The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1900-04-08

To several persons MI l'ui' nnu uauIy
else bearing him q grudge- mentioned Nho "o'o
L. with Savage and Saya&e's threats, ,. o.,
Of course, n warrant was promptly issueu loi
and duly Grraigned. There was not We fenlo.ess
shadow Of evidence against him. 10y a ssoho
or more " Witnesses whose testimony was uueIy
beyond question, Savage proved ihat al Z 9'.o.n
on the evening Of Nov 10, when the murdtIous
attack was made. he was over iory mics uWGy,
from Mr Hurt's house. There was nbs1lnlsiy
and acGui, him Of all suspicion Of the crime.
So here again all investigation was AZ a nhi,
and brought up standing agnins, me srhis uena
wal Of mystery which had ronlron'en we n "d
ifgs when people we're generally Hlpthi'in3 "
believe that the problem never, would De soN%
mat District Attorney Hale took hIin o. ,nG
Reviewing carefully every detail OF ,e S 'hsn
mcnts Of four persons who were IN the room VIM
the ASSASSIN entered Mr. Hale found one la't s,ahu-
Ing out In strong relief In all the narratives VIM
ever the murderer was, II was evident NAV tno p',
son and the only person ho was absolutely peht - n
killing was Mrs Burt Had he wished ~ , En-
the boy, he could have done 30 at the do.t "
FIRST thing Henry Jaw when lie opened lhe uooi
WAS the muzzle OF the revolver within a lew ihehes
OF his face II a general family massacre NeIr
intended, why did not the man pull me ulesrri
and begin with the boy then and there? Ana,
when he followed the boy into the room, IL way
straight toward Mrs Burt that he "aiked aiu
was against her breast that he aimed the pistol anu
fired. lie paid no more heed 10 the gar, NntN
Harvey, Than he did 10 the buy Henry. He like,
wisc raid no a~ienlion to Mr. Briggs until ,ie i "d
man threw himself, upor hiln and cInng 70 h,n,
and could not he thrown of until he was shot
There was no escaping. the plain CONCLUSION
that Mrs Burt and Mrs Burt olone was NE m
tended victim Somebody hated Mrs Howard
out Of the way that he vas ready to commit mufoef
10 attain his end. 49,.
And there was another fact. When Harry
| opened the door the revolver vas aimed stra1rhti
7 at HIN a. though the man had " HlTt tuN 1dl GU
and held prepared To fire the instant the door
opened, Mas he expecting, Mrs. Burt TO open
qusintcd with Mrs. Burt's domestic habits 70
know that she almost Invariably did open me
door personally. when anybody Knocked IL
looked very Ike II.
| With the fact 10 star from that Mrs. Burt was
undcniably the intended victim and the very
reasonable theory that the assassin knew 'hal
the problem for Mir, Hale narrowed itself down
a. thi,: Find out who has reason, either rom
hatred ~ personal interest, to wish hrs but'
dead and who at the sane aine 4 inhTSaf'' 40
the problem the solution Of which Mr, Hale set
for Himself And he WAS able to throw aside one
half Of the question Of motive at ne hso oI,,s'' pi nv
woman Of 81 who had lived all OF her h'alncless
niein The community Nithouta known enemy was
out Of the question, Whoever wanted MY. l,utt
ont Of the way had motive other than PERSONAL
hatred. Whoever wanted her out of the way
was somebody. whose plans her living presence
thwarled or whose material interests would be
advanced by her death,
But there was nobody 70 benefit financially
by her removal. lier death would Dtllg i"
body any money OF any inheritance II here
things were narrowed down again and The props,
Ation became this, that Mrs. BurtS asshllant
was somebody who knew her home ways ihn
mately and who had plans which could he best
carried out with her dead and out OF The way. o..
All tlis hir. Hale reasoned out 10 himself WIN
out taking anybody into his confidence, not even
Nj. Burt himself, although he and Mr. Burt had
H. - ,a-.f - aHl InI En.Nan aNRh
other intimately from childhood, Mr Hale
kept hi, conclusions and his counsel 10 himself
and began gIUping out here there and every,
where for hints OF suggestions that would lead
him into the path Of ills my stcrlous unknown
whose schemes were 50 baked by this harm
less old farm woman that he was ready To com
nit murder t. get her out ~ The way.
And very early in his cautious inquiries Nj.
Hale began To- get glimpses Of a mysterious she'd
owy tgufo seen on the road between iulsdhhl
and Mr. Burt's house ON the evening OF me ,nme.
The crime was committed al I O'Clock. ltel"'en
s. 80 and : O'Clock the figure was seen twice ana
then he was going toward the BUT house be-
tween ! and : 80 he Was fsen four hmeS between
Burt's house and Potsdan John Labarge saw
him AZ q 10 about thIc. miles from pUtsdam and
two and 4 hall miles from burt's house George
Ilnnu, who worked for Burt. but lived IN his own
lie was then within a half mile Of Burts house
and walking rapidly in that direction hlentz
again saw him at 100 Hewas then walking from
hurts house and toward PotsGan. George
Wagner saw him a few minutes latrr-s,ill going
toward po,sdan. Wagner was carrying u bicycle
| lantern and when the man saw him coming WIN
some barns The next seen OF him was near
potSiam. John Bartlett, left Potsdam, al 5
o'clock by the tom clock. About a mile out
on the Hannawa Falls road he met the man VINO
was WALKING very RAPIDLY tow ard Poiscam.
Mary Sullivan, n servant IN the employ 81 IN"
Garrison family who haveafine country eailEing
In the outskirts Of the town, south, ot We Inn
nawa Falls road, hal stopped at the hone 81 MIS-.
" allacc on her way 10 the Clarkson place. She
remained fifteen minutes. Mrs. Na'lGce walked
with her TO the beginning Of the Clarkson grounds
walking toward them from the south. They
described him as all the Others describe him tall,
s,nop ShorlderNl, dressed in dark gray clothing
and no o~vercoat All Who saw him going toward
he Rur, house say he wore u wide bnmned
slouch hat Those who saw him going toward
Potsdam say he wore a cap When MS v hlare
left Mary Sullivan and started bnrk home, she
large red silk pocket Handkerchief II was nriukled
la'prally as though strained as il would he In
tying it tightly over a mans face.
Thus far the fgure District attorney Hale had
been following through various witnesses lad been
seen dimly like a fitting spectre by night; tbs
figure was vague and shadowy and lis identity
a mystery. But al last he reached ro'sdhm vii,
lege itself, was skull ing dnrSly in shadows and
obscure streets Al last, however, he came out
full in the glare OF an electrtr light and there Was
met by a man who knew him well and called him
by name and tina, name was Howard W, lurL
There could he no doubt about IL The de-
s%crip'iOns Of oil the witnesses were too positive
in certain general veculiarities the stoop shout
ders, the tell, thin form, the dark gray clothes
and the black Nhiskers 20 leave any room for
doubt that the man seen sEu'king ANA lurrylng
20 and from his own house, and P9!sdSm between
$50 In the afternoon and $50 IN the evening
was the very man whose VIE had been shot aud
hertcn and whose father in law had been muir
dcred. How much Of a shock It was 10 Mr.. Hale
a. learn this, how much hi suspicious lad been
aroused by other discoveries can only he guessed
Certain II Is that he became fully convinced in
his own mind that Howard v Bur lied when
he said he was in Potsdam all the afternoon and
until 40 o'clock at night
Then following this came other discoveries.
The bullets fired by the assassin were found
They proved 10 b. II q shair that had not been
made since 1890, William j. Petty, a New YORK
police s~srfregut and police Instructor in revolver
practice, testified that they all came from tho
peculiar - calIbrr " inchest,r Colt long central fire
ca-t,idsss whereof he msnlisGigI. had ceased
In the Winchester Arms Nomrany's New York
store, said the same.
And the importance Of oil this turned on tho
fact that twelve daye before the shouting Howard
", Bur bought a revolver and cartridge of lirrn
and Maxwell In Potsdam and the cartridges were
the old fashioned Kind found AT the scene Of The
assassination. All the gun stores ami scores Of
pawn shops in New Yorh city and al all the tow ms
within n wide radius around Potsdnm were ran
,tacscd but MOI another cartridge Of that p@artlcu-
lar sind could hn 70 uad. The reason u Brlcn
end Maxwell happened Ia have them was because
they had bought out tho old STOCK Ot f. j. Hpnuev,
who {, rmerly had done business IN Canton, y. Y
hu, mt was not gll The lrn,l Of Bqr, grew
got along on IT, II twas found that he had bought
q rair II storm ruhl@rs on the day Of the murder
and " hen measured they exactly fitted the tracks
made by the assassin near the house. Further
than that II was found that Burt had bought n
slouCh hat on The day of the murder that core
syondcd 20 DE one worn by the ASSASSIN. The
silk handkerchief found IN the wood by Mrs
Wallace was Identified a. from the store whore
Burt hourht he SLOUGH hat The merchant