Pierre weekly free press. (Pierre, S.D.) 1889-19??, 1910-09-22
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! side, as there had been an accident
| there, and Mr.. Arnold Armstrong had
| been shot. He dressed hastily, gath
cred up some instruments, and drove
| to Sunnyside.
He was met by Mr.. Jarvis, who took
| him at once to the east wing. There,
! just as he had fallen, was the body of
| Arnold Armstrong There was no
| need of the instruments; the man was
dead. In answer to the coroner's
| question-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. No, he believed the
probability of 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,
but he hesitated and cleared his
throat
/ Mr.. Coroner" he said, "at the risk
of taking up valuable time l would
like to speak of an incident that may
or may not throw some light on this
natter
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. I'm the absence of Dr. Walker,
a number of Casanova people have
been consulting me. A month ago
1 five weeks, to be exact-a woman
whom l had never seen came to my
office. She was in deep mourning and
kept her veil down, and she brought
Tor examination child, 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 Children's hospital
in town here, where am a member
OF the staff, and gave her one. The
incident would have escaped me, but
for curious thing. Two days before
Mr.. Armstrong was shot, I was sent
Tor to go to the Country club; some
one had been struck with a golf-ball
that had gone wild. 1t was late when
! left was on foot, and about mile
from the club, on the Clayburg road
met two people. They were disput.
Ing violently, and had no difficulty in
recognizing Mr.. Armstrong. The WON.
an, beyond doubt, was the one who
mad consulted me about the child"
At this hils of scandal, Mrs. Ogden
Fitghugh sat up very straight. Jamie.
! son was looking slightly skeptical
I and the coroner made a note.
The Childrens hospital, you saw
: doctor?" he asked.
Yes. But the child, who was an.
tered as Lucien Wallace, was taken
away by his mother two weeks ago
nave tried to trace them and failed ),
: All at once l remembered the tele.
I gram sent to Louise by some one
J. signed r. L. W.-presumably Dr
Walker. Gould the yelled woman he
i the Nina Darlington of the MESSAGE ;
But 1t was only idle speculation b ]
no way of finding out, and the inonast
I was proceeding.
I The report OF the coroner.s nbvs;
e clan came next. The post-mortem a. !,
: animation showed that the bullet had
Z entered the chest in the fourth Ief,
lntercostal space and had taken a
oDlique course downward and hal.
!. ward, piercing both the heart and
/ lungs. The left lung was collansad
Z and the exit point of the hall had 49,,
J. found IN the muscles of the back = =
9 the left OF the spinal column. Il M !
Improbable that such wound lad
3 been self-inflicted, and its oh1;a,s
6 downward course pointed to thu fact
8 that the shot had been fred fro,,
g above. IN other words, as the MIR -,
g dered man had been found dead j,
81 the foot Of q staircase, it was nrah
I. an!a that the shot had been fred y