Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1905-03-03

COuul0U among my clOSS lIl6uuS q pr
vate detective The two of us wero
enjoying a quiet smoke and chat in
his cosy little Office one day when the
door opened and his boy ushered in
lady client. She was apparently
under twenty and was quite fashion
ably attired. Her form was tall and
slender, and her face exceedingly at
tractive; but IL bore traces Of some
sudden and overwhelming affection.
for her eyes were red with weeping.
Mr.. Banks, the detective, | pre-
sume?" she queried. turning, after a
quick glance at me, toward my more
mature companion.
cat your service, madam. Pray be
seated"
Il am in sore trouble, sir" she said,
In tremulous tones. applying her hand
kerchief to her eyes. death has sud-
denly robbed me of a father, and the
prison, If nothing worse, threatens to
take a dear cousin from me-"
THAT is very sad. my friend said.
alphabetically. "But compose your
self, my dear lady; we may yet avert
the latter half of your trouble"
"Oh, sir Heaven grant that you
may, for my cousin, whom they sus-
pect of the murder of my poor father,
was to be my husband" she said. the
seriousness Of the case quite overcom-
ing her natural modesty. But he Is
innocent; l know it, l feel it, in spite
of the evidence against him. oh, be-
lieve me, sir, Harry is as innocent of
this dreadful deed as | ami"
MY dear young lady," said Banks,
enoouragingly. before hearing the
first detail of your case, l am con-
vinced that he is. My benef in fem
mime intuition is based upon the solid
foundation of experience. Be calm,
therefore, and let me have the story
from the beginning"
The circumstances she related were
as follows:
Her father, Thomas Kempton, was
tie proprietor of large furniture fac
tory. He was man who paid strict
attention to business. and was in the
habit of remaining in his Office after
the factory had closed for the night
and the men had departed. in order to
finish up his large correspondence.
One of the clerks in his employ was
nephew, fine young fellow, strong.
of body and generous of heart, but not
free from the folies of youth. Harry
Stanton was graduate at college and
thorough athlete, and, being yet
scarce twenty, he had not outgrown
his youthful enthusiasm for sports,
clubs and semi-incidental late suTpers
with the boys.
Now the old are not always so TOT
Grant of the ways of the young as
recollection should make them, and so
it happened that the frequent trans
gressions of the uncle's Office rules by
the nephew caused between the two
considerable friction. On the evening
of the tragedy there had been quite
serious quarrel, and the young fell
low had left the presence of his en-
ployer in hot-headed haste and with
angry words.
One hour later, and half an hour
after the factory was closed, Mr..
vate Office. He was seated in his
chair, his head falling forward on his
desk before him. A clasp-knife had
been used to accomplish the deed, and
this lay on the floor in pool of
blood at the murder mans feet. On
being cleansed and examined the fatal
weapon was instantly recognized by
the clerks as young Stanton's.
The safe had been rified of its valu-
able contents, and there was evidence
that the assassin, in making his exit
through the general Office, had stopped
such things as the young fellow, in
making permanent departure, would
be likely to take.
So much in substance had by inter
rogatory promptings been drawn from
the girl, when Banks said:
"And now tell me what steps have
been taken"
Poor papa's head clerk has en-
ployed a detective-a Mr. Gregg-who
after looking into the case, started of
in pursuit of my cousin, whom he be-
lieves to be the assassin"
uni" came from Blanks, as he
gazed into the fire. Then young
Stanton has Disappeared"
Eyes, it's all strange combination
of circumstances, but | trust, sir, you
still believe him innocent
MY dear young lady, professional
opinion based on the merits of the
case would be rather premature. For
the present you must draw what com
fort you may from my faith in your
intuitions. If you desire it, l shall
proceed at once to the factory in or
der to secure some further data
HAS this desk of Stanton's been
touched?" | inquired presently, pull
ing out the upper drawer.
THE contents have not been mate
rally disturbed" responded the head
clerk. Detective Gregg simply noted
the missing articles and the bloody
finger marks on the paper where it
had been lifted to get at some old
letters Stanton used to leave lying
round the bottom The whole matter
seemed so clear to him that he was
here scarcely ten minutes before he
started off in hot pursuit"
uni" said Banks in his peculiar
way, and then he proceeded to go
through the contents of the drawer.
Being slightly acquainted with one of
the clerks, | stepped up to him for
moments conversation. When re-
turned to my friends side he was
pocketing a sheet of paper which he
had been examining with bis micro
scope A quick glance at his face
showed me that he had hit upon a
promising clue.
4 think we have seen sufficient, Y
he said Immediately, and in a few