The Charles Mix new era. (Wagner, Charles Mix County, S.D.) 1???-1911, 1910-09-23
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testimony amounted to little. He had
been summoned by telephone to Sum
nyside, had come over at once with
the steward and Mr.. Winthrop, at
present out of town. They had been
admitted by the housekeeper, and had
found the body lying at the foot of
the staircase. He had made a search
for a weapon, but there was none
around. The outer entry door in the
east wing had been unfastened and
was open about an inch.
l had been growing more and more
nervous. When the coroner called
Mr.. John Bailey, the room was filled
with suppressed excitement. Mr..
Jameson went forward and spoke a
few words to the coroner. who nodded.
Then Halsey was called.
Mr.. Innes," the coroner said, will
you tell under what circumstances
you saw Mr.. Arnold Armstrong the
night he died?"
Il saw him first at the Country
club" Halsey said quietly. He was
rather pale, but very composed. Il"
stopped there with my automobile for
gasolene. Mr.. Armstrong had been
playing cards. When l saw him there
he was coming out of the cardroom
talking to Mr.. John Bailey"
THE nature of the discussion
was it amicable?"
Halsey hesitated.
They were having a dispute" he
said. II asked Mr.. Bailey to leave the
club with me and come tt Sunnyside
over Sunday"
isn't it a fact, Mr.. Innes, that you
took Mr.. Bailey away from the club.
house because you were afraid there
would be blows?"
THE situation was unpleasant"
Halsey said evasively.
AT that time had you any suspicion
that the Traders bank had been
wrecked?"
mo"
What occurred next?"
"Mr. Bailey and l talked in the bill
Hard room until $3.50"
And Mr.. Arnold Armstrong came
there, while you were talking?'
lCo. 11C CdllIS dDOuJ udll-pdSI INO-
He raped at the east door, and I adj
mitted him."
The silence in the room. was in
tense. Mr.. Jamieson's eyes never left
Halsey's face.
"Will you tell us the nature of his
errand?"
He brought a telegram that had
come to the club for Mr.. Bailey"
HE was sober?"
Perfectly, at that time. Not earl
ier."
Was not his apparent friendliness
a change from his former attitude?"
Eyes. l did not understand it,"
How long did he stay?"
About five minutes. Then he left
by the east entrance"
what occurred them"
I'VE talked for a few minutes, dis
cussing a plan Mr.. Bailey had in
mind. Then l went to the stables,
where / kept my car, and got it out"
Leaving Mr.. Bailey alone in the
billiard room?"
"My sister was there"
Mrs. Ogden Fitzhugh had the cour.
age to turn and eye Gertrude through
her lorgnon.
"And them"
Il took the a along the lower road,
not to disturb the household. Mr..
Bailey came down across the lawn,
through the hedge, and got into the
car on the road"
Then you know nothing of Mr..
Armstrong; movements after he left
the house?"
Nothing. I read of his death Mon
day evening for the first time.
"Mr. Bailey did not see him on his
way across the lawn"
Il think not. If he had seer him
he would have spoken of it."
THANK you. That is all. Miss Ger
trude Innes."
Gertrude's replies were fully as con
else as Halsey's. Mrs. Fitzhugh SUBJ
jected her to a close inspection, com.
mencing with her hat and ending with
her shoes. l flatter myself she found
nothing wrong with either her gown
or her manner, but poor Gertrude's
testimony was the reverse of COM
forting. She had been summoned,
she said, by her brother, after Mr..
Armstrong had gone. She had waited
in the billiard Don with Mr.. Bailey
until the automobile had been ready.
Then she had locked the door at the
foot of the staircase. and, taking a
lamp, had accompanied Mr.. Bailey to
the main entrance of the house, and
had watched him cross the lawn. In
stead of going at once to her room,
she had gone back to the billiard
room for something which had been
left there. The cardroom and billiard
room were in darkness. She had
CROPPED around, found the article she
was looking for, and was on the point
Of returning to her room, when she
had heard some one fumbling at the
lock at the east outer door. She had
thought it was probably her brother,
and had been about to go to the door,
when she heard it open. Almost Inn