Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1914-07-04

felt sure that Jennie Brice had had
no such scar. and Mr.. Graves thought
as 1 did. Temple Hope. called to the
inquest said she had never heard of
one. and Mr.. Ladley himself, at the in
quest. swore that his wife had had
nothing of the sort. / was watching
him. and | did not think he was lying.
And yet the hand was very like Jen-
ME Brice's. 1t was all bewildering.
Mr.. Ladley's testimony at the in
quest was disappointing. He was cool
and collected: said he had no reason to
believe that his wife was dead and less
reason to think she had been drowned;
she had left him in a rage. and if she
found out that by hiding she was put
ting him in an unpleasant position she
would probably hide indefinitely.
To the disa ppointment of everybody,
the identity of the woman remained
mystery. No one with such a scar was
missing. small woman of my own
age, Mrs. Murray, whose daughter, a
stenographer. had disappeared. attend
ed the inquest But her daughter had
had no such scar and had worn her
nails short because of using the type
writer Alice Murray was the missing
y
and cried most of the time.
One thing was brought out at the in
quest-the body had been thrown into
the river after death. There was no
water in the lungs. The verdict was
death by the hands of some person
or persons unknown"
Mr.. Holcombe was not satisfied. In
some way or other he h..d got permits
cfn 10
brought away tracing of the scar
All the way home in the street car he
stared at the drawing. holding first one
eye shut and then the other. But, like
the coroner. he got nowhere. He fold
ed the paper and put it in his note
book.
None the less. Mrs Pitmap,'' he
said. that is the body Of Jennie Brice.
Her husband killed her. probably by
strangling her. He took the body out
In the boat and dropped it into the
swollen river above the Ninth street
bridge"
why do you think he strangled
herr"
There was no mark on the body
and no poison was found"
Then. il he strangIed her. where did
the blood come from
Il didn't limit myself to strangula
tion," he said irritably. He may have
cut her throat"
Or Drained her with my onyx clock"
l added with a sigh. For missed the
clock more and more.
He went down in his pockets and |
brought up key. I'D forgotten this"
3,
that the clock was there when the
took the room. l found this
in the yard this morning"
1t was when j got home from the in
quest that | found old lsaac's basket
waiting. l am not a crying woman.
but l could hardly see my mothers
picture for tears. Well, after all. that
is not the Brice story. | am not writ
ing the sordid tragedy of my life.
That was on Tuesday. Jennie Brice
had been missing nine days. In all
that time, although she was cast for
The piece at the theater that week, no
Dne there had heard from her. Her
relatives had had no word. She had
gone away. If she had gone, on a cold
March night, in a striped black and
white dress with a red collar and
red and black hat without her fur
coat. which she had worn all winter
She had gone very early in the morn
ug or during the night. How had
she gone: Mr.. Ladiey said he had
-owed her 10 Federal street at half
after and had brought the boat back.
After they had quarreled violently all
light. and when she was leaving him.
wouldn't he have allowed her ~ take