Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1903-04-28
SYNOPSIS.

chief of police of Nilus in great agitation
and tells him Of his discovery Of the mur-
dered body Of his father John John T WriEh IT.
near the town. The chief questions Her
ss whGss Of crime eSe with
reporter. Irving Warde. goes to scene
CmArfER I1I-warde examines mvs-
terious footprints in the snow and tells
COL Franklin. ali old acquaintance Of
the .I murdered man. of them. Herbert is
In the murder.
;, CHAPTER Iv.--Col. Franklin is a bril-
nant lawyer. but says he is unable to
solVe the mystery
CHAPTER II.-They find body and ex-
any reliable clue.
CHAPTER VI.
Irving Warde could not have ex-
planned the impulse which caused him
to seek an interview with Miriam
Wright when the coroner's jury had
finished its investigation. 1t was
certainly not idle curiosity, nor the
mere professional instinct Of the
newsgatherer; but some occult sym
pathy seemed to draw him to the
cold, emotionless young woman
whose beauty had been as great a
revelation to him as her personality
had been a mystery.
Miriam Wright had had no experi-
ence with newspaper people, and had
no horror of the interviewer. AT that
time he had not attained the pin
nacle of caustic opprobrium that has
since then been erected to his indus
try and his dicredit. So when Irving
Warde sent up his card she came
down Immediately to the parlor to
see what was wanted of her. He had
the appearance and manners of
gentleman-for he was one-and so
Miss Wright's suspicious of a prying
newspaper reporter were never
aroused.
From her appearance it was evident
that she was the victim of nervous
relapse from great mental strain.
Her behavior on the witness stand,
her marvellous self-possession until
she was led to testify in the dark,
had visibly been the result of an in
tense benumbing excitement. The
iciness had gone from her face, and
it was helpless, feverish woman
who confronted him.
Warde found himself, strange to
say, endeavoring to allay her alarm.
Miss Wright" he said, II am one
Of those who believe that your
brothers innocence will eventually
be established, and I have come to
ask you whether can he of any as
sistanee whatever to you"
After he had said this it sounded
very foolish; but she evidently APP
preciated his good intentions, for
she said: at is very kind of you, Mr..
Warde. I hardly know what to say.
1t has come upon lis so suddenly, so
horribly that I cannot tell what we
shall do. If, however, we should see
way in which you could assist
s!Believe me, shall be only too
ready to do so."
Herbert and have been peculiar
ly attached to each other since child
hood, and I need hardly say, Mr..
Warde, that his Implication in the
murder is to me more terrible even
than my fathers death, and 1 cannot
conceive how it would have been pos
sible for him to bring himself to
commit such crime. 1t is true that
he was always high-strung and pas
sionate, but that he could have taken
his fathers life, III cannot believe
il"
II have become deeply interested
in this case, Miss Wright, because I
am satisfied that the mystery has not
yet been solved. 1t has taken hold of
me completely, and have thought
Of making some Investigations in an
entirely new line. The police have
taken up a plausible theory, and have
made out strong case without
doubt; but it is not complete case,
for the reason that there are several
minor clews which they have ignored
entirely"
He then went on to give her an
account of his operations in the
snow, and then continued: "The po-
lice dismiss this circumstance with
the clumsy explanation that the man
with the arctics stumbled across the
corpse by accident. examined it
through curiosity, then rambled
about the woods awhile. took the
short way for town, met the COM
pany following the coroner's jury,
and then went back with them to the
inquest. I have made number of
inquiries and ascertained that this
unknown person was not out hunt
ing, because there was no hunter in
the crowd that went to see the body.
Now on bitterly cold day no one
would be apt to go rambling around
in the Bayou Woods for pleasure; so
this man must have had some clear
~ defined object in view. Coming
upon the corpse, he either realizes
his object or is diverted from it and
goes back toward town by another
route. If an innocent man should
stumble on corpse in the woods
he would either go on his way or
turn back Immediately by the route
he came and notify the authorities.
But our unknown did neither. Take
the hypothesis that he shot your
father and left him for dead. The
next day, drawn by some horrible
fascination that frequently assails
murderers, he revisits the scene Of
his crime, perhaps to assure himself
that his victim is really dead. Posi-
bly, it was important that he should
know this beyond the shadow of a
doubt. Having satisfied himself and
not wishing to be seen on that path