The San Angelo press. (San Angelo, Tex.) 1897-1907, 1905-02-02

Miss Tuttle was Mrs. Jeffrey's half
sister. The bond between them was
strong Would she-would 1-bc ant |
to speak Of my young wife with biz.
terness"
"Thnt is not an answer to my qucs.
ton, Mr.. jeffrey. must request a
more positive reply"
There were no determinations ut.
tered. Mrs. jeffrey had dispeased me.
and said So but did not forget THO
l was speaking of my wife and &C. hsr
sister"
As this was in the highest degree
noncommlttal the coroner could be ex /
cused for persisting.
The conversation, then, was about
/ your wife2"
at was"
ain criticism of her conduct"
"Yes."
AT the ambassadors ball"
"Yes"
Mr.. Jeffrey was poor hand at lying.
That last yes" came with great effort.
The coroner waited, possibly for the
echo of this last yes" to cease; then
he remarked with a GOODNESS which
lifted at once the veil from his hitherto
well disguised antagonism to this wit.
ness:
"lf you will recount to us anything
which your wife said or did on that
evening which, In your mind. was
worthy OF all this coil. 1t might help US
Al,
But the witness made no attempt to
do 80. and while many OF US were
ready TO pardon him this show of del
icacy others felt that under the circum.
stances II would have been better had
lie been more open.
Among the latter was the coroner
himself. who from this moment threw
aside all hesitation and urged forward
his inquiries In way to press the wit.
ness closer and closer toward the net
he was secretly holding out for him.
First. he obliged him to say that his
conversation with Miss futile had not
tended to smooth matters, that no rec.
onclliation with his wife had followed
1t and that In the thirty.six hours
which elapsed before he returned home
again he had made no attempt TO
soothe the feelings OF ono who, accord.
ing to his own story he considered
hardly responsible for any extrava.
gances In which she might have in.
dulged.
Then when this inconsistency had
been given time to sink into the minds
OF the jury Coroner u. increased the
effect produced by confronting jeffrey
with witnesses who testified TO the
friendly. If not loverlike. relations
which had existed between himself and
Miss futile prior to the appearance Of
his wife upon the scene, closing with
a question which brought out the de-
NAL, by no means new, that an en-
gagement had ever taken place be.
= tween him and Miss futile and hence
that bond had been Cancelled by his
marriage with Miss Moore.
n Some hint OF what the coroner con
templatcd had already escaped him In
" the persistent and seemingly incense
q Quent questions to which he had sub
:, jccted this witness. But the time had
now come for n more direct attack
and the interest rose correspondingly
high when the coroner. lifting again
:. to sight the scrap of paper containing
q the few piteOus lines so often quoted
4 asked Of the now anxious and agitated
:, witness II he had ever noticed any
:. similarity between the handwriting OF
=, his wife and that of Miss futile.
:, An Indignant Nor was about ia
~ pass his lips when he suddenly checked
N himself and said more mildly: There
% may have been Il similarity. I hardly
~ know. | have seen too little Of Miss
Tuttle's hand to judge"
This occasoned diversion. Speci
=, mems of Miss Tuttle's handwriting
- wereproduced, which after having beer
- duly proved, were passed down to thu
. jury along with the communication
- professpdly signed by Mrs. Jeffrey
The grunts Of establishment which en-
~. sued ns the knowing heads drew nea
~ over these several papers caused MI
-, Jeffrey to flush and finally to cry on
- with startling emphasis:
81 know that those words were writ
~ ten by my wife"
But when the coroner asked him hi
reasons for this conviction he could o
would not state them.
~ have said" he stolldly repeated
In and that was all
u. The coroner made no comment, bu
nj when after some further inquiry whic
of added little to the general knowledg
n. he dismissed Mr.. jeffrey and recalle
n. Loretta there was that in his ton
no which warned us that the really ser
Gus portion of the days examinatio
on was about to begin.
ne ITO be continued)