The Raymer enterprise., 1911-06-08

"eh' Aom SU3 nutu WoIo married.
Remember. II was a primitive little
community. After the ceremony at
the minister's house the young couple
drove home to the Valley homestead
such q thing as wedding.tour
would have been thought a wicked
and useless extravagance. Besides.
It was hayins time. and Tom couldn't
be spared.
There was wedding supper for the
immediate relatives. and before the
meal was well ended large crowd
Of the villagers and neighboring farm
folks arrived outside the house to
give the bride and groom genuine
old.fashionsd "Shiyaree." There were
all sorts Of an uproar-beating Of tin
pans. blowing Of horns. ringing Of
cowbals. shouting. laughter. and even
firing Of guns and pistols.
OF course the young couple had to
show themselves. and at their ap-
pearance the tumult and the shout.
ing broke out worse than ever. 1t
was cloudless night with the moon
at the full. and as Tom and Ruth
stood arm In arm on the wide porch
they we're In clear view. Suddenly
there was volley OF firearms. and
Ruth Valley was seen to fall back.
ward in her husbands arms. At frst
1t was thought she had tainted from
the excitement. but In few moments
the bridegroom's affrighted shouts ap-
prised those nearest that the newly.
welded wife had been shot Some mis-.
creant In the crowd had deliberately
drawn bead" on her breast! At
least-for ! must not get ahead TOO
fast-that's what became apparent
afterward. In the initial confusion
II was thought that the shooting must
have been an accident-some cheerful
idiot In the crowd on the lawn. who
didn't know II was loaded had
pulled the trigger and unknowingly
sped the fatal bullet.
But when got on the case the facts
already discovered put a totally Hf-
ferent complexion on the matter, ana
| speedily decided that Ruth Valleys
death was case Of deliberate mur.
der. There had been an inquest. OF
course. by the county physician, and
that gave me the hint. The missile
proved to be a soft.nosed steel bullet
| fired from Krag army rife. And
here was a remarkable fact: the soft
lead nose OF the bullet had flattened
and spread itself against the girls
corset steel: when examined 1t looked
for all the world like cats eye,
even to the coloring Of the pupil
1t was the steel cone Of the bullet that
had caused death. that having pene.
trated the heart. The poor child
probably never knew what hit her.
Naturally my first task was to
search for someone who owned
Krag army rife-a rare weapon In a
rural community-this person also
being an excellent marksman. The
finding OF a man who united these
two characteristics. told myself,
would be tantamount to spotting the
murderer.
But here ran upon the first snag
The owner OF the Krag was soon
found In the person OF George Ger
IRISH. veteran OF the Spanish war.
who had returned from Montauk the
previous autumn. Gerrish not only
proved complete alibi, but strenu.
ously denied having loaned his Krag
to anyone. Yet when told him my
errand. and together we had exam.
ined the gun. he unhesitatingly de.
clared that It had been recently dis.
charged and that one shell was miss.
Ing from the full clip which II had
previously contained Gerrish ea.
planned that, living alone as he did.
he thought II no harm to keep the
gun loaded. However. he readily
Identified the steel cone which had
killed Ruth Valley, and told me OF
several similar instances OF the queer
shapes sometimes taken by the "mush.
rooming" Of the soft.nose bullet. Also
he agreed with me that some one.
knowing he was away from home,
might have borrowed" the Krag on
the fatal night. though he was equally
frank to say that he had observed no
indications that his house had been
feloniously entered during his absence.
And until my call he had not noticed
that the weapon had been moved from
It's accustomed place on a couple OF
staples over his old brick fireplace.
Swearing him to silence. and to the
locking away OF the discriminating
weapon until might call for It, my
next task was to look for good
marksman and man with n motive
for the killing. To this end I went
through the male residents OF the
nelghborhood with fine toothcomb
, with the idea. first. OF eliminating
tho sheep from the goats.
All told. there we're not more than
half dozen names worth consider.
ing. Some Of these had been among
Ruth Merrill's suitors. but all. with
one exception. seemed to have taken
the result philosophically and gone
about their business. This exception
was Mark Henniker. Who had been
OvCrhoar ri IN hoaut that rau, W.T.. .