The Skyland post. [volume] (West Jefferson, N.C.) 193?-1988, 1935-01-17

ed eyes, TO Doremus.
.sCan you determine what killed
him, Doctor ?"
If given time" Doremus had be-
come sil1en: he did not like the turn
of eWeilts.
sts'I s.say, Doctor" drawled Vance,
what's the state of rigor morris in
oour victim 2"
'.It's well advanced. Dead eight to
] twelve hours"
sHGah't you come closer than that"
asked Heath sourly.
Give me a chance" The medical
eexaniner was irritable. "I'm going to
-stak q closer look at this guy before
Ego. Lend me a hand, Sergeant,
7aId wen put him on the. -"
Just a moment, Doctor" Vance
sspoke peremptorily. "Take a look at
.'the hand on the desk. Is it clutching
stherev6lver tightly?"
He's clutching ,le gun tight, all
right" With difficulty Doremus bent
Goes fingers and removed the revolt
yer, taking great care not to make
Ffingerprints on it.
Heath came forward and gingerly
inspected the weapon. Then he drop
ped it; in large pocket handkerchief,
and placed it in large pocket hand
kerchief, and placed it on the blotter.
aAnd, Doctor" pursued Vance,
"was Goes finger pressed directly
against the trigger"
"Eep," was Doremus' curt answer.
"Then we may assume that the re-
voIver was placed in Goes hand be-
fore rigor mortis set in, what?"
"Well, I'll tell you. He'-pointing
to Goes body may have had the
gun in his hand when he died. I
wasn't present, v understand. And if
sthe gun was already in his hand, then
nobody put it there later"
ain that case how could it have
D5been fired ?"
at couldn't. But how do you know
it was fired? There's no way of tell
ing until the post norton whether
the bullet in his head came from the
gun he was holding"
'sDo the caliber of the revolver and
the wound correspond"
eyes, I'd say so. The guns .38,
and the wound looks the same size"
"And," put in Heath, tone cham
Der of the guns been fired"
Markham nodded, and looked at the
medical examiner.
"If it should prove to be true, Doc
tor, that the revolver in Goes hand
fired the shot in his head, then we
could assume, could we not, as Mr..
Vance suggested, that the revolver
/ had been placed in the dead mans
hand before rigor mortis set i'm"
sSure you could" Doremus' tone
was greatly modified. Nobody could
have forced the gun into his hand and
made it appear natural after rigor
/ morris had set in"
Though Vance's eyes were moving
idly about the room, he was listening
closely to this conversation.
ssThere is" he remarked, in low
voice, aanother possibility. Far-fetch-
ed, I'll admit, but tenable. Men
have been known t0sdo queer things
after death. There are recorded in
stances of suicides who have shot
themselves and then thrown the
weapon thirty feet way. DR.. Hans
Gross in his 'Handbuch fur Inter
suchungsrichter'
aBut that hardly applies here
/ Mo- Vance drew deeply on his
cigarette. "Quite so. Just feeting
thought. !"
Markham studied Vance moment;
then turned back to Doremus.
did Coe die of that blow on the
head?
The medical examiner teetered on
his toes, and pursed his lips.
aTIeaa'S something funny here.
TIE Been an internal hemorrhage
Iat might be expected from q
severe blow on the head. Blood in the
mouth and all that. But, Mr..
Markham, Doremus spoke impress
sively that blow on the left frontal
wasn't powerful enough to kill man.
A slight fracture, but nothing seri-
Gus just enough to stun him.
Nope, he didn't die Of concussion or.
: fractured skrll.D