Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1912-03-22
The Box of Borneos
NJ ADVENTURE OF PETER CREWE-"THE MAN
WITH THE CAMERA EYES"
~ ROLD G A r T E r

VIII, WHO was peludpo scfehIJ yeoiS
of age, had a passion for amateur
photography. Claude hundred his
father and never tired of helping him
in his hobby. Father and son began
to appreciate each other better than
they had ever done before.
'This increasing intimacy was not
looked upon favorably by Selim, the
IIindoo servant, especially since Will
liam Bamwell contemplated altering
his will in favor of his son, Claude,
and greatly reducing the legacy which
Selim had come to look upon as his
own reversionary right. However,
Selim was inscrutable and kept his
own counsel.
THE Bamwell brothers were very
set in their ways. One of the charac-
teristics common to both of them was
their fondness for a certain East In
dian cigar that came from Borneo.
These they imported direct from the
manufa cturer. Claude, however, dis
covered a similar brand on sale in
London, and gave box to his father
for a Christmas present-at Selim's
suggestion, as he declares In fact,
according to Claude, Selim discovered
the existence of this brand and in
duced him to purchase the box. Selim,
however, denies that he ever heard
of these cigars and ascribes the en-
tire scheme of purchasing and present.
ing them to Glide.
NOW we CO. TO the crux of the
situation. Three months ago Sir
George Bamwcll was discovered dead
in the library cary one morning. He
mad been sitting VI alone the night
before, and had taken one of his
brothers cigars-the first OF the box.
He was found deu>,,, the half-smoked
cigar upon the ia. e before him. A
post-mortem investigation disclosed
the presence in the body of a minute
portion of powerful poison allied to
prussic acid. The cigar was analysed,
but nothing was found wrong with it.
I'm spite OF a rigorous cross-eXam-
ination of all persons concerned, no
motive or clue could be discovered
Sir George was buried in the family
vault. and William Bamwen became
Sir William.
"Not three weeks afterward the
tragedy repeated itself. Sir William
Ban. veil was found 1ead in precisely
the same manner. Again the pres
ence OF the prussic acid variant was
. disclosed at the post-mortem again
the cigar was analysed and found to
be entirely harmless. Yet Sir Will
liam, like his brotLcr, had undoubted-
ly died after smokin. i.2lf of the Bor-
! neo cigar.
"But in this case several new facts
WEI l. 2:ght ont Il the inquest.
In the first place, Claude had been
with his father until few moments
! before his death. The two men had
/ been smoking together. Sir William
was a very rapid smoker; Claude pre-
, ferred cigarettes and barely burned
away an inch of his cigars, which he
smoked merely to humor his father
Again, it was proved that Claude had
recently purchased prussic acid at a
drug-show in the village. When in.
terrogated, he acknowledged this fact,
| but asserted that his father used this
deadly compound for intensifylng the
images upon negatives that had been
under-exposed. 1t is perfectly true
| that a certain compound of prussic
acid is used for this purpose, and Sir
William had always compounded his
own Photographic chemicals.
ITO cut the story short, Claude, or
Sir Claude, as l must now call him,
was arrested upon charge of murder
and is now awaiting trial at the as
sizes"
"And the motive?" Crewe queried.
Fear that his father, who was be-
coming little senile, and was largely
under the influence of Selim, would
again disinherit him."
But did Claude know the contents
of the will?"
mo. 1t had actually been changed
in the sons favor, but so far as is
known Sir William had kept his own
counsel"
Then that works either way" said
Crewe "Selim might have commit
ted the murder, fearing lest the will
would be changed in the sons favor,
| and not knowing that this had actually
been done. And that very open pur-
chase of prussic acid is not compati-
BILE with guilt. And the cigars-how
do they come into the story? You
say that analysis showed them to be
| harmless?"
ENTIRELY so; and to my mind. who
ever was the murderer, it was not
Claude. But the young man had bad
name, and Selim appears to have
made certain statements which great
ly increased the feeling against him.
However, all that is now sub JUDGE. |
ut was the cousin, Lydia, who, at
the insGgation of Claude, telegraphed
to me to gather all material I could
} tending to show that the young mans
life in America had not been so bad as
| is currently rumored in England, and
to- hurry across the water with this
material to aid the defense. I may
say that Claude Bamwell has never
been convicted of felony, and only
once of a misdemeanor. l am the at
torney who defended him on the
charge of intoxication."
In this manner Crewe and l came to
ho Id in thic. fret Of