Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1924-07-31


Then came our discovery Of the
missing money and the wild attempt
OF MaxsoR to make it appear that
! lie had been drowned. The fact that
/ ne had quarreled with boths his
cousin and his uncle. and that he
mad told them that on the day OF the
wedding he would give them a jolt.
looked pretty bad.
When we found him with one Of
the gold pieces taken from the miss
j ing box. the evidence seemed over
| whelm!ng. The chief was sure then
he was guilty. Dunn. however. was
sure that Kent was the guilty man.
| while TO top IL all of. we had a
| man confess that he committed the
! murder. We soon found this last
was untrue. yet We were left with
two conflicting theories, either one
OF which might be right-except
for one thing"
| What was that?" came the inter
ested question from the District At
torney.
"A very simple thing. yet one that
bothered me. IL Mr.. Kent had killed
! Rice. he did II for the book That
Aretino 10. presume. worth the
$4,000 they value it at. It's the only
copy OF the original edition in the
world. Book lovers, or rather COL
| lsctors. were interested in IL and its
discovery made a stir. The facts
against Kent, added to the dis
! covery that the book was missing,
OF course made II seem as il ne was
| guilty. But the money was missing
| also and the missing box OF gold
| pieces made 1t look as II the young
man was guilty. Right here came
the conflict. Either one might. have
! killed for one thing-kent for the
book Maxson for the money. But
neither would take both. that was
| impossible. Kent would never take
| the money, and the chances were
very much against the yrung man
| having taken the book. Only on.
! theory was loft"
And that" / ventured, as he
| paused.
He smiled. 1T was. Pelt, that the
| money might have been taken by the
| young man before the murder, or the
/ book taken by the secretary after
the crime. | decided. however, there
was nothing In that theory. Both
! things were taken by the person that
| killed Rice"
| saw the chief shake his head, as
| II he did not quite understand, and
no asked. DO YOU mean, all that
fool yarn that kid told was true?"
Not a bit OF doubt of 1t. 1t was
| all true. The inferiority complex [
| told YOU about this afternoon will
| explain the motive for all he did. |
Z know his attempt to run away was
foolish. almost inexplainable to q
| normal person. But the boy is not
normal. He did the very things he
| told us OF and though they seem
foolish n ne vat 20
were very real. He is a mental TYNE
and wished to be talked about. He
did take one OF the $50 gold pieces,
but he had nothing to do with the
| crime. lie told YOU the truth. That
let him out. Kent, IL his story was
true, Is innocent also. Some one
else must have done It,"
But. good Lord, MIR. BARLEY"
| came the chiefs startled tone, who
In the devil was there left? What
| other motive was there? Ii neither
one of these two persons that all
the evidence pointed at is guilty.
| then who can be? The evidence
seemed clear that one of the two did
| it."
| saw Kent give BARLEY a little
smile. 1t must have been rather
| embarrassing for him to have heard
N'AS SNpi AbatAlEH tOUIp dISU 10 nave
discovered how sure Dunn had been
that he was guilty. But he was act
Ing like good sport, showing no
| malice and even grinning at Dunn
when their eyes met
| We'll. chief" came Rartlev's
reply, the only trouble with the
evidence. was that il was too good
| too conclusive. better explain n
little more" He paused for a mo-
| ment az II listening for some
| thing. But the only sound was the
shrlll cry OF boy floating up from
the street When the case was look
ell into, the evidence seemed very
| simple. There were no clues, en-
cept those that connected the men
| we had named, Yet both. in fact.
all OF us on the case. overlooked
| something. And that was the hour
that Rice was killed"
But. Mr.. BARLEY" replied the
chief. there was no way of fixing
that"
BARLEY smiled. so It seemed yet
there was. lie overlooked one fact.
You remember there was very
heavy thunder STERN the night of
the murder. In fact, there were
some flashes of lightning that SEEM
| ed ineessant. You forget that for
| ten minutes all the lights at the Hill
| were out. between 11.45 and 1855.
Mr. Rice was killed during those ten
minutes, | think, maybe. in the
first three of the ten, hut can
| prove he was killed during that
| time
The chief shook his head. as II
! saying he gave 1t up, and the look
| OF wonder on his face was rather
| laughable. Even |. vino knew that
| BARLEY never made a statement OF
that kind unless he could prove it
| wondered why he was so positive
| Our amazement seemed to amuse
| him and he started to unite the
| Package on the desk, Then raising
his head, he said:
| You see, am positive of that
| II | am right, then neither Kent nor
| Naxson had anything to do with the
| death, for both left the room long
before that hour. In fact, as | said
the first day, the murder was not
premeditated. ! mean, no one was
| hiding for Rice in order to kill him
II was done in struggle, wild ef
| fort to escape disgrace
"Dissrace?" some one echoed.
Disgrace in the sense that the in
dividual had been found trying 10
steal something in the rooms, and
| in the struggle that took place,
killed Rice in sudden anger. There
! is no doubt Of that. | think Rice
Was perhaps in the larger room.
Let us say he might have been
looking out of one of the windows
and the bookcases and the draperies
hid him from the sight of the person
entering the room. Maybe, he was
Watching the play OF the lightning
ON the sea. The person enters
Itnters with no intention OF stealing