Yellowstone monitor. [volume] (Glendive, Mont.) 1905-1928, 1909-07-22
By CASTOR LEROUX

TO America. Wnen you leIU the ulan-
der YOU had found out, if I rightly IN
derstand. all about Frederic Larsan.
You had discovered the exact way ne
had attempted the murder?'
oOuite SO. And you,. he said, turn
ing the conversation, did you suspect
nothing?"
"I don't see how / could have sus-
pected anything. You took great pains
to conceal your thoughts from me.
Had you already suspected Larsan
when you sent for me to bring the re-
yolvers p
eyes! I had come to that conclusion
through the incident OF the sinexplica-
Bile gallery Larsan's return to Mile.
stangerson's room, however, had not
then been cleared up by the eyeglasses.
NV suspicious were the outcome of my
reasoning only, and the idea of Larsan
being the murderer seemed SO extraor-
binary that I resolved to wait for
actual evidence before venturfng to
/ act. Nevertheless the suspicion Wor-
RED me. and I sometimes spoke to the
detective In way that ought to have
opened your eyes. I spoke dfsparag-
ingly of his methods. But until
found the eyeglasses I could but look
upon my suspicion Of him IN the light
OF an absurd hypothesis only. You
can imagine my citation after ! had ex-
planned Larsan's movements. I re-
member well rushing into my room
Hike mailman and crying to you: I'll
get the better Of the great Fred! I'll
get the better Of him in way that
will make sensation
'sBut one important point escaped us
both. 1t was one which ought to have
opened our eyes to Larsan. Do you re-
member the bamboo cane? was sur
prised to find Larsan had made no use
Of that evidence against Robert OAR
FAC. Had it not been purchased by a
man whose description tailed exactly
with that of Darzac? Well, just be-
fore I saw him off at the train after
the recess during the trial asked him
why he hadn't used the cane evidence.
He told me he had never had any in
tention Of doing SO: that our discov-
cry Of it in the little inn at Epinay
had much embarrassed him. If you
will remember, he told us then that
the cane had been given him In Lon
don. Why did we not Immediately
say to ourselves: Fred is lying; he
could not have had this cane In Lon
don; he was not In London; he bought
1t in Parish Then you found out on
inquiry at Cassette's that the cane had
been bought by person dressed very
like Robert Darzac, though, as we
learned later from Darzac himself, it
was not he who had made the pur-
chase. Couple this with the fact we
already knew from the letter at the
poste restante that there was actually
man In Paris who was passing as
Robert Darzac. Why did we not I'm
mediately fix on Fred himself?
sOf course his position was against
MS, but when we saw the evident
eagerness on his part to find convict
Ing evidence against Darzac-nay, even
the passion he displayed In his pur-
suit Of the mantle lie about the cane
should have had a new meaning for
US. Ii you ask why Larsan bought the
cane II he had no intention of manu-
featuring evidence against Darzac by
means Of It, the answer is quite SIM
pie He had been wounded In the
nand by Mile. stangerson, SO that the
cane was useful to enable him to close
his hand in carrying 1t. You remem-
Der / noticed that he always car
r1ed 1t.
AN these details came back TO nv
mind when had once fixed on Larsan
as the criminal. But they were too
late then to be Of any use to me. On
Cne evening when he pretended to be
drugged looked at his hand and saw
thin silk bandage covering the SIGNS
Of slight healing wound. Had we
taken quicker initiative at the time
Larsan told us that lie about the cane.
am certain he would have gone off
20 avoid suspicion. All the same. we
worried Larsan, or Ballmeyer. without i
DUR knowing It,
But, " I interrupted, IF Larsan had
40 intention Of using the cane az avi-
1ence against Darzac, why had he
made himself up to look like the man
when he went In to buy it?"
He lad not specially made m, as
Oarzac to buy the cane: he had coma
~x%-TsA B., ~ i