Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-06-23
CHAPTER XVI.
The Lost Poisons.
(Tuesday November 80, 2 p,m.)

(Tuesday November 80, p.m.)
Markham and Vance and I had a
late lunch at the Stuyvesant Club.
During the meal the subject OF the
murder was avoided as II by taclt
agreement: but when we sat smoking
over our coffee Markham settled back
in his chair and surveyed Vance sternly.
Now" he said, Il want to hear how
YOU came to find those galoshes in
the linen closet. And. damn 1t!
don't want any garrulous evasions or
quotations out of Bartlett"
I'm quite willing to unburden my
SOUL" smiled Vance. ut was all so
dashed simple. 1 never put any stock
in the burglar theory, and so was able
to approach the problem with virgin
mind, as it were
He lit a fresh cigarette and poured
himself another cup of coffee.
ION the night that Julia and Ada
were shot a double set of footprints
was found 1t had stopped showing
at about IL O'Clock, and the tracks had
been made between that hour and mid
night, when the sergeant arrived on
the scene On the night of Chester's
murder there was another set of foot
prints similar to the others; and they,
too. had been made shortly after the
weather had cleared. Here, then, were
tracks in the snow, approaching and
retreating from the front door. pre-
ceding each crime: and both sets had
been made after the snow had stopped
falling when they would be distinctly
visible and determinable. This was not
particularly Striking coincidence. but it
was sufficiently arresting to create a
slight strain on my cortex cerebri. And
the strain increased perceptibly this
morning when Snitkin reported his dis
covery of fresh footprints on the bal
cony steps: for once again the same
meteorological conditions had accom-
panied our culprit's passion for leaving
spoons. I was, therefore, driven to the
irresistible inference, as you learned
solons put 1t, that the murderer, so
careful and calculating about everything
else. had deliberately made all these
footprints for our special edification. In
each instance, d We see, he had chosen
the only hour of the day when his
tracks would not be obliterated by fall
ing snow or confused with other
tracks. Are you there?"
Go ahead" said Markham. I'm
listening"
ITO proceed. then. Another coinci-
dence attached to these three sets of
footprints 1t was impossible. because
OF the dry, fiaky nature of the snow.
to determine whether the first set had
originated in the house and returned
there, or had first approached tie house
from the street and then retreated.
Again. on the night of Chesters demise.
when the snow was damp and susc epti-
Bile to clear impressions, the same
doubt arose. The tracks to and. from
the house were on opposite sides of
the front walk not single footstep
overlapped! Accidental? Perhaps. But
not wholly reasonable A person welk
ing to and from a door along a CON-
paratively narrow pathway would almost
certainly have doubled on some OF his
tracks. And even If he had failed to
superimpose any of his footprints. the
parallel spoons would have been close
together. But these two lines of prints
were TAR apart: each chung to the ex-
treme edge of the walk. as If the
person who made them was positively
afraid OF overlapping. Now, consider
the footprints made this morning.
There was single line of them enter
ing the house. but none coming out.
We concluded that the murderer had
made his escape via the front door
and down the neatly swept walk: but
this, after all, was only an assump-
ton