Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1904-08-03

Eyes," ~ -
'At the ambassadors ball?"
"Yes."
Mr.. Jeffrey was a poor hand ut lying.
That last yes" came with great effort.
The coroner waited, possibly for the
echo of this last yes" to cease; then
he remarked with GOODNESS which
lifted ut once the veil from his hitherto
well disguised antagonism to this wit
ness:
"If you will recount to us anything
which your wife said or did on that
evening Which, i'll your mind, was
worthy of all this coil, it might help US
to understand We situation"
But the witness made no attempt to
do so, and while many of US were
ready TO pardon him this show Of del
.lcacy others felt that under the circum-
stances 1t would have been better had
he been more open.
Among the latter was the coroner
himself, who from this moment threw
aside all hesitation and urged forward
his inquiries in Il way to press the wit
ness closer and closer toward the net
he was secretly holding out for him.
First, he obliged him to say that his
conversation with Miss futile had not
tended to smooth matters, that no rec
onciliation with his wife had followed
it and that in the thirty-six hours
which elapsed before he returned home
again he had made no attempt to
soothe the feelings of one who, accord
ing to his own story, he considered
hardly responsible for any extrava-
gances in which she might have in
dulged.
Then when this inconsistency had
been given time to sink into the minds
of the jury Coroner z. increased the
effect produced by confronting Jeffrey
with witnesses who testified to the
friendly, If not loverlike, relations
which had existed between himself and
Miss Tuttle prior to the appearance Of
his wife upon the scene, closing with
question which brought out the de-
NAL, by no means new, TINT an ell
gagement had ever taken place be-
tween him and Miss Tuttlc and hence
that q bond had been Cancelled by his
marriage with Miss Moore.
Some hint of what the coroner con-
templated had already escaped him In
the persistent and seemingly inconse-
quent questions to which he had sub
jected this witness. But the time had
now come for more direct attack,
and the interest rose correspondingly
high. when the coroner, lifting again
to sight the scrap Of paper containing
the few piteous lines SO often quoted
asked of the now anxious and agitated
witness If he had ever noticed any
similarity between the handwriting OF
his wife and that of Miss Tuttle.
An indignant "Now was about to
pass his lips when he suddenly checked
himself and said more mildly: There
may have bees similarity. hardly
know. 1 have seen too little of Miss
Tuttles hand to judge"
This occasioned n diversion. Speci
mems of Miss Tuttle's handwriting
wereproduced, which, after having beer
duly proved, were passed down to the
jury along with the communication
professedly signed by Mrs. Jeffrey
The grunts of establishment which ell
sued as the knowing heads drew neal
over these several papers caused Mr.
Jeffrey to flush and finally to cry gu
with startling emphasis:
II know that those words were writ
! ton by my WIFE,"
But when the coroner asked him hi
reasons for this conviction he could o
would not state them.
Il have said," he stolidly repeated
and that was all.
The coroner made no comment, blu
when inter some further inquiry whicl
added little to the general knowledg
he dismissed Mr.. Jeffrey and recalled
Loretta there was that in his ton
which warned US that the really serl
GUS portion Of the days examination
was about to begin.