The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1936-10-29
PRELUDE

NY HuHS - uW1 UNI IOIIJ'
sir years old and tUidOrU. haze liUed
all my life in the little hrbOr tOrUn OF
Sdtuit, 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 l married Mark Auery.
IL I0dS on my place that the murder tUas
committed. Because of that and for other
reasons I hare decided to tUrite the tUhole
story of that murder. l say the tohoIe 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. l shall put this
manuscript in my safe deposit box Uith
instructions that il may not be opened
until my death.
Murder in Satuit!
Ii seemed almost as fabulous as a COM
n1unistic uprising among the fot0ers in an
old fashioned garden. And indeed when
the murder occurred zoe, the citizens of
Satuit, became almost as helpless as a
gardener in the face of such revolution.
Ihitherto, our equipment for handling
crime had been meager. We had a police
station, a chief OF police, a fetU policemen,
mainly engaged in traffic duty; everything
in short but crime. Patrick O'Brien, our
chief of police, uho bore the leading part
in SOLVING the mystery, is Of course a
citizen of Satuit, knotUn and loved by all
of us. Indeed Patrick and roere gradu-
dted the same year from high school.
Patrick teas president OF the class and I
trUeen us tUo in the matter of marks. In
the end Patrick ICON out and finished at
the head of the class.
| hare noticed that all mystery stories
begin Yith description of the crime;
then of the locale. l, an amateur, am
am going to describe Second Head
rohere the murder occurred. Second Head
is one of four cliffs, rather uninagina-
tiUeIy named First, Second, Third and
Fourth Head, r0hich stretch east into
Massachusetts bay. To the rOest OF Second
Head runs road, ending north at First
Head and south at the Indian river rUhich
separates Second and Third Head. Be.
yOnd this road, to the ,Oest stretches broad
marsh. penetrated at high tide by tiny
estuary from the hdrbOr; and beyond the
marsh the rest of the big township.
Roughly speaking, the houses on Sec
ond Head Uhich are most intimately con-
nected With this story lie in big ORAL.
The center of this big oral is a small oval
a kind of Common. Here a marble
basin, filled Vith tUater, supports a colony
OF goldfish. Every family on Second Head
pays small fixed annual sum to keep
this scrap Of Common niorOed and orderly.
We adults call it The Egg. Successive
generations OF children hare GlrUays
called it Cat Park-aIthough as far as I
knOtU, only fetO cats ever summed them
SelUeS there.
Next to me-a toide field bordered by
high lilac hedges, interuening-liue
childIess couple, Mr.. and Mrs. Peter
StotO l am very fond OF the Stotos. Peter
is a painter and good one. Matte StOt0
is perhaps the pLdinest I0onlan in Gods
toorld; she is also perhaps the incest.
Their house, an old one and big one.
IFS lotUer floor ampIifed by Wide glassed.
in piaszas adapted perfectly for the pur-
pose of entertaining, is one OF the most
charming in Sdtuit. Every summer for
twenty-five years, the StotUs hare given a
masquerade. IL is the social event of The
season.
Ii toas one OF the guests OF this years
masquerade i0ho t0as murdered
Next up the slant OF Second Head TO
tVard the oce0n-to the easf-come fioo
houses belonging to Doctor and Yrs.
Geary. Doctor Geary is a surgeon pith an
office in Boston. The Gearys occupy the
one nearest the ocean and their married
Edith and her husband, Alfred
Bray, the one nearest the Sf0iUs. l hare
always knotUn the Cedrys and OF course
hare Uatched Edith gro,O up. I like them
all, although none OF them thrills me es.
pecialIy; at best they are little innocu.
GUS. The blond Brays are an average
happy young couple. Both the Cearys
and the Brays ,Uent to the masquerade.
Their first connection tUith the murder
icas when zoe called Doctor Ceary after
my maid, Sarah Darbe, found the body
OF the murdered man.
Next to the Gearys, and still on the
ocean side, is the house occupied for the
summer by Doctor Marden and his STEP
Big, uery beautiful, more
modern than the rest and hence naturally
more Convenient and infinitely less inter