The Washington times., 1907-10-27

~''' ~ "a man "a iita age anu ~ p -
not unusual
You know what followed, Annerly
The verdict Of the coroner's jury was
as I knew it would be-'death from
natural causes.
I slipped the cigar from the dead
hand, which had closed over it, and
looked over the room. on the low
mantel was a box containing others OF
the same brand. I removed the upper
most layer. and carried them all away
with me. e was a new box. and II.
major was smoking the first one on
OF Il when = was overtaken by death
And ne had hardly touched that with
the match. for the end was barely
charred.
The analysis resulted as knew il
must.
The cigar was STEPPED in poison.
No wonder the man died. There
was poison enough in that single roll
of tobacco to have slain a regiment
las soon as had thoroughly salts
fed myself OF the nature OF the poison
I carefully analysed the remainder OF
the half dozen whichsI had abstcacted
from the box and carried away with
me. found every one of them harmless
enough. only one cigar had been i'm
Iregnated with the drug. ard that was
the single one chosen by the unfOrtu-
nate Major Fairfax
4 am not a detective. Anerly.' he
said. curiously. but there is one queer
thing about the matter. One cigar in
the box poisoned. and the rest harm
less. How did the murderer know
which one CT the cigars would BE-
taken from the box? Was 1t inma-
terial 10 MIN when the blow fell?
do not believe it
4 told you once, you know. An
nerIy. that in my opinion something
stronger than greed of gold had nerved
the hand OF the murderer I still be-
lieve IL. ] do net know whom you
suspect OF the crime But I would ike
TO say something tight here.
In the Dead Mans Fingers.
THE man who struck the blow Il am
presuming that ii was a man merely
for the sake of brevity) was IN terribls
trouble. 1 do not know what he ex-
pected 10 gain, but I believe that he
expected 20 Iose-if the sunset found
Major Fairfax living-something more
than money or it's equivalent.
Taking this for granted. he dared
not risk the delay OF a moment or
give fate the chance to play him one
OF the scurvy tricks. she so delights in.
II examined the box OF cigars at the
first and noticed that only one had
been removed, and that that was the
one still held in the dead mans I'm
gers. I looked at the box then. and no
were left
II am a connoisseur in tobaccos, An
nerly, and / saw at once that they
were of a rare brand. That was the
reason why I took the top layer out
and examined them so carefully. I did
not know until the last one mad been
touched that there was blood upon my
fingers.
Il had helped to lift the dead mans
head in order 10 be quite sure that life
was extinct. and on every one Of the
cigars which had handled had left
little smudge of crimson.
4 replaced the cigars q was alone
in the room without saying anything
about it. Indeed. I thought but little
at that time about the matter. An in
slant later Reynolds and Antrim, fol-
lowed by the corOner's Jury, entered
the room. They did not stay over five
minutes.
AS YOU know, the men adjourned 70
the library below to begin the exami-
nation OF the family and the servants
IN order TO determine the cause Of
death. The upper room where the
dead man lay was closed and locked
Just after the examination for the
day was concluded, and while they
were still talking over the adjourn
rnent TO await the result Of the au-
topsy. I grew restless, and went up
stairs again. The men were all down
stairs talking things over. and the
upper hall was deserted even by the
servants.
L do not know whether I meant at
the beginning to attempt to enter the
room or not. but no sooner had
reached the hall above than I detected
the odor of burning tobacco. Some one
was smoking a cigar somewhere in the
upper regions
Il had a sudden fancy for trying an
other look at the death chamber with
out witnesses I tried The door. Some
one had evidently been In the room re-
Gently anu ilt4 tCAL Il AttA 4ULi9- PEI
haps il their business was not a legit-
innate one. because they had heard the
sound of my footsteps upon the stairs
and as I had not passed on the way
up the presumption was obvious.
THE intrduer was still secreted IN
one Of the rooms on the upper floor. or
had availed himself of a knowledge OF
the building and had retreaJed by way
of the back stairs. The bolt was
turned. but in his haste the man failed
to catch the hasp. TIE door swune
open at ny touch
The odOr of tobacco increased as
entered the room. There had been a
tiny IRE upon the hearth. and I saw q
little flame spring up in what I fancied
was pile OF brown paper fragments.
As soon as / bent above IL. however ]
knew that | had been mistaken The
lame was still smoldering. and was
led by broken bits of tobacco
With bound 1 reached the mantel
and had the box in my hands. I found
1t apparently just as had left it-fuli,
with the exception Of one eigar-the
one which ] had taken from the fingers
of the dead man. and which was still
safely reposing IN an inner pocket
Ito Be Continued Next Sunday)-