The Caldwell watchman. (Columbia, La.) 1885-1946, 1911-06-16

II
another landowner, had been his hot
test rival.
Well, Tom and Ruth were married.
Remember, it was primitive little
community. After the ceremony at
the minister's house the young couple
drove home to the Valley homestead
such thing as wedding-tour
would have been thought Il wicked
and useless extravaganza. Besides,
1t was haying time. and Tom couldn't
be spared.
There was wedding supper for the
immediate relatives, and before the
meal was we'll ended a large crowd
of the villagers and neighboring farm
folks arrived outside the house to
give the bride and groom genuine
old.fashioned "Shiyaree' There were
all sorts of All uproar-beating Of tin
pans, blowing of horns, ringing of
cowbel,s, shouting, laughter, and even
firing OF guns and pistols.
OF course the young couple had to
show themselves, and at their APP
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 were in clear view. Suddenly
there was a volley of firearms, and
Ruth Valley was seen to fall back
ward in her husbands arms. At first
it was thought she had tainted from
the excitement, but in a 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 a bead" on her breast! At
least-for l must not get ahead 100
fast-thats what became apparent
afterward. In the initial confusion
it was thought that the shooting must
have been an accident-some cheerful
idiot in the crowd on the lawn, who
didn't know it was loaded" had
pulled the trigger and unknowingly
sped the fatal bullet.
But when got on the case the facts
already discovered put totally diff
ferent complexion on the matter, and
| speedily decided that Ruth Valleys
death was a case Of deliberate MUIR
der. There had been an inquest, Of
course, by the county physician, and
that gave me the hint. The missile
proved to be soft-nosed steel bullet
fired from a Krag army rifle. And
here was remarkable fact: the soft
lead nose of the bullet had fattened
and spread itself against the girls
corset steel; when examined it looked
for all the world like a 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 rifle-a rare weapon in
rural communicative 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.
Blu. here I ran upon the first snag.
The owner Of the Krag was soon
found in the person of George Ger
rish, a 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 l 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 1t had
planned that, living alone as he did,
he thought it 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-
roonling" 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
its accustomed place on 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 a man with motive
for the killing. To this end I went
through the male residents of the
neighborhood with a fine toothcomb
with the idea, first, Of eliminating
the sheep from the goats.
All told, there were not more than
half a 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, WI had been
overheard to boast that Tom Valley
wouldn't long have the girl, even after
she had promised to marry .im.
Those who heard him make this