Little Falls herald. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1889-1950, 1900-01-19

it daWned upon him that here was his
cleW; here in this tiny scrap, for D2r-
rent felt confident that it had formed
part OF the ornamental carving of a
chessman, and it was set of chessmen
that some one had been at great pains
to secure from that very room.
Yes, here was the clew! Once let him
trace the set CT chessmen that had been
obtained from The Grange, once let
him find that one was damaged anil
satisfy himself that this fragment fitted,
and the first step in the discovery Of
the murderer Of Josiah Marsden would
be accomplished.
lie carefully wrapped the piece Of
ivory in cigarette paper and placed it
in his pocketbook
CHOW, Thompson, he said to the
! officer, who had been interestedly
watching his proceedings, ST think I've
seen enough Of this room, for the pres
emit at any rate Let us turn our atten-
tlon to p thorough search Of the rest OF
the building. The murderer seems to
have entered in the ordinary way, but
ne did not depart the same way as he
entered Therefore, Thompson, he knew
OF some other means Of exit, and what
we have got to do is to find it. ~
Darrent had already arrived at the
conclusion that the murder had been
committed by some one who possessed
an intimate knowledge of the structure
OF The Grange itself and Of some secret
means of escape. There must be a secret
means of exit from the building-of
that he was confdent-but where I?
That was the trouble, and that they
would have to discover. That the en-
trance had been in the usual and ordi-
nary way and the exit in some unusual
and extraordinary way was certain,
and that gave rise to two possible the
cries. One was that the murderer was
merely an ordinary visitor, with origi-
! nally no i'll intent. Something which
might never be solved had led to a
quarrel with old Marsden, and that had
ended in a struggle and his death,
whereupon the murderer, acquainted
with the structure Of the building, had
escaped by the secret way Or, on the
other hand, the assassin had entered,
with malice aforethought. determined,
for some reason Of revenge, upon the
death Of Josiah Marsden, intending aft
or the committal of the deed to make
use of the secret route and leave no
trace of his escape. In either case it
proved thorough knowledge of the
house and the existence Of some private
means Of exit. and that was what they
must discover
Together they left the library and
began their search. From garnet to
basement they ransacked every room,
but could discover nothing. Dust reign
ed supreme everywhere, and the most
careful investigation revealed no posi-
BILE hiding place or means of escape.
After several hours thorough search
Darrent and his assistant conclusively
satisfied themselves that the murderer
was not concealed upon the premises.
How, then, had he escaped7 He had
not gone out by the front door Then
! he must have escaped from the back of
The Grange, and yet from the house to
the river the SNOW lay in one smooth,
undisturbed mantle Of white. Not a
telltale mark betrayed the way of the
murderer's fight
On the left of the entrance hall. op-
posite the iibrary, was the only other
room that seemed to have been in con-
slant use, and at the far end, in the
same place as the window was situated
in the library, fernery had been built,
but it was bare of foliage now and
boosted only a collection Of dry and
withered shrubs. This was the last
room Darrent entered He stood in the
conservatory and opened the door lead
ling to the grounds. A fight Of steps, pro-
tected by an ornamental iron awning,
lover which ivy and creeping plants had
! grown, led down to q covered trellised