The Eureka sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1902-current, 1915-10-23
SIXTH NARRATIVE.


To Franklin Blake. ESQ.
Sir-I shall endeavor to put
you I'm possession of such dis
coveries as ! have made. respecting the
proceedings of Mr.. Godfrey Ablewhite.
before, during and after the time. when
you and he met as guests at the late
Lady Verinder's country house.
AS to your cousins death, then, first.
1t appears to me to be established. be-
yond any reasonable doubt, that he
was killed while he was asleep. or m
mediately on his waking by being
smothered with a pillow from his bed
D a the persons guilty Of numbering
MIN are the three I~ndians-and that
the object contemplated and achieved
by the crime was to obtain possession
or the diamond called the moonstone.
The facts from which this conclu-
sion Is drawn are derived partly from
an examination of the room at the tav-
ern and partly from the evidence OBJ
talned at the coroner's inquest.
On forcing the door of the room tbe
deceased gentleman was discovered
dead with a pillow of the bed over
MS 1ace. The medical man who ex-
ahmed him, being Informed of this
circumstance, considered the post NOR
TEN appearances as being perfectly
compatible with murder by s~motberine
-that Is to say, with murder commit
TED by some person or persons press
ing the pillow over the nose and mouth
OF the deceased, until death resulted
from congestion of the lungs.
Next as to the motive for the crime
A small box, with a sealed paper
torn OF from 1t, the paper containing
an Inscription. was found open and
empty on a table In the room. Mr.
Luker has himself personally identified
the box, the seal and the Inscription.
Next as to the manner In which the
crime was committed.
On examination Of the room which
is only seven feet high, a trapdoor in
the ceiling leading out on to the roof
or the house was discovered omen.
The short ladder used for obtaining
access to the trapdoor and kept under
the bed was found placed at the open-
ing, so as to enable any person or per-
sons In the room to leave 1t again cas-
lily. In the trapdoor itself was found
a square aperture cut in the wood. an
parently with some exceedingly sbarp
instrument, just behind the bolt which
fastened the door on the inner side.
In this way any person from the out
side could have drawn back the bolt
and opened the door and have dropped
or have been noiselessly lowered by an
accomplice into the room, its height. as
already observed, being only seven feet.
Lastly as to the person or persons bv
whom the crime was committed.
1t Is known % that the Indians had
an Interest in possessing themselves Of
the diamond. (2) 1t is at least proba-
BILE that the man looking Ike an In
dian whom Octavus Guy saw at the
window of the cab speaking to the
dressed like a mechanic was one
of the three Hindu conspirators. 81 1t
Is certain that this same man dressed
like a mechanic was seer keeping Mr.. |
Godfrey Ablewhite In view all trough
the evening Of the 26th and was found
In the bedroom before Mr. AblewL,te !
was shown into it under circumstances
which lead to the suspicion that he
was examtntng the room. az A morsel
OF o gold thread was picked I'D In
the bedroom which persons expert in
such matters declare to be of Indian
n IJfnnfIrrn nfI 70 h4 - I
gold thread not known in England % F,
On the morning Of the 9th three men
to the description of the
three Indians were observed in Lower
street, were traced to the Tow
wharf and were seen to leave Lon
don by the steamer bound for Rottcr-
dam.
There is here moral If not legal evil
dence that the murder was committed
by the Indians.
With regard to the subject now In
hand 1 may state at the outset that Mr..
Godfrey Ablewhite's life had two sides
to it.
The side turned up to the public view
presented the spectacle Of a gentleman
possessed of considerable reputation as
a speaker at charitable meetings and
endowed with administrative abilities.
he placed at the disposal of vari-
Gus benevolent societies, mostly of the
sort. The side kept hidden from
the general notice exhibited this same
gentleman in the totally different char
acter Of a man of pleasure with a villa
In the suburbs which was not taken in
his own name and with a lady in the