Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1912-01-06

land IN New York seven years ago,
and be was arrested upon q charge Of |
intoncation at . subsequent date.
Last year Claude Bamwell, the son,
returned home unexpectedly. He had
tired Of his rowing life. He asked his
| father to give him another chance to
redeem himself and to let him remain
with him. The cousin, Lydia, the
daughter of Sir George Bamwell, who
had conceived q romantic attachment
for her graceless relative, was instru-
mental in effecting . reconciliation be-
tween the father and son. Claude
was given his chance and seemed TO
make good use Of his opportunity.
Within six months father and son
were on friendly terms. William Bam-
well, who was perhaps seventy years
Of age, had a passion for amateur
photography. Claude humored 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
Hindoo servant, especially since Will
liam Bamwell contemplated altering
his viii IN favor OF his son, Claude,
and greatly reducing the legacy which
Selim had come to look upon as his
own reverstonary right. However,
Selim was inscrutable and kept his
own counsel.
THE Bamwell brothers were very
set in their ways. One Of the charac-
| 20 hnth Of
their fondness for a certain East In
dian cigar that came from BorDeo.
These they imported direct from the
manufacturer. Claude, however, dis
covered a similar brand on sale in
London. and gave a 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 Claude.
Now we come to the crux OF the
situation. Three months ago Sir
George Bamwell was discovered dead
, in the library early one morning. He
. had been sitting up alone the night
! before, and had taken one Of his
brothers cigars-the first of the box
He was found dead, the half-smoked
cigar upon the table before him. A
post-mortem investigation disclosed
the presence IN the body Of a minute
portion OF a powerful poison allied to
prussIc acid. The cigar was analysed
but nothing was found wrong with It.
: an spite of a rigorous cross-exam
E ination of all persons concerned, nc
I motive or clue could be discovered
= Sir George was buried in the family
vault, and William Bamwen became
SIR William.
e mot three weeks afterward the
: tragedy repeated itself. Sir William
J. Bamwell was found dead in precisely
G the same manner. Again the pres
Q ence Of the prussic acid variant wat
= disclosed at the post-mortem; agar
4 the cigar was analysed and found t
S be entirely harmless. Yet Sir VII
Q liam, like his brother, had undoubted
II ly died after smoking half of the Dor
9 neo cigar.
% But in this case several new fact
: were brought out at the inquest
In the first place, Claude had beef
: with his father until few moment
1 before his death. The two men hat
i been smoking together. Sir william
/ was a very rapid smoker; Claude pre-
l. ferred cigarettes and barely burne,
away an inch of his cigars, which h
4 smoked merely TO humor his father
L. Again, Il was proved that Claude ha
= recently purchased prussic acid at
. drug-show IN the village. When II
. terrogated, he acknowledged this fac
s. but asserted that his father used thi
Is deadly compound for intensifying tn
E images upon negatives that had bee
under-exposed. II is perfectly tru
that a certain compound Of prussi
n acid is used for this purpose, and 81
William had always compounded hi
own Photographic chemicals.
" ITO cut the story short, Claude, O
% Sir Claude, as I must now call hin
was arrested upon a charge Of murde
n and is now awaiting trial at the a
ID Sizes
IL ana the mOuNeE NEeWG QueTISQ.
re Fear that his fsther, who was b,
coming a little senile, and was largel
~ under the influence Of Selim, woul
n again disinheTit him"
W. But did Claude know the content
st, of the will?"
h No. 1t had actually been change
ne in the sons favor, but so far as
Ie- known Sir William had kept his ow
10. counsel"
ut Then that works either way" sal
ic- Crewe. "SeIim might have commi
Or, ted the murder. fearing lest the wi
by would be changed in the sons favo
ig- and not knowing that this had actual
cd been done. And that very open pu
go chase Of prussic acid is not compal
I'M BILE with guilt And the cigars-ho
ne do they come into the story? Yc
be say that analysis showed them to /
)" harmless?"
al Entirely so; and 10 my mind, VII
- ever was the murderer, It was u.
Claude. But the young man had bs
I'd name, aud Selim appears to hay
I'D mads certain statements which gTea
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