Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1900-12-18

established the identity of the body |
in the cab, and OF the young man who
after the cab was upset.
But one of the most salient features
of the case, from the start, was the
fact that neither of these two men
had derived much, if any, pecuniary
profit from his crime. The bookkeep- |
er, as we have seen, was mere cats
paw in the control of the accountant. |
and his posthumous confession has
given us the explanation of the power
exerted over him by his accomplice.
1t was not so easy to establish the
motive which controlled the actions of
the accountant, who was himself only
tool in the hands of higher intelli-
gence. The deus ex machina of this
crime is a man of genius who has hardly
appeared upon the scene at all, but
whose traces l have found at every
scheme; the other men in his hands
were mere puppets. Through the ac
countant. this master spirit managed
the bookkeeper; and the accountant
himself was controlled by him more
directly, but no less surely. If he held
the former through his fear of expo
sure and consequent ruin. he influenced
the latter through even more potent
motives. He is the father of a beauti-
full girl, whom he did not scruple to
use as decoy. The price agreed upon
for the accountants assistance was the
hand of this daughter, for whom the
young man had doubtless conceived Il
passionate love. Whether or not the
leader would have had the power to
carry out his part of the contract mat
tiers little; for it is highly probable that
he never had the slightest intention of
SO doing. He evidently realized very
early in the game that the bookkeeper
could not long escape the clutches of
the law. But as he had taken every
precaution to prevent him from know
ing anything of his very existence, the
fate of the unfortunate bookkeeper
would have mattered little to this
heartless villain, had not the probable
ity remained that, when brought to
bay, the bookkeeper would denounce
the accountants connection with the
crime. This would have been extreme
ly awkward, since the accountant was
very likely in possession of some dan
gerous secrets. The safest way out of
the difficulty was to quietly suppress
the now useless bookkeeper. This plan
was decided upon, and would doubtless
have been carried into execution, had
not fate otherwise decreed. After the
/ bookkeeper's death, under the circum-
/ stances which have related, it became
Z quite probable that the accountants
/ connection with the case would be dis
| covered; for luck had been against
| him from the start, and he became
more and more entangled in the chain
| of circumstantial evidence of whose
existence his leader was soon fully
aware. In the first place, the account
ant was wounded; and thus not only
partially disabled, but also-what is
far worse-conspicuous marked. A
man who carries his arm in sling can
hardly fail to attract attention, espe-
cially when this distinguishing mark
is accompanied by another equally
glaring one in the form of a head of
brilliant red hair
i Hold on, Sturgis!" interrupted
Sprague, who had been listening with
growing interest; don't you know the
accountants name?"
EYES," replied the reporter; "his
name is Thomas Chatham"
"Thomas Chatham!" exclaimed
Sprague, as the image of the miserable
young man came to his mind.
YES" replied Sturgis, answering his
thought, "the man you met only few
hours ago"
There was a brief silence, broken at
last by Sprague, who asked:
HAS he escaped?"
Sturgis hesitated.
4 THAT depends upon how we look at
it," he sail, gravely, at length; "he has
paid the penalty of his crimes"
What do you mean?'
I'VE is dead," answered the reporter
Dead? But I tell you l saw him
81 know; but he has died since"
"Suicide?"
"No;" the reporters voice sank to
whisper; murder"
"Murder?" repeated the artist, star
tied. "But how do you know that?"
This lump of lead tells the story,
said Sturgis, holding up the shapeles
piece of metal which he had taken ou
of the vat.
what is it? A bullet?"
"Yes; the bullet which Chatham car
ried in his arm from the time that HI
was wounded by Arbogast, the bulle
which has enabled me to trace him stel
by. step, from his fight from the over
turned cab to DR.. Thurston's and tinall.
: to his death in this very room; TIL
bullet whose peculiar shape is record
ed in this shadow picture taken b.
Thurston by means of the Roentgel
rays"
So saying, he handed Sprague tn
photograph. But the artist had cease'
10 listen.