The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1914-04-06
Mary Roberts
Rinehart
Copyright, 1913, the Bobbs-Mer-
rill Company.

Il
be safe enough. On that quiet
Sunday night. when Mr.. Reynolds
reported all peaceful in the Lad
ley room, he had cut off the poor
wreteh's head and had tied It UP
in pillow slip weighted with my
onyx clock!
1t is a curious fact about the
case that the scar which his wife
incurred to enable her to marry
him was the means of his undoing.
He insisted, and | believe he was
telling the truth, that he did not
know of the scar: that Is, his wife
had never told him of 1t, and had
been able to conceal 1t. He
thought she had probably used
paraffin In some way.
In his final statement, written
with great care and no little liter
airy finish. he told the story in de-
tail: of arranging the clues as
MIR. Howell and Mr.. Bronson had
suggested; of going out In the
boat, with the body covered with
a fur coat, in the bottom of the
skiff: of throwing it into the cur
rent above the Ninth street bridge
and of seeing the fur coat fall
from the boat and carried beyond
his reach; of disposing of the
head near the Seventh street
bridge: of going to a drug store,
as per the Howell instructions,
and of coming home at four
o'clock, to find me at the head of
the stairs.
Several points of confusion re-
NAMED. One had been caused by
Temple Hopes refusal to admit
that the dress and hat that fig
ured in the case were to be used
by her the next week at the the
ater. Mr.. Ladley insisted that
this was the case, and that on that
Sunday afternoon his wife had re-
quested him to take them to Miss
Hope; that they had quarreled as
to whether they should be pack
ed in a box or in the brown valise,
and that he had visited Alice MUIR
ray instead. 1t was on the way
there that the idea of finally get
ting rid of Jennie Brice came to
him. And a way-using the black
and white striped dress of the
dispute.
Another point of confusion had
been the dismantling of his room
that Monday night, some time be-
tween the visit of Temple Hope
and the return of Mr.. Holcombe.
This was to obtain the scrap OF
paper containing the list of clues
as suggested by Mr.. Howell, a clue
that might have brought about a
premature discovery of the So
called hoax.
To the girl he had told nothing
of his plan. But he had told her
she was to leave town on an early
train the next morning, going as
his wife; that he wished her to
wear the black and white dress
and hat, for reasons that he
would explain later, and to be
yelled heavily, that to the young
man who would put her on the
train, and who had seen Jennie
Brice only once, she was to be
Jennie Brice; to say as little as
possible and not to raise her veil.
Her further instructions were
simple: to go to the place at Hor-
ner where Jennie Brice had plan
ned to go, but to use the name OF
Bellows" there. And after she
had been there for a day or two,
to go as quietly as possible to
New York. He gave her the ad-
dess of a boarding house where he
could write her, and where he
would join her later.
He reasoned in this way: That
as Olice Murray was to imperson.
ate Jennie Brice, and Jennie Brice
hiding from her husband, she
would naturally discard her name.
The name Bellows" had been
hers by a previous marriage and
she might easily resume It. Thus
to establish his innocence. he had
not only the evidence of Howell
and Bronson that the whole thine
was a gigantic hoax; he had the
evidence of Howell that he had
started Jennie Brice to Horner
that Monday morning, that she
had reached Horner, had there as
sumed an incognito, as Mr.. Pit
man would say, and had later dis
appeared from there, maliciously
concealing herself to work his un-
doing.
In all probability he would have
gone free, the richer by a hum
dred dollars for each week of his
imprisonment, but for two things:
the flood. which had brought OPP
portunity to HIS door, had brought
Mr.. Holcombe to feed Peter, the
dog. And the same flood, which
should have carried the headless