The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1923-02-09
Outofthe Darkness

ley. It's suicide. He has the gun
In his hand"
BARLEY gave him an amused glance
as he answered, 1T may be foolish,
but it's murder. True. he has the
gun In his hand; and that makes it
look something like suicide, agree; 4
but that's just what someone wanted
us to think"
This statement seemed to make
Roche angry. His face flushed and
he sneered, "Oh, come now, how do
you er~>ot to prove thatY'
BARLEY did not answer but simply
pointed to the gun. think we all
looked at it rather foolishly, as If
we expected to find In it, by some
miracle, clue to his statement.
AS we did not speak, he replied,
Roche, you think that the fact he is
found dead with the gun in his hand.
proves that he committed suicide. But
to me, that gun and the way it is held,
proves murder. Not only murder, but
that the gun was placed in his hand
after death. Look at the way the
hand grasps the revolver 1t is not
held so firmly but that with some
effort 1t can be removed. The testi-
mony of all medico-legalists is that in
cases of suicide or of accidents, the
attitudes and acts Of the person
whose life is suddenly ended are con-
tinued for some seconds after DEATH"
Roche was listening attentively, but
Bartley's last words were little over
his head. Perceiving that he did not
understand, BARLEY explained at
greater length:
What mean by that is simply
this: In cases of suicide or where
man shoots himself by accident and
dies suddenly, the hand clutches the
weapon so tightly that after death it
is almost impossible to loosen his
grip. There is muscular spasm that
follows death which causes the hand
to grip the weapon even more tightly
than in life. Most medico-legal books
agree that weapon so held is the
best evidence Of suicide"
Roche was not willing to accept this
statement. THAT'S fine theory" he
sneered. Just the sort of a thing
you city detectives dig up. You have
got to have more than that to make
me think he was murdered"
BARLEY gave little shrug Of his
shoulders, as il bored by the whole
thing. "As you wish! had an idea
you might want more evidence than
that" He paused, and we waited
breathlessly for his next words
Look at his eyes. They are tightly
closed. 1t is recognized fact by all
medical men that, when death comes
by violence, the eyes Of the victim
are wide open and staring. On the
other hand, in cases where death
comes slowly. they may be half shut.
In neither instance are they ever fully
closed. When we find case where
the eyes are tightly closed, we know
that someone has closed them, and
that it was done after the man was
dead.
Here we find the eyes closed. If
he committed suicide, they would be
open. II he had been murdered, they
would be open also. Though the fact
they are closed does not help US to
decide between murder and suicide, it
does point to the fact that someone
has been in the room and closed them
after he died. May we not suppose
that the same person that placed the
In n 10, hon 20 h IL
appear to be suicide, was also the one
who closed his eyes, not knowing that
they should have remained open, no
matter how he died?'
He paused, as if waiting for some
one to speak, then as no one did, he
continued:
But that is not all, Roche. You
should use your common sense Here
is Slyke, dead, with both hands by
his sides, and the bedclothes up
around his neck and over his chin.
You don't expect me to believe that
he could have shot himself, pulled the
clothes around his neck, and then
placed his arms by his sides. He did
AoL nave llIHS SuUuSu lot InaI, ne
died instantly, without even a strug-
gle. A second after the shot was fred,
this world was over as far as he was
concerned. 1t was someone else who
arranged those things. Someone who
wished his death to appear to be sui
eide, and in trying to do that rather
overdid the whole thing. No, / do
not think there is the slightest doubt
in the world but that he was muir
dered."
! Roche had long since lost his con-
fident air. He said nothing, though,
even when BARLEY had finished. The
doctor, too, had listened with interest.
yet was not altogether sure that he
wholly agreed with Bartley's reason
ing.
But. if Slyke was murdered" the
doctor asked, ''why should all this
trouble have been taken to make it
look like Suieide?"