Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1908-04-09

fed at the knowledge that his enemies
had found him out, his only thought
was to get away and hide himself. He
hastily washed and tied up his head,
enveloped himself in the biggest coat
he could find and let himself down into
the basement by the coal lift, for fear
Of observation. He waited in the base
ment of one of the adjoining buildings
till dark and then got away in a cab,
with the idea of hiding himself in the
East End. He had had very little
money with him on his flight, and it
was by reason Of this circumstance
that Hewitt. when he found him, had
prevailed on him to leave his hiding
place, since it would be impossible for
him to touch any of the large sums
of money in the keeping of his bank
so long as he was supposed to be dead.
With much difficulty and the promise
Of ample police protection, he was at
last convinced that it would be as safe
to declare himself and get his property.
and then run away and hide wherever
he pleased.
swell, MI. Hewitt" Meetings. said to
Hewitt aside, this case has certainly
been a shocking beating for me. |
must have been as blind as a bat when
1 started on it. And vet 1 don't see
that you had a deal to go on ever now.
What struck you first?"
"Well, in the beginning it seemed
rather odd to me that the body should
have been taken away, as 1 had been
told it was, after the written paper
had been pinned on it. Plainly that in
dicated that the person who had car
ried away the body was not the person
who had committed the murder. But
as soon as I began to examine the
place l saw the probability that there
was no murder at all. First, although
there was q good deal of blood on the
floor just below where the housemaid
had seen Rameau lying, there was
none between that place and the door.
This seemed to hint that the corpse
might ave come to itself, sat up on
the sofa, stanched the wound and
walked out. l reflected at once that
Rameau was a full blooded negro, and
that a negroes head is very nearly in
vulnerable to anything short Of bullets.
Then, If the body had been dragged
out-as such a heavy body must have
been-almost of necessity the carpet
and rugs would show signs Of the fact,
but there were no such signs. But be-
yond these there was the fact that no
long black overcoat was left with the
other clothes, although the housekeep-
er distinctly remembered Rameau's
possession of such a garment. 1 judg-
ed he would use some such thing to as
sist his disguise, which was why 1 ask
ed her. Why he would want to dis
guise was plain, as you shall see pres
emily. There were no towels left in
the bathroom-inference, used for ban
dages. Everything seemed to show
that the only person responsible for
Rameau's removal was Rameau him
self. Clearly, Rameau was afraid of
another attack from some implacable
enemy whom he was anxious to avoid
one against whom he feared legal
complaint OF defense would be useless.
This brought me at one to the paper
found on the floor. If this were the
work of Goujon and an open reference
to his tortoise, why should he be at
such pains to disguise his handwriting?
He would have been already pointing
himself out by the mere mention of the
tortoise. And, if he could not avoid a
shake in his natural, small handwrit-
iny. how cOI1ld he have avoided If i'm n
large, clumsy, slowly drawn, assum-
ed hand? No. the paper was not Gou-
joins.
"The evidence Of the chopper was
very Enthusiastically, especially when
l had heard of Goujon's careless habits.
"It is quite possible, by the way.
that the man who attacked Rameau