The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1900-06-20

irg the letter, "this announces his in
tention Of committing suicide"
"Prec,sely; and yet Arbogast did no
commit suicide; probably never hat
any intention Of doing SO; and, at any
rate, did not write that letter. 70,
will observe that it is not signed; the
name is typewriter, like the rest of thu
letter, which, moreover, was not writ
ten here, as the superscription would
seem to indicate. have tried youl
typewriter, and although it is of the
tame make as the one upon which this
letter was written, there are several
characteristic differences in the align
ment and in the imperfections Of the
type.
Besides" continued Sturgis
thoughtfully, "the letter itself bears
evidence, on its face, that it could not
have been written by Arbogast. Your
bookkeeper was of weak, nervous, ex.
citable temperament, as all his actions
plainly show. Before such man is
brought to the point of taking his own
life, he must have passed through a
more or less protracted period of ago.
nizing nervous tension, of which you
and I can hardly form any adequate
conception. Under the circumstances,
if he loved his wife, conscious that by
his guilt he was about to plunge her
into the depths of grief and shame, he
might have written her an incoherent
and hysterical letter, or tender and
repentant letter, but never this frigid,
matter-of-faet statement of supreme
decision. This letter is the work of O
cold and calculating nature, incapable
of ordinary human feeling. The man
who wrote it would not have written
to his wife at all, or would have written
only TO serve some selfish purpose.
From what I know of Arbogast, | do
not believe he was capable of compos-
ing these lines
"You think, then, that the letter was
written by Chatham" said Dunlap.
'But what object could Chatham have
for writing such q letter."
NO. answered Sturgis. 81 do not
think that Chatham wrote this letter.
That is the curious part of it. Icannot
believe that If Chatham had been
aware of the important nature of its
contents, he could have been willing to
leave it for an instant within Arbo-
CASTS reach"
"But who, then, could have been it's
author, and why should he have in
trusted the letter to Chatham?'
ITO your second question, my answer
is, probably because he wanted it
mailed from the main post Office at
about the time that Arbogast would
leave the bank. 10 the first, cannot
yet give any positive answer, although,
as you will presently see, there are
some clews pointing to our unknown
quantity * as the author of this let
ter. But let us not anticipate. Suppose
we return to our drama. When Arbo-
CAST read this letter, he evidently
thought, as ! do, that somebody was
playing him false; that he was to be
gotten rid of in some safer way than
exile; in short, that, as somebody said
of one of the Turkish sultans, he was to
be 'suicided.' He must have had strong
reasons to suspect Chatham of treach
cry; for he at once impnlsively 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 stool near this desk, mechan-
ically 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 mind. 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 word of warm
ing, fired. The accountant held the re-
ceiyer 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 forward. striking his head
against IA corner of the telephone
box, and inficting slight scalp
wound. | found few hairs of an
intensely red hue, which are evidently
his. also found shreds of his cloth
ing which caught on projecting nail
as he fell; and l infer from these his
taste for loud dress. lie 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 door. 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 * 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.
* seized that chair over there in the
corner and sprang between the hunt
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