The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1902-12-02
ON THE SIXTH NIGHT
By G. B. LEWIS

sisters had taken the money to pay it
from the bottom drawer, which had an
intricate lock and was almost as safe as
| an iron chest
upon reaching the bureau Sharpless
| HShted a candle he had brought along
ana began work. He found it battling
| JOB. There was no picking the lock and
no creVlce in which to insert his jimmy.
he was seeking for an advantage when
ne heard movement upstairs, and a
moment later both sisters came down,
carrying light They had been awak-
ened by the noise he made AS he heard
them descending the stairs Sharpless
turned to flee, but fell over a chair, and
the woman rushed in on him with screams
of Theft and ''Police!' They did more
IMAM scream-they laid hold Of him, and
for moment they had strength sufficient
to keep him down. and to render him still
more desperate they recognized him and
called him by name.
AS he struggled to his feet he realized
that there was but one thing to do to save
himself from capture and prison, and he
attacked them with the iron bar He
struck to kill, and he did kill, and when
he made his way out Of the house he left
the two sisters dead or dying; behind him.
He did not return to his lodgings by the
EdgeWare road, but by way of Myrtle lane
and Pentecost walk, and he had the good
fortune to meet no one but half intoxi-
clothes and there were no marks on his
person, and he felt sure that he was the
last man in London who would be sus-
pected. He sat down and smoked pipe
to give himself time to recover from the
excitement, and the bells were striking z
o'clock when he tumbled into bed and
went to sleep.
AT O'Clock next morning he was
aroused by one of the dodgers rappine on
his door, and he got up feeling that ha
had had @ fairly good sleep. He ate his
breakfast, went to his work. and it was
only after supper that he picked up an
evening paper and received such shock
that for moment he was turned to stone.
The Swift sisters had been found muir
dered. On the previous night some one
had entered the villa by prying I'D a
back window and while trying to open the
old bureau had alarmed the house. The
two women had come down to meet their
death at the hands of the desperate villain
Every detail of his plan came back to
Sharpless as he sat there, and every detail
OF the tragedy, as gathered by the detec-
tiyes, fitted in with his. The horror of it
overcame him, and he fell to the floor and
for the next month it was an even chance
whether he lived or died. He believed
himself the murderer. He believed that
he had got UP in his leep and followed
out the plan of his waking moments, and
leave his bed, he determined to go to the
police and give himself up. Without a
word to any one of his intentions he set
Off for the nearest station and entered it
and began to relate mis- story. He was lis
tened to for a couple of minutes, and then
the captain waved him away and said:
My mean you are off in your head and
should not be out the streets alone,
The murderer of the Swift sisters was cap
tured this morning and has made a full
confession.'
SO it was. The crime had been COM
m1tted by professional burglar, and it
had been brought home to him SO clearly
that he had broken down and confessed
to all details. 1t so happened that on that
particular night Sharpless Iandlady was i'll
from the time he went to bed until after
daylight and he could not have left his
room without being seen. Again, a fellow
1odger> looked in on him at midnight and
found him sleeping. Very few people ever
came to know of the case, and you will
not wonder that they accounted it strange
one. Sharpless certainly planned and ex-
ecuted the double. crime in his Thoughts
while a man he had never heard of did
the same thing in reality. . 1t has been
asked il it is possible for person to
leave his own identity for awhile and
enter upon that of another You may
answer the question as you will, as it will
settle nothing :