Lawrence democrat. (Lawrenceburg, Tenn.) 1884-1925, 1913-01-29
cHAprER lIl.-tcontlnued.l

expected to see in his face something
Of the same astonishment had felt. |
was disappointed With a casual
glance at the envelope he turned TO
Dowd as II waiting for him to go on.
ITS evidence IN the Elser case" the
detective went on, turned IN by the
man on post who reported the suicide.
lie was that old party that was found
dead In his room up on West Twenty
third street To my mind, it's just a
plain case Of Guiclde-an old man tired
Of living. The poison bottle was there
On the floor beside him. don't see
nothing suspicious about It, but the
chief has taken a notion that there's
something behind Il and wants to
know where this letter came from. We
searched the room, but this torn en-.
velope was all We could find The
postmark's torn through, but he
thought maybe you could trace 1t any
how"
"I1l see what l can do and I'll let
you know IN the morning." said the
inspector calmly, Diminishing the de-
tectiVe with a nod. From his matter
of-faoe tone and apparent lack Of in
terest would not have been surprised
II he had refused this undertaking,
too, as he had mine, though 1t seemed
to me that the two bits of yellow pa
per 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 glitter Of
excitement in his alert eyes he turned
to me and explosively said:
Quick, let me see that yellow
scrap"
had placed it carefully in my wal
let after he had refused my request.
As drew It out now he almost
snatched 1t from my hand. Putting it
on his desk beside the torn envelope,
he picked up a reading-glass and
studied both pieces carefully. His in.
spection lasted for several minutes,
and meanwhile, ], too, studied the torn
envelope.
Both in color and texture the paper
so closely resembled the scrap that
was positive that they were Of the
same lot. The envelope bore the ad
dress Of Andrew Elser, in West Twen
ty-third street. Part Of the postmark
most of 1t. in fact-had been de-
stroyed, as il in the careless opening
Of the letter with the finger. All that
was decipherable was a capital "a
and part Of another letter that might
have been either an IN" or an r." In
the lower part of the circle was frag
ment Of letter that looked as il II
might have been an IN" | noticed
too, that the stamp had been stuck OF
rather carelessly, in lopsided man
qer.
My friend, his inspection completed
turned to me alphabetically.
Il beg your pardon, Harding Kent,
he said, you were entirely right
These two bits Of paper are key-notei
IN an important mystery, one that 1t II
we'll worth my while to try to solve"
What made you change your mine
so suddenly" l asked, for though
quite agreed with him, his name
had puzzled me not a little.
He leaned back in his chair ant
turned 1t so that he faced me. He ha,
sharp, explosive way of speaking
biting off his words almost before h.
lad completely enunciated them.
Cant you see? One footprint lead
nowhere. Two footprints start a path
When you brought that yellow scra
to me you were merely guessing tina
It might have something to do wit
the strange happenings in the Farrs
home. There was no way in who
you could have positive knowledge
nor could l. You were only guessing.
Indeed, l wasn't" l exclaimed il
dignantly. What drew my attentio
70 1t was General Farrishs exclam;
, don Of terror at the sight Of it just b
tore he fell, paralyged."
I Davis shook his head determined!
That meant much-or nothing.
may have been mere senile hysteri
superinduced by the great shock. A
some time in his life he may have ha
some unpleasant experience whic
was associated In his subcCnsciou
, memory with a yellow documsn
, Wrought up az he was by the news {
his daughters attempt to kill hersel
the brain cells called into action wei
those that had recorded other distur
8 ing experiences, perhaps month ag
perhaps forty years ago. No impre
sions In the brain records are eve
lost. The sight Of the yellow pap'
probably recalled some other yeIlo
paper. There was then no eVidenC
whatever that It was this particHl'
piece Of paper that so agitated him
But you think 90 now" suggeste
THE situation has entirely change
There was nothing to show that tn
piece Of paper had ever come throug
the mail. There was nothing to co
meet II with suicide. Dowd comes
here with a similar piece Of paper TIL
plainly hss been mailed. We no
have not one footprint, but two-tl
beginning of path. Once started
J the path. we can solve the mystery.
q Then you think there is some CO
; nection between the two hits Of p
peri"
[ Il knov there is" said Dayl
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