Charlevoix county herald. (East Jordan, Mich.) 189?-1953, 1917-10-05

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evening study had brought me no
nearer to a solution of the problem
than ever. But ! went soundly to
sleep.
was awakened by the wild cries
of the old negress. Before ! could
get into my bath-robe and slippers,
heard her husband shouting for me at
my door. hurried out to the kitchen.
One of my collies had been stran-
gled. Afterward. apparently. the per-
petrator of the deed had used razor
to slash the body in az detailed copy
of the cutting of the murdered child
as could be accomplished on hairy
animal.
To say that was enraged does not
describe my feelings. Aside from the
fondness I had for my pet, the dog
was highly pedigreed. and I had re-
fused as high as eight hundred dollars
for him.
must admit that was much more
stirred up about the loss of the dog
than had been about the murder of
the child. Besides, felt sure at the
time that the individual who had
killed my dog had slain the child.
The detailed resemblance in the cut
ling of the collie's fine hide and the
flesh of the child was SO close that it
could not be regarded as a matter Of
coincidence.
Obviously, the first thing to do was
to search the premises for clues.
/ did SO Immediately. The results
of the search, to which ! called two
of my men, In the hope that 1t might
aid US in catching the more serious
criminal, were the finding that the
culprit had gone from the kitchen to
The bathroom and washed his hands.
A drop of blood had been smeared
on the side of the bowl. Also We dis
covered that one Of my own razors
had been used and thrown behind the
ice box in the kitchen.
: AS have said, there was only one
entrance to the house-at the front.
This was Of small consequence, any
how, for ! knew little of the inmates,
any one Of whom might be criminal.
To my apartments there were a
front and a rear entrance from the
stair-well. On these doors were heavy
bolts, as well as double locks. The
locks were all fastened with the keys
inside in the morning, and neither OF
the bolts was open. This took care
of the doors.
There were three front and two
rear windows. AS the house was
without fire-escapes, the only possible
access to these must have been FROM
the roof by the way of rope let
down.
+ But,at that time of year, all of these
windows were closed and fastened
The fasteners might be opened by a
man with knife. working from a
swinging basket or loop of rope; but
they could not have been locked again
in the same way. They were all lock-
ed in the morning. There was no sign
that their frames had been scratched
In any way.
Three windows opened on the "
shaped court.
One of these I had had cut when
! got the bathroom arranged in what
had been a dark clothes closet. 1t
was too small for any human being
TO crawl through. Moreover, fly
screen had been tackled on the win
dow-frame itself and left there.
AS for the window opening into the
negroes room, no amount of coaxing
could persuade them to open it in
winter. The old negro had driven
nail over the top of the lower sash,
and another through the frame Of the
upper sash. The nails were undis-
turbed.
This narrowed things down to my
own window, the only one in the fiat
open during the night. Aside from
the difficulty of getting to IL from the
roof above, there was the fact that no
one could possibly have got through
the open upper half without stepping
or falling on my bed.
Only a week before / had rear
ranged my furniture so that the bed
was directly under the window.
1t seemed that no person could have
got in or out of the apartment. OF
course, this might naturally lead to
the inevitable conclusion that the dog
had been killed by one of the old
negroes.
1t would have been easier to sup
pose that / myself had deliberately
strangled and mutilated my own val
liable dog than to suppose that either
Of them could have done It. Both of
them had the most foolish fondness
for the animals, as is apt to be the
case with old negroes.
could not keep my men long on a
case involving only dog. They never
discovered the animals slayer. Be-
fore the first day was over l was con-
vinced that the mystery gould never
be cleared.
We gave IL up.
A short time afterward we got hold
of clues which led to the arrest and
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