Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1914-03-20

|. closed this window behind him In or
+, der to cover up his tracks. That win
dow OF the captains room which LEI
: to the 1re escape. was open for venti
lation. The rain was drifting through
1t. 1t occurred to Juan that every
thing would be safer II he closed it
he was afraid that a gust OF vino
might blow spray into Captain Han
ska's face. and wake him. He die
that; and he fastened the sash with
the catch. Captain Hanska was asleep
breathing very ! avily. Remember
that.
You have een the room. The bu
reau, where l found the stronghold
was in the corner farthest from the
window which Juan had just entered
Between 1t and the window were a
table and Captain Hanska's bed. Juan
carried our pocket electric torch. He
turned 1t on the aside of the top BIT.
reau drawer. The box was there. Also,
the key was in its lock. Juan thought
1t would be better to take the Jewels
out and leave the box. BY doing that
he could find whether the bill Of sale
was with the jewels, or whether he
would have to search further for 1t.
That was his great mistake. 1t was a
trick box. Inside was an alarm-bell
which rang whenever the cover was
lifted.
Juan opened it; the bell rang. Cap
tain Hanska awoke at once. Juan had
no time to move, before Captain Han
ska pressed the button at the head Of
his bed and turned on the electric
light. 1t must have bewildered him
for a moment when he saw what ap-
peared to be a woman standing by his
bureau-but Juan held the strong-box
in his hands. When he saw that, the
captain came at him. Juan Is a small
man. Captain Hanska was big and
very powerful. Just then, Juan saw
on the table between them that great
knife.
Juan Is a swordsman. He picked
up the knife to stop the captain by
threatening him with it--held the point
toward his chest. Captain Hanska
was a brave man, and very violent In
anger. He had one Of his terrible
spells Of temper now. He began to
curse Juan. And then his hands went
up to his head all Of a sudden, and he
tumbled over with all his great weight
on the point of the knife. Juan did not
thrust-he is sure now he did not
thrust-he only held the knife steady
but it pierced Captain Hanska
through (In this place, Detective
Kennedy had to edit the statement a
great deal in order to make 1t seem
ly for the official archives.)
We will leave for a moment the DO
lice statement.
Fell on IT." asked Martin MCGEE. |
What's that you're trying to give us?"
"On my soul and my mothers" SOL
EMMY declared Miss Estrilla. Don't
you see-can't you understand? A
doctor In Port Of Spain had warned
him Of it-Juan has done nothing
since-nothing-but read medical
books-he was dead before he touched
the point Of the knife-if Juan stabbed
him, he stabbed a corpse-Captain
Hanska died Of apoplexy caused by his
anger!"
During these last dramatic stages of
Miss Estrilla's narrative, Rosalie LIE
Grange had slipped into the room. For
a moment, Miss Estrilla gazed full up-
on her betrayer. For a moment. all
that the tropics had given her of storm
and flame glared from her y Then
that light died away. Thereafter. It
was as though Rosalie had not been.
II Miss Estrilla's glance, wandering
from one point to another in her effort
to concentrate on her narrative.
touched upon Rosalie's figure, they
looked straight through 1t.
.Rosalie moved by imperceptible
stages to Detective Kennedy's table.
Casually, she picked up a fountain pen
a sheet of paper, and wrote:
New York, Nov. Is, 19O-.
i am telling to the police all
tnow OF my part in the death of Capt.
|ohn h. Hanska. l have confessed that
followed him to America to get
ewels, and that It was my brother
'uan who appeared to have stabbed
The inspector was questioning
emily now upon the apoplexy theory,
Ioping to trap the witness into an in.
consistency. While she talked, Miss I
istrilla Tor Senorita Perez paused
time to time as though gathering
trength. Resale waited for such a
ause. Then she braced the paper on
book and slipped up to Inspector 9
g
You've forgotten this" she said 4
you were goin' to git it signed at the d
cry first, you know" n
Inspector McGee's expression proved v
he was puzzled. But he had be-. L
accustomed to following Rosa. il
mental flights without KNOWLEDGE n
their destination. He nodded. there.
ire, and gave book, paper and pen to h
-iss Estrilla. 1t was the best possible j
'mpitment to the inspectors third de. II
rec methods, that she signed without fl
protest Resale took the paper ST. s,