Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1903-04-15

! lew QueStlonS, SatlSned nlmSelf tnaJ
Bill had never even heard of the trag-
edy and then departed.
"That place offers every induce
ment to a man to go out and assas-
sinate his fellow man, but this time
| believe it plays no part in the trag-
cdy. Our labor is simplified that
much; for where we have to examine
the denizens of the Den as witnesses
there is so much ornamental, artistic
and clumsy lying done that it is al
most impossible to get the truth.
Sometimes, however, those fellows
have trick of telling the truth just
to throw the police off the track"
They now drove around the woods
until they came to the roundabout
path already referred to in the state
ment of Herbert Wright. The horse
was hitched to tree and the two
men began to pillow their way through
the snow. 1t had melted just enough
to make their footprints as distinct
as if they had been drawn by an ar
fist on paper. Suddenly Warde called
attention to the fact that there were
two series of footprints in the snow,
and that some one elese than Wright
had trayersed the path. 1t was fur
Their discovered that the footprints
were pointed in opposite directions;
in other words, one of the persons
had been coming to the city and the
other had been going from it. It
would be interesting to know who
had taken the roundabout path from
the city and why he had done so. It
occurred at once to the two men
that perhaps Wright had gone back
| by that route.
This suggested an examination Of
the tracks, and it was Immediately
apparent that they had been made
/ by two persons, or at least by q
person who had worn two different
kinds OF shoes, for the footprints
were nothing alike. It was known
that Wright had made the tracks
| pointing to the city, but who had
made the others? Following the trail
was easy, so the two men walked
rapidly along toward the scene of the
murder. This trip through the Bayou
| Woods was by no means inspiring.
The land was locked in settled
| gloom and the wind took its way
with desolate insistance through
'ne soHoer trees. NO morse broke the
silence save such as was made by the
/ cnlef ana the newspaper man, in
whose races was a WIDE dlssimilarlty
Of expression. In the ewes of the elder
there was only the cold, calculated
interest of a man plying his accus-
toned trade, while the face of the
latter quivered now and then with the
excitement of an experience too
novel as vet, even in his reportorial
life, to leave his nerves entirely
steady. They made strange CON
trast walking side by side through
that weird silence Of snow and forest,
and yet both were equally alert,
equally in earnest.
AT length they came to the object
of their search-the thing that had
once been John T. Wright, "the Cot
ton King" The dead man lay on his
back, his face turned up to the sky
and his staring eyes fixed upon the
black branches of tree overhead.
There was frozen blood in his hair,
and his head rested in a dark red
pool that stained the snow. The Off
Ger made as minute an examination as
possible without touching the body of
the dead man. Several blows had
been dealt upon the head with blud-
geon. There was no evidence any
where OF the use OF pistol, though
~ was possible that an examination
OF ,ne BODY by the coroner might re-
veal plstol wounds that could not now
oe seen on account OF the position OF
.he corpse. me 1ace OF the dead
man had upon IL look OF CHASTITY
surprise which was presumptive evl-
uence that the attack mad come with
out any warning whatever.
Everything would Indicate" said
the officer, that the attack had come
from behind, and that Wright fell for
ward, and that the murderer beat
aim about the head until he killed
uiin' HIS gun you see is at some
Instance beyond ms heau' ms nat
u IS aiso EVIDENT l should say"
ueeiared Warde' that some one be-
sues the ola mans son mas touched
ene nooy. Judging from the disturb
ahces OF tne snow winch seems to be
recent 'he oody mas been turned com
Pleteiy over. l wonder II the foot
pr,n's can throw any hsht upon the
suolect!
Young Wrights footprints told
clear story. He had evidently come
straight along the path, brushed the
snow away from the corpse, discov-
cred who 1T was, and then hurried on
to the city. 1t was certain that he
hao quckened his steps after max
Ing the discovery, for the tracks were
wider apart than they had been be-
fore, and there could be no doubt that
ne mad not !oitered about the corpse,
| n nd fhDf ha Ind mot In rnraraI with