Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1912-03-07

feeling every one experiences on sud
|denly awakening for the first time In
a strange place.
spranE from the bed and opening
my door, looked out into the hall.
could see nothing, for turn Of the
corridor shut me off from the main
hall. From the floor below came the
confused murmur of many voices and
the sound of men moving about-many
men. My first thought was OF fire,
but there were no cries and there was
no smell of smoke. The memory OF my
experience in the post-af1ce recur-
red to me- I vaguely wondered II
had been tracked and discovered.
I fastened to dress. II they sus-
pected me of robbing the post-oface,
the sooned I found out the sooner
could plan some method of action. AS
I put on my collar I heard footsteps
in the corridor, and, coatless as was,
l flung open my door. A chambermaid
was passing. ~.
whats the matter?" I asked.
Haven't you heard about ft?" she
asked, in wonder. @
Heard about what?" Ill.,.
"The suicide in the hotel-in the
room right under yours. They dis
covered it hours ago. The coroner's
just come and is getting ready to hold
the inquest"
"Who was he?" asked. was
thinking it might be Hugh Crandall,
dead in some suicide pact with Rather
ine A sense of disappointment began
to take hold of me. I felt that If 1t
were Crandall my efforts to clear the
mystery would be still more futile, but
the woman's answer quickly dispelled
the thought. FE. -.
at wasn't he. It's woman"
She hurried on down the corridor
and I hasteped to finish my dressing,
recalling as did so Davis belief that
there would be other suicides. 1t
seemed absurd that there could be any
connection between the suicide Of a
woman in country hotel in an obscure
New Jersey village and the two sui
cides the day before in New York, and
yet there was at least one link between
them It was Crandall who had tele-
phoned Katherine Some one had
telephoned Elser. too. 1t was in Gran
dalrs rooms that We had found the adj
dresses of this place where the third
suicide in the series had taken place.
With the triumphant feeling that my
friend the inspector finally would have
to accept my theory of Crandall's guilt,
I hurried downstairs and forced my
way into the room where the coroner
had already begun his inquest. "
On the bed, covered with sheet,
except for the face, lay the lifeless
body of a woman perhaps fifty, the face
still distorted from the death agony.
A bit of rope attached to rod among
the rafters Of the room showed that
she had hung herself. The woman's
outer clothing lay neatly piled on a
chair near the bed This much had
time to notice before the coroner fin
ished selecting his jury. Near the
coroner, too, observed the man whom
the clerk had called Cook. I thought
[ he gave quick glance In my direction,
| but l could not be sure. The first wit
/, ness was called, Mahlon Williams, the
proprietor of the hotel.
'tMr. williams" said the coroner, "do
you know this woman?"
"I can't say as do" ..s..
"What was her name?"
"She was registered here In the
hotel. The names on the book. You
can see it for yourself. don't know
.
MARY Jane Teller, Bridgeport,
Conn.," was the entry In the hotel
register which was produced and sub
mitted for the jurors inspection.
"Tell us. Mr.. Williams, what you
know about the deceased"
mighty little; nothing at all, in
fact! She come here night before last.
Got in on the seven-two train from
New York, calculate, from the time
of her arrival. She had no baggage,
only that little black bag yonder, and
she asked for room for the night
a cheap room. She seemed so feeble
I gave her this room on the ground
floor No. A, and only charged her
seventy-f1ve cents for it, though it's a
dollar room, or a dollar and half for
bridal couples. She paid for 1t for one
night and right after supper she went
into it and stayed there. Yesterday
morning after breakfast she went out
somewhere and was gone maybe an
hour or an hour and half. didn't
see her when she come in but
heard" .."
"Mahlon Williams" said the coro-
ner severely. ''you ought to know
enough about the law to understand
that what you heard amt evidence
Tell only them things you know of
your own knowledge"
Cali I know" said Williams, per-
ceptibly miffed, sis that she come out
along about three in the afternoon and
paid another seventy-fve cents, saying
she wanted the room another night.
That's all seen of her."
"Can I ask a question:" said one OF
the jurors, all of whom were towns
men of the class usually to be found
around the hotel bar-room.
IF it is proper question:" said the
coroner judiciously.
where did she go when she went
out?"
"The question is proper one, if
the witness can answer it of his own
knowledge" the coroner ruled.
IF knowed I'd told already" said
the hotel keeper. Il
One or two of the other jurors asked
questions, prompted plainly more by
curiousity than by intelligent effort to
ascertain the facts: but It was plain