Year: 1873

From the Galaxy for June.


AFourfold AIibi.


A city boarding house is proverbially
addicted to gossip. When, therefore, the
twenty-six boarders at Mrs Burntash's
family boarding-house learned that Mr.
Anderson, the occupant of the two pair
front. had been found dead on his bed
with dagger sticking through his heart.
they felt that fortune had been kind to
them in presenting them with topic of
ineXhaustible merit.


For, in the first place, the question
whether the dead man had been murdered
or had committed suicide was one admit
ting of 4 vast deal of discussion Then,
supposng that he had committed suicide,
the investigation of his motive would be a
rich vein in the working of which unim-
aginable scandal might be unearthed IT,
on the other hand he had been murdered,
wide field of conjecture as to the mur-
derer would be at once opened. In what
ever light the tragedy might be viewed,
it was full of promise to the lover of gos-
sip. So the twenty-six boarders at once
fell upon it, and discussed it all over the
house with the utmost enthusiasm.


With, however, two or three exceptions.
The wife of the dead man naturally did
not Join in the general conversational up
roar, neither did his brother. who occu-
pied the hall bedroom next to the room of
Mr. Anderson, and who forgot his own
grief in his tender sympathy tor the great
er loss of the wife. Then there was Mr..
Banks a gentleman who was on bad
terms with the deceased, and who quar-
relied publicly with him over question
of politics only the day before the tragedy.
Mr. Banks said little about the matter,
and his reticence was commended and
initiated by Mrs. Stein, a fascinating and
beautiful widow, who had been but three
days at Mrs. Burntash's but was already
the belle of the boarding house.


Soon after Mrs. Anderson, entering
their room, found her husband quite dead,
Mr.. James Anderson, his brother, in
formed the police, and coroner's inquest
was held the next day. A physician swore.
that the position in which the dagger was
found was quite consistent with the the ory
of suicide. Mrs. Anderson testified that
on the evening in question she had left
her husband in their room in his usual
health and spirits, at eight o'clock in the
evening, in order to call on friend liv-





she returned and found him dead. Symp-
toms of the riq0} mO2tis were deeply ap-
parent showing that he had been dead
some time. She was sure of the exact
time when she left him and when she dis
covered his DEATH for on each occasion
she had glanced at the clock in the room.
She had lived happily with her husband,
and could imagine no reason why he
should have committed suicide. He had
no enemies, so far as she was aware, al
though he was not on good terms with
Mr.. Banks, whom he disliked, and whom,
he said had insulted him. The dagger
was her husbands, and was habitually
used by him as a paper cutter. Mr.. James
Anderson testified that he knew nothing
of the tragedy until Mrs. Anderson
knocked at his door and cried out that her
husband was dead. He had heard no
noise whatever in the room of deceased
during the evening of his death. Mr..
Banks admitted that he had quarrelled
with Mr.. Anderson the day before his
death, and might have said he "would be
even with him yet" If SO, it was not a
threat, but an idle remark that really
meant nothing. He had heard of his
death after the discovery had been made
by Mrs. Anderson, though he conld not
remember the precise hour. He was in
his room at the time, and hearing a noise
in the hall came out to see what was the
matter. He met a servant who told him
Mr.. Anderson had been murdered. Mrs.
Stein, the widow, who occupied the room
adjoining the dead mans room in the
rear, was the last witness, and her testi-
mony was substantially the same as that
Of Mr.. Banks, with tie addition that she
was in the parlor with the latter gentle
man from seven o'clock until after nine;
thus establishing an alibi both for him and
for herself. The jury found verdict to
the effect that Mr.. Anderson came to his
death by being stabbed with q dagger,
but professed an inability to decide
whether it was. q case of suicide or of
murder. The dead man was duly buried,
his will proved, and his property, the
whole of which was Willed to his wife,
taken in charge by his brother as execu
tor, and both brother and widow re-
manned at the boarding house, and MAIN
tanned every outward appearance of deep
and sincere grief.


Thus the problem how Mr.. Anderson
came to his death seemed to be generally
given up by every one as unsolvable. A
week after the funeral, however, new
boarder made his appearance; middle
aged man, apparently unmarried with
plenty OF leisure on his hands, and with
a genial. hearty manner that made him
universally popular. Mr.. Pryor was not
a detective, as the reader has possibly
supposed, but simply an idle man with a
passion for solving difficult puzzles He
had read the report Of the coroner's in
quest, and had made up his mind that he
would yet discover what the jurymen ad-
mitted to be beyond their powers of
divination. He therefore entered himself
in the ranks of Mrs. Burntash's boarders,
and Immediately proceeded to work out
the problem he had set himself to solve.


His first move was to make the ac-
quaintance of the physician who had tes-
tified at the inquest. A slight cold, for
which he consulted him, was sufficient for
the purpose, and he easily led the con-
versation to the subject that occupied his
thoughts. The physician described the
position in which the dagger was found,
and though he admitted the possibility of
the theory of suicide, he evidently in
murdered. He could, however, give no
reason Tor this, except that man VINO
committed suicide by stabbing, would
probably instinctively withdraw his
weapon from the wound as soon as he
felt the pain produced by it.


Not much was to be gained from this
quarter, and the amateur solver of crimi-
nal puzzles set himself to watch the in
mates of his boarding house. He soon
decided that if murder or suicide had been
committed, one of the four witnesses at
the inquest who resided in the house
ought to be able to throw more light up
ON the matter Az for tho root nf the