Ladysmith news-budget. [volume] (Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wis.) 1907-1927, 1920-05-28

mot at all. Captain John Gunner
was dead as mutton, and, as the medi-
cal evidence proved, he died of the
bite of kraft
Mr.. Snyder shrugged his shoulders.
go on" he said. tits your story.
I'm listening"
"Well, won't keep you long. Captain
Gunner died from snake-bite for the
very excellent reason that he was bit
ten by a snake"
Bitten by snake?"
"By kraft. If you want further
details, by a kraft which came from
Java"
Mr.. Snyder stared at him.
"How do you know?"
II do know"
did you see the snake?"
mo-
"Then how"
81 have enough evidence to make
jury convict Mr.. Snake without leav-
ing the box
"How did the snake get out of the
room?''
'By the window"
How do you make that out? You
say yourself that the window was high
up
Nevertheless, it got out by the win
dow. It's the logical sequence of
events. That's proof enough that it
was in the room. 1t killed Captain
hot Sc
that it got out of the room, because
it left traces of it's presence outside.
Therefore, as the window was the only
exit, it must have gone out that way
It may have climbed or it may have
jumped, but it got out of the window"
what do you mean-proofs Of it's
presence outsider
"It killed dog"
"Helloi This is new. You didn't men.
ton that before"
mo"
"How do you know it killed the
dog?
Because analysis proved that it
had died from snake-bite."
"Where was it?'
There is a sort of backyard be-
1ind the house. The window of Cap
tain Gunner's room looks out into it.
It is full Of boxes and litter of all
sorts. and there are few stunted
shrubs scattered about. In fact, there
is enough cover to hide any small OBJ
iect like the body of DOS, and that's
wny it was not discovered at first.
katie, the maid-of-all-work at the
Excelsior, came ON it the morning
after 1 had sent you my report, while
she was emptying box OF ashes In
the yard. Nobody claimed the do.
1t was just an ordinary mutt dog.
don't suppose it belonged to anybody.
1t had no collar"
ct was fortunate you happened to
think Of having the analysis made"
"Not at all. 1t was the obvious thing
to do. It constituted coincidence,
and was on the lookout for that
sort of coincidence. 1t supported my
theory.
"Well, as say, the analyst examined
the body. and found that the dog had
died of the bite of kraft"
"But you didn't find the snake?
"No. We cleaned out that yard till
YOU could have eaten your breakfast
there, but the snake had gone"
Good Heavens Is it wandering al
large along the waterfront?
We'll hope it has been killed. II
is rot pleasant thing to have about
the streets. 1t must have got ou'
through the door of the yard, which
was omen. But it is a couple of days
now since it escaped, and there has
been 20 further tragedy. SO l guess it's
dead. The nights are pretty cold now
and it would probably have died o.
exposure. Anyway, let's hope So
"But. for goodness sake, how dit
kraft get to Long Island, anyway
There is a very simple explanation
Of that. Can't you guess it? l told yo'
it came from Java"
'How do you know that?"
.Captain Muller told me. Not di
rectlv. I mean. I gathered it from wha
he said. It seems that Captain Mule
had 6 friend, an old shirnate, living
in Java. They correspondent, and Oc
casionally this man sends the captain
q present as a mark Of his esteem
The last present he sent him was gu
friend. the snake
"sThat?"
'sae didn't know he was sending il
He imagined he was sending a crat
| of bananas. without any extras. Un
fortunately. the snake must have go
| in unnoticed. These unsupported ad
| ditions to crates of bananas are quit
common. You must have read abou
| them in the papers. 1t was only tn
| other day that man found a tarar
| tula inside one.
swell. that's my case against MI
Snake, and, short of catching him wit
| the goods, / don't see how l cOul
have made out a stronger one. Don
| YOU agree with met"
It went againet the grain of MI
Snyder to play the role Of admirin
| friend to his assistants Triumphan
| Detective, but he was fair-minde
| man. and he was forced to admit tina
Cakes did certainly seem to hav
| solved the inSOiuble.