The Coolidge examiner., 1935-01-18

F
wasn't. There's something dlabol-
zealand humorous - about this
case. Humorous Ia q grim. satlrical
sense. Some one miscalcuiatei
Somew here--fhe murderer was sit
ting In a game with the cards
stacked against him. Positive
~ amaxln' -
'But the facts" protested Mark
ham.
"oh. your facts are quite correct.
As you lawyers say. they're Irresisi-
lble. But yog have overlooked ad-
dltlonal facts"
sFor instanceT'
Regard yon bedroom slippers" F"
Vance pointed 10 the foot Of The
bed where a pair ot red slippers
were neatly arranged. And then
regard these heavy boots which the
corpse is wearing. And yet he has
on hls dressing gown. and Is sitting
In his easy chair A bit incongru-
Gus. whAt9 Why did the hedouistlc
and luxury loving Coe not change
bis footwear 20 something more re
laxing for this great moment In bis
lfe9 Aud note that haste was not
a factor. Ills robe is neatly but
toned: and the glrdlc In tied In an
admirable boa knot We can hard.
~ assume that he suddenly decld.
ed on suicide halfway through bis
changing from street clothes 10
negllgee And set. Markham. some
thing must have stopped him
something must have compelled him
10 sit down. stretch his legs out.
aud close bis eyes before be had
nnlshed the operation OF making
himself sartorially comfortable"
"Your reasoning II not aliogeth.
er convincing. Markham coun;ered.
- man might conceivably wear
heavy shoes with a dressing gown. "
Perhaps. Vance nodded 'T
than't be narrow minded In these
matters. but. assuming Coe 10 n
suicide. why should be have chosen
this chair facing the door, A man
bent on doing a workmanlike Job OF
shooting himself would instructive.
liz SIT up stra lght. whore be could
perhaps brace his arms and steady
bis hand lf be were going 20 sit
by the desk al all he would. | think
have chosen the straight chair
where be could resi- both elbows on
the top and thus insure n steady.
accurate aim"
Ellis arm ls on the end OF the
desk" put In Heath.
"Oh. qulte-and Ia a rather awk-
ward position-eh, what1 Cobsld-
erlng how low the easy chair Is. Coe
could not possibly have bad his el-
bow on the desk when be pulled the
trigger. II -. the shot would have
gone over his head Ills arm was
necessarily lower than the desk
when the gun was nred--lf he fred
II. Therefore. we must assume
that after the bullet had entered his
brain. he lifted bis night arm to the
desk and arranged II neatly 10 It's
present position"
Maybe yes and maybe no. NUT
tered Heath. after a pause during
which be studied the body and
raised his own right hand 10 his
forehead. Then be added aggres
slyely But you can't get away
from that bolted door"
Vance sighed
Il wish I could get away from H.
IL boihers me horribly II II WASH {
for the fact that the door was bolt
ed on the inside. I'd be more In
clined 10 agree that II was suicide.
A man OF Goes intelligence wouldn't
plan suicide and then deliberately
make IL difficult for anyone to reach
his body. what could he have
gained by securely boiling the door
on the inside so that IL would have
to be broken in7 The act OF shoot.
Ing would have been over In a sec
ond: and there was no danger OF
his being disturbed In bis own bed
room. Had be killed himself he
would have wanted Gamble-or
some one else-to ind him az the
earliest possible moment he would
certainly not have placed deliberate
difficulties In their way"
But" argued Markham. "your
very theoory contradicts itself.
Who but Coe could have bolted the
door on the lnside?"
NO one apparently" answered
Vance with a dispirited sigh. "And
that's what makes the affair so
dashed appealin'. The situation
reads thus: A man is murdered :
then he rises and bolts the door
after the slayer has departed and
later he arranges himself In an
easy chair so as to make II appear
like suicide"
That's swell theory" grunted
Heath dlsgustedly. Anyway. well
know more about II when Doc Dore-
mus gets here And my bet Is he's
going 10 wash the whole case up
by calling IL suicide"
And my bet is. Sergeant" Vance
replied mildly. that he's going 10
do nothing OF the sort. have an
Irresistible feelin' that Doctor Dore-
mus viii inform us thar II Is not
suicide"