The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1923-04-08
The Mystery of the Downs


portant influence in getting sene sort n
confession from him. m
Bring out those thines," saia Detective
Gillett to Sergeant Wessavsy, sna Pointing
to the cupboard agsinst the wall.
Westaway produced . hand bag and
placed it on the table. GiIaekt tseh kuneh
of keys from Els trousers pocket and un-
locked the bag. --..-
First Of all, here is the key Of the
house." be said, Is he held cut IN the psla
of his hand the key Of = Yale lsek. AS
you must have noticed, Mr.. Cfewe, the
front door Of the farmhouse closes With a
modern Yale lock; the old leek is broken
and the bolt is tied back with string You
will notice, inside the hole for the key to
90 on = ring, that there is q stain Of bleed
Next, We have q pair of heavy boots. These
were worn by the man who murdered
Frank Lumsden, for they correspond ex-
actly with the plaster casts We took Of the
footprints outside the window"
Westaway, who had opened the door Of
the compartment, placed on the table near
Crewe two plaster casts.
Crewe, after returning the ke. re had
been examining, compared the bon:s with
the plaster casts
81 believe you are right" hesaid afte7
a pause.
Here we have the bullet that was fired.
AS you will remember, Mr.. Crewe, it went
clean through Lumsden's body, and through
the window. But what you don't know
is that it struck man who was hiding
in the garden the window. 1t struck
him in the left arm
Who was this mani" asked Crewe.
"His name is Tom Jauncey. He is the
son of an old shepherd who worked for
Lumsden's grandfather
Gone of the servants who was left 4
legacy in the old mans will?" said Crewe
inquiringly.
"That is correct replied Gillett From
the bullet we go to the weapon that fired
it. Here is is-an ordinary Webley re-
volver such as is issued to army officers,
Mr.. Crewe.
eyes, | know little about them" said
Mr.. Crewe, as he took it in his hands to
look at it.
"And, last of all, here is pair of glasses
which we have aseertained came from the
well-known optical firm of Baker Co.,
who have branches all over London, and
were made for Captain Marsland"
Where did you find them?'' asked
Crewe.
'In the well at the farm
"How did they get there?"
~ don't think it is an unnatural assump-
ton that they were blown off when the
wearer was STOPPING over the well to drop
some articles into it, Remember that there
was big storm and high wind on tn.
night of the murder. The boots and the
revolver we also found in the we'll Our
theory is that the murderer dropped these
things into the well in order to get rid of
them, and that while he was doing it
his glasses were blown into the well. As
you know, Marsland wears glasses is
waring them now. But Sergeant Westaway
will swear that he was not wearing them
when he came to the station to repOrt the
discovery of the body. We have other
but let that go for the present.
"But the boots?" said Crewe. "You don't
pretend that they belong to Marsland?"
"They probably belonged to the mur-
dered man-that is point which we have
not yet settled.
"And how does that fit in with your
theory that the murdered broke into the
house,"
"The murderer found these boots in the
barn, the cowshed, or one of the other out
buildings. Lumsden did not wear speh
boots acknowledgements that he had
been a clerk not farmer. But he would
want heavy pair of boots like these for