Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1900-11-08

VI "tiSu IcHidiued ia his uyluB grasp.
I merely said that he was not shot in
the cab
'Then how did he get thereP" asked
the physician.
"Your question is premature, my
dear fell ow,"' replied Sturgis, smiling;
sit must, remain unanswered for the
present. All we have established as
yet is that he did get there. And that
being the case, he must have been as
sisted; for, wounded as he was, he
could not, I take it, have climbed into
the cab by himself"
Certainly not" agreed Thurston.
Point FIVE" resumed sturgis, ''the
right arm was broken just above the
wrist"
YES" said the physician, 81 thought
at first that the arm might have been
broken in the collision with the cable
car; but the discoloration of the flesh
proves conclusively that the fracture
occurred before: DEATH"
Precisely. Now, it is possible that
the man broke his arm when he fell,
after being shot;s but the confused
wound looks to me as if it had been
made by severe blow with some blunt
instrument"
Possibly" admitted Thurston.
This broken arm, il we can place
it in its proper chronological position,
may prove to be of some Importance in
the chain of evidence" unused Stur.
| gls. IF the fracture occurred before
the man was shot, that, of course, ex.
cludes the possibility of suicide; but,
on the other hand, it also brings in an
obstacle to the. hypothesis of muir.
| der"
How SOP"
Because we have settled, you will
remember, that the shot was fired from
the right of the victim, and close to him
Now, If he did not. fire the shot himself
the person who did must have reached
over his right arm to do so. In that
case, unless the victim was asleep OF
stupefied, would he not instinctively
have raised his arm in self-defense. and
thus detected the weapon upward o.
Evidently
We'll. 1T is idle to speculate on this
line for the present. Let us come to
point six. You remember l called
your particular attention to the cab.
man. Do you still think he was only
drunk?"
NO" replied Thurston; "while he
had unquestional6ly been drinking
heavily, he. also showed symptoms Of
narcotic poisoningg
! Then the presumption is that he
had been druggedsby those who wished
to place the wounded man in his cab
4 observed him closely and am salts
! fed that he knows as little about his
dead passenger as we do. He prob.
ably knowsstless about him. at all
events, than the young man in the
sealskin cap who gave the police the
slip during the excitement which fol-
lowed the oyerturning of the cab"
Sturgis paused moment.
| This, / think" he continued, "cov-
ers oil the evidence we have thus far
collected in the Cab Mystery. 1t is
quite satisfactory, as far as it goes,
for it is circumstantial evidence. and,
therefore absolutely truthful. In the
Knickerbocker bank mystery we have
as yet no satisfactory data whatever;
for everything we have heard concern
ing it has its origin in the fallible evil
dence of witnesses, and has, more
over, reached us third or fourth hand.
There is, however, one fact that may,
or may not, prove to beimportant. Have
you noticed that these two mysteries
are contemporaneous, and, therefore,
that they may be related?"
do you think there is any connec-
ton between the two inquired Thurs
ten, interested.
81 do not allow myself to think about
it at all, as yet" replied Sturgis; 81
simply note the fact, that, so far as time
is concerned, the Cab Mystery could be
the sequel to the Knickerbocker Bank
Mystery--that is all. Facts, my dear
boy, are like words. A word is only
an assemblage of meaningless letters
until it becomes pregnant with sense
by context. So, a fact, which, stand
ing by itself, has no meaning, may
when correlated with other facts, be.
come fraught with deep significance.
"And now" he continued, after q
pause, ~ think our work is concluded
for the present. shall be able to lay
it aside for the night. Let me offer
you glass of sherry. Pleasant evening
we spent at Sprague's tonight. Ihave
great admiration for him as an artist
and a great fondness for him as man
| Most Of his friends are strangers to
me, though. You know have very
little time to indulge in social dissipa.
ton. BY the way, who is that DR.
Murdoch with whom have made this
bet?"
"Oh! he is physician, though now
retired from practice. He devotes him.
self entirely to scientific research, es.
| pecially in the domain of chemistry
He has made some important discov.
cries in organic chemistry, and they
say he has succeeded in proving some
of the supposed elementary metals tc
be compounds. He has quite an envi
able reputation in the scientific world
I understand he is remarkable man.
"That is evident at q glance. Hr
| oh T..