Tensas gazette. [volume] (St. Joseph, La.) 1886-current, 1911-10-06

| ~ A@@A "CAC PCilcCliy COEEeCl- ne Ole
land In New York seven years ago
and he was arrested upon a charge OF
intoxication at subsequent date.
Last year Claude Bamwell, the son
returned home Unexpectedly. He had
tired Of his rowing life. He asked his
father to give him another chance to
redeem himself and to let him remain
with him. The cousin, Lydia. the
daughter Of Sir George Bamwell, who
had conceived romantic attachment
for her graceless relative, was instru.
mental In effecting reconciliation be-
tween the father and son. Claude
was given his chance and seemed to
make good use of his opportunity
Within six months father and son
were on friendly terms. William Bam-
well. who was perhaps seventy years
OF age, had q passion for amateur
photography. Claude humored his
father and never tired Of helping him
N his hobby. Father and son began
to appreciate each other better than
they had ever done before.
This increasing intimacy was not
looked upon favorably by selim. the
Hindoo servant. especially since Will
liam Bamwell contemplated altering
his win in favor OF his son, Claude,
and greatly reducing the legacy which
Selim had come to look upon as his
own reversionary right However,
Selim was inscrutable and kept his
own counsel.
THE Bamwell brothers were very
set In their ways. One of the charac-
teristics common to both Of them was
their fondness for a certain East In
dian cigar that came from Borneo.
These they imported direct from the
manufacturer. Claude, however, dis
covered a similar brand on sale in
London, and gave box to his father
for a Christmas present-at Selim's
suggestion. as he declares. In fact,
according to Claude, Selim discovered
the existence of this brand and in
duced him to purchase the box. Selim,
however. denies that he ever heard
Of these cigars and ascribes the en-
tire scheme Of purchasing and present
ing them to Claude.
Now we come to the crux OF the
situation. Three months ago Sir
George Bamwell was discovered dead
in the library early one morning. He
had been sitting up alone the night
before. and had taken one of his
brothers cigars-the first of the box.
He was found dead. the half-smoked
cigar upon the table before him. A
post-mortem investigation disclosed
the presence In the body of a minute
portion of q powerful poison allied to
prussic acid. The cigar was analysed,
but nothing was found wrong with 1t.
In spite of a rigorous cross-exam-
ination of all persons concerned, no
motive OF clue could be discovered.
Sir George was buried in the family
vault. and William Bamwell became
Sir William.
Not three weeks afterward the
tragedy repeated itself Sir William
Bamwell was found dead in precisely
the same manner. Again the pres
ence Of the prussic acid variant was
disclosed at the post-mortem; again
the cigar was analysed and found to
be entirely harmless. Yet Sir VIII
liam, like his brother. had undoubted-
ly died after smoking half Of the Bor-
neo cigar.
But in this case several new facts
we're brought out at the inquest
In the first place, Claude had been
with his father until a few moments
before his death. The two men had
been smoking together. Sir William
was very rapid smoker: Claude pre-
ferred cigarettes and barely burned
away an inch Of his cigars, which he
smoked merely to humor his father.
Again, 1t was proved that Claude had
recently purchased prussic acid at
drug-show In the village. When In
terrogated, he acknowledged this fact.
but asserted that his father used this
deadly compound for intensifying the
images upon negatives that had been
under-exposed. II Is perfectly true
that certain compound Of prussic
acid is used for this purpose. and Sir
William had always compounded his
own Photographic chemicals.
ITO cut the story short, Claude, or
Sir Claude, as l must now call him.
was arrested upon a charge of murder
and is now awaiting trial at the as
Sizes"
"And the motive?" crewe queried.
Fear that his father, who was be
coming little senile. and was largely
under the influence Of Selim, would
again disinherit him.
but did Claude know the contents
Of the will?"
NO. II had actually been changed
in the sons favor. but so fer as is
known SIR William had kept his own
counsele
Then that works either way" said
Crewe. "Selin might have commit
ted the murder. fearing lest the will
would be changed In the sons favor.
and not knowing that this had actually
been done. And that very open pur-
chase OF prussic acid is not compati-
bic with guilt And the cigars-how
do they come into the story? You
say that analysis showed them to be
harmiess?"
Entirely so: and to my mind. who
ever was the murderer, II was not
Claude, But the young man had a bad
name, and Selim appears to have