Coulee City dispatch. [volume] (Coulee City, Wash.) 19??-19??, 1936-11-05
PRELUDE

My name is Mary Auery. an, forty
six years old and ,uido,U. have lived
all my life in the little harbor to,on OF
Satuit. Massachusetts, the scene OF the
famous Second Head murder. The old
Auery house on Second Head has been
my home for the twenty-five years that
hare elapsed since married Mark Auery.
1t ,0as on my place that the murder tUas
committed Because OF that and for other
story OF that murder. say the ,Uhole story
because some of its details haze neuer
reached the newspapers. Those facts are
buried deep in my memory and in that
OF one other person. shall put this
manuscript in my safe deposit boz with
instructions that it may not be opened
until my death.
Murder in Satuit!
1t seemed almost as fabulous as a COM
munistic uprising among the fo,Uers in an
old fashioned garden. And indeed ,Uhen
the murder occurred ,Ue, the citizens Of
Sotuit, became almost as helpless as a
gardener in the face OF such revolution.
Hitherto, our equipment for handling
crime had been meager. We had police
station, a chief of police, fetU policemen,
mainly engaged in traffic duty; everything
in short but crime. Patrick O'Brien, our
chief Of police, ,oho bore the leading part
in soluing the mystery, is of course a
citizen OF Satuit, kno,Un and loDed by all
OF us. Indeed Patrick and ,Uere gradu-
ated the same year from high school.
Patrick ,Uas president OF the class and
tUas treasurer. 1t iUas always race be-
t,oeen us t,oo in the matter of marks. In
the head OF the class.
haze noticed that all mystery stories
begin With description Of the crime;
then OF the locale. l, an amateur, an,
going to reverse that process. First OF all,
l am going to describe Second Head
where the murder occurred. Second Head
is one OF four cliffs, rather unimagina-
tiuely named First, Second, Third and
Fourth Head, Which stretch east into
Massachusetts bay. To the ,oest of Second
Head runs road, ending north at First
Head and south at the Indian river Which
separates Second and Third Head. Be-
yond this road, to the ,0est stretches broad
marsh, penetrated at high tide by tiny
estuary from, the harbor; and beyond the
marsh the rest of the big township.
Roughly speaking, the houses on Sec
ond Head aohich are most intimately con-
nected ,vith this story lie in big oral.
The center OF this big DUAL is a small oral
"a kind of Common. Here a marble
basin, filled Nth ,Uater, supports a colony
Of goldfish. Every family on Second Head
pays small fixed annual sun, to keep
this scrap of Common mo,oed and orderly.
We adults call it The Egg. Successive
generations of children haze always
called it Cat although as far as
kno,U, only te,U cats ever summed them
seLues there.
Next to ne-a ,Uide field bordered by
high lilac hedges, interuening-liv a
childless couple, Mr.. and Mrs. Peter
Sto,o. l an, very fond Of the Sto,os Peter
is painter and a good one. Matte StoW
is perhaps the plainest ,ooman in Gods
loorld; she is also perhaps the incest.
Their house, an old one and big one.
its lo,oer floor amplifed by ,oide glassed
in piazsas adapted perfectly for the pur-
pose Of entertaining, is one of the most
charming in Satuit Every summer for
twenty-five years, the Sto,Us hare giuen a
masquerade. 1t is the social event of the
sedson.
1t ,Uas one OF the guests Of this years
masquerade tufO tUas murdered
Next up the slant OF Second Head to.
Ward the ocean-to the east-come tUo
houses belonging to Doctor and Mrs
Ceary. Doctor Ceary is surgeon ,oith an
office In Boston. The Cearys occupy the
one nearest the ocean and their married
daughter Edith and her husband, Alfred
Bray, the one nearest the Sto,Us. haze
ultOays knotvn the Gearys and OF course