Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1910-03-09

routine of trial for murder-the chal-
longing of the jury, the endless cross
examinations, the alternate hope and
fear. l believe 1 said before that
had no nerves, but for a few minutes
that morning l was as near as man
ever comes to hysteria.
l folded my arms and gave myself
a mental shake. l seemed to be the
center of hundred eyes, expressing
every shade of doubt and distrust, but
1 tried not to finch. Then some one
created a diversion.
The amateur detective was busy
again with the sealskin bag, investi-
eating the make of the safety razor
and the manufacturers name on the
bronze-green tie. Now, however, he
paused and frowned, as though some
pet theory had been upset.
Then from a corner of the bag he
drew out and held up for our inspec-
tion some three inches of fine gold
chain, one end of which was black
ened and stained with blood!
The conductor held out his hand for
it, but the little man was not ready
to give it up. He turned to me.
"You say no watch was left you?
Was there piece of chain like that?"
mo chain at ALL" said sulkily. mo
jewelry of any kind, except plain gold
buttons in the shirt I am wearing"
Where are your glasses?" he
threw at me suddenly; instinctively
my hand went to my eyes. My glasses
had been gone all morning, and 1 had
not even noticed their absence. The
little man smiled cynically and held
out the chain.
''I must ask you to examine this"
he insisted. Isn't ii part of the fine
gold chain you wear over your carr"
l didn't want to touch the thing:
The stain at the end made me shud-
der. But with bakers dozen of sus-
picious eyes-well, we'll say 14-there
were no one-eyed men-I took the
fragment in the tips of my fingers and
looked at it helplessly.
Every fine chains are much alike"
I managed to say. For all I know,
this may be mine, but don't know
how it got into that sealskin bag. 1
never saw the bag until this morning
after daylight"
"He admits that he Id the bag"
somebody said behind me. "How did
you guess that he wore glasses, any
how" to the amateur sleuth.
That gentleman cleared his throat.
"There were two reasons" he said,
''for suspecting it. When you see a
man with the lines of his face droop-
ing, a healthy individual with a pen
sive eye-suspect astigmatism. Be-
sides, this gentleman has a pro-
ncunced line across the bridge of his
nose and a mark on his ear from the
chain"
After this remarkable exhibition of
the theoretical as combined with the
practical, he sank into seat near by,
and still holding the chain, sat with
closed eyes and pursed lips. It was
evident to all the car that the solution
of the mystery was question of mo-
ments Once he bent forward eagerly
and putting the chain on the window
sill, proceeded to go over it with a
pocket magnifying glass, only to
shake his head in disappointment. All
the people around shook their heads,
too, although they had not the slight
est idea what it was about.
The pounding in my ears began
again. The group around me seemed
to be suddenly motionless in the very
act Of moving as If hypnotist had
called Rigid" The girl in blue was
looking at me, and above the din ]
thought she said she must speaF to
me-something vital. The pounding
grew louder and merged into scream.
With a grinding and splintering the
car rose under my feet. Then it fell
away into darkness.