Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1916-1918, 1917-03-13

! lawn from which the sound of the shot
had come. In the middle of it lay a
man, fallen on his face, with his arms
outspread. Alice stopped short at the
sight; I went quickly to him, dropped
on one knee, and turned him gently
over on his back. He looked to be a
foreigner, a man of about thirty, and
smelt of garlic. His face was very
pale, his eyes were half closed and his
mouth was open. | felt his wrist, but
could not feel any pulse. was quite
sure he was dead.
| Alice burst into frightened Sob
bling.
| could do nothing. 1t was matter
! for the police and doctor. rose and
said: Come on, we must go and tell
{ the police at once"
slipped her arm into mine; she was
very pale and looked very scared but
she hurried along beside me at good
pace, and before we had gone fifty
yards she had quit sobbing.
We took the path to the left hand
gate. When we came out OF 1t, neither
Of the two women was in sight, That
side of the gardens was empty. '
| 1t seemed to me that the best thing
] could do was to save Alice all could.
She would have to give evidence at the
inquest, and that would be trying
enough. took her straight to Serb
tons house, telling her not to be too
much distressed about the business
and saw her let herself in with her
! latchkeye. Then I ran to the top OF
| the gardens and down the other side.
At the bottom I found Brookes and
told him what had happened and then,
on his suggestion, we hurried round to
my house and told Richards to tele-
phone the news Of the murder to the
police station. Then Brookes and ran
to the lawn where the murdered man
was lying.
He was lying just as had left him.
Brookes knelt down and examined him.
Then he shook his head and said: He
/ is quite dead. m'Lord."
Then he rose and began to look
about the lawn. holding his lantern
about two feet from the ground and
searching it carefully. About six feet
from the dead man he found three en-
velopes, lying close together. They
were empty, but all three were address
ed to Sir Theobald Walsh. The ad-
| dresses were typewriter. Knowing
Walsh, was able to assure Brookes
that the dead man was not he, and he
went on searching The dead mans
straw hat was lying quite ten yards
from the body, close to the left hand
shrubbery. as if it had pitched off his
head and rolled along when he fell. On
the other side Of the lawn, behind the
dead man, half way between his body
and the right hand shrubbery, Brookes
/ picked up small revolver. 1t was
stuck sidewise in the turf. which, since
1t had been lately watered, WAS soft,
By the light of the lantern we saw that
| the name of the maker was French and
that the top of the barrel was choked
with earth.
Now, why on earth was It stuck in
the turf :" said at couldn't have
merely been dropped. because it's not
heavy enough to stick into the turf OF
itself"
1T do seem odd. m'I.ord." said
, Brookes.
"Of course when people are excit-
ed they do odd things" ] said.
| But I was puzzled 1t seemed so very
odd that after shooting the man, the
murderer should have stuck the revol-
yer in the ground There seemed no
purpose In it.
Brookes said we had better not
trample the lawn too much. and we
came out of it and waited at the en-
trance. discussing the crime. 1t was
quite plain to us, that either the girl in
evening dress or the man who had bolt
ed out of the shrubberv had fired the
shot. 1t seemed more likely to be the
man than the girl. for she had scream.
ed after the shot had been fired. But
what they were doing with this seedy
foreigner in Garthoyle Gardens passed
guessing.
We had only waited few minutes
when an inspector Of police, DOCTOR
and man in a gray tweed suit came
hurrying up. They We're followed by
two policemen. wheeling an ambulance
| gathered that the man in the tweed
suit was a detective and that his name
was Pardoe. He seemed to have been
at the station when Richards telephon'
ed. He was tall and thin and hook
nosed, with bushv eyebrows and thin
lips He looked like hawk. as one
expects a detective to look. Most OF
them don't.
He took charge OF the affair and
gave the orders. AS soon as the two
policemen came with the ambulance,
he sent them off to search the gardens
for people who had heard the shot fir
ed. or seen either of the people likely
to have fired ii the lady or the man
in evening dress. Then he and the
doctor went on to the lawn to the
body.
The doctor knelt down beside 1t and
presently heard him say: "Cervical
verterbrae smashed. Must have been
killed instantly. The bullet is embed
ded in the neck You can take him
straight along to the mortuary, Par
doe"
Pardoe himself fetched the ambu.
lance. lifted the body on to 1t and
wheeled it out of the lawn. Then, by