The Hope pioneer. [volume] (Hope, N.D.) 1882-1964, 1903-06-11

IDeic WAS 1IOZeu DlOOu III his udlr,
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 a blud-
geon. There was no evidence any
where of the use of a pistol, though
it was possible that an examination
of the body by the coroner might re-
veal pistol wounds that could not now
be seen on account of the position of
the corpse. The face of the dead
man had upon it a look of CHASTITY
surprise, which was presumptive evil
dence that the attack had 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
him about the head until he killed
him. His, gun, you see, is at some
distance beyond his head; his hat
fell in the same direction"
cit is also evident, I should say"
declared Warde, shat some one be-
sides the old mans son has touched
the body. Judging from the disturb
ances of the SHOW, which seems to be
recent, the body has been turned COM
pletely over. I wonder if the foot
prints can throw.any light upon the
%subject?"
Young Wright's footprints told a
clear story. He had evidently come
straight along the path, brushed the
snow away from the corpse, discov-
cred who it was, and then hurried on
to the city. 1t was certain that he
had quickened 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
he had not loitered about the corpse,
and that he had not tempered with it,
as very few of his tracks could be
seen there. These facts told that
much in his favor.
The unknown person, however,
seemed to take a deep interest in
the corpse. His tracks made almost
a circle around it, and as his foot
had slipped here and there in the
snow it was evident that he had
tugged at the body and turned it
over. There was also reason to be-
lieve that he had examined the pock-
cts of the clothing. as the coat wa
thrown open in such a way as to
c11rTnSf thot tho S,,cilo ooo1,o+ I.l
been rifed, or at least searched. This,
however, could be dismissed as a mere
surmise, for the contents of the pock-
cts must have been extracted at the
time of the murder.
81 am afraid this clew will not
amount to much," said the chief.
"Why?"
"For the reason that I can imagine
a very clear explanation of the last
comer's action. He stumbled by acct
dent upon this dead body, with it's
face down. Naturally he would turn
it over the better to see who it was.
Failing to recognize the dead man, he
would probably search the pockets
to see if there were any papers that
would lead to his Identification"
eff that be the case," said Warde,
land this is an honest man, would
not his first impulse be to notify the
police"
eyes, OF else some of the neigh
bors."
IF he has notified any of the
neighbors it is reasonable to
that their curiosity would have
brought them hither by this time.
People, as you know, will walk miles
to sec a dead body, specially where
the death involves some horror, but
there is as yet no evidence that any
curiosity exists in this neighborhood.
1t is also certain that the stranger is
in no hurry to notify the police, for
he has continued on his way instead
of returning to town. If this man
is square he will some time to-day
reveal his identity by notifying the
authorities"
but he may nat.be square. He may
a man with a bad reputation, one
who knows that his discovery of such
a crime would direct suspicion on
himself. Or he may have noticed that
the crime had already been found out
by some one, Wright's tracks being
evidence of that"
Il should not judge that the person
who made these tracks was a vaga-
or a rough customer him
self. You will observe that they
were made by a broad and fiat shoe;
indeed, l am sure the mysterious
stranger wore arctics. Now arctics
are worn almost exclusively by per-
sons in fairly good circumstances"
Your reasoning is very Ingenious"
said the officer admiringly; but still
it would hardly be fair to connect a
stranger who comes along to-day and
stumbles upon a dead body with a
murder committed a day or two ago.
But there is nothing to do now but
the coming of the coroner's
jury"
In making their examination, the
two men had been careful not to ap-
proach too near the body, which was
left with the tracks in the snow lust
"ey were. That page of evidence
was allowed to remain as it had been
found, and if it contained any reve-
lations the o could not COM
plain that they had been confused.
Narde, who was a good draughtsman,
drew on a lor,ra ,;aoo -