The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1912-12-12

button.
1.-The tenant. whom all knew for an
honest, Woodworking woman, had moi
infrequentiy fastened her door in this
manner, in order to safeguard hel
child who was abnormally active ant
had a way Of rafting the door Oper
when it was not thus secured. But
she had never refused to open before
and the child's cries were .pitiful. :
"'This was no longer a matter o.
wonder, when, the door having beeE
wrenched from its hinges, they al
rushed in. Across a tub of steamins
clothes lifted upon a bench in the
open window, they saw the body O.
this good woman, lying inert ani
seemingly dead; the frightened chile
Juggling at her skirts. She was of 8
robust make, fieshy and fair, and hat
always been considered a model OF
health and energy, but at the sigh
OF her helpless figure, thus stricken
while at work, the one cry was 4
stroke!' till she had been lifted OF
and laid upon the floor. Then some
discoloration in the water at the bot
tom Of the tub led to a closer examin
alton of her body, and the discover,
of bullet-hole In her breast directl,
over the heart.
AS she had been standing will
face towards the window, all crowded
that way to see where the shot ha(
come from. As they were on tn,
fourth story it could not have com.
from the court upon which the room
looked. 1t could only have come from
the front tenement, towering up be
fore them some twenty feet away. A
single window of the innumerable one,
confronting them stood open, and thi,
was the one directly opposite.
Nobody was to be seen there Of
in the room beyond, but during the ex
element, one man ran of to call tht
police and another to hunt up the JAM
tor and ask who occupied this room.
His reply threw them all into con
fusion. The tenant of that room wa,
the best, the quietest and most re
spectacle man in either building.
"Then he ro-rt be simply careless,
and the shot an accidental one. A
rush was made for the stairs ant
soon the whole building was in an up
roar. But when this especial room wa,
reached, it was found locked and OF
the door paper pinned up, on which
these words were written: Gone ts
New York. Will be back at $50!
Words that recalled a circumstance tt
the 5anitor. He had seen the gentle
man go out an hour before. This ter
minated all inquiry in this direction
though some few of the excited throns
were for battering down this door Just
as they had the other one. But they
were overruled by the janitor. who
saw no use in such wholesale destruc
ton, and presently the arrival of the
police restored order and limited the
inquiry to the rear building, where ii
undoubtedly belonged
MT. Gryce," there Sweetwater laid
by his notes that he might address the
Old gentleman more Directly, Il was
with the boys when they made theii
first official investigation. This ID
why you can rely upon the facts az
here given. I followed the inyestiga,
ton closely and missed nothing which
could in any way throw light on the
case. 1t was a mysterious one from
the first. and lost nothing by further
inquiry into the details.
THE first fact to startle us as we
made our way up through the crowd
which blocked halls and staircases
was this: A doctor had been found
and, though he had been forbidden to
make more than q curs0ry examina.
ton of the body till the coroner came.
he had not hesitated to declare after
his first leok,, that the wound had not
been made by . bullet but by some
sharp and slender weapon thrust
home by powerful hand. (You marh
that. Mr.. Gryce.) As this seemed i'm
possible In face of the fact that the
door had been found buttoned ON the
inside, We did not give much credit to
his opinion and began our work under
HE obvious theory Of an accidental
discharge of some gun from one Of the
windows across the court. But the
doctor was nearer right than we sup
posed. When the coroner came to
look into the matter. he discovered
that the wound was not only too small
to have been made by the ordinary
bullet, but that there was no bullet to
be- found In the woman's body or any
where else. Her heart had. been
reached by thrust and not by q shot
from . gun. Mr.. Gryce, have you
not heard . startling repetition of
this report in . case nearer q hand?'
up three flights from the court.
with no Communication With the adj
Joining rooms save through . door
guardedsqn both sides by heavy pieces
Of furHiturc no one person could ham
lie. the hail door buttoned on the In
side, and the are escape some fifteen
feet 70 the left, this room Of death ap-
peNred to be 40 removed from the APP
preach Of = murderous outsider - the
spot In the writing-room Of the Clers
mont where Miss Challoner fell.
: ~Otherwise, the place presented tho
Essetsst contrast pessisle to that
az -