Evening capital news. (Boise, Idaho) 1901-1927, 1912-12-04
IhcEvening Story
THE WOMAN Il
/ WITH /
\ THE BIRDHAT \
D DONALD CHAMBERLAIN

- i
,, DONALD CHAMBERLAIN
One day when was conductor on the
Il. L. and T. railroad l took ticket
from . woman. and tho only thing,
about her I remembered was that shs,
woss hat with q bird ON II.
Not long after I took up her ticlkat|
the train shot into q tunnel. Nowadays
In Ill passenger trains ON well regulate
ed roads one or more lamps are light
Cd. but in those times they didn't light
up-at any rate, not unless the tunnel
was very long one. I was In the car
whore the woman with the bird hat
was sitting. and when We entered the
tunnel sat down in the rear seat next
the door. During the passage in the
darkness-when We were about half
way through, I reckon-I heard a moan.
OF course ono can't tell where sound
comes from without the aid Of his
eyes. but It seemed to me in this In
stance to come from about the center
Of the car. I remembered that there
were two men sitting ON the lefe In
different seats and man and q wo-
man. also In different seats, ON the
right. The woman was the ono With
the bird in her hat and was sitting q
few seats forward Of the center Of the
car. We were approaching the end Of
the route. which accounted for there
being 10 few persons in the car.
Naturally, a. soon as We shot out Of
tho tunnel. looked over the passen-
gers to see II anything had happened
to any Of 'em. noticed that the wo-
man In the bird hat had sunk down
against the window. I ran to her. and
the nrst thing I noticed when reach
ed her was blood on her dress. Her
face, too, was white a. q sheet. She
looked to me 40 II she were dead. and
It turned out that she was. There was
doctor In the next car IN the rear.
who. being summoned, examined her
and found a wound in her breast made
evidently by knife.
As soon az rega1ned my wits ]
looked over the persons who had gath.
cred around the woman. didn't see
guilty face among them. recalled
how many passengers were in the car
when we entered the tunnel ami MISS
ed one man. but which one Of the men
I couldn't tell. Then It occurred to
me to 60 through the train and lnvestd-
gate. I also questioned the brakemen.
All the information I gathered was
from the brakeman ON the car where
the murder had been Committed, who
said that when we entered the tunnel
he came into the car and sat OWN IN
the forward end seat, a. I satIon the
rear end While we were in the tun-
mel the forward door had opened and
closed, It seemed, very carefully 40 as
to make no noise. He felt Il press
against his foot.
Months passed. and there was no ex-
PLANTATION Of the mystery. I confess
never entered the tunnel after that,
and passed through 1t every day.
without q bit Of shudder. though
after the murder we always had the
cars lighted before going into Il But
after a year had elapsed grew used
to It and thought no more about II.
One day when we were approaching
the "hole." as we railroad men called
the tunnel. was passing down the
aisle Of the second car. which was the
one in which the murder had been
done, when I noticed man sitting in
one Of the seats with a, wild eye In his
head muttering to himself. He seem
ed to be one Of those persons with abb
normal cerebral activity. 30 l passed
on without paying attention to him. II
came back into the car Immediately
after We had passed through the tun-
mel and saw the same man at a wash
basin next to the saloon washing his
hands.
Having no duty to perform till We
reached the next station, I took q seat
In the car and within ten minutes after
tho man had washed his hands he got
up from bis seat, went to the basin
and washed them again. Though a BIT
surprised, thought nothing OF the
matter. but when, after the next stop.
I went through the car to take the
tickets I saw tho same man washing
his hands again began to notice the
fact Within an hour he washed them
I've times.
I had long before read in a paper an
account Of . French murderer who
gave himself away by continually Try.
ing 70 wash blood from his hands and
probably this suggested the thought
that perhaps this man was trying tol
do tho same thing. The next connect
ing link was remembering that mur.
derers are drawn irresistibly to the
scene Of their crime. and might not this
man have killed the woman In the bird
decorated hat7
Taking Q seat directly behind him
and pointing to where the unfortunate |
woman had sat, said to him:
"That woman over there seems to
b ILL.,"