The Hattiesburg news., 1909-09-20
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CHAPTER XVII,
a Hint Of Scandal,

MINT OF scandal
In giving the gist of what happened
at the inquest, l have only one ex-
cuse--to recall to the reader the
events OF the night of Arnold Arm
strong's murder. Many things mad
occurred which were not brought out
at the inquest and some things were
told there that were new to me. AL
| together, 1t was "a gloomy affair, and
the six men in the corner, who con-
stituted the coroner's Jury, we're evi-
IDENTIFY the merest puppets In the
hands of that &llpowerful gentlemen.
the coroner.
| Gertrude and j sat well back, with
our wells down. There were a num-
Der of people knew: Barbara FYtz-
hugh, in exrravagant mourning-she
always went into black on the slight
est provocarfon because itswas becom-
ing-and Mr.. Jarvis, the man who
had come over from the Greenwood
cub the night of the murder. Mr..
Earton WEES there, too, booking i'm
patient rs the inquest dragged, but
alive to every particle Of evidence.
| From corner Mr.. Jameson was
watching the proceedings 1ntenaly.
DIR. Stewart was called first. His
evidence was told briefly, and amount-
ICED to thiE: On the Sunday morning
previous, at quarter before live, he
had beer called 70 the telephone. The
message was from Mr.. Jarvis. who
asked him to come at once to Sunny.
lNside, as there had been an accident
lTthere- and Mr.. Arnold Armstrong had
l'oeen shot He dressed hastily, gath
cered up some instruments, and drove
10 Sunnyside.
He was met by Mr.. Jarvis, who took
rim at once to tie east wing. There.
Just as he had fallen, was the body of
Arnold Armstrong. There was no
nsed OF the Instruments; the man was
dead. In answer to the 'coroner's
qSest1on-no, the body had not been
moved, save to turn it over. 1t lay
at the foot of the circular staircase.
Yes, he believed death had been in
Simultaneous. The body was still some
what warm and rigor mortis had not
set in. 1t occurred late In cases of
sudden death. Nc, he believed the
probability eof suicide might be elm.
mated; the wounds could have been
self-inflicted, but with difficulty. and
there had been no weapon found.
The doctors examination was over
hut he heshated end cleared his
throat.
"Mr. Coroner" he said, -'at the risk
OF taking up valuable time, I would
like to speak of an incident that NAV
or may not threw some light on this
matter"
The audience was alert at once.
Kindly proceed. DOCTOR" the ,coro-
ner said.
MY home is in Englewood. two
miles from Casanova" the doctor be-
gan. IN the absence of DR.. Walker.
number of Casanova people have
been consulting me. A month ago
five weeks, to be exact-a woman
whom / had never seen came to NV
office. She was in deep mourning and
kept her veil down, and she brought
for examination child, a boy of six.
The little fellow was i'll; it looked like
typhoid, and the mother was frantic.
She wanted permit to admit the
youngster to the Childrens hospital
in town here. where am a member
of the staff, and gave her one. The
incident would have escaped me, but
for a curious thing. Two days before
Mr.. Armstrong was shot. was sent
for to go to the Country club; some
one had been struck with a golf-ball
that had gone wild. 1t was late when
l left was on foot, and about a mile
from the club, on the Clayburg road,
l met two people. They were disput-
ing violently, and had no difficulty in
recognizing Mr.. Armstrong. The wom-
an. beyond doubt was the ona Who