The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1905-12-29

Now, Mr.. Rogers, have you ever, in
all these years, run across anything
any item of expenditure, any CORE
spondence, anything whatever-whicL
would lead you to think that Mr.. Hol.
laday was a victim of blackmail OF
that he had ever had a liaison with a
womanT'
mo. sirw cried the witness. "No
sir! I'm willing to swear that such
thing is not possible 1 should in
evitably have found it out had 1t ex-
listed"
THAT will do for the present" said
Mr.. Royce Il shall want to recall the
witness. however. sir
The coroner nodded, and Rogers
stepped down, still trembling from the
effects of his last outburst | confess
that, for my part, l thought we were
very deep in the mire.
The Office boy was called next, but
added nothing to the story. He had
gone to the chute to mail some letters.
The woman must have entered the
office willie he was away. He saw her
come ont again, but, of course, did
ployed recently and did not know Miss
Holladay
Then the physicians who had attend
ed the dead man were called and tes-
titled that the knife blade had pene-
trated the left carotid artery and that
he had bled to death-was dead, indeed,
before they reached him. 1t would
take perhaps ten minutes to produce
such an effuSion of blood as Rogers
had noticed, certainly more than five
minutes, so that the blow must have
been struck before the woman left the
inner office.
The policeman who had responded
to the alarm testified that he had ex-
amined the windows and that they
were both bolted on the inside preclud-
ing the possibility of any one swinging
down from above or clambering up
from below. Nothing in the office had
been disturbed There was other evil
dence of an immaterial nature, and
WAS your mistress away from home
yesterday afternoon?" asked the coro-
ner.
Yes, sir. She had the carriage or
dered for O'clock. She was driven
away shortly after that"
And what time did she return?"
about 6. sir. Just In time to dress
for dinner"
did you notice anything unusual in
her demeanor when she returned?'
The maid hesitated, fearing doubtless
that she might say too much.
Miss Holiday had complained of
headache in the morning" she said,
after a moment. "She was looking
bad when she went out, and the
drive made her worse instead of better
She seemed very nervous and i'll.
advised her to lie down and not dress
for dinner. but she would not listen
She always dined with her father and
lid not wish to disappoint him. She
was in great hurry, fearing that he'd
get back before she was ready"
There's no doubt in your mind that |
she was really expecting him?"
"Oh. no. sir! She even went to the |
1oor to look for him when he did not |
come. She seemed very uneasy about |
lim.'
That was one point in our favor GER
ainly.
And when the news of her fathers |
leath reached her how did she bear
t."
"She didn't bear 1t at all, sir an
;wered the maid, catching her breath
o choke back a sob. "She tainted dead
lway. Afterward she seemed to be in
kind of daze till the doctor came"
THAT is all. Have you any ques-
ions to ask the witness, Mr. Royce"
"Only one" said my chief leaning |,
onward. knew what 1t was and held
nv breath, wondering whether 1t were
wise to ask it. do you remember the
rown your mistress wore yesterday
.fternoonT' he questioned.
"Oh, yes, sir. And the witness
1T was a dark red broad
10th, made very plain, with only a
title narrow black braid for trim
ning."