Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1912-07-19


minutes, and began to moan feebly.
After little while she became calm
and finally fell into deep slumber.
Then left her and fastened back to
the laboratory, intent on tryins an ex-
pertinent which had occurred to me on
my last visit there.
Meanwhile Frost and his men had
not been idle. Convinced that Digby
or Digby's dead body was concealed
somewhere around the premises, they
began systematic search of the en-
tire house from roof to basement.
Pick and crowbar were ruthlessly APP
piled, hoorings were torn up and raft
ers cut through. Walls were pierced
and bored through, closets and cup
boards ransacked. The very backs of
the old-fashioned fireplaces were torn
out, and the chimneys explored. At
last Frost called me upstairs. He was
leaning against the wall, looking be-
wildered.
This is beyond me altogether, doc
tor" he said. There is absolutely no
trace of Digby, alive or dead"
AOOh AClO, EAOSl, ! Sdlu, JulS
thing has to be worked out logically
If Digby left this house he went up.
down, or horizontally. Up is, out of
the question. If he disappeared in a
balloon or was shot off the roof he
must have been seen by us, for the
house was surrounded. He certainly
did not pass through the Gordon of
men. He did not go down, for every
cubic foot of basement and cellar has
been accounted for, as well as every
cubic foot of space in the house. So
We come to the chemical change of
matter. Dissipation into gas by heat
There are no furnaces, no ashes, no
gas cylinders, nor dynamos, nor car
bon points. The time when we lost
sight of him to the time of entrance
was exactly two hours and three-quar-,
ters. If you come with me, think
can throw some light on the problem"
went down to the laboratory again,
followed by Frost. When we reached
the basement pointed to the machine
with steel blocks and the great metal
| tank.
There is the explanation OF Digby's
| disappearance" l said He is dead,
Frost, and we will never see his body.
| No inquest can be held, for there is
nothing to hold it on. The winds have
taken him and scattered him in dust
on the surrounding grounds. arrived
at my present conclusion by a process
of elimination. Into that tank which
contained liquid air, Digby,4 gagged
and bound, must have been placed vio-
lently, probably after he had given
away the chart. Death would have
been instantaneous, and he would have
been frozen into complete golidity in
something like 40 minutes. The ordi-
nary laboratory experiment is to
| freeze a rabbit, which can be then
powdered into mortar like any other
friable stone. The operation here has
been the same. 1t is only question
of size. Remember we are dealing
with 312 degrees below Fahrenheit
That big machine over there is stone
breaker, and on the blocks of steel be-
longing to it found this"
| / held up test tube containing a
blue liquid.
This is the Guiacum test, Frost. In
other words, blood. This fact taken
with the facts We already know, that
Digby never left the house; that the
only other agent of destruction of
body, fire, is out of the question; that
this tank is the receptacle of that
enormous machine for making liquid
air in very large quantities; and above
all, the practical possibility Of the op-
Grafton being conducted by the men
! who are at present in the house, afford
me conclusive proof beyond a pos
sibility of doubt as to what has hap
pened. The body Of that unfortunate
man is as If it never had been"
'You have proved your case, doc
tor" said Frost, fetching a deep
breath when l had finished. 1T is by
long odds the most extraordinary
crime ever heard Of Well, there's
nothing to do but take these parties
along, and see If we can't get some
thing in the way of confession out OF
them"
! Before I left that awful house |
made arrangements to have Muriel
Seattle conveyed to a private hospital.
This was done, and for many weeks
she lowered between life and death.
Meanwhile Mrs. Seattle, her brother
and their servants were detained by
the police. In the long run, the negro
servant weakened and confessed his
completely in the crime, to the extent
of fetching the senseless body of Digby
to the laboratory, after the latter had
been drugged. Through the evidence
given by this witness for the state the
brother and sister were convicted for
Digbys murder, but owing to the alb
sence of the murdered mans body a
technical plea by their lawyers result
ed in sentence of Imprisonment for
life, instead of capital punishment
Senior Merello. however, managed to
commit suicide in his cell at the
Tombs prison the day before he was to
have been removed to Sing Sing pen
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