Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1915-06-17

going nome at nVe this morning came
upon a dead body"
Call Holden. I'd like to know all
he's heard" l said. And presently,
when the gardener emerged from the
grapehouse. l sought of him all the
particulars he had gathered.
Il don't know very much, sir" was
the mans reply. 81 went into the inn
for a glass of beer at eleven, as | al
ways do, and heard them talking about
it. A young man was murdered last
night up in Rannoch wood"
"The body was that of a man." l
asked, trying to conceal my utter be-
wilderment.
"Yes-about thirty, they say. The
police have taken him to the mortuary
at Dumfries, and the detectives are up
there now looking at the spot, they
say"
A man! And yet the body l found
was that of a woman-that l could
swear.
After lunch 1 took the dogcart and
droVe alone into Dumfr1eS.
The police constable on duty at the
town mortuary took me up a narrow
alley, unlocked a door, and I found my
self in the cold, gloomy chamber of
death. From a small dingy window
above the light fell upon an object
lying upon a large slab of gray stone
and covered with a soiled sheet.
The policeman lifted the end of the
sheet, revealing to me a white, hard
set face, with closed eyes and dropped
jaw. started back as my eyes fell
upon the dead countenance. l was en-
tirely unprepared for such a revela-
ton. The truth staggered me.
The victim was the man who had
acted as my friend-the Italian waiter,
Olinto.
advanced and peered into the thin
inanimate features, scarce able to real
ize the actual fact. But my eyes had
not deceived me. Though death dis
torts the facial expression of every
man, l had no difficulty in identifying
him.
you recognize him, sir?" remarked
the officer. who is he? Our people
are very anxious to know, for up to the
present moment they haven't succeed
ed in establishing his identity.
Il will see your inspector" l an
swered with as much calmness as |
could muster. where has the poor
fellow been wounded?"
Through the heart" responded the
constable, as turning the sheet farther
down he showed me the small knife
wound which had penetrated the vic
TINS jacket and vest full in the chest,
"This is the weapon" he added, tax.
ing from a shelf close by a long, thin
poniard with an ivory handle, which
he handed to me.
In an instant l recognized what II
was, and how deadly. 1t was an old
Florentine misericordia, with a hill
of yellow ivory, the most deadly and
fatal of all the daggers of the middle
ages. 1t was still blood-stained, but as
l took the deadly thing in my hand
saw that it's blade was beautifully dam
ascened, a most elegant specimen of q
medieval arm. Yet surely hone but
an Italian would use such a weapon
or would aim so truly as to penetrate
t the heart. And yet the person strucl
| down was a woman and not a man!
), loOkod again for fho loet %;-oa $685.
the dead face of the man who hat
served me so we'll, and yet who hat
enticed me so nearly to my death. Il
the latter incident there was a dec
mystery. He had relented at the las
0 moment, just in time to save me iron
my secret enemies.
g Could it be that my enemies wer
o his? Had he fallen a victim by tn
}, same hand that had attempted so ii
geniously to kill me?
Why had Leithcourt gone so regl
larly up to Rannoch wood? Was 1t i
order to meet the man who was to b
entrapped and killed? What wa
a 0linto Santini doing 81 far from Lol
don, If he had not come expressly [
meet someone in secret?
ID With my WI hand | recovered tn
TT face with the sheet. l accompanie
Of the constable to the inspectors ofiC
to some distance across the town.
Having been introduced to the hi
re fair-haired man in a rough tweed sui
Or who was apparently directing the |
d. quiries into the affair, he took n
eagerly into a small back room al
began to question me. l was, howeve
wary not to commit myself to an
thing further than the Identification
the body.
IN "The fact u.s." / said confidential
ch you must omit me from the witness
at the inquest"
"Why?" asked the detective 81
IL piciously.