The Washington herald., 1919-01-19

been beaten with was in the mind
of each of the officers during this
preliminary investigation. and this,
II was thought, was solved when one
of the detectives picked up a broken
equestrian statue made of bronze. 1t
was lying beside the little table, near
| the foot of the bed, and was partly
covered with e bloodstained towel.
! The leg of the bronze horse was
| broken off and lay some distance
away. This, then, decided the de-
tectives, was the weapon used In in
flicting the crushing blows on Mrs.
! Den"is' head.
This theory was shattered some
minutes later. as will be shown. and
the mystery about the broken bronze
figure, which now occupies a place of
honor on the shelves of the metro
politan police property room, is
mystery still. Was it used in the at
tack? II not. how did it get on the
!, floor near the bed, and what caused
the bronze leg OF the horse to break
off? Did Mrs. Dennis seize 1t during
the attack and use it in her own de-
| fense? Who wrapped the blood
soaked towel about it, II it fell on
| the floor during the assault, how Is IL
that no one in the house heard the
tnoise? The lapse of years has devel-
oped nothing that has thrown
single ray of light on any of these
points.
| Piano Stool Found.
The folding doors separating Mrs.
| Dennis bedroom from the front par
lor were locked. The police forced
them open and passed into the front
room. 1t was as cold as a refrigera-
, tor. One window, opening on a small
veranda. was wide open, and an ice
cold breeze was blowing in. Beneath
the window. on the veranda. a flower
pot had been overturned and was
leaning toward The house
Apparently the intruder had gained
entrance to the house by climbing
| from the front porch to the little We
/ randa around the west parlor window
| and by forcing this window open.
! accidentally overturning the flower
| pot as he stepped in. This did not
explain, of course. the intruder's man
! ner of entrance to Mrs. Dennis Sc
| Curely locked room.
When the police struck a light in
| the front parlor and looked about
! their eyes fell on a gruesome clue
that dspelled the theory concerning
|
! lay the top of the piano stool. partly
caked with human blood, in which
were strands of human hair. The top
had been unscrewed from the stand
| itself and lay on the floor. The as
! sailant had evidently unscrewed the
! top and taken it with him as he
! gained mysterious access to the Sc
| curely locked room adjoining and
| after beating his poor victim had re-
turned the top to its place in the front
| parlor as he passed out into the world.
Mrs. Dennis force of twenty dress
makers had arrived by this time and
| the inquiry was carried to the second
floor the first floor being left to the
official photographer from police
| headquarters and to the District
chemist. Prof. Hrd. who had begun
/ an exhaustive examination OF the
bloodstains in the room.
Porter Qui1zcd.
! The quizzing of the dressmakers,
which brought out nothing helpful,
was nearly over when Richard Cole,
! the Colored porter employed by Mrs.
! Dennis, arrived on the scene to begin
| his days work. He was later than
usual, and the officers promptly put
/ him through grillinC examination.
| Cole explained his tardiness by the
! fact that he had been out at a dance
until late the night before and had
! OVERSIGHT. He declared that on the
! previous evening he had been sent
on an errand by Mrs. Dennis about
II o'clock. and that when he returned
| about fifteen minutes later he found
the front door partly open which sur
prised him. At 7:45, according to Cole.
/ he was permitted to leave. and at that
time. he said. he saw to il that the
front door was locked and that the
night latch worked.
| Going directly to his home in North
east Washington Cole declared that
himself in the garments suitable for
! n dance hail. He remained at the
dance till 80 and then accompanied
Mamie Chinn, a friend, to her home.
| leaving her shortly after midnight.
! From her house Coole said he went
directly home and to bed, and he
said the he slept until o'clock in
the morning. Cole said that his en-
! ployer was kind and good to him
and that he liked 20 work for her.
All the members of the Dennis
household agreed that Ada Dennis
was Ct gentle nature and that she
was well liked on all sides. They
said that she seldom if ever had vis-
itors in the evening and none could
remember that the doorbell had rung
at all on the night before. Many
travelling statesmen. said the roomers,
came often in the day to sell goods,
but it was not known that any of
them ever paid attentions to Mrs.
Dennis.
But there was one particular friend
ship in Mrs. Dennis life. the police
learned. A prominent jurist loved
| her. wrote II her. and wanted to
marry her. He had not been seen
at the house for several months. but
the jolice were told that on the oc-
casiOn of his last visit there had been
angry words and as the Judge left
| he was heard to say. If you do not
marry me you shall marry no one
else-remember that"
: 1t was late in the day when the