Waterbury Democrat., 1900-11-30

be ssuicided.' He must have had strong reasons to Suspect Chatham of treach- cry; for he at once iInpulsively jumped to the conclusion that his only chance of safety lay in striking before he could be struck. At any rate, while the accountant was busy at the telephone, Arbogast stood near this desk, mechan- ieany tearing to pieces this letter, while he planned the accountants death. He had taken with him your re- volver. As the thought of it flashed upon his 1Sind, his resolution was in- stantly taken. He stealthily crept to the paying teller's wicket. Through it he could see the telephone closet, the door of which stood open. Chatham was in direct range, as Arbogast raised the pistol, and without a word of warn ing, fired. The accountant held the re- ceiver of the telephone to his ear. This saved his life; for the bullet entered his left hand and remained embedded in his flesh. When the bullet struck him, Chatham fell fc rward, striking his head 1 against a corner of the telephone box, and infiicting slight scalp wound. I found q few hairs of an intensely red hue, which are evidently his. I also found shreds of his cloth ing which caught on q protecting nail as he fell; and I infer from these his taste for loud dress. He recovered himself before Arbogast was ready to fire a second time and ran into the clerks room, probably hoping to make his way to the street through the Exchange Place dcor. But at the same time, Arbogast rushed through the reception room and this office, reaching the vestibule in time to head ! off Chatham, who then turned back and ran through the secretary's room, with Arbogast in pursuit. In the meantime K to whom I have al- ready alluded, was waiting in Ex- change place, where Chatham had a cab. Upon hearing the pistol shot he went to the accountants assistance. He passed into this office, which he probably reached in time to see Chat ham rush in from the secretary's room, closely followed by Arbogast. x seized that chair over there in the corner and sprang between the hunt ed man and his pursuer as the latter raised his arm to fire. Our anony- nous friend is probably man of great strength: for with one blow of i the chair he broke the boollkeeper's | wrist. The hammer fell, but the weapon was defected and the bullet, l instead of reaching it's intended vic 1 tim, passed through the upper lobe | of Arbogast's left lung and out at the back at an angle of about 60 de- 1 grees. The bookkceper was standing not far from the mantelpiece wonder. | Do you see that broad black line on l the hearth? That was made by the bullet. It's direction and the angle | enabled me at once to see that it must have ricochetted into the fireplace; and there, sure enough, I found it in the soot in the bend of the chimney. | Here it is.''
 Dunlap had listened to this nara tive with evident interest. But now. recovering from the spell of Sturgis' | persuasive conviction. his skepticism ID regained the ascendancy fo: mo- | ment.
 'Mr Sturgis, you have missed your vocation" he said, laughing good naturedly; you ought to have been q playwright. You have a most con- vincing way of presenting both your | facts and your theories. While you are speaking, one is ready to admit the plausibility of every statement you make. But now that you have fin- | ished, I have become a hard-headed banker once more, and I beg to sub init one or two facts-since we are seeking facts-which it seems to me are enough to demolish all your elabo- rate structure"
 'Go on," said Sturgis; "it goes with out saying that any theory is worth less unless it takes into account and explains every existing fact. If there are any in this case which have es- capped me-a contingency which i5 quite possible, for l have no preten- sion to infallibilty-I shall be glad to hear about them; and. naturally, if my conclusions do not tally with the facts, the conclusions must be altered, since facts are absolute.'
 "Well, then" said Dunlap, "assum- ing, for the sake of the argument, that these various marks winch you have called trails were made by the feet of three different people; admit ting even that one oC these indi- viduals was Arbogast, who often stays here after banking hours, 1 do not see that you have established by any satisfactory evidence your as sumption that the other so-called trails are those of Chatham and a stranger. For aught I know to the contrary, they may have been made by some of the bank employees in the discharge of their regular duties. Chatham's coat may have caught on a nail in the telephone closet last week, while he was here in his legiti- mate capacity of expert accountant. The change of the combination of the
 safe may be. the result of an error;
 for we have no direct proof whatever
 that Arbogast is a defaulter. And
 then, when it comes to your interest
 ing description of the alleged shoot
 ing of Arbogast, it strikes me that
 you are entirely carried away by your
 enthusias1a; for, in your minute de
 scription of the path of the bullet, at
 a certain angle, of which you seem
 to know the measure almost to the
 fraction of a second, you overlook sev-
 eral important things. Two shots
 were fired yesterday in or near the