Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1914-02-01

sending into her mind across the dim beyond, the
suspicion, then the truth of the one who had
struck her down-Rettlund And gradually, the
girl persuaded her father that these suspicious might
be more than suspicious. And gradually, the father
tried to persuade Douglass. But no use. Douglass
was not to be persuaded The niger had confessed!
He had made him confess. No guilty man could
hide his guilt from him, Douglass And thus it
came about that August Drummer drew the Chief
into the case.
In the presence Of Douglass Joe Robertson
repeated his confession to the Chief He had killed
the girl by beating her over the head with rock
when she had attempted to free herself from his
embraces. He had been drunk when he did it.
awful drunk, awful drunk" he kept repeating to
the Chief The Chief presently turned his back on
the negro and walked slowly to the other end of the
room. Then, quick as fired rocket, he wheeled,
covered the intervening space in three lightning
bounds, shot his fist under the negro's eyes and
screamed into his frightened face: "Then you're
the same niger dog that slashed that other girl an
hour before you killed Florence Brunner!" A
sudden hush. And then Robertson: eyes, yes,
Gawd yes, yes-I did that tool slashed her, |
slashed her-I was awful drunk-awful drunk"
And he dropped before the Chief sobbing like
child at its fathers feet
The amazed Douglass, who had not even heard
of the slashng episode to which the Chief had re-
ferred opened his mouth to speak. But the Chief
did not let him speak. Instead, the Chief spoke.
This poor fellow he said motionng to the negro,
didn't kill the Drummer girl any more than you
did! He was SO drunk that night he couldn't re-
member what he did You told him he murdered
the girl and he began to think he actually had. I've
just proved that to you'll"
But" suffered Douglass, "what about the girl
he slashed?"
Girl sashed fiddlesticks," returned the Chief;
there wasn't any girl slashed!"
The negro was released from custody-at the
Chiefs urging with noisy publicity-so that the
real murderer, whoever he might be, might immedi-
ately get wind of the new suspicious And the
Chief as quickly telegraphed to New York for six
shadows" to join him as soon the train could
carry them there. The moment these men arrived,
the Chief, approaching the fact that "shadowing"
was impossible in small town such this because,
in such town, every stranger is Immediately
ticed and regarded with something akin to suspicion,
INDUCED in the apparent paradox of putting three
of the men to shadowing Rettlund and three, oddly
enough, to shadowing the innocent Hauser. And
the Chief ordered the men to do the shadowing with
such an elaborate and theatrical air of craftness and
mystery that the fact that they were shadowng the
two young men would be properly and unerringly
impressed on the young mems minds. Then the
Chief sat back and waited to observe what the effect
of the shadowing would be on Rettund, the supposed
murderer, and on Hauser, the dead girls poor but
favored sweetheart. He did not have to wait long.
1t was as he had suspected. The shadowing had
made Rettund, the supposed murderer nervous
and had produced no effect whatever on Hauser.
Whereupon the Chief came to the immediate
conclusion that Florence Drummer had been murdered
by-Hauser.