The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1901-01-24
EDGAR MORETTE
BY

"fes. found it on the surface of
the wound in the back. How did itget
thcre?"
You are right" admitted the physi-
clan; lit must have come from with
in. Clipped from a rib and carried cut
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
its contact with the rib, for, as far as
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
l took this afternoon"
AS he said these words, the reporter
handed to his friend a 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 is nearly and the latter not far
from forty-five degrees. The inclina-
ton from right to left shows that the
shot was fred from the right side of
the dead man. Now then, one of two
things: Either it was fired by the man
himself, the weapon being held in his
right hand; or else it was fired by an
assassin who stood close to the vic
TINS right side. The first of these n.y.
potheses. considered by itself, is adj
missible; but 1t 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-siN feet one inch
and to fire down, at an angle of sixty
degrees, upon man Of his height, his
agsailant 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, astoundcd, "why, Of course
he was seated, since he was in tho
cab"
That brings up point four, which
Is not the least puzzling of this in
teresting case" said Sturgis, impress
lively; 1.-The shooting was not done in
the cab"
Not 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.
NO; l searched every inch of space
in which It might have fallen. II it
had been there I should have found
it, for the spo. was brilliantly lighted
by an electric light, as you remem-
ber."
The physician pondered in silence for
q few minutes.
with all due respect for the accu-
racv 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"
''Yes, asserted Sturgis. land for that
matter, l grant you that he breathed
his last in the cab; for in his death
struggles he clutched in his left hand
the cushion OF the cab window, piece
Of which remained in his dying grasp.
| merely said that he was not shot in
the cab"
"Then how did he get there ?" asked
the physician.
'Iour question is premature, my
dear fellow" replied Sturgis, smiling;
lit must remain unanswered for the
present. All we have established ~
yet is that he did get there. And that
being the case, he must have been as
sisted; for. wounded as he was. he
could not. | take it, have climbed into
the cab by himself"
''Certainly rot" agreed Thurston.
Point five" resumed Sturgis. the
right arm was broken just above the
wrist"
''fes, said the physician, II thought
at first that the arm might have been
broken in the collision with the cable
car: hut the discoloration of the flesh
proves concmsively 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 n severe blow with some blunt
instrument"
POSSIBLY" admitted Thurston.
This broken arm, if we can place
it in it's proper chronological position,
may prove to be of some Importance in
the chain Of evidence" unused Stur-
gis. III 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 himsel;
the person who did must have reached
over his right arm to do so. In that
case. unless the victim was asleep or
stupeficd. would he not instinctiveIy
have raised his arm iE seJf-defense. and
thus detected the weapon upwardT"
''Evidcntfy."
"Well. it is idle to speculate on tkis
line for the present Let us come TO
point six. You remember l called
your particular attention to the cab.
man. DO you still think he was only
drunk?"
NO" replied Thurston; while he
had nnquestionably been drinking
heavily. he also showed symptoms Of