Iron County news. [volume] (Hurley, Wis.) 1913-1950, 1923-08-04


he had been drawing and had care
Iessly thrown It into a waste-paper
/ basket as he passed. On II we're the
same figures that / had found on the
| magazine cover. Even then / was slow
to believe he could be the murderer,
tough science had proved that per-
| son always draws the same design. /
found the same symbols on the knife
handle. There was but one way he
could have been killed"
my Cd, how?" Roche gasped out.
"The knife blow came from the
front. You who. sat next to the chauf-
feur heard nothing. No one could
have crept up on him without making
some sound. Therefore the knife had
to be thrown"
THROWN" we gasped.
ayes. That was the only way 1t
could have reached him. The blow
came from directly In front Of Brif-
feur. 1t could only be thrown. Upon
the knife handle were the circles such
as I had found elsewhere. Someone
had scratched them on it in a mo-
ment of idleness. II was a trench
knife. Doctor King had been to the
front; he was the only one directly
in front Of Brlffeur, and the only one
who could have thrown 1t. We had
MI agreed that Briffeur was killed be-
cause he knew who had murdered
Slyke, and that the same man muir
dered them both. There Is another
proof, also. The only person, outside
Of the family, that the dog liked was
Doctor King. The day we found
Slyke dead the dog came in, growled
at The rest of us but let King pat
him"
The doctor raised his head his face
white save for two red spots In either
cheek. His eyes were pools Of blaz-
| Ing light. He looked at us wildly for
a second, then threw out his hands
and In voice, low at first but grow
Ing louder as he continued, he admit
ted, Eyes, l killed them. l never in
tended to do so, God knowsl 1t all
goes back some time"
BARLEY interrupted him. "TO the
time when you got mixed up with
Slyke and Briffeur, selling whiskyY'
"Yes-yes, that was 1t. 1t goes
back to that" His voice faltered, then
he recovered. Il came back from the
war, broke Slyke suggested that
go In with him on running whisky.
had a camp and fast motorboat on
Lake Champlaln; 1t was all did
have. He suggested we run the whis
ky down the lake from Canada to my
camp, then bring 1t on here and hide
Il in the vault He never played fair
with us; he cheated us again and
again. That's why Brlffeur suggested
we break into the house and see If
he had told the truth about the
amount of money ne said he got for
It. He kept the records of all our
sales in his safe. We tried to-you
know the rest about the robbery"
His voice trailed Off into a whisper
1 recalled that he had been she'll
shocked, and wondered If he could
stand the strain he was undergoing.
1.-THE night was at Currie's to din
ner and met Mr.. BARLEY 1t was Slyke
who called me up on the phone"
His voice was shrlll now, and I
thought he would break down at any
moment.
HE said he wished to see me, and
started over here | ran into Brit
feur, who told me that Slyke had sold
the rest Of the whisky for $4,000.
Well--where was IT' He stopped,
confused, and passed his hand over
his face
"Oh, yps-the whisky, I went up
to the tower, and he suggested we 20
out on the balcony-why, l don't know.
l asked him what he got for the wills
ky. and he said $4,000 / knew he
lied, and l told him so. We quar-
relied, Quarreled- All at once, he
flashed a revolver on me and said he
had a good mind to kin me-he had
been drinking"
Again his voice tralled away into
silence and his eyes closed. Then he
recovered himself with an effort and
continued "Just what happened then.
| don't know-dont knowi My nerves
have been in pieces since l was she'll
shocked. We struggled, and know
shot him. die as you say. Took
him downstairs. undressed him. and
put the revolver In his hand. | knew
-knew-that most people would
think he had killed himself. I was
desperately sorry-but I am hardly TO
blame for his death. My big mistake
was calling in Mr., BARLEY the next
morning, knew. II I could fool him,
I could fool everyone"
He paused: his head sank again
into his hands. / saw that BARLEY
pltled him deeply and his voice was
soft and his face grave as he asked.
And BriTeur?"
With an effort the doctor raised his
head
Il was always afraid of that man.
He was cruel and treacherous. When
| saw him at the inquest / knew that
all was over; that he would give me