The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1914-12-04
AnAcqmttal
andaConviichon
By WILLIAM A Err

found dead one morning in bis bed l
o. his nearest male relative was at
once summoned. went to bis room.
which had been left untouched In ev.
cry particular. and BY the bed on
which the body lay l found q bottle
about two inches high and one inch
square. around the four sides Of which
was pasted a label with the usual
"Poison" warning printed on it.
There was nothing In my uncle's af.
fairs to indicate that he had had any
intention Of committing suicide. He
had not been very well for a few days.
but there was nothing serious the mat
ter with him. He might have been
murdered and the bottle placed at his
side to give the impression that he had
taken poison There were no marks
on the body to indicate that he had
been murdered.
The establishment of the facts In
the case did not appeal to me. My
uncle was dead. and whether he had
been murdered or murdered himself
made little difference to noe. To pu,
detectives on the case would cost mon
ey. but who would be the gainer2 The
authorities came to the house. made =
perfunctory examination Of the body
and its surroundings and reported that
the deceased had come to his death BY
NEAR of poison administered by him
SELF.
i went through the house myself
looking for a clew. | had found q
tumbler on the table with the poison
and In the kitchen pantry found a
dozen others Of the same shape and
make.
That fact indicated that the tumbler
had come from the pantry. Dishes
containing different kinds Of food
mostly, left over-were In the closet.
one of them being a saucer of preserv
ed peaches 1t had apparently been
knocked over. and a little of the juice
had been spilled on the door. 1t oc
CURED to me that whoever had taken
down the tumbler from the shelf had
done SO in the dark and had put his
hand against the dish of peach pre-.
serves
II he had done this some Of the
Juice. II 1t had got on bis fingers.
might have adhered to them. l found
faint. cloudy smears on the tumbler
and, putting the tip Of my tongue on
them. thought l could detect saccharine
matter. Examining the label on the
poison bottle carefully. l found stains
that | inferred might be the same a.
the cloud on the glass.
l locked up the tumbler and the bot.
tie Of poison. but had no desire to 60
any further with my examinations. !
saw nothing to be gained BY unearth
ing the mystery.
Fate decided. however. that 1t should
be unraveled. or. rather. it should
come out that there vas no mystery
at all. | was engaged to a girl who
had discarded a former lover. Herman
Goodsell hated me and brought about
q suspicion that | had murdered my
uncle. But this did not occur until
my uncle had been buried. The will
when opened disclosed the fact that
my uncle had left a lot of money and
every cent Of it to me. Then u n
my began to get in his fne work
whispering here and there. till the pO.
lice felt obliged to take cognizance OF
the reports and arrested me for muir
der.
The first thing | did was to engage
an attorney and through him obtain
the exhumation Of the body for the
purpose Of having the finger prints
taken. This was done. Then ! had
the tumbler that had stood by my un
cle's bed examined with a microscope
A faint yellow substance was found on
it, which contained a finger print. By
treating the label Of the poison bottle
chemically a very clear finger prin!
was obtained.
l had no idea how the accusation
against me had started until my iancee
told me that she had probed the matter
and traced u beginning to her former
lover. This put me on my mettle to
thwart him. and l named him as one
of my witnesses to be s~ubpoenaed for
my trial. | gave my lawyer a list of
questions to ask him. most of which
had been furnished me by my sweet
heart When the case was called he
was one Of the first witnesses to take
the stand. and my attorney soon show
ed ~malevolence on his part in this:
That he had gone about spreading the
reports that l had murdered my uncle.
This had nothing to do with the case.
but was intended for revenge.
When my real defense came up my
attorney made short work Of the mat.
ter. He had the tumbler and the label
of the poison bottle In court. copies OF
the finger prints ON them and a finger
print Of my uncle's thumb and two
forefinger tips They tailed exactly.
Goodsell was In court when ] receiv-
ed my ~vindication. Under my instruc,
ton he received q tongue flashing that
he was not likely to forget. My advo
cate showed how little evidence there
had been against me, how it had been
worked up by Goodsell and his reasons