Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-03-01
The Wrist
Mark
By
]. S. Fletcher

governor of Southmoor, and Mr.. John
son, my clerk, and myself are in DOS
session Of certain facts about this case
which we have kept to ourselves until
we were assured of them, but I now
think that the time has come for a
plain statement of them to the police
When Mr.. Madison is in possession OF
| them"
"Oh, of course, if you've been keep
ing things back!" interrupted Madison
with gesture of displeaSure-"if you
know things"
II think I'd better tell you why ]
have come here" broke in Anstie. Il
am on the Prison Commission. I was
/ also very well acquainted with the late
/ Col. Engleden. At the time of his muir
! der was away from the office-a
touch OF inf1uenZa-and I did not re-
turn to it until yesterday. 1 found a
good deal of correspondence awaiting
me-amongst it a letter, marked
Strictly Private and Confidential, from
! Col. Engleden. Now I was well aware.
! from reading the newspapers during my
| illness of what had happened-that Col.
| Engleden had been mysteriously muir
dered. here at Barowsburgh. On open
ing his letter I found that it had been
written at Barowsburgh, at the Castle
! Hotel, on the afternoon of the day on
which he met his death. And the con-
| tents of the letter were such that after
a hurried consultation with my official
colleagues and superiorS I fastened
here with all the speed 1 could. And /
am bound to tell you, superintendent,
that, in view of what Col Engleden
wrote to me in that letter Mr.. Seton
| Engleden is probably right when he SAYS
! he believes the soldiers tale to be a
| truthful one! The solution of the mys-
| terry lies-elsewhere!"
! Madison shook his head. His atti-
tude was that of a man who has built
up structure which he believed to be
sound and who sees it in danger from
an unexpected sinking of the founda-
ton.
"Of course, don't know what's in
this letter." he nuttered. what I
know is that on the evidence I brought
forward against them"
Yes, yes-valuable circumstantial
evidence, no doubt" said Anstie, "but
circumstantial evidence, you know, eh?
| Well, propose to read Col. Engleden's
letter to you, and then, If anybody can
suggest anything, we must consult. Let
US be private somewhere-your office.
eh, superintendent"
Madison, still chafing under the up-
setting of his plans, led the way to his
private room; Anstie produced a letter.
He showed the envelope to his COM
panionS.
There you arel" he said. "You see
the poSt-mark, date and so on. If I
had not been away from my Office and
had had this letter when it was deliv-
cred there, dareSay you would all have
been saved a great deal of trouble.
Yeti don't know! For I may as well
tell you, gentlemen, before read the
letter to you, that 1t is a most puz-
zllng and ambiguous letter-and pos
s1bly a little confusing Still-this
throws a sinister light on his murder,
and we must try to puzzle it out. /
Will read the letter:
my Dear Anstie: believe I men
toned to you when we last met that
1 was about to take a holiday in the
north of England, mainly for the pur-
pose OF visiting certain towns of his
torlcal and archaeological interest. Here
l am. at the outset of my holiday, at
Barowsburgh-and I am also, at the
very beginning of what I had hoped
would be an essentially pleasant time,
faced with very disagreeable busi-
ness springing out of past of which
wish to retain no more than unavoid-
able memory. The fact is 1 am sorely
upset and puzzled by chance dis
covery which have made in this town,
and hasten to write to you about it,
as I want to know what I should do
II shall have to ask you to 60 back
in your mind to an event of IL years
ago. You will remember, think, that
while-at that tirne-I was governor
OF Southmoor an event occurred which
was very disconcerting to me in my
official capacity and occaSioned great
deal of inquiry refer to the escape
OF two convictS, Smelling and Hardle.
will just recall the circumstances, as
you may not remember them as clearly
as do. Smelling, man of educa-
ton and of some position, by profess
sion q solicitor had been cnnvicted of