The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1902-11-14

storage warehouse occupying all OF TIA
street at the back. and. secondly. Mr.
Mora had a special night watchman pa
trolling the front Of his premises"
And this night -watcAman- saw no GA,
go I'm or come out OF the housef"
| On the contrary, he saw a man ds
both. This man entered through the from
door, using a latehkey. some time be
tween l and o'clock. He came out agar
about an hour later. But the watch.
man recognised him both times. It was
Matthew Mora, Jr."
THE son7"
THE only SON"
And heir, l supposer"
And heir. The only child. Mothsr
| dead"
That is suspicious"
Very"
Anything else against the youas
He returned to the house at o'clock
In tho morning, differently dressed
and
Differently dressed. you sayr'
Yes. or this tho watohman is posi-
tive"
THAT ought to be Significant
should say so. He went In. but
within a few minutes he emerged again
In great excitement. Passing the watch
man, he exclaimed: Ny father has
been murderedl Let no ono enter the
house until l return"
And then'''
Then he went directly to the police
station and reported the case"
"A clever young mani
You will continue 10 hold that view
the moro you hear. Two policemen were
detailed to return to the house with him.
and the central office was notified, so
that within an hour experienced detec-
uves were on the spot. Ono OF these.
my friend Mr.. Burrows. was kind enough
to stop for me and ask me to accompany
MIN, 80 that / was present at the first
official investigation"
You were fortunate"
Yes / always dislike to take up q
case after others have moved things
about and tramped over the soene of the
tragedy. We found the room In great
disorder. furniture overturned. the rugs
about the room In tangled heaps where
the struggling men must have kicked
them about. bric-a-brao strewn on the
moor ana broken-in fact, every evidence
TO prove that the old man had Yielded
up his life only after a Desperate encoun-
ter with his assailant"
he was old"
old 10 figure OF speech. He was
something over So but he had been AN
athlete In his youth and could give a
sood account OF himself In a Boxing bout
at any time. II his son was the uur-
derer. the men were evenly matched
he Is not so heavy as HIS father was. bur
ne is sinewy and has muscles OF steel 7
round Mr.. Mora's watch under the he'd :
where 1t must have been Knocked from
the dressing table. The fall had caused
1t to stop. and the hands Indicated seven
minutes OF two. agreeing with the time
during which the watchman testified thar
young Mora was at home"
Yes said Mr.. Mitchell but do not
go too fast. The watch may have run
down. IL is uncommon for a good watch
to stop merely because IL falls to the
floor"
Both OF your points are good in the
ory, replied the detective, 'but neither
applies In this instance II a watch runs
down, 1t cannot be started again without
winding. BY merely shaking this one 7
set 1t going and 20 make assurance douh-
ly sure let N run for an hour. when n
was still keeping time Next, though II
be true that most watches would not be
so easily stopped. this one, for some rea-
son, Is very sensitive TO a blow. I tired
the experiment OF pushing it from the
tapie 10 the floor. and at every ATTEMPT
l found that II would cease its move
ment"
You certainly have been thorough on
this point" admitted Mr. Mitchell "and
presume we may consider It established
that the first attack upon Mr.. Mora &C.
CURED at or near o'clock"
During the hour when the watch
man claims that young Mora was Mt
home" added Mr.. Barnes
The watchmans testimony must he
remembered, certainly" said Mr. Mitchell
"Of course continued the detective.
the nrst theory in the case is nat
urally that OF the midnight marai,o..
search hgat
animation showed that nothing had been
distracted though various articles OF FUR
niture, and especially Mr.. Mora's writing
desk had been ransacked. ought 10
mention that an open package containing
several thousands dollars in notes WAS
conspicuously IN view In a small drawer
and was untouched.
Untouched? Is not that merely n
presumption7 Why may not this
shrewd criminal have taken half or two
thirds OF the cash found. leaving the rest
as he did the club, 10 baffie detectives
II have said that Mr. Mora was most
methodicaL We found a note book an
which was entered from time TO tim, a !
detailed account OF his worldly posses
sions. This included a statement of tu,, |
cash balances In various banks and me |
cash on hand. Under a date two daNs
previous to the murder IL an entry giyulg \
the balance OF cash on hand which l. 1
only hundred dollars more than thf
amount OF the notes found in his desH
We'll. then. II not money. what ala tue
seek IN the desk which you say |
was ransacked7"
why not the will7'
"Ah. OF course. the will Do you know
that there was a will7'
His lawyers declare that they made
one for him recently--withln a month. I'm
fact. lie beoueathed one half OF his for
tune 20 his son. and the other half was
distributed among various charitable IN
ititut.ons."
What was the total7"
1T Il estimated that the fortune
Amounts 10 Is millions"
"Cne-half OF which is nine millions
nused Mr.. Mitchell. enough. quite
to be considered an incentive for
nurder-a legal incentive. I mean"
Yes The win cannot be found. ana
not found charity loses and young
Nora gains nine millions. Now we come
% another point We--that is, I--found
'lood stains upon the young mans
Did I not understand you TO say that
,e came back to the house In different
10th ng7"
-. 1