The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1939-07-06

plenty Of chances to steal some of
Kitty Leaford's pills, and he had a
chance to drop some of them into
her milk that night, when he went
to the kitchen for glass of water.
"And he had chance to dope the
milk the Hurders drank, too. He
came for cup of tea, in the kitch-
en-, that night-got himself some
milk out of the bottle. could have
drugged the milk then.
st don't know whether he did that
or not. It doesn't matter. But ]
know he started the fire. He was
alone on the ground floor of the
Bowdon house, his mother and Mrs.
Bowdon upstairs. He slipped out
and came over here. There's an
electric light above the Taines'
back door. You'll find the bulb is
broken and the edge of the socket
is fused. Asa made a short-circuit
there, and then he raced back and
got into the Bowdon dining-room
again before Mrs. Tame came down.
stairs.
"And he proved tonight that he
was insanely ready to kill, that he
had murder in him. He tried to
kill Rab, and he'd made his plans
to kill June and Mr.. Hurder too.
Asa convicted himself tonight" He
added sternly: "And-executed him.
self too. Saved you the trouble,
Heale."
Heale stood silent awhile; the day
frightened, and the sun began to
burn away the clouds. The man
said at last: you know, I kind Of
hate this. I'm sorry for these folks
up here. Four of them dead, in
less than month. They've had
about enough, it looks to me-"
Tope smiled family. YES" he
agreed; and he said gravely: "Out-
side of a few people who won't
talk, this thing tonight might pass
as an accident, Inspector. Cars
have smashed into trees before"
As Heale considered this, Tope
added: You've never charged Mr..
Leaford, have you? Nothing in the
newspapers"
mo, just held him." Heale re-
piled. ''He was willing to stand for
that, wait till something happened"
Tope nodded; and then he looked
toward the road and chuckled. A
car had stopped In front of the
house; young Doctor Derrie swung
to the ground and came briskly to-
ward them across the lawn.
The Medical Examiner greeted
them cheerfully
What's wrong, Healer" he asked.
more trouble up here?"
Heale hesitated. "Why, they had
a smash-up-car piled into a tree"
he explained. ASA Taine's dead,
and Rab got crack In the head"
Derrie nodded. Bad" he said
gravely. Then he looked at Tope
and grinned. 81 suppose you're try
ing to make a murder out of this
too" he suggested in amused de-
rision.
But Tope shook his head. "Why,
no, Doc" he said mildly. No, it was
an accident, / guess. Matter of
fact" he added, 1--WE come around
to your way of thinking on Mrs.
Leaford too. Guess you were right.
Guess it was an accident, just the
way you said"
The young doctor chuckled.
Sure" he agreed triumphantly.
ST told you so. You've been seeing
COLLINS In the dark, old man." He
said: well, I'll go in and take
look at them
He turned into the house, and
Inspector Heale looked at Tope.
What do you aim to do now?"
Heale asked; and Tope hesitated,
but Miss Moss said cheerfully:
why, I think wei wake Clint
and June, and go down and get her
father out of your jail, and go
home"
Heale chuckled. ''Pn telephone
down, fix that for you about Mr..
Leaford,' he agreed. He went into
the house to do so.
Tope stood still, suddenly tired.
But Miss Moss Rugged tight to his
arm, and she smiled proudly up at
him, and her eyes were shining.
"You know, my dear" she said,
you're a grand mani"
He grinned uncomfortably, wiped
his mouth with his hand; and she
rose on tiptoe to kiss him. Then
they went together across the lawn
to rouse Clint and June.
THE END