The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1900-08-03
THE STURGIS WAGER !
A DETECTIVE STORY.
BY EDGAR NOR ErTE.
Copyright, isOg by Frederick 4. Stoke, Co.


~Then how did he get there?' asked
the physician.
"Your question is premature. my
dear fellow" replied Sturgis, smiling; |
ait 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
slated; for, wounded as he was, he
could not, take II, have climbed into
the cab by himself"
"Certsiuly not" agreed Thurston.
"Point FIVE" resumed Sturgis, "the
right arm was broken just above the
wrist"
Yes said the physician, II 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; 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, l. we can place
It in its proper chronological position,
may prove to be of some Importance in
the chain of evidence" unused Stur-
gis. "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 fred 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 or
stupetied. would he not instinctively
have raised his arm il self-defense. and
thus detected the weapon upward ?"
"Evidontly."
well. it is idle to speculate on this
line for the present. Let us come TO
point six. You remember | called
your particular attention TO the cab
man. DO You still think he was only
drunk"
"No." replied Thurston; while he
had unquestionably been drinking
heavily. he also showed symptoms of
narcotic poisoning"
"Then the presumption is that he
had been drugged by those who wished
to place the wounded man in his cab.
observed him closely and l am salts
fed that he knows as little about his
dead passenger MS we do. He prob
ably knows less 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 overturning of the cab
Sturgis paused a moment.
"This, / think" he continued, "cov'
ers all 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 il has its origin in the fallible evi
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 contemporancous, and, therefore
that they may be related?"
"Do you think there is any conHec
ton between the two?" inquired Thurs
ton, Interested,
81 do rot allow myself to think abou
1t at all as vet" replied Sturgis; ="
simply note the fact, that. so Tar as tim
is concerned. the Cab Mystery could b
the sequel to the huickerbocker Ban
Mvstery-that is all. Facts, my dea
boy. are Ike words. A word is onl
an assemblage CT meaningless letter
until it becomes pregnant with sens
by context. So. 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
pause, "I think our work is conclude
for the present. shall be able TO Ia
It aside for the night. Let me offe
you glass of sherry. Pleasant eyenir
we spent AT Sprague's tonight. haN
great admiration for him as an arts
and a great fondness for him as n maj
Most of his friends are strangers
me, though. You know have yer
little time to indulge in social dissipi
ton. by the way, who is that d
Murdoch with whom l have made tn
bet?"
"Oh! he is a physician, though no
retired from practice He devotes hin
self entirely to scientific research, e
pecially in the domain of chemistr
He has made some important disco
cries in organic chemistry, and the
say he has succeeded in proving son
of the supposed elementary metals
Cancer on Her Tongue Cured Withor