Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1910-04-20

as you buy it at the Pullman ticket
Office in Pittsburg and she thinks she
sees her chance. No one could have
foreseen that that drunken fellow
would have crawled into your beTth.s
"Now, figure it out this way: She
wanted those notes desperately-does
still-not for Bronson, but to hold over
his head for some purpose. In the
night, when everything is quiet, she
slips behind the curtains Of lower ten,
where the mans breathing shows he
is asleep. Didn't you say he snored?"
''He did," / affirmed But 1 tell
you"
Nov keep still and listen. She
gropes cautiously around in the dark
ness, finally discovering the wallet un-
der the pillow. Can't you see it your
self"
He was leaning forward, excitedly.
and / could almost see the grewsome
tragedy he was depicting.
''She draws out the wallet Then
perhaps she remembers the alligato.
bag and on the possibility that the
notes are there, instead of in the
pocketbook, she gropes around for it.
Suddenly, the man awakes and clutch
es at the nearest object. perhaps her
neck chain, which breaks.
cit is all in silence; the man is still
stupidity drunk. But he holds her in
a tight grip. Then the tragedy. She
must get away; in minute the car
-xxS1I L ON
such an errand, does not go without
some sort of weapon, in this case
dagger, which, unlike a revolver, is
noiseless.
with a quick thrust-she's a big
woman and a bold one-she strikes.
Possibly Hotchkiss is right about the
left-hand blow. Harrington may have
held her right hand, or perhaps she
held the dirk in her left hand as she
CROPPED with her right. Then, as the
man falls back and his grasp relaxes,
she straightens and attempts to get
away. The swaying of the car throws
her almost into your berth, and, trem-
bling with terror, she crouches behind
the curtains of lower ten until every
thing is still Then she goes noise
lessly back to her berth"
I nodded.
'It seems to fit partly, at least" l
said. "In the morning when she found
that the crime had been not only fruit
less, but that she had searched the
wrong berth and killed the wrong
man; when she saw me emerge, un-
hurt, just as she was bracing herself
for the discovery Of my dead body,
then she went into Mysteries. You re-
member, I gave her some whisky.
at really seems a tenable theory.
But, like the Sullivan theory, there are
one or two things that don't agree
with the rest. For one thing, how did
the remainder of that chain get into
Alison Vests possession"
"She may have picked it up on the
floor"
We'll admit that" said; land I'm
sure hope so. Then how did the MUIR
G.ered mans pocketbook get into the
sealskin bag? And the dirk, how ac-
count for that. and the blood stains?"
''Now what's the use," asked Nc
Knight aggrieved1y, "of my building
up beautiful theories for you to pull
down? Well take it to Hotchkiss.
Maybe he can tell from the blood
stains if the murderer's finger nails
were square or pointed"
"Hotchkiss is no fool" I said warm
ly. Under all his theories there's
good, hard layer of common sense.
And we must remember, Rich, that
neither of our theories includes the
woman at Doctor Van Kinks hospital,
that the charming picture you have
just drawn does not account for Ali
son Vests connection with the case,
or for the bits of telegram in the Sui
Ivan fellows pajamas pocket. You
are like the man who put the clock to-
gether; you've got half of the works
left over"
ooh, so home" said Mcknight, dis
gustedly I'm no Edgar Allan Poe.
What's the use of coming here and
asking me things if you're so particu-
lar?"
With one of his quick changes of
mood he picked UP his guitar.
Listen to this he said. cit is a
Hawaiian song about a fat lady, oh,
ignorant one! and how she fell off her
mule"
But for all the lightness of the
words, the voice that followed me
down the stairs was anything but
CHEEKY.
There was a Kanaka in Balu did dwell,
Who had for his daughter monstrous
fat girl
he sang in a clear tenor. I paused on
the lower floor and listened. He had
stopped singing as abruptly as he had
begun.
CTO BE CoNTINUED.)