The stayer. (Canyon City, Tex.) 1896-1903, 1901-12-12

81
for we have no direct proof whatever
that Arbogast is dcfaulter. And,
then, when it comes TO Your interest
ing description of the alleged shoot
ing of Arbogast il strikes me that
you are entirely carried away by your
enthusasm; for, in your minute de-
scription Of the path of the bullet, at
a certain angle, of which YOU seem
to know the measure almost to the
fraction of second, you overlook sew
cral important things. Two shots
were fired yesterday in or near the
Knickerbocker bank. In, say you,
because here is revolver with two
empty cartridge shells; here is
black mark, which may have been
produced by the ricochet of bullet.
and here is q shapeless piece Of lead,
which may be that bullet As, how
ever one bullet cannot account for
two shots, you are forced at once to
assume that Chatham has carried
away the second one in the palm OF
his hand. This is ingenious, very In
genious. but"
His blood is on the telephone re-
ceiver," observed Sturg,s, quietly.
Blood" exclaimed Dunlap; "why,
with the carnage that you have inn
agined here, there SHOULD be oceans of
blood. Here is man, running around
with "a wounded hand, who leaves
few drops of blood on the telephone
receiver, and nowhere else. And here
is another man, shot through the
lungs-excuse me, through the upper
lobe of the left iung--who does not
bleed at all. And where is he now?
Such wound as you have given him
must, ! take it, be fatal, or at any
rate, serious. Yet here is dead or.
at least, dying man, calmly walking
Off as if-as If the curtain had fallen
at the end of your drama. and the
corpse had hurried off to his dress
ing-room."
You have forgotten something
else suggested the reporter, smiling.
Dunlap looked at him questoningly
Yes; you have forgotten the pistol
replaced in the drawer after Arbogast
was shot, and the doors of the bank
carefully locked"
True. No, my dear sir; your elab-
crate theory will not bear an instants
calm examination"
"And yet" rejoined Sturgis, "my con
clusions, as far as they go, are abso-
lutely correct. Every objection which
you raise is plausible enough when
considered by itself; but we have not
to deal with lot of isolated facts,
but with a series of connected events,
each of which depends upon and sup
ports all the others. Let me finish my
story, and | think you will then be
prepared to admit that what seems
to you now u fight of fancy on my
part, is nothing but sober exposition
of plain, unvarnished facts"
Dunlap, with a deprecating gesture.
settled back into his chair once more.
"We left Arbogast shot through the
left lung-fatally wounded, as you
have just remarked. He probably fell
like a log; while Chatham, weak from
shock, leaned against the door jamb
yonder. He had probably stanched his
wound with his free hand as he RAM
[ have been unable to find any trace
OF blood between the telephone and
this spot. On the door jamb, however.
the blood left stain which has not
been completely wiped out and which
enabled me to judge of Chatham's
height. 'X' was the only one of the
trio who knew what he was about at
This time. l have genuine adInira-
ton for *; he must be a man OF mar
veious nerve. Instead of flying panic
from the scene, as any or
binary criminal would have done, he
calmly proceeded to protect his retreat
and to Systematically cover his trail.
His first step was to lock the Wall
street gate and the inside door. Quin-
Ian had doubtless pulled the outer
door TO as he ran away, so that *
probably thought this also locked. He
then, with Chatham's assistance,
helped Arbogast, who was not yet
dead, and who perhaps by this time,
had regained consciousness, into the
lab which was waiting near by in Ex-
change place, where found the blood
stains on the curb, as you will remem-
Der. After starting off his two ac-
in the cab, he returned to
he bank, put away the pistol in its
proper place, which, by the way, he
seems to have known, and washed up
all or nearly all the blood stains There
) sponge and bucket under the sink
Continued on lrst page.