identifies it
by IL private mark as the one used by
| Webb. So that, innocent or guilty, i,
is clear he found his way back here;
and. although that scarcely convicts
him of having choked a man to death,
still. taken in conjunction with his
! fight, it looks rather black against
/ him."
The discovery of the latch-key was
certainly deadly blow to my theory
that Tom had never reached his home
at all: and 1 was beginning to realize
that the experienced detectives suspi-
! cions were, after, all, in strict accord
| with all the available evidence. But I
! still utterly secuted the idea of Tom
J having had any active share in the
crime
'.rom, Webb choke a man"' I en-
claimed, indignantly. "Why, he hasn't
strength in his wasted skinny hands
to choke. a chicken! And, besides, the