Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1909-02-02

uOW IOBAdSS0 llS nan AO6dA0CO
it attentively. A person passing out
through the window might have reclosed'
it, and the spring would have caught;
but the nail could not have been replaced
The conclusion was plain, and again mar
rowed in the field of my Investigations.
The assassins must have escaped
through the other window Surprising,
then, the springs upon each sash to be
the same, as was probable, there must
be found a difference between the nails,
or at least between the modes of their
fixture. Getting upon the sacking of the
bedstead, 1 looked over the headboard
infinitely at the second easement. Passing
my hand down behind the board, 1 read
lily discovered and pressed the spring,
which was, as I~had supposed, identical
in character with it's neighbor. 1 now
looked at the nail. 1t was as stout as the
other, and apparently fitted in the same
manner, driven in nearly up to the head.
1T had, 1 say, every appearance of its
fellow in the other window. There must
be something wrong l said, about the
nail 1 touched it, and the head, with
about quarter of an inch of the shank
came off in my fingers. The rest of the
shank was in the gimlet-hole. where it
had been broken off. The fracture was an
old one, and had apparently "een accom-
plished by the blow of a hammer, which
had partially imbedded in the top of the
bottom sash the head portion of the nall
now carefully replaced this head por-
ton in sthe indentation whence 1 had
taken it, and the resemblance to a per-
feet nail was complete. Pressing the
spring 1 gently raised the sash for
few inches; the head went up with it,
remaining firm in it's bed. 1 closed the
window and the semblance of the whole
nail was again perfect.
1.-THE riddle so far, was now unriddled
The assassin had escaped through the
window which looked upon the bed. Drop
ping of its own accord upon his exit Tor
perhaps purposely closed), it had become
fastened by the spring, and it was the re-
tention of this spring which had been
mistaken by the police for that of the
nail.
1.-The next question is that of the mode
of descent. Upon this point L had been
satisfied in my work with you around
the building. About five feet and haul
from the easement in question there runs
a lightning rod. From this rod it would
have been impossible for anyone to reach
the window itself, to say nothing of en-
tering it. / observed, however, that the
shutters of the fourth story were of the
peculiar kind called by Partisan carpen-
tiers ferraGes-a kind rarely employed at
the present day. They are in the form of
an ordinary door "a single, not fold
ing door, except that the lower. half is
latticed or worked in open trelhs thus
affording an excellent hold for the hands.
In the present instance these shutters are
fully three feet and a half broad. 1t was
clear to me that the shutter, belonging to
the window at the head of the bed v Guild,
If swung fully back to the wall, reach
to within two feet of the lightning rod.
1t was also evident that by exei ton of
a very unusual degree Of ACTIVITY ard
courage an entrance into the window from
the rod might have been thus effected.
BY reaching to the distance of two feet
ana half Eve now suppose the shutter
open to it's whole EXTENT robber might
have taken firm grasp upon the trellis-
work Letting go, then, his hold upon
the rod, placing his feet securely against
the wall, and springing boldly from II,
he might have swung the shutter so as to
close it, and if we imagine the window
open at the time, might even hava swung
himself into the room.
Il wish you to bea-- especially in mind
that 1 have spoken of d VERY unusual
degree of activity as re uisite 20 sue, ess
in so hazardous and so difficult feat.
II is my design to show Jou, first. hat
the thing might possibly have Dsen acS
complished;. butt secondly and CHIEFLY,
l wish to impress upon your under stand
ing THE EXTRAORDINARY, the al
most preternatural, character OF that
agility which could have accomplished 1t.
Remember, then, first, the VERY UN-
USUAL activity of which / have just
spoken, and, second. the VERY PECU-
LIAR shrill Cor harsh) and UNEQUAL
voice. about whose nationality no two
persons could DC found to agree and in
M. words rOllld he de-
tected."
At these words vague and halt-formed
conception of tic meaning of DIyin fit
ted over my mind. / seemed to be upon
the verge of comprehension, without
power TO comprehend.
Let us now revert to the interior OF
the ROOM continued my friend. THE
drawers of the bureau, 1t is said, mad
been robbed although many articles still
remained within them. The conclusion is
absurd It is a-mere guess-a very silly
one, How are we TO know that the arti-
cles found in. the drawers we're not all
these drawers had contained? If thief
had taken any, why did he not take all?
why did he abandon 1900 francs in gold
to cucumber himself with bundle OF
linen? / wish you. therefore, TO discard
from your thoughts the laundering idea
of motive. engendered in the brains OF
the police by that portion of the evidence
which speaks of money delivered at the
door of the house. Condolences 10
times as remarkable as this happen to all
of us every hour of our lives without
attracting even momentery notice. Coin
cidences. in general are great stumbling
blocks Had the gold been gone. it would
have been corroborative of this idea Of
motive But, under the real circumstan-
ces of the case, five suppose gold the
motive we must also imagine the perpe-
traitor so vacillating idiot as TO have
abandoned his gold and his motive to-
eether.
keeping now steadily in mind the
pojnts to which l have drawn your
attention-that peculiar voice. that un-
usual agility, and that startling absence
OF motive in a murder so s1ngularly afro
cious as this-let us glance at the butch
cry itself mere is woman strangled
to death by manual strength and
thrust up chimney. head downward.
Ordinary assassins employ no such
modes Of murGfr- IS this. Least Of all do
they thus disU0Sc C the murdered. In
the manner of tnvustine the corpse up
the chimney, You viz admit that there
was sometains altogether irreconcilable
With our common notions OF human ac-
ton. even by the most depraved of men.
Think, too how great must have been