The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1921-04-14
side, and that no one could have es

SIDE, ana that no one could have eS-
capped from the house. In answer to
Holmes, they both remembered that
! they were conscious of the smell of
powder from the moment that they
ran out Of their rooms upon the top
floor II commend that fact very
carefully to your attention" said
Holmes to his profession colleague
And now I think that we are in a
! position to undertake a thorough ex-
animation of the ROOM
The study proved to be a small
| chamber, lined on three sides with
books, and with a writing table facing
an ordinary window which looked out
| upon the garden. Our first attention
, was given to the body of the unfor-
tunate squire, whose huge frame lay
stretched across the room. His dis
ordered dress showed that he had
been hastily aroused from sleep The
bullet had been fired at him from the
front, and had remained in his body
after penetrating the heart. His death
had certainly been instantaneous and
painless. There was no powder
| marking either upon his dressing
gown or on his hands. According to
the country surgeon the lady had
stains upon her face, but none upon
| her hand
The absence of the latter means
| nothing, though it's presence may
mean. everything" said Holmes I'm
less the powder from a badly fitting
cartridge happens to squirt backwards
one may fire many shots without
leaving a sign. / would suggest that
Mr.. Cubitt's body may now be re-
| moved. I suppose, Doctor, you have
not recovered the bullet which wound.
ed the LADY,"
/ "A serious operation will be neces-
sary before that can be done. But
! there are still four cartridges in the
revolver. Two have been fired and
two wounds inflicted. SO that each
! bullet can be accounted for"
so it would SEEM" said Holmes.
! "Perhaps you can account also for the
bullet which has SO obviously struck
the edge of the window"
He had turned suddenly. and his
long thin finger was pointing to a
hole which had been drilled right
| through the lower window-sash, about
an inch above the bottom.
| BY George" cried the inspector.
| How ever did you see that?"
/ Because I looked for it."
Wonderful" said the country doc.
/
third shot has been fired. and there
fore a third person must have been
present. But who could that have
been, and how could he have got
away"
That is the problem which we are
now about to solve" said Sherlock
Holmes. You remember, Inspector
Martin, when the servants said that
on leaving their room they were at
once con scious of a smell of powder. !
, remarked that the point was an ex-
, tremely important one?"
Yes. sir, but 1 confess l did not
quite follow you
1T suggested that at the time of the
firing, the window as well as the door
of the room had been open. Otherwise
the fumes of the powder could not
have been blown so rapidly through
the house. A draught in the room was
necessary for that. Both door and win
dow were only open for a very short
time, however"
How do you prove that?"
Because the candle was not gut
tered"
"Capital!" cried the inspector. Gap
ital.'
Feeling sure that the window had
been open at the time of the tragedy,
| conceived that there might have
been third person in the affair, who
stood outside this opening and fired
through it. Any shot directed at this
person might hit the sash. I looked,
and there. sure enough, was the bull
let mark"
The woman's first instinct would
be to shut and fasten the window
But, halloa! what is this?"
1T was lady's handbag which
stood upon the study tabIe-a trim