Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1912-03-02
assure him that he could speak freely

before me.
TITS this" he explained, "the old
man wants to know about"
s AS he spoke he drew something
from his inner pocket and laid 1t on
the Inspectors desk. AS my eyes fol-
lowed his hand I gave sudden start.
With difficulty restrained an express
sion of amazement. The object about
which he had come to inquire was a
torn yellow. envelope
I glanced quickly at Davis. I fully
expected to see in his face something
of the same establishment I had felt. I
was disappointed With casual
glance at the envelope he turned to
Dowd as if waiting for him to go on.
It's evidence in the Elser case" the
detective went on, turned in by the
man on post wh6 reported the suicide.
tTe was that old party that was found
dead in his room up on West Twenty
thirG street. To my mind, it's JUS a
plain case of suicide--an old man
tired Of living. The Poison bottle was
there on the floor beside him. I don't
see nothing suspicious about it, but
the chief has taken notion that
there's something banind 1t and wants
to know where this letter came from.
We searched the room. but this torn
envelope was all we could find. The
ros1marks torn through, but he
thought maybe you could trace it any
how
TT see what I car do, and I'll let you
know In the morning" said the in
srectCr calmly. Distressing the detec-
tive with a nod From his matter-of-
fact lone and apparent lack Of inter-
est would not have been surprised If
he had refused this undertaking, too,
as he had mine, though it seemed to
me that the two bits of yellow paper
connected the two suicides at the
same hour as something decisively
more than a mere coincidence.
As soon. however, as the detective
had left the room the inspectors
whole manner changed. With the gilt
ter of excitement in his alert eyes he
turned 10 me and explosively said:
Quick, let me see that yellow
SCRAP"
I had replaced it carefully in my
wallet after he had refused my re.
quest. AS I drew it out now he almost
snatched it from my hand. Putting 1t
on his desk beside the torn envelope.
HI. picked up q :eading-glass and
studied both pieces carefully. His in
snectlon lasted for several minutes,
and meanwhile I, too. studied the torn
envelope.
Both in color and texture the paper
so closely resembled the scrap that
I was positive that they were of the
same lot. The envelope bore the ad.
dress of Andrew Elser, in West
Twenty-third street. Part Of the post
marl--most of it. in fact-had beeh
destroyed, as if in the careless open
ing CT the letter with the finger Al
that Wis decipherable was a capital
"a" and part Of another letter that
might have been either an IN" Or an
or" In the lower part Of the circle
was a fragment of letter that looked
as ii it might have been an IN, /
rotced, too, that the stamp had been
stuck on rather carelessly, in loo-
sided manner. #5% !.
My friend, his inspection completed,
turned to mesapologetically. 4 =.
81 beg your pardon, Harding Ken,
ne said, you were entirely right
These two bits Of paper are key-notes
in an important mystery. one that 1t
is we'll worth my while to try to
solve"
"What made you change your mind
so SUDDENLY" I asked, for though
quite agreed with him. his manner had
puzzled me not little.
He leaned far back in his chair and
turned it so that he faced me. He had
sharp, explosive way Of speaking,
biting off his words almost before he
had completely enunciated them.
Cant you see? One footprint leads
nowhere. Two footprints start path
When you brought that yellow scrap
to me you were merely guessing that
it might have something to do with
the strange happenings in the Parrish
home. There was no way in which you
could have positive knowledge, nor
could l. You were only guessing"
Indeed, I wasn't" exclaimed in
dignantly. what drew my attention
to it was General Farrish's exclama-
ton of terror at the sight of it just
before NE fell, paralyzed."
Davis shook his head determinedly.
"That meant much--or nothing. It
may have been mere senile hysteria
superinduced by the great shock. At
some, time in his life he may have had
some unpleasant experience which
was associated in his subconscious
memory with yellow document.
Wrought up as he was by the news Of
his daughters attempt to kill herself,
the brain cells called into action were
those that had recorded other disturb
ing experiences, perhaps a month ago,
perhaps forty years ago. No impress
sions in the brain records are ever
lost. The sight of the yellow paper
prabably recalled some other yellow
paper. There was then no evidence
whatever that it was this particular
piece of paper that SO agitated him"
"But you think so now" I sug-
gested.
"The situation has entirely changed.
There was nothing to show that this
piece of paper had ever come through
the mail There was nothing to con-
meet it with suicide. Dowd comes in
here with similar piece of paper that
plainly has been mailed. We now have
not one footprint, but two-the be-