Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1903-08-29
Mystery Of the
Bayou Woods
BY WALKER KENNEDY.
CHAPTER II.-CONTINUED.

CHAPTER II.-CONTINUED.
When the chief of police entered
the place the barkeeper, Mr.. William
Boggs, looked up, slightly alarmed.
Then he seemed to reflect moment,
and the expression of alarm was sue
ceeded by one of relief. The chief
had never let his eye wander from
Bills face, for it was to certain ex-
tent an open page when read Alright.
Had Boggs at once put on an air of
defiance, the officer would have said:
This fellow knows all about the af-
fair, but he will not tell" IF he had
shown signs of fear when the officer
entered, and without appearing to
reflect had assumed jaunty, a sus-
picious or a defiant air, the chief
would have been sure that Bill had
himself taken a hand in the crime.
But when he stopped to reflect the
chief knew just as well what was
passing in the scamp's mind as if he
had spoken out. IF Bill had to review
the recent past in order to ascertain
whether there was anything for
which he could be wanted, it was evil
dent that he was not Implicated in
the murder.
The chief told him that he and his
for minute or two, asked him
few questions, satisfied himself that
Bill had never even heard of the trag-
edy and then departed.
'sThat place offers every induce
ment to man to go out and assas-
sinate his fellow man, but this time
I believe it plays no part in the trag-
edy. Our labor is simplifed 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 a tree and the two
men began to pillow their way through
the snow. It 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 traversed the path. It 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. Tt
would be interesting to know who
had taken the roundabout path from
the city and why he had done so. 1t
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 a
person who had worn two different
kinds of shoes, for the footprints
were nothing alike. 1t 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 a settled
gloom and the wind took it's way
with desolate insistance through
the somber trees. No noise broke the
silence save such as was made by the
chief and the newspaper man, in
CHOSE faces was a wide dissimilarity
CT expression. In the eyes of the elder
there was only the cold, calculated
interest of 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 yet, even in his reportorial
life, to leave his nerves entirely
steady. They made a 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 L. Wright, "the Cot