Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1905-12-13
CHAPTER II.

tained in any other way.
saw Singleton, the district attor-
ney, come In and sit down near the
coroner, and then the jury filed in from
their room and took their seats.
examined them, man by man, with
some little anxiety, but they all seemed
Intelligent and fairly well to do. Mr..
Royce was looking over their names,
and he checked them off carefully as
the clerk called the roll Then he hand
ed the list up to the coroner with n
little nod.
go ahead" he said. 'They're all
right guess-they look all right"
ITS a good jury" replied the cor
oner MS he took the paper. Better
than usual. Are you ready, Mr.. Sin
gleton?"
"Yes," said the district attorney.
'Oh, wait minute" he added, and he
got up and came down to our table.
You're going to pu. Miss Holiday
on the stand, suppose
"And expose her to all this?" And
our junior looked around the room
Not If can help it!'
II don't see how you can help it. An
alibi's the only thing that can save hec
from being bound over"
"We'll cross that bridge when we
come to It," retorted Mr.. Royce. 81
think the case against her will soon die
Of hamilton"
"Oh, very WELL" And Singleton
abruptly went back to his desk, biting
his mustache thoughtfully. He had
made something of Il reputation, since
his election year before, as solver
Of abstruse criminal problems and
had secured conviction in two or
three capital cases which had threat
ened for time to battle the police. &c
evidently scented something of the
same kind here or he would have In
trusted the case to one of his as
sistants. 1t might be added that, while
his successes Lad made him immensely
popular with the multitude, there had
been about one or two OF them n hint
Of unprofessional conduct, which had
made his brethren OF the bar look
rather askance at him.
He nodded to the coroner after a
moment, the room was called to order
and the first witness summoned.
1t was Rogers, the confidential clerk
l knew Rogers, of course; had talked
with him often in n business way and
had the highest respect for him. He
had been with Mr.. Holiday much Ion
ger than l had been with Graham 4
Royce and had, as Mr.. Graham had
pointed out, an mimpeachable reputa
ton.
There We're the usual preliminaries-
name, age, residence, and SO on, Coro-
ner Goldberg asking the questions. He
was a really good cross examiner and
soon came to the core of the matter
What is the position of your desk
in Mr.. Holidays Officer" he asked
"There is an outer office for the
clerks; opening from that smaller
room, where my desk is placed. Open
ing from my room was Mr.. Holidays
private Office"
Had Mr.. Holidays Office any other
,loor?"
mo, SIR"
Gould entrance be had by the win
dowsY"
'The windows open on the street
side Of the building. We occupy a
part Of the eighth floor"
''The fire escapes"-
"Are at the back Of the building
there are none on the street side
nothing but sheer WALL"
$50 that any one entering or leaving
the private Office must necessarily pass
by your desk?"
Necessarily; yes, SIR"
"Could any one pass without your
seeing him."
''No, sir; that would be quite impos-
siblc."
The coroner leaned back in his chair
There was one point settled.
"Now, Mr.. Rogers" he said, will
you kindly tell us, in your own way
and with us much detail rs possible
exactly what happened at your Office
shortly before o'clock yesterday aft.
ernoonW
could see that Rogers was deeply
moved. His face was very white, he
moistened his lips nervously from time
to time, and his hands grasped con-
vulsively the arms of his chair. Plain
ly the task before him was far from
an agreeable one.
"Well, SIR" he began, 1--WE had n
very busy day yesterday and were at
the office considerably later than usual,
but by S o'clock we had closed up
work for the day, and all the other
clerks, with the exception of the office
boy, had gone home. 1 had made some
notes from Mr.. Holidays dictation
and had returned to my desk to ar
range them when the outer door open
ed, and Mr.. Holidays daughter came
in. She asked me whether her father
was engaged, and upon my saying 10
opened the inner door and entered his
office. She remained, should think,
about ten minutes, then she came out
again, walked rapidly past without
looking at me and, suppose, left the
building. finished arranging my
notes and then entered Mr.. Holidays
Office to ask IL he had any further in
structions for me. and / found him
lying forward on his desk with knife
sticking in his neck and the blood
squirting out. summoned aid, but he
died without regaining consciousness
! should say he was practically dead
when found HIM"
! felt rather than heard the little
stir which ran through the room. There
was an indcfinable horror in the story
and In the conclusion to which 1t In
cvitably led.