The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1905-06-07

coward!' she repeated over and eyer
again. what can be done now? What
can be done now9 Give me back my
life. I will never so much as breathe
coward! You eoward!' Those were
scraps Of her conversation, ending in a
sudden dreadful cry in the mans voice,
With ga crash, and aP nnTnasd scr tnaf
some tragedy had occurred, the coach
man rushed to the door and strove to
force it, while scream after scream is
sued from within. He was unable, how
ever, to make his way in, and the maids
were too distracted with fear to be of
any assistance to him. A sudden
thought struck him, however, and he
ran thru the hall door and round to the
lawn upon which the long French win
dows open. One side Of the window
was open, which / understand was quite
usual in the summertime, and he passed
without difficulty into the room. His
mistress had ceased to scream and was
stretched insensible upon a couch, while
with his feet tilted over the side of an
| armchair, and his head upon the ground
near the corner Of the fender, was lying
the unfortunate soldier stone dead in
pool of his own blood.
"Naturally, the coachmar's, first
thought, on finding that he could do
nothing for his master, was to open the
door. But here an unexpected and sin
gular difficulty presented itself. The
! key was not in the inner side Of the
door, nor could he find it anywhere in
the room. He went out again.. there
fore, thru the window, and having OBJ
tanned the help of a policeman and of
against whom naturally the strongest
Suspicion rested, was removed to her
room, still in state of insensibility.
The colonel s body was then placed upon
the sofa, and a careful examination
made of the scene of the tragedy.
"The injury from which the unfortu.
nate veteran was suffering was found
at the back part of his head, which had
evidently been caused by a violent blow
from a blunt weapon. Nor was it diff
cult to guess what that weapon may
have been. Upon the floor, close to the
body, was lying a singular club Of hard
carved wood with a bone handle. The
colonel possessed a varied collection OF
weapons brought from the different
countries in which he had fought, and il
club was among his trophies. The
servants deny having seen it before
but among the numerous curiosities il
the house it is possible that it may have
been overlooked. Nothing else of i'm
portance was discovered in the room
by the police, save the inexplicable fac
that neither upon Mrs. Barclays person
nor upon that Of the victim nor in any
part Of the room was the missing key
to be found. The door had eventually
to be opened by a locksmith from AL
dershot.
"That was the state Of things, Wat
son, when upon the Tuesday morning
/, at the request of Major Murphy
went down to Aldershot to supplement
the efforts Of the police. I think tina
you will acknowledge that the problem
: was already one of interest, but my oh
servation soon made me realize that i
was in truth much more extraordinar,
4 than would at first sight appear.
Before examining the room I cross
questioned the servants, but only sue
!, ceeded in eliciting the facts which
have already stated. One other detail
!. of interest was remembered by Jan
I Stewart, the housemaid. You will re
; member that on hearing the sound o
8 the quarrel she descended and returne
: with the other servants. On that frs
l occasion, when she was alone, she say
. that the voices Of her master and mis-
!, tress were sunk so low that she coul
: hear hardly anything, and Judged
: their tones rather than their words tina
: they had fallen out. On my pressin
! her, however, she remembered that sh
), heard the word David uttered twice
: the lady. The point is Of the utmos
! Importance as guiding us toward II
I reason Of the sudden quarrel. The col,
+ mel 8 name, you remember, was Jane
: lThere was one thing in the cas-
= which had made the deepest impressio
J, both upon the servants and the polio
8 This was the contortion of the colonel
/. face. It had set, according to their a
count, into the most dreadful expire
sioR Of fear and horror which huma
S Icountenance is capable of ASSUMING