Lewiston evening teller. [volume] (Lewiston, Idaho) 1903-1911, 1904-03-07
WHAT'S IN
A. SHADOW?
tOriginal.l

ton
Beg pardon, professor" interrupted
the facetious student. "a shadow is
nothing"
The class Uttered. while the professor
east Il provoked glance at the facetious
student. Co...uling himself, however,
he paused moment to consider how
Le should meet the interruption. Tech
nioaily the student was right, but he
was hypercritical. He had taken a like
course several times before, and the
professor desired TO put stop to his
Interruptions
You think that a shadow is moth
ing" he said. addressing the class
while looking at the facetiouS student
L think | can demonstrate that a shad-
Ow may be something fraught even
/ with life and death. some years ago
| was travelling in the far west, where
things are not done as we do them
here, and strolling through the central
square of small town | came upon
I a galows \ crowd was collecting,
and upon inquiry | learned that a muir
| lercr was to be hanged at noon. !
/ did not remain to witness the hanging,
! but on going back to the hotel | asked
| the landlord something about the cul-
/ prit and his crime This is what he
| told me:
Some months previous a house had
been entered. an old man who lived
there alone murdered. his tin box where
| he kept his valuables rified and his
! tob 10
! been a struggle, and spots of blood ap-
| peared here and there ON the furniture
A careful examination of the marks on
the box was made. resulting in the dis
covery by the blood stains on it that
the index finger of the right hand of
the murderer was missing. But that
was all the Roadway made in the case
for some months. Everybody for miles
around knew that murderer was at
large minus the index finger of his
right hand, and everybody was on the
watch for such a person.
"One night about 10 o'clock a woman
was sitting before embers on a fire
place doing. Behind her on a table
was bright light, before her white
wall Opening her eyes, she saw on
the wall the shadow of a man. He
stood still for a moment; then, raising
his right hand, in which he held
knife pointing downward, he began to
advance without noise. One thing was
noticeable-there was something want
ing in the shadow of the thumb and
forefinger. If you will make such
shadow, you will see that in that posi-
ton it will show the forefinger a pro-
tuberance. The woman noticed there
was no such protuberance. The han
die of the knife took it's place, but did
not completely fill it. At any rate
there was difference. No more re-
markable instance of GOODNESS than
that of this woman threatened with in !
slant death is on record.
"'Sarah! she called in perfectly con-
trolled voice to servant in the kitch- !
en-.
'The shadow reiterated. Probably the |
man stepped into the hall. Sarah came |
in, and her mistress said to her:
81 have some bills to pay tomorrow
morning and some purchases to make. |
There's not cent of money in the |
house. | wish you to take a note to !
my brother and ask him to let me have
$50. which amount | will draw from
the bank tomorrow and send it to his |
office Stop; he will not give it with
out the order. l will write one. Hand |
me my writing case
'The servant did as she was directed.
and the woman wrote the note. reading
1t over aloud carefully to make sure
that she had made herself plain and
that the servant understood what she
was to do. Then the latter left the /
house.
For five minutes by the clock on the
mantei the woman sat perfectly still
She could not be sure that her plan
would succeed. She must take her
chances on its succeeding without an
effort to determine whether it had or
not. After FIVE minutes. not seeing the
shadow reappear, she got up and went
out the front door to the next house.
where she sent messenger to the po-
lice station with the following note:
'"The three fingered murderer came lust
now to my house to murder and rob me
l sent my servant with a note to my
brother living on the Hilton road for $50
The murderer heard me tell her what to
DO. He will follow her and on her return
will rob her
"The police were out at once. followed
the girl and saw her enter the house
where she was to get the money. One
Of their number entered. dressed him
self in the servants clothes and started
back as If to deliver the money. From
behind bush man sprang up and
called out. Your money or your life!'
at the same time covering the supposed
servant with revolver Instead of
complying he sounded sharp whistle.
1t was needless, however for the police
were in touch and in an instant had
the robber handcuffed. His right hand
was found 10 be minus the index fin
ger. There was absolutely no other tes-
timony to convict him OF the murder