Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-07-08

! knocked on Julia's door. She was adj
mitted, and doubtless sat on the edge
of ,Julia's bed telling some story to eX-
plain her late visit. Then she drew the
gun from under her dressing gown and
shot Julia through the heart. Back In
| her own bedroom. with the lights on
she stood before the large mirror OF the
dressing table. and holding the gun III
her right hand. placed it against her
left shoulderblade at an oblique angle
The mirror and the lights were essential
for she could thus see exactly where to
point the muzzle of the revolver. All
this occupied the three-minute interval
between the shots Then she pulled the
trigger"
But a girl shooting herself as a
fakel" objected Heath, 1T amt nat
ural." ,.
None of the plot was natural. mat
was why was so anxious to looN up her
family history. But as to shooting her
self; that was quite logical when enc
considers her true character. Ana, as
a matter of fact. there was little or no
danger attaching to 1t. The gun was
on a hair trigger. and little pressure vas
needed to discharge 1t. A Sllght IleSF
wound was the worst she had 10 leai'
Moreover. history is full OF cases OF sen, :,
mutilation where the object to be gained
was far smaller than what Ada was
after. Gross is full of them. -.
He took ND Volume / Of the Hand
buch fur Observation-Disclosures" which
Law on the table beside him, and opened
it at a marked page. 800, -
listen to this. sergeant. Ill trans
late the passage roughly as reao: Al
is not uncommon to find people VINO IN
fiict wounds on themselves, such are,
besides persons pretending to be the VIC
Tins of assaults with deadly weapons,
those who try to eXtort damages or
blackmail. Thus it often happens tnat,
after an insignificant scuf11e, one OF the
contestants shows wounds Wnlch ne
pretends to have received. 1t is cnar-
acteristic of these voluntary mutllatlolls
that most frequently those who perform
then, do not quite complete the oper-
tion. and that they are for the most
mart people who manifest excessive piety
or lead a solitary life. AND surely,
sergeant, you are familiar with the SELL
rnutilation Of soldiers to escape service
The most common method used by tnem
Is to place their hand over the muzzie
of the gun and blow their fingers on
Vance closed the book.
And don't forget that the girl was
homeless. desperate. and unhappy. WITH
everything to win and nothing to lose:
She would probably have committed
suicide If she had not worked out the
plan of the murders. A superilclal
wound in the shoulder meant little 10
her in view of what she was to gam ny
it. And women have an almost innIaIe
canacitv for self-immolation. With
Ada it was part of her abnormal con-
iition. No. sergeant: the Self-shootlng
was perfectly consistent in the clrcum-
But in the back!" Heath looked
dumfounded. That's what gets me.
Whoever heard? ~,
"Just a moment" Vance took up VOL
ume II of the "Handbuch" and opened
II to a marked page. Gross, for in
stance. has heard of many such cases
in fact, they're quite common on the
Continent. And his record OF them m
dubitably gave Ada the idea for shoot
ing herself in the back. Here's a single
paragraph culled from many pages OF
similar cases: That you should not pc
deceived by the seat Of the wound Is
nroved bv the following two cases. In
the Vienna Prater man killed himself
in the presence of several people by
shooting himself in the back OF the head
with a revolver. without the testimony
of several witnesses nobody would have
accepted the theory of suicide. A soldier
killed himself by shot with his mill
tary rife through the back, by fixing
the rifle in a certain position and then
living down over It. Here again the po-
sition of the wound seemed to exclude
the theory of suicide.
wait a minute!" Heath heaved HIM
self forward and shook his cigar at
Vance. what about the gun? Sproot
entered Adas room right after the shot
was fred, and there wasn't no sign OF
a gunl"
Vance. without answering, merely
turned the pages Of Gross "Handbuch''
to where another marker protruded, and
began translating:
Early one morning the authorities
were informed that the corpse of muir
dered man had been found. At the spot
indicated the body was discovered OF a
grain merchant. A. NJ, supposed to be
we'll to do man, face downward with a
gunshot wound behind the ear. The
bullet, after passing through the brain,
had lodged in the frontal bone above
the left eye. The place where the