Waterbury evening Democrat., 1906-09-29


 tally concerned her. It's evident that Tremaino wouldn't have taken so much trouble to look for them unless he was mighty anxious to find them. We arrive, then. at our first conclu- sionnamely, that these clippings nec- essarily shed some light upon the trag- edy recently enacted in this room and upon the connection of these people with each other"
 "Yes," I agreed; unless all these people were mistaken in their estimate of the value of the clippings"
 That, of course, Is possible, but don't think 1t probable. At any rate. let us disregard that suggestion for the moment and proceed along the oth- CT line. What light Is 1t possible for these clippings to shed on the murder of Thompson? Obviously 1t must be only by explaining motives. The ma jority of them seem to be concerned with the adventures of a Frenchman who goes under various names, but who, am sure, Is one and the same person. He must, then, be either Ire maine or Thompson. But Thompson was evidently not a Frenchman, and Tremaine pretty evidently is, though his contact with the world has served to rub away good many of the | marks. I think we're pretty safe, therefore, in assuming that the l Frenchman of these clippings Is Ire maine. AS we go on believe we'll | find some internal evidence confirming this. You agree with me thus far?' Perfectly" I said. admitting your first premise that these clippings are really concerned with the case" "That, too, believe, we'll soon be able to prove by internal evidence. Of ! course, if they haven't any connection with 1t, they'll soon lead us into chaos. But there's another thing We mustn't expect too much from them. We mustn't expect story complete in all ' It's parts-it's bound to be fragmentary. The wonder is that Thompson succeed ed in keeping this many links in the chain. Maybe in his more prosperous days he had mania for clippings. At best we mustn't be disappointed if | there are long gaps in the story" 'Yes,' I agreed again. That's evil dent enough"
 'Very we'll. We'll begin with the clippings, then, substituting Tremaine's name for the one used. The first clip ping Is merely a marriage notice an nouncing that on the 23d of August. 1888, Tremaine married one Terese Bertigny at Dieppe. Let me see. Ire maine was then probably about twenty years of age. No doubt he was born 1 at Dieppe, so that the name given here. Victor Charente, Is his real one. You'll notice that he's retained his first name. which is a bit of corroborative evi- dence."
 GOT a mere coincidence" I supple mented.
 'Tll wire eur correspondent at Dieppe to look up this Charente. Per haps he can get photograph. That would settle the question" l nodded. Yes. that would settle 1t, for Tremaine at forty was probably not greatly different from Tremaine at twenty.
 . ''The second clipping" proceeded Godfrey, shows us that our hero soon wandered from the straight and nar. row path, and gives us. too, little light upon his personal history. In the spring following his marriage | 10, 1884, to be exact-whilc assistant manager of the ship supplies house of Briquet Freres, he absconds with GO 900 francs. He is believed to have gone to America, to have been smuggled out of the harbor by friendly American cap tain. Surely, 1t Is not impossible" he added, that this friendly American captain was Thompson"
 | Every few things are impossible" [ commented. began to be impatient with Godfrey. He was permitting his prejudice against TreAaine to warp his judgment.
 "Well, we'll keep that for Q hypothe- sis, anyhow" And he turned to the third clipping This" he continued. shows us that he indeed came to America. It is dated July g, 1885, and states that young Frenchman and tramp skipper named Johnson-ah. you secr
 did, indeed, see. Here was the first appearance of Tremaine's zombi = of his familiar devil. I looked at Godfrey with the liveliest admiration. This constructive reasoning was something which I certainly was quite incapable of.
 "So that ] on Thompson's arm was the initial of his real name" observed Godfrey. T thought 1t was: it had been there long time, and an ef fort had been made to erase it. After a man has started on the crooked path he doesn't want any tattoo marks on him: they make identification too easy. For Johnson. then. we'll hereafter read Thompson"
 nodded; Lswas beginning to be con vinced.
 "well," continued Godfrey. Ire maine and Thompson. then. were ar rested in New York July 9. 1885. at a low rcsort where they were having n carouse. They had beaten and rob bed another sailor It seems that noth- ing was left of the COCO fraacs, and naturally Tremaine found it difficult to go honestly to work again. The fourth clipping. undated, but probably some months later, shows that Tremaine and