The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1904-02-13
CHAPTER IX-Continuel.
Told by Noel Brent.
WHAT I FOUND AT THE HOUSE
IN THE RUE DE LA TOUR.

-A -A an occupant he must be
sound sleeper not to have
been awakened by m!
entrance and the striking Of a match
stood still and called out In English
Hullo! is anyone here?''
NO answer came, and I determined
10 nnd my way as best could to the
mantel. where I might hope to come
across some matches.
l struck out for this landmark, but
was not sure whether I kept my sense
OF direction clear or not after I had
pumped against q table, and some
thing else, which proved to be a chair
turned over on the bare floor. Once
caught my foot in a rug which had got
twisted up In a heap, and hardly had
I extricated myself from this when
slipped and almost lost my balance by
stepping In some spilled LIQUID which
lay thick and greasy on the surface OF
uncarpeted boards. =
Ihere seemed to be a good deal of
It, for as I felt my way along I still
iound the floor wet and slippery, and
IN the midst Of the pool I stumbled
against something heavy and soft. AS
l struck this object with my foot a
queer thrill went creeping thru my
veins, as If the physical part Of me
mad the first warning of what was to
come.
l stopped and laid my hand on the
thing which had checked my progress
across the dark room. 1t was the
BODY OF a man, and my searching fin
gers had descended upon his up
turned face, which, tho not yet icy cold
TO the touch, was clammily chill and
wet with the sticky fluid which
smeared my fingers.
L had sudden queer sensation as If
my heart had been squeezed hard and
ana then freed again, SO that it gave
great bound. I knew what the black
ness hid now, as we'll as If | had the
eyes OF a cat to see in the dark. This
thing that had touched was the body
or dead man, and the blood his muir
derers had made to flow was on my
fingers. Literally 1 had walked to the
discovery thru blood; and tho I have
fought as volunteer and been accIi-
matized to horrors, the thought Of
sick.
L am ashamed to say that my first
impulse was to get away as quickly as
/ could, since I was not directly con-
cerned in this bad business and spare
myself unnecessary disagreeabIeness.
But the prompting voice was hidden
TO be still as soon as heard.
l had got to concern myself in the
business, and duty called upon me to
race task almost as grim as could be
allotted to man. -.-., ..
I could hear myself breathing hard
as stood there rigidly upright In the
darkness.
But instead of hurrying off to give
the alarm, or disappear, leaving the
secret of the dark room to come out
In Its own time and way, L must stay
at my post until I had recovered what
was lost or given up all hope Of it.
Setting my -. teeth to the task,
avoided the grim obstacle on the floor,
and got to the mantelpiece. There was
e. litter OF things on it, pipes and bot
ties and other miscellaneous debris,
out of which I selected at last a small
Jar containing matches. I struck one,
and before turning round, lighted an
END or candle stuck in its own grease
on the mantelshelf Then 1 found
the thing that had to be faced.
1t was what I had thought, and 1t
lay In the midst of the widest confu-
sion. had only missed catching sight
of 1t, and the disorder Of the room, in
the first flashing glimpse afforded by
my own wax vesta, because of the
large table covered with cloth which
stood In the foreground near the door,
and had formed q screen for what
lay between 1t and the stove at the
opposite side Of the room.
There had evidently been struggle,
for chairs were upset, and the
to escape by running round the table,
rs the cloth was disarranged and a
lamp was turned over in the center,
the globe and chimney both broken
In pieces, and the spilled oil giving
forth the strong odor of paraffin
which L had detected on opening the
door.
But the struggle for life did not &C
count for all the confusion. The
pockets OF the murdered man had
been pulled wrong side out. his waist
coat mad been torn open, showing the
~ 1ir>1, IL.
which T remembered noticing in the
morning, deeply dyed now with blood.
Papers were scattered all over the
floor some spotted red, some half
concealed under the tangled rugs
which had bene roughly kicked out Of
the way. The drawers of an escritoire
had been jerked out, and their con-
tents thrown here and there; a ward
robe stood wide open, and various gar
ments flung on the floor with the
pockets in the same condition as those
of the corpse. A chest Of drawers had
also been ransaCked in a'fury of haste, |
and even the cot-bed had been violent
~ dlsmantled. The whole room
looked as if a whirlwind had swept
thru it.; and I, being in the dead mans
secret, needed no explanation of mo-
tive for the deed that had been done, |
or the search which had followed. All
the cunning of the poor wretch, who
lay with glazed eyes staring up to the |
ceiling, grin Of terror on the lips
from which blood had oozed, had |
proved In vain. He had saved the !
diamonds for another man himself. |
and lost his life while triumphing in |
the expedient that had preserved |
them. The glimmer of the candle, |
which I had dislodged from it's saucer |
of grease to hold In my hand, threw |
grotesque chickering's over the CHASTITY |
face, making the features live again |
In a leer SO disquieting that T threw
the illumination elsewhere, turning 1t |
by chance upon the door, and discov-
erlng that the bolt which evidently
had fastened it hung half off. This |
threw light upon the past hour of
mystery enabling me to reconstruct
the scene.
+ imagined the arrival Of the fugi-
tive, hoping, praying that he had sue
ceeded in lodging his pursuers: his |
disappointment in finding his, friend
away; his precautions against being
disturbed his ignorance of the
stealthy work being deity done out
side the bolted door; his start at the
sudden, horr1fying sound Of it's OPEN
Ing; his choked protests that he had
not the jewels with him; his wild
struggle to escape; and then-the end.
1t was G. hateful picture for the inn
agination, so luridly vivid here on the
spot where the drama had been en-
acted that I resolutely shut nv ewes
upon it, and concentrated my thoughts
on the work before me.
The state of the room did not prom
ise much for my purpose since the