Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1907-09-17

round the hack through the side pas |
sage.
"Oh, you drafted fool, how should
I know cried Deborah fiercely;
"there may be one and there may be
twenty. Go and catch them-you're
paid for 1t. Send to 20 Park street,
Bloomsbury, Cor Bart"
Deborah ran up the stairs to Sylvia's
room, where she found the poor girl
still unconscious.
Meanwhile, an inspector had arrived,
and one of the policemen was detailing
all that had occurred from the time
Deborah had given the alarm ut the
window. The Inspector listened quiet
ly to everything and then examined
the body 'Strangled with q copper
wire,'' he said, looking up. go for
d doctor, one of you. 1t goes through
the floor" he added, touching the wire
which still encircled the throat, land
must have been pulled from below.
Examine the cellar"
Even as he spoke. and while one
Jealous officer ran off for a medical
man, there was a grating sound and
policeman leaped into the shop and
saluted when he saw his superior.
BY this time the gas had been lighted.
We've broken down the back door,
sir" said he, 1.-The cellar door-it was
locked but not bolted. Nothing in the
cellar, everything in order, but that
wire" he pointed to the means used
for strangling "dangled from the cell
ing and crosspiece of wood is bound
to the lower end"
'Who does the shop belong to-"
aaron Norman" said the policeman
whose beat it was. Hes Il second
hand bookseller. quiet, harmless,
timid sort of man."
| ANY one about?"
NO, sir. l passed down Gwynne
street at about a quarter past II and
all seemed safe. When l come back
| later-it might have been twenty min
utes and more. say twenty-five-I saw
| the woman who was down here cling
| ing to window on the first floor
and shouting murder. l gave the sum
mons, sir, and we broke open the
| door,
Inspector Prince questioned not only
| the Gwynne street policeman, who had
| given his report but all others who
had been in the vicinity. But they
could tell him nothing. No one sus-
picious had been seen leaving Gwynne
street north or south. so, finding he
| could learn nothing in this direction,
| Prince turned his attention to the serv-
ant. Now, then. what do you known
he asked. Don't say anything likely
to incriminate yourself"
Net shouted Deborah. bouncing up
with a fiery face. Don't you be talk
ing away my character. Why, l know
no more who have done it than a babe
unborn. and that's stupid enough, 1
'opes, Mr.. Policeman. Ho. indeed!
And we pays our taxes to be insulted
by you, Mr.. Policeman She was very
aggravating, and many a man would
have lost his temper. But Inspector
Prince was a quiet and self controlled
officer and knew how to deal with this
violent class of women. He simply
waited till Deborah had exhausted her
self and then gently asked her q few
questions. Finding he was reasonable.
| Deborah became reasonable on her
part and replied with great intelligence,
In few minutes the inspector by
handling her deity. learned all that
had taken place on that terrible night
from the time Sylvia had started up
in bed at the sound of that far distant
cry of a soul in agony. "And that,
from what Miss Sylvia says" ended
Deborah. was just before the church
clock struck the hour of 10"
You came down Il quarter of an
hour laterT'
Il did when Miss Sylvia woke me. "
said Deborah. "She was frightened
out of her seven senses and couldn't
get up at once. Yes, it was about
twenty minutes after the hour we
come down to see-it" And the woman
strong nerved as she was, shuddered.
''Humph!" said the inspector. 1.-The
. assassin had time to escape!'
Begging your pardon. sir, them OIL
him or her or 1t as murdered master
! was below in the cellar when we saw
the corp-not that it was what you'd
cal! a corp then"
; "Will you say precisely what yor
mean?"
Deborah did so and with such wealth
: of detail that even the hardened in
e spector felt the creeps down his Off
: cial back. There was something ter
4 ribly merciless about this crime. Thu
] man had been bound like a sheep TO
q the slaughter, his mouth had beef
2 sealed with the brooch SO that he coulC
d not cry out, and then. in the sight o
g his child and servant, he had been slow
g ly strangled by means of the cope
), wire which communicated with the eel
e lar. One of the policemen brought III
/ an auger which evidently had beer
o used to bore the hole for the wire t
s pass through, for the fresh sawdus
f was still in its whorls. 'Who doe
t this belong top Prince asked Deborah
: Its Bart's,'' said Deborah. staring
d "He was using 1t, along with other tools
e to make some deal boxes for master
e who was going away. 1 expect 1t wa
e found in the cellar in the tool box, 70
Ie Bart alIays brought 1t in tidylike afte