The Miller press. [volume] (Miller, S.D.) 190?-current, 1920-10-21

beubS, II BOTt Oh luSIlnCI WHICH, cudDicS
the detective to run down his quarry,
the following narrative seems to dem
onstrate. IL this Is not go. what I'M
pulse led me to connect the unknown
murderer with the strange young col
ored woman with the red hair?
One day early In the nineties, l re-
ceived @ telegram from James Arnold,
chief Of police OF Dallas, Tex, and
Ben Cabel. the county sheriff, request
ing me to come to that city immediate
ly for consultation in a murder case.
Knowing both these gentlemen well, l
t~elegraphed back that / would start
on the following day, which l did.
I found the chief OF police and the
county sheriff waiting for me at the
depot, and we three drove Immediately
TO a hotel. There the nature Of the
case was explained. the names here
given being fictitious ones. for obvious
reasons.
On the night of the preceding Sun
day q prominent citizen of Dallas, who
may be known as Temple. had board.
ed a heavily loaded electric car down
town In front of n of the principal
churches of the city. being bound for
his home. The car contained at least
forty or fifty passengers, most of
whom were returning from the eve
ming service In that church, at which
Temple had also been present. Tenn
pie lived OF the outer edge of the city,
in a fine residential district. When
the a reached his house he got off
and started toward his front gate. AS
he stepped from the street to the edge
OF the sidewalk a colored man, who
had been lying in wait behind a tree,
sprang out, and was seen by a num-
Der OF passengers to strike Temple
a powerful blow on the head with
something resembling q baseball bat.
After striking one blow the negro
dropped his weapon and fed into an
alley, where he was soon lost to view.
leaving his hat upon the ground.
Those who had witnessed the assault
from the rear end of the car FASTENED
TO Temple, who lay unconscious on
the sidewalk. picked him up, and car
ried him into the house. The ply.
sicians, who were hastily summoned,
found that Temples skull had been
fractured and assistance was impossi-
BILE. He only lived a few moments,
EVE recovering consciousness.
The weapon with which the blow
had been inflicted was a piece of one
and one-half inch gaspipe. nearly four
feet long, and 1t had been used so vio-
lently that the pipe was bent midway
to almost O right angle. The hat which
the murderer had dropped was a new,
cheap, broad-brimmed black one, Of
unusually large size. 1t was, In fact,
too large for any ordinary mans head,
and for that reason, probably, 1t had
fallen of when the negro delivered the
blow.
The witnesses of the crime all had a
plain view OF the murderer, whom they
unanimously described as a tall young
negro, very black, well-built, we'll
dressed, and with the features of a
white man. The lips were thin. the
nos straight, and the general impress
sion was that he was a white man
who had blackened his face for the
purpose of Disgusting himself.
The dead man had a brother, a prom
inent physician of Springfield. ILL.,. who
had been sent for and had arrived at
Dallas two days after the murder.
The doctor was anxious TO have his
brothers murderer brought to justice,
and had been the moving spirit in the
employment of my services.
| Next morning the police chief, sAer-
III. and myself went over the ground.
I examined the hat and the piece Of
pipe winch the murderer had used.
The pipe was new. and had been cut
from the end OF a long Joint, evil
denfIt for the special use to which It
mad bee. put. so that the assassin
could conceal 1t in carrying it to the
place where he lay In wait for his vic
tim.
There was a large colony Of negroes
IN Dallas - < zc:s cAc- Texas
towns, but nobody seemed to know
anything OF q negro with the features
OF q white man. All the Witnesses OF
the murder agreed that they had new
or seen anyone before who looked at
aiI'like the murderer.
Since every crime has its motive.
began by investigating any possible
c~ssoo for tho hornfcfdo Mr. Tomnla