Crittenden record-press. [volume] (Marion, Ky.) 1909-191?, 1910-03-17
THE CULPR|T?
BY SALLY MENDUM.


ciatiUn.I
All Petersville was ringing with the
murder Of Tim Meaghcr. an old mt
who lived alone in his cottage on the
outskirts Of the town. Miller. the head
: Of detective firm in the city. twenty
miles distant WAS called for by the
town authorities. lie went up. looked
/ the matter over. came To- an agreement
with the mayor and promised TO put
some one on the case immediately. He
was taking his supper in Il private
room in a restaurant when the door
opened and a man of Their seedy APP
rearance entered.
MIR. Miller. believe" said the new
conner
Il am What can | do FOR YOU
/ Il WAS in the detective business once.
and I'm trying To get into it again. Id
like to take hold of This Mcagher case
I'm going To- send Il man NJ TO at
tend Ia it,
The seedy individual pulled 4 letter
from his pocket ana handed ii tn the
detective L. read. It was Il certificate
from detective firm that joel Zim-
mernau had worked for it and done
good service.
/ Milcr's h#.ra.u with the mayor had
, been largely contingent upon tracking
and capturing the murderer, a not very
profitable way tu du business. Ii oc-
cured To him tlat If he could get
this person cheap he would let him
work for awhilc--at least long enough
to make some development BESIDES.
the man told him that he suspected a
| certain person and would look for
! ciew IN that direction. He felt 50 con
, tidcnt in the matter that he offered to
work without pay unless he made a
va,ia BILE discovery. but stipulated that
he should have the field Ia himself.
| No other detective should he put on
| the case. On these terms MIR. Miller
| engaged him and Went back To the
city Ia attend to other matters that
promised more certain results.
Joe Avery. a nephew of the murder
Sd man. lived In PcterSvillc. II much re-
spccted young man. with very nice
wife aud two very pretty children.
One day while walking on til" street
he picked up II ten dollar hill lie was
! i'm hard luck AT the time and very
much delighted ut his find. The bill
was partly spent for meat at Il butcher
shop. The same afternoon Avery was
arrested for the murder of his uncle
on information furnished by thinner
man. The detective produced Il list OF
bills. giving their numbers, that he
said he had found in an unused chin
ney in the murdered mans house. The
list was supposed to refer to S1.OOO
that the old man kept there. The the
DRY was that the money had been tax
en- by the murderer who had unwit-
tingly left the list
| Everybody in the town was surprised
at Avery's arrest. and no one at first
believed him guilty. II was not sup
posed that his uncle had any money.
and il he had the murderer was the
only one who could have known of ii.
| There was "A strong ease OF circum-
stancial evidence against Avery. but it
was weakened by Zimmerman himself.
who under cross examination contra
dicted himself rs To how. where anu
when he had found the list. Experts
disagreed whether II WAS az was not
in the handwriting of Mcagher. by
/ throwing doubt upon this evidence the
prisoners attorney saved his client
from verdict of guilty. The jury dis
agreed. but in order to avoid the ex-
pcnse of another trial brought in II YER
diet of not guilty.
Avery had no doubt that he had
been made the victim of II plot and as
soon as he gained his liberty set about
n bit of detective work To discover the
author. The first fact he noticed was
that with his acQuittal the case was
dropped. The authorities believed that
the murderer had been discovered, but
that his acuuittal was II ease of mot
proved" rather than mot guilty" The
detective VIII, worked up the case
against him had dropred the matter
aud WAS new working for The Miller
detective agency that had employed
him. Indeed. every one seemed salts
fed 10 lci the matter rest except the
man vino had narrowly escaped the
.nllowS and WAS in consequence living
under HE imn of hriug II murderer
These were The REASONS that Induced
Avery 10 take up the ease on his own
account.
Avery made up his mind that his
uncle had been n hoarler. Indeed. he
remembered certain incidents TO in
dictate hat such was the case. Some
one had discovered that the old man
had money in his possession and had
robbed and murdered him to get pos