River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1913-06-19

nOHTn. 4
! which lacks link where it should be
strongest"
THAT chain we must throw away"
"And forge another?"
Sweetwater approached and sat
down.
| Eyes: / believe we can do It; yet
! / have only one indisputable fact for
a starter. Mr.. Gryce, don't trust
Brotherson. Though he should tell a
story ten times more plausible thar
the one with which he has satisfied
the coroner's jury, would still listen
| to him with more misgiving than con-
| fidence. Perhaps it is simply deeply
rooted antipathy on my part, or the
rage one feels at finding he has placed
his finger on the wrong man. Again
| 1t may be-"
What, Sweetwat~r?"
"A well-founded distrust. Mr.. Gryce,
I'm going to ask you question"
~Ask away. Ask fifty If you want
to-"
did you ever hear Of case before,
that in some of it's details was similar
to this?'
mo, it stands alone. That's why it
is so puzzling-"
''You forget. The wealth, beauty
and social consequence of the present
victim has blinded you to the strong
resemblance which her case bears to
one you know, In which the sufferer
had none of the worldly advantages of
Miss Challoner. / allude to"
Waltz The washerwoman in Hicks
street,"
1.-THE same. Mr.. Gryce, there's a
startling similarity in the two cases
If you study the essential features
only. Startling, / assure you
Eyes, you are right there. But what
If there is? We were no more sue
cessful in solving that case than we
have been in solving this. Yet you
look and act like hound which has
struck hot scent"
The young man smoothed his fea-
lures with an embarrassed laugh.
Il shall never learn" said he, mot
to give tongue till the hunt is fairly
started. If you will excuse me, we'll
first make sure of the similarity l
have mentioned. Then I'll explain my
self. l have some notes here, made at
the time it was decided to drop the
Hicks street case as a wholly inexplic-
able one. Shall read them?"
Fire away, my boy, though hardly
see your purpose or what real bearing
the affair in Hicks street has upon
the Clermont one. A poor washer
woman and the wealthy Miss Challon-
err! True. they were not unlike in
their end"
"The connection will come later,
smiled the young detective, with that
strange softening of his features
which made one at times forget his
extreme plainness.
And he read:
"'On the afternoon of December 4,
1910, the strong and persistent scream
ing of a young child in one of the
rooms of a rear tenement in Hicks
street, Brooklyn, drew the attention
Of some of the inmates and led them.
after several Intellectual efforts to
gain an entrance, to the breaking in
of door which had been fastened on
!, the inside by an old-fashioned door
button.
"'The tenant, whom all knew for an
honest, Woodworking woman, had not
infrequently fastened her door in this
!, manner, in order to safeguard hel
child who was abnormally active and
had way of rafting the door open
. 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 Of
, wonder, when, the door having beer
wrenched from its hinges, they al
, rushed in Across a tub Of steamins
clothes lifted upon bench in the
: open window, they saw the body o.
this good woman, lying inert and
seemingly dead; the frightened chile
tugging at her skirts. She was of {
/ robust make, feshy and fair, and haC
always been considered a model o.
. health and energy, but at the sigh
i Of her helpless figure, thus stricken
while at work, the one cry was
stroke!' till she had been lifted of
and laid upon the floor. Then some
discoloration in the water sc the bot
tom Of the tub led to a closer examin
alton of her body, and the discovery
: of a bullet-hole in her breast directly
over the heart.
"'As she had been standing will
: face towNrds the window, all crowded
: that way to see where the shot haG
come from. As they were on the
fourth story it could not have come
: from the court upon which the room
.Ooked. It could only have come from
: the front tenement, towering up be
{ fore them some twenty feet away.
, single window Of the innumerable ona
, confronting them stood open, and this
. was the one directly opposite.
Nobody was to be seen there o,
} in the room beyond, but during the ex
: citement, one man ran off to call tn,
hpolice and another to hunt up the JAM
tor and ask who occupied this room.
5 ellis reply threw them all into con
! fusion. The tenant Of that room wa.
the best, the quietest and most re
r ssectable man in either building.
@@Then he must be simply careless.
i | and tha shot an accidental one
, Cold Very Scarce in France.