Year: 1873


shot from the position he must necessarily
have occupied at the time, and that he
knew how to use the weapon was also man.
ifest, for no chance shot could have been
so fatal in thousand trials. This, then,
was conclusive evidence, and though /
made the discovery, communicated it
to only one.


The other discovery was no less impor-
tant. The man who climbed by the spout
had but three fingers on the right hand
This was plainly seen by the finger-marks
on the metal, the spout was marked but in
four places by his right hand-the thumb
and three fingers; the index finger was
gone.


gave instructions not to allow any one
to meddle with the spout, and deputized a
constable to see that my orders were strict
ly obeyed


l next questioned the servants of the
late Mr. Simonds, four in number, and elic-
tied the following information


On the evening previous to the finding of
the dead body of Mr.. Simonds, a female
mendicant called at the mansion, and re-
quested permission to stop over night.
The woman, a delicate-looking creature,
seemed much worn out by her tramp during
the Gay, and the kind-hearted cook bade her
stay, at the same time asking her to take
cup of tea and something to eat.


The poor creature was half starved, and
ate ravenously after satisfying her hunger,
she laid down on bed the cook had pre-
pared on the floor for her, and in a short
time fell asleep.


The woman had small black travelling
head before lying down.


Next morning the woman had gone be-
fore any one had arisen, and, strange to
say, she had left the black valise lying in
some bushes in the rear Of the house. 1t
was not discovered until after the depart
ure of Mr. Croft, the detective.
instantly asked to see the valise. 1t
was produced, and broke the lock without
hesitation, hoping l might get some furth-
er clue to the perpetrators, presuming that
this probably pretendedD mendicant was
an accomplice.


The valise contained absolutely nothing
it was empty. / was on the point of
throwing it aside, when felt the rustling
of paper in the lining. fished it from
its hiding place. 1t proved to be letter |;
its date was three weeks old. The epvel-
ope had no address on it, nor had the let
ter any signature. 1t ran thus:


IPSWICH, June 2, 1850.


"Call on me, No. 30 Hollings Court, and
ask for me. l have fat job for you and
your girl. Call between the hours of nine
and ten in the evening. Burn this letter
after you have read it,"


This was all the letter contained ; no
names were mentioned. 1t was evident
that the request to destroy the note had
not been complied with-why, could
only conjecture. Either the recipient
meant to keep it for future use, or it had
been lost sight of; for when found it, it
was imbedded within the folds of the coarse
Innings of the valise in such manner as
almost to escape the notice of detective
bent upon getting every clue he possibly
could to ferret out murderer The read
er has seen, how even /, came very near
throwing away this, perhaps, important
document.


/ made strict inquiries whether anything
had been purloined by this woman, and
was answered in the negative; at least,
they supposed not, for nothing had been
missed.


The kitchen door leading out into the
yard, as well as the gate, had been left un-
fastened by the woman. followed the
path she had probably taken when leaving
the mansion, and came upon clump of
bushes where were strewed some scraps of
newspaper; these | eXamined, and saw
they were pieces Of London paper.


While mechanically placing the pieces
of newspaper in my pocket, ] cast my
eyes around the spot, and presently they
alighted on square cut glass bottle of
about four ounces capacity. Ipicked it up
the cork was in IL, and the bottle contained
limpid liquid, perhaps two ounces. A
label on it designated that in contained
chloroform. opened it, and was soon
convinced that such was the case.


The label had on 1t the business place of
an apothecary well known to me. con-
cluded to keep the bottle for the purpose
Of ascertaining who had purchased it and
its contents.


had no doubt now that the subtle drug
had been used as means to stupefy the
inmates Of the mansion while the murder