Charlevoix county herald., 1918-07-12

happened at the scene Of the crime
itself. Suppose that we draw a men,
tai picture of what occurred there
some hours before.
"The Indian, acting as decoy. had
induced the professor, carrying the
image of Quetzal and the jewel, to ac-
company him there. In all likelihood
he told him he had found some object
of interest or discovered some one
who knew something in which Win
garde would find material OF interest.
1T is easy to deceive one who is
wrapped up in subject. Such one
will ofttimes overlook Inconsistencies
which a less biased mind would sense.
They had come through the night.
therefore, to that spot where the one
who bought the Indians service was
waiting for his victim, his mind GEN.
tered on obtaining the great jewel he
knew he carried upon him, and which
Charley was to know was present be-
fore he brought him, as owing to its
bulk he could easily ascertain while
talking to Wingarde at the start.
"Wingarde was not of suspicious
nature. His going as he did shows
that. Not until he arrived at the ap-
pointed spot and found one he did not
expect did he conceive of treachery in
the affair.
1.-The one who waited demanded
what he carried on his body. What
he proposed may never be known, but
Wingarde refused. The other sought
to take them by force. The footprints
at that SPOT show that they struggled.
But the thief was the stronger.
He wrested the image from Win
garde's body and, knowing his man
would never rest quiet under the theft,
he saw that his death alone would
serve to render his own possession Sc
cure. He wrenched out the handle Of
the image and plunged it into Win
garde's breast, wounding his heart.
The poison on the blade acted quickly.
Wingarde sank dying. 1t was easy
enough then for the one who had slain
to complete his purpose and possess
himself of the gem.
But he knew that the discovery Of
the body would excite comment and
suspicion. 1t must be concealed. The
canon was at hand. A fall to its bot
tom would either conceal his work by
allowing the body to be washed away
or, failing that, by making it appear
that Wingarde had stumbled over the
edge in the dark.
Lifting him up, he carried him to
the edge and pushed him off. There
after he followed the natural impulse
and looked over, and so left the con-
victing mark of his hand as well as
the prints of his feet. And the fact
that he had laid the body down and
pushed it off showed him to have been
a man of no exceeding strength or
stature. A man far larger than Win
garde would have hurled his man from
the cliff.
"A man of the same size, or nearly,
would have done as this man did.
Therefore, we know that our man is
of ordinary stature, from the three de-
tails-the record of his action, tbs size
of his shoe, and the print of his hand.
To this We aud the detail that he
walks slightly on the outer side of his
foot, and that the last two joints of
the little finger on his left hand are
missing. That gives us fairly good
description, think"
Gosh, yes" said Heffy. when
you get done I'll grab him, II he's
anywheres around this dump. That's
as good as photograph Of the guinea.
You think he's got the image an tn
stone anywheres near him?"
81 think SCAT present" said Semi
Dual.
Having disposed of the professor"
he went on, "he was now confronted
by the Indian as a witness. / scarcely |
think he meant to destroy his agent at
first, but now circumstances compel |
ed the deed. He conceived a crafty |
scheme.
Returning to the Indians side, he |
walked with him toward the pile of |
stones. AS he walked he lifted the |
dagger from the image and plunged 1t |
noiselessly into his companions |
throat But he did not seek to conceal |
the body.
He reasoned that Wingarde and |
the Indian had been seen. Therefore |
he left the latter lying by the stones |
to be found and to show by his body's |
condition that he had died of apparent |
snake-bite. 1t might even be supposed |
that the two men, Wingarde and his |
guide, had stumbled across a venom
Gus serpent, and the Indian being bit
ten and Wingarde excited, the scien-
fist had started for help, become
turned around in the darkness through
the shock of the occurrence, and SO
ran directly off the lip of the cliff.
and his belief was plausible,
think, or he had no reason to believe
that any ono would have reason to
suspect him. In fact, he had planned
to make it appear that he could not
possibly have had any connection with
the affair. In pursuance of that plan
he took from the Indians body the