Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1904-11-17

the most extraordinary that had ever
come before that or any other court;
extraordinary not merely because of
the interest it had created. but be-
cause of the circumstances under which
the crime had been committed and of
the suspicious which these same cir
cunstances cast upon an innocent
woman. Inasmuch as none of those
who gave evidence had actually seen
the blow dealt to the deceased by
which he had lost his life. their testi-
mony was therefore entirely clrcum-
stantial.
Now. evidence i'm order to carry con-
viction should not only be plain. direct
and clear. but 1t should be incapable
of any other reasonable solution than
that which 1T was brought forward to
sustain and the evidence just rendered
was not of that description: it was,
as he would show, capable of, and in
harmony with, an explanation to this
mystery other than that which sug-
gested itself at present. There was no
need to dwell upon the unhappy mar
ried life led by the deceased and his
Wife, save to point out the vicious ca
reer he had followed-a viciousness,
which. doubtless became the agent of
his death, though the perpetrator of his
murder was other than the woman on
whom suspicion lay.
If a man could not only ALLEVIATE the
affections, but injure deceive and
abandon his wife, his best friend, the
mother of his child, how badly could he
behave towards others of her sex? He
had for years led wandering and
misguided life among companions as
reckless as himself; and, what was
more probable than that he had been
guilty of one of those wrongs which
the law is slow, If not powerless, to
punish, but which, touching men on the
tenderest points of their affection and
of their honor, they are sure to avenge.
Here was the probable key to the
mystery surrounding the crime. Some
man who considered himself injured
beyond endurance had sought and
found revenge for his wrongs. 1t was
lawful to presume that while approach
ing his wife's house the deceased had
met with the avenger when to seek
help and refuge, David Dumbarton had
rushed through the garden and into the
presence of his wife, who on his ask
ing for aid, had drawn from his breast
the knife with which an unk nown hand
had fatally stabbed him.
The whole bearing of the case would
point to such conclusion, and to the
innocence of the woman who was the
unhappy victim of suspicion. AS she
had stated she neither knew or sus-
pected that he would call upon her
tlal evening. ttld he desired to nave
an interview with her there was no
reason why he should not have come
to the hall door instead of rushing
across the grass and flower beds to
enter by an open window.
Then, as regards the knife by which
the murder had been committed. The
servants, in their cross examination
had sworn that they had never seen 1T
before the night of the tragedy. 1t was
sell <0 1,g, W.
had been bought and secreted by this
lady for the purpose of assasinating her
husband at such time and under such
circumstances as would favor the deed
NO, the knife belonged to the person
who had struck the blow to ayenge
himself for wrong perpetrated by the
deceased.
Indeed. there was not sufficient mo-
tive apparent for suspecting this in
jured woman of committing this hor-
rible act. Nothing could nave been
more easy than for her to have OBJ