The Afro-American advance., 1900-03-03
What KOtelmann Saw
az ~ NJ n n a. ~ ~ alS


the uncanny expression of his face
when he looks up is to me positively
repulslye .z=
For all that, he 10 excellent COM
pany..I have spent many hours, many
an evening, in his society, and must,
IN fairness, own that have never
found him wearisome or dull.
Not long ago | took walk with
him. As we sauntered through the
atubble fields we discoursed of this
and of that, and at last we got upon
the topic of the latest murders which
had bel reported in the press.
kotelmann, as talked about
these things, had the look that al.
way. makes my=hair stand on end.
We were discussing the question of
circumstantial evidence and its value.
Tn ninety nine cases out of a hun
dred," | remarked, there is nothing
else to be done but to convict the
criminal upon circumstantial evidence.
No maa in his senses would perpe
trate a murder in the presence of an
eyewitness
Probably not" returned Kotel-
mann, slowly. THAT kind of thing
is usually done in private. 1t may SO
chance, however. that an eyewitness
is present of whom the murderer has
no cognzance."
After making this remark he walked
by my side for awhile in silence, APP
parently deep in thought Then he
began again, in his characteristic
fashion:
"one may travel all round the world
and yet never witness a murder /,
however, have seen one"
'What-you-you have seen one!"
i exclaimed, almost terrified. Eek
plain yourself, man! Was the muir
derer caught? Was he punished?'
ut was no he it was she said
KotemGnn, with laugh. "And as
she was not caught it stands to rea-
son she was not punished"
''Yet you" | began.
My companion interrupted me.
81 had nothing to do with it, Ny
evidence was not called for nor re-
quired The thing was accomplished
in the neatest, most refined manner
possible II you like, will tell you
the whole story"
/ pricked up my ears.
'Four years ago | was spending my
summer vacation ut the little water
ing place of b. This quiet, retired
nest suited me well, and l stayed there
for some time.
In the house where l found lodg
ing there were already a number of
other visitors-a fact which. to a So
ciable individual like myself, was in
no wise distasteful.
''Among others / made slight ac-
quaintance with a family consisting
III an old gentleman, his young wife
and his daughter by a former mar
Tiage. The girl, a slim, delicate Great
ure, apparently about 20 years of age.
was blind. She could not be termed
pretty, but her personality was inde-
scribabiv attractive, gentle. and, /
may say. pathetic. The wife was
beauty She had splendid figure and
a pair of gray eyes not easily to be
forgotten. / shonld judge her age to
have been about 2s. These people
seemed to be in very easy circum-
stances and kept themselves as much
Us possible apart from the other Wis
itors.
IL can boast. as you are aware, of
some small gifts of observation. AL
though my acquaintance with this
family was, as | have already stated,
but slight one, yet took some inter
est in studying the different members
which composed it. For. wherever /
Eo. / make it rule to study all the
new characters l meet. 1t was not
long before | discovered three things
concerning this trio. Firstly, that the
old man was passionately in love with
his wife, but had for his daughter
neither eyes, ears nor heart: secondly.
that the daughter had an almost
idclatI Gus reverence for her father,
Dut secret dislike for her stepmoth-
er; thirdly, that the wife had a down
right hatred for the other two.
None of the other inmates of our
villa, however. had any suspicion of
this state of affairs; to the superficial
observer these three persons appeared
10 be living together in perfect har-
mUny.
"One morning the old gentleman did
not appear, and in answer to inquiries
his wife said that he was ILL., In the
course of the day a physician was
summoned to him. and in the evening
our host impaired to me in confidence
the distressing fact that the old man
had been attacked by typhus fever
and lay now in very precarious con-
ditiou.
THE honest Thuringian well-nigh
shed tears of chagrin; one would have
thought to hear him that the poor
gentleman had taken the fever out of
sheer wiekedness and spite. on pur-
pose to give the house a bad name.
There was some cause for this lamen-
fation. The secret could not be kept
long. and as soon as it became known
tnnt typhus was in the house the Wis
i'ors decamped with all speed. Only
two or three, more reasonable than
the rest, remained.
81 have no fear of infection. and
when told our host so I rose prodi-
gtoukly in his estimation. even
ited the invalid and tried to cheer him.
On one occasion. when only a hired
nurse besides myself was present, he
startled me by e fit OF delirium. in
which he implored me to save him
frem his wife. / did my utmost 10
Jaeify him and soon his noo.l cbnpsrnd