Omaha daily bee., 1919-07-17
CHAPTER XIII.
Hitherto Unpublished"

Hitherto Unpublished"
tBeing the report which was not sent
20 the Reeord.)
Marlstone, June 10.
My Dear Molloy: This is in
case | don't find you at your office.
/ have found out who killed Man
derson, as this dispatch will show.
That was my problem; yours is to
decide what use TO make OF it. 1t
definitely charges an unsupported
person with having a hand in the
crime, and practically accuses him
of being the murderer, so | don't
suppose you will publish it before his
arrest, and believe it is illegal to
do so afterwards until he has been
tried and found guilty. You may
decide to publish it then; and you
may find it possible to make some
use or other before then of the facts
| have given. That is your affair.
Meanwhile, will you communicate
with Scotland Yard, and let them
see what | have written. | have
done with the Henderson mystery,
and | wish to God had never
touched it. Here follows my dis
patch. t. l..
| begin this, my third and prob
ably my final dispatch to the Record
upon the Henderson murder, with
conflicting feelings. | have a strong
sense of relief, because in my two
previous dispatches | was obliged,
in the interests of justice. to with
hold facts ascertalned by me which
would, if published then, have put
certain person upon his guard and
possibly have led to his escape;
for he is man of no common bold
ness and resource. Those facts |
shall now set forth. But have. !
confess, no liking for the story OF
treachery and perverted cleverness
which | have to tell. 1t leaves an
evil taste in the mouth, SAVIOR of
something revolving in the deeper
puzzle of motive underlying the puz-
zle of the crime itself, which | be-
lieve I have solved.
1t will be remembered that in my
first dispatch | described the sltua-
ton as found it on reaching this
place early on Tuesday morning. |
told how the body was found, and in
what state; dwelt upon the complete
mystery surrounding the crime and
mentioned one or two local theories
about it; gave some account OF the
dead mans domestic surroundings;
and furnished somewhat detailed
description of his movements on the
evening before his death. | gave, too,
a little fact which may or may not
have seemed irrelevant: that guam
tity of whisky much larger than
Henderson habitually drank at night
had disappeared from his private de-
canter since the last time he was seen
alive. On the following day, the
day of the inquest, l wired little
more than an abstract OF the pio.
ceedings in the coroner's court, OF
which a verbatim report was made
at my request by other representa-
tives of the Record; and it will be
remembered that the police evidence
showed that two revolvers, with
either of which the crime might
have been committed, had been
found-one in Manderson's bureau
and the other in the room OF the
secretary, Marlowe; but that no inn
portance could be attached to this,
as the weapons were of an ex-
tremely popular make. l write
these lines in the last hours OF the
same day; and | have now completed
an investigation which has led me dl-
rectly to the man who must be called
upon to clear himself of the guilt
OF the death of Henderson.
Apart from the central mystery OF
Manderson's having arisen long be-
fore his usual hour to go out and
meet his death, there were two minor
points of oddity about this affair,
which, l suppose. must have oc-
cured to thousands of those who
have read the accounts in the news
papers; points apparent from the
very beginning. The first of these
was that, whereas the body was
found at a spot not 80 yards from
the house, all the people Of the house
declared that they heard no cry or
other noise in the night. Mander-
son had not been gagged; the marks
on his wrists pointed to struggle
with his assalant; and there had
been at least one pistol shot. q say
atleast one, because it is the tact
that in murders with firearms, es-
pecially if there has been struggle,
the criminal commonly misses his
victim at least once.) This odd
fact seemed all the more odd to me
when l learned that Martin. the
butler, was 4 bad sleeper, very keen
of hearing, and that his bedroom,
with the window open, faced almost
directly toward the shed by which
the body was found.
The second odd little fact that was
apparent from the outset was Man
derson's leaving his dental nlate by
the bedside. 1t appeared that he
had risen and dressed himself fully,
down to his necktie and watch and
chain, and had gone out-ot- doors
without remembering to put in his
plate, which he had carried in his
mouth every day for years, and
which contained all the visible teeth
of the upper jaw. 1t had evidently
not been a case of frantic hurry; and
even if it had been, he would have
been more likely to forget almost
anything than this denture. Any
nFnnT mimi