The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1903-02-14

entirely convinced that my love was au-
thoress of the foul deed; but at others
there seemed something wanting in the
confirmation of my suspicious. Regard
ing the latter I could not overlook the
fact that Short had told story which was
false on the face of it, while the utter
absence Of any motive on my loves part
in numbering the old gentleman seemed
to point to an entirely opposite direc-
ton.
Dr. Diplock the coroner, had fixed the
inquest for II o'clock on the morrow;
therefore I assisted DR.. Farmer of Kew,
the police surgeon, to make the post
mOrtern
We made the examination in the after
noon, before the light faded, and if the
circumstances of the crime were mys
terious, the means by which the unfor-
tunate man was murdered were, we found,
doubly So
Outwardly the wound was an ordinary
one, one inch in breadth, inflicted by a
blow delivered from left to right. The
weapon had entered between the fourth
and fifth ribs, and the heart had been
completely transfxed by some sharp cut
ting instrument. The injuries, we dis
covered within however, increased the
mystery ten-fold for we found two ex-
traordinary lateral incsions which almost
completely divided the heart from side to
side, the only remaining attachment of
the upper portion to the lower being a
small portion of the interior wall of the
heart behind the sternum.
Such wound was absolutely beyond
explanation.
The instrument with which the crime
had been committed by striking between
the ribs had penetrated to the heart with
an unerring precision, making a terrible
wound eight times the size within, as
hn ovt
And yet the weapon had been withdrawn,
and was missing.
For fully an hour we measured and
discussed the strange discovery, hoping
all the time that Sir Bernard would ar
rive. The knife which the man Short
| confessed he had taken down in self-de-
| tense we compared with the exterior
wound and found, as we anticipated, that
! just such a wound could be caused by it,
| But the fact that the exterior cut was
clearly done, while the internal injuries
! were jagged, and the tissues torn in a.
most terrible manner, caused a doubt
| to arise whether the Indian knife, which
was double-edged, had actually been used.
| To be absolutely clear upon this point it
would be necessary to examine it micro
scopically, for the corpuscles of human
blood are easily distinguished beneath the
| lens.
| We were about to conclude our ex-
animation in despair, utterly unable to ac-
count for the extraordinary wound, when
the door opened and Sir Bernard entered.
1 He looked upon the body Of his old
friend, not q pleasing spectacle indeed
and then grasped my hand without a
word.
81 read the evening paper on my way
up he said at last in a voice trembling
with emotion. THE affair seems very
mysterious. Poor Courtenay! Poor fell
Ilow!''
ut is sad-very sad remarked. ..We
have just concluded the post morten; .
and then introduced the police surgeon
to the man whose name was a house
hold word throughout the medical pro-
| fession.
I showed my chief the wound, explained
i it's extraordinary features, and asked his
opinion. He removed his coat, turned
mo his shirt cuffs, adjusted his big spec
(tacles, and, bending beside the board upon
which the body lay, made long and care
FIJI inspection Of the injury.
"Extraordinary!." he calculated, I've