The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1902-02-03
CHAPTERyI.
WHAT JAMES KNEW ABOUT THE PAS.

IN T Is not necessary to describe In de
tail the discovery Of the body Q
Burr Pendleton or the effect tina
! the discovery and its consequence
produced upon the community and par
tfcularly upon those who knew him in
timately.
The mysterious disappearance Of tn,
servant James pointed the finger Of sus
picion in his direction and naturally di
verified it from other suggestions. No
even n faint Indication of such Il tllins
attaching to Craig Wyndham was heart
or thought.
The corOner's jury found that deatl
had been caused by dagger In the
hands Of one James Ferguson, valet to
the deceased, and every effort of the
police was exerted to bring about his
capture, but even such IL sensational
affair was soon partially forgotten, and
the newspaper comments diminished
from columns to paragraphs and then
ceased altogether.
The day after the funeral Pendlc-
tons lawyer sent for Wyndham and
told him of will in his possession by
which Craig Wyndham was made sole
lcgatee of all the property that Pendle.
ton had owned. Ii directed him to pay
to James Ferguson Il stated annuity az
long as he lived and there were sew
eral minor bclueEts OF like nature. The,
will also contained the following
clause:
Il make also the following express
wish: With this my last will and tesla
mont will place in the hands Of nv
attorney II certain sealed envelope
which will he delivered into the hands
of my legatce and executor Craig
Wyndham, as soon as convenient after
he has been made aware of the con-
tents of this my will. The contents of
the envelope aforesaid will explain 10
my executor certain duties which I de-
sire him to perform in the event Of
my death and which | believe he will
perform to the best of his ability and
which. for reasons of my own, do not
care t" cInhody in this document.
do, however, consider it just that !
should here ask pardon for placing
such grave responsibilities upon him
and also for keeping secret from hiw
the fact tl.at have done so.'
The will was drawn and executed i'm
mcdiatrly before Pendleton departed
for Mexico and only the lawyer who
drew it and pendleton himself were
aware Of its contents lnasmuch as
Burr Pendleton had no near relatives,
the will was probatcd without objec-
ton. and Craig Wyndham found him
self suddenly very rich man.
In the meantime he met Escudcra
ut the club, on the street
and in divers places. Indeed it seemed
to him that 1t was the intention of the
Mexican to throw himself constantly
in his way, but between them on the
occasion of such meetings there was
always exhibited the utmost corliaitv.
ESrn1crh retained his quasi member
ship in lhe club and always Wyndham
watched him furtivcly while he await.
I'd replies TO certain inquiries he had
sent out to Mexico and to other places
It seemed to him that EScudera had
he air of one who was killing time us
)est he could while he awaits tie hap
'ening Of some expected event, but
what that event might be Wyndham
'ould not even conjecture
The Interview between Wyndham
md old James had taken place - In
act, several of thcm-but at this point ,
Is necessary only to refer to one Of
hem.
They had as usval at such times