New Britain herald., 1929-06-04
NEW BRITAIN DAILY HERALD, TUESDAY, JUNE 4 1929.

Well. whose is it. You look .. if you know something"
 Tt belongs to Nathan Hyde. Hen- ry." announced significantly.
 Hyde, Hyde." he muttered in perplexity. Tt isn't like him to put valuable thing down and forget it."
 I chuckled. He must have been deeply stirred. Taking snuff from his Louis snuff-box is q sort of . ceremony with Hyde."
 Henry nodded reluctantly, pock- eting the snuff-box. Coming upon the vein was enough to make him forget it, eh? We'll, we had already concluded he knew something about the mine."
 His tone implied that there was nothing more to it than that. but l knew the snuff-box had given him something to think about. and l laughed to myself as we went on into the timbered passage. We had gone some distance in the di- rection of the original entrance when stopped abruptly. clutching Deacon by the arm.
 went little sick, for I have no stomach for the grewsome. I had almost tripped over the skeleton of tall man. It lay face up. arms folded. A few rags clung to the bones. high-laced boots covered the feet and ankles stout leather belt encircled the waist. Undoubtedly the skeleton had lain there many years. but from the uneven distri- button of dust on it I judged 1t had been disturbed recently.
 Deacon looked at me gayly. Who is it, John?"
 I knew very well who it was, and so did he. Dropping to our knees. I gently ran my hands through the dust and gravel around and under the skeleton. I brought to light two bone buttons. four metal ones. a bit of candle, a two-inch wire nail and a stub of indelible pencil.
 Somebody else has been at him." Deacon muttered. "Furie probably"
 See this!" I calculated.
 The fifth right rib of the skele- ton was nicked and split in the region of the heart.
 Bullet. by the look of it." Dea- con commented.
 Here's something else.." cried suddenly.
 My fingers rummaging below the surface dust beneath the skull had encountered crackly substance. I drew it forth-a small newspaper. yellow and brittle with age. In spite of my care it split in two as opened it and spread it on the floor of the tunnel. At the head of the front sheet was the legend:
 TORRIDITY FIREBRAND
 A Weekly Newspaper
 Torridity. Skull Valley. Cal.
 Monday, July 9th. 1896.
 Items of local interest occupied the front page. Gun Fight Along Main. Another Hold-up at Lundy's. Bad Medicine Closes Down. And so on.
 Part of the top margin of the third page had been torn off With it had gone the date line. We stared at the torn margin in si- fence. our hearts pounded in our ears. The curtain had lifted.
 This is where Furie got your pistol, John," Henry said at length.
 Yes. This is the pencil" I stared down at the remains below me. "'Jerry' = what were you to Andrew" I looked up at Deacon.
 T suppose this was Andrews reason for keeping the mine closed" he said huski'y. Its a good thing you found the note in that cart ridge. John."
 You mean you'd have assumed Andrew had killed this man him. self, 30 years ago?"
 He nodded. We should have had to. Andrew steadfastly refused
 
 to open the mine. Why? Because of what We have just found: the skeleton of a man who has been murdered. The inference would have been unacceptable" Demonstrating again the unre- liability of circumstantial evidence" remarked dryly. Here is my theory: Dillon killed Jerry 30 years ago, and he killed Andrew three days ago. He killed Andrew because Andrew had just found out that he, Dillon. had killed Jerry" |"
 Perhaps you are, right" Henry admitted wearily. But if you are right. why did Andrew leave this body here instead of giving it prop CT burial?"
 When we know that we shal! know what turned Alex Peterson