The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1923-05-04

it up for second time.
"This is the weapon that killed
Briffeur. You wonder why i allowed
you to touch 1t instead of keeping it
for finger prints: You will find no
finger prints; for whoever used it had
sense enough to have his hand COW
cred"
Suddenly remembered that he had
said the same thing about the MUIR
derer of Slyke. There had been no
finger prints found in the rooms or
on the revolver. / wondered IL there
could be any connection between the
two deaths.
1T is. of course significant" Bart
ley continued, his Voice grave, that
this man was killed as he was about
to testify. 1t looks very much as If
someone in the room feared that he
might tell who killed Slyke, and, to
prevent it, took great chance and
killed him In room full of people"
Doctor King, in a rather excited
voice, broke in to say, But, Mr.. Bart
ley, no one could have known that
the lights would go out. / myself did
not even know that Briffeur was to
testify, and doubt If anyone else
did"
BARLEY listened to the Doctors
words with grave face. 'That is so,
King. So far as / know, only Roche,
Black, the district attorney and my
self knew that the chauffeur would
testify. None of us knew, however
what he was going to say, for he had
refused to tell us. 1t is absurd to
think that any of us killed Brit
feur. Pelt, Black and myself were at
the rear Of the room. The district
attorney was at least seven feet away
from him. The only person near him
was our friend Roche"
The red face of the. police chief
turned even redder. In establishment he
hastily stammered, my c., Mr.. Bart
ley, you don't think 1 killed him, do
your
Under any other circumstances his
dismay would have been so humorous
that we all would have laughed, but
we had no desire to do so now. We
all agreed with BARLEY, when he as
sured him that no one had even
thought for moment that he had
committed the murder. He added
that his remark had been intended
simply to show how mysterious the
crime was.
at seems almost Incredible he
continued after short pause, that
the chauffeur could have been killed
while we were all in the room with
him. But he has been, and we must
find out who did it. I think the best
thing to do will be for each of US to
seat himself just where he was when
the lights went out But first, we
had better remove the body"
Black, Roche and Doctor Webster
raised the chauffeur's body and car
ried him from the room, followed by
Doctor King. While they were gone,
BARLEY got down on his knees before
the chair in which the chauffeur had
sat, and examined the heavy dark
blue carpet which covered the floor.
He was searching for clue, I knew,
that would give 4 hint as to how, the
murder had been committed. Miss
Potter and Ruth, who had resumed
their old seats, watched him with
white faces.
When he rose to his feet BARLEY
stood looking silently down at the
floor with little frOwn ON his face.
At last he turned to me and said,
"When Briffeur came into this room
and took his chair, Pelt, he was, of
course, facing the coroner and the dis
trict attorney. When we found him
after the lights came on, he had sunk
to the floor in position directly OPP
posite to that in which he was seated
that is, with his back to them. 1t
may be that, at the moment OF the
blow, he had half turned to see what
had happened to the lights, or he
may have swung around after the
blow as he was slipping to the floor. .
/ nodded, and he continued, "You
notice that the blow came very close
to the center of the heart. The muir
derer knew where to strike. If his
knife had reached the place aimed for,
the chauffeur would have died with
out uttering a word. In fact"
He was prevented from saying more
by the return Of the others. At his
suggestion, they took the places they
had occupied when the lights went
out. l was asked to take the chair
that Briffeur had been in. This placed
Roche on my left, so near that
almost touched him, and Miss Potter
about foot away on my right. Doc
tor King took his station behind the
desk, which was directly in front of
me and about eight feet away. The
chair of the district attorney was at
his side. Black and Webster stood
near BARLEY, who had seated himself
on the desk.
For several moments he glanced
around the room, trying to recreate
for himself the way the row of chairs
had looked when the lights had been