Little Falls herald. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1889-1950, 1901-10-25

fore, as said before, this man was
probably bookkeeper. Now, as to his
salary; L do rot pretend to know the
exact amount of it, of course. But
when a man, who was evidently not a
dude, has his clothes made to order,
of imported material, and when his
i linen, his hat and his shoes are of good
quality, it is fair to infer that the mans
| income was comfortable.
II proceed with the arrangement of
my data: 81
"Secondly: the man in the cab died
OF a wound caused by a bullet fred at
very close quarters. Indeed, the weap-
on must have been held either against
the victims body, or, at any rate, very
near to it; for the coat is badly burned
by the powder"
''On these points at least" assented
DR.. ttIhurston, II can agree with you.
The bullet probably penetrated the
upper lobe of the left lung"
Eyes, "added Sturgis, land It, passed
out at the back, far below where it
went i'm. o. -. T.
| "What makes you think it passed
out? The wound in the back NAV
have been caused by another bullet
fred from the rear"
THAT hypothesis might be tenable
were it not for this
With these words the reporter pulled
>out his watch, opened the case, and
with the blade of a penknife took from
the surface of the crystal a minute OBJ
| ject, which he handed to the physician.
/ "Look at it," said he, pushing over
a magnifying glass.
DR.. Thurston examined the object
carefully.
"A splinter Of bone" he said, at last.
Eyes. I found it on the surface of
the wound in the back. How did it get
there?'
"You are right" admitted the physi-
clan; sit must have come from with
in, Clipped from rib and carried out
by the bullet which entered from the
front"
II think there can be no doubt as to
that. Now, the bullet does not seem
to have been detected in it's course by
it's contact with the rib, for, as far as I
have been able to Judge by probing
the two wounds with my pencil, their
direction is the same. This is impor-
tant and brings me to point three,
which is illustrated by these diagrams,
drawn to scale from the measurements
I took this afternoon"
AS he said these words, the reporter
handed to his friend sheet of paper
Upon which he had drawn some ge-
ometrical figures.
''The first of these diagrams shows
the angle which the course of the bull
let made with horizontal plane; the
second represents the inclination from
right to left. The former Of these an
giles IL nearly and the latter not far
from forty-five degrees. The inclina-
ton from right to left shows that the
shot was fired from the right side of
the dead man. Now then, one of two
things: Either it was fred by the man
himself, the weapon being held in his
right hand; or else it was fired by an
assassin who stood close to tho VIC
TINS right side. The first of these n.y.
potheses, considered by itself, is adj
missible; but it involves the assump-
ton Of an extremely awkward and un-
usual position of the suicides hand
while firing. On the other hand, the
dead man is tall-six feet one inch
and to fire down, at an angle of sixty
degrees, upon man Of his height, his
assailant would have to be colossus,
or else to stand upon chair or in some
equally elevated position, unless the
victim happened to be seated when the
shot was fred"
Happened to be seated" exclaimed
Thurston, astounded, why, of course
he was seated, since he was In the
cab"
"That brings up point four, which
ia not the least ~puzzling of this in
teresting case," said stdrgis, Impress
lively; 1.-THE shooting was not done in
the cab"
mot done in the cab!"
"No; otherwise the bullet would have
remained in the cushions; and it was
not there"
1T might have fallen out into the
street at the time Of the collision" sug-
gested Thurston.
mo; I searched every inch Of space
in which it might have fallen. If it
bad been thsge should have found
Il. for ths spos was brilliantly lighted
by N electric light, al you remen.
bef.S
The physician pondered in silence for
few minutes. :.
"With all due respect for the accu-
racy of your observations, and for the
rigorous logic of your inductions,
sturgis," he asserted at last with de-
cision, II am positive that the man
died seated, for his limbs stiffened in
that position"
eyes, asserted Sturgis, and for that
matter, I grant you that he breathed
his last in the cab; for in his death
struggles he clutched in his Left hand
! tho cIrahinn ~ fha caf vuirdo- a niAna