The Washington times., 1911-01-03
Continued from First Page.)

Twigg and Grace Elosser had they
lived until New Year Day.
Where the poison was obtained with
which murder or suicide was done has
not been ascertained, nor is the manner
of its administration known. States
Attorney Robb, Chief of Police Irvine,
and DR.. F. (. Harrington, who assisted
at the autopsy, do not believe 1t was
administered in either the candy found
in the Elosser parlor or in the bit of
fresh chewing gum found in TwigS' s
mouth. The question of how remains
as unanswerable now as that of MUIR
der or suicide.
Plot for Play or Story.
The student of detective lore will find
an absorbing story here in Cumberland.
The author or the dramatist who con-
ures with figures of fiction may come
here to the foothills of the Alleghenies
and CLEAN from the lips OF mystified
people in real life a plot as battling as
was ever worked out on the stage or
in the last chapter of detective novel.
1t has been three days since Cumber-
land, engrossed with the celebration OF
a New Years eve, heard tor the first
time of the Elosser-Twigg tragedy.
There has not been a moment since
Mary Grace Elosser and Charles Ed
ward Twigg were found dead in the
parlor of the formers home that some
one has not come forward with an ex-
PLANTATION, all his own, of how 1t all
happened. And vet, today, all theories
are at variance, all surmises have their
unsupported points and all pseudo
detectives are compelled to come right
back to the starting point of the mys-
terry.
Officials Cling to Murder Theory.
The States attorney, the sheriff of
the county, the chief OF Cumberland po-
lice, all have discarded the idea that
Miss Elosser and her husband-to-be
took their own lives within twenty-four
hours of the time set for their marriage.
But these same officials, pinned down
TO essential things, must admit that
their beliefs are theories still, and that
there are as many arguments in favor
of suicide as there are against it, and
vice versa.
One hears of this girl and that girl
to whom the prospective bridegroom had
been attentive. One hears rumors of
jealousy and reference to the apt say
ing that hell hath no fury like a wo-
man Scorned."
But the next moment one asks a ques-
ton that is still unanswered:
How did such a woman enter the
Elosser home at this opportune time
when Twigg called to show his intended
bride a wedding ring. and how did such
a woman, an interloper. persuade the
man and the girl to partake of a deadly
poison, a drug so deadly that 1t killed
and vet left its victims sitting con-
tentedly side by side on parlor divan?"
Becoming an exponent for the mo-
ment. then. of the supposition OF sui
eide:
"Twigg and his fiancee were laughing
and joking ten minutes. before they
died. How could one persuade the
other, in such a short time as this, to
become a party to a suicide pact? And
why would either wish to commit sucE
an act%'
Accident Theory.
There is still another theory-that
Twigg Willingly or unwittingly admin
istered the drug to his prospective bride
and to himself.
What became of the bottle or con-
tainer. The two were in a closed room.
No vial was found on the outside nor
could Twigg have taken the fatal dose,
and deliberately made away with it's
receptacle in time to resume his place
upon the divan.'
That is where the matter still stands.
That is where 1t stood twenty minutes
after the bodies of Miss Elosser and Mr..
Twigg wereIound, in an upright pos
ture, just as they had been seen when
last alive.
Meanwhile, and here an additional