Year: 1873

coroner, and in the mean time made care.


full examination of the premises but discov.


cred no place where an entrance had or


could DO made, unless il was through the


window Of the room in which the dead body


lay, and Is this was in the third story, where


the assassin made hiy was into the building


was not 30 plain as il might have been. The


coroner soon made his appearance, sRd after


empanelllng . jury It was decided ths, tho


" deceased came TO his dss,h by having his


throat cu,; ,he deed having been performed


BY the use of a sharp instrument in the hands


of an assassin" Search was Immediately in


situted for the murderer but this was =
more difficult case # anything than the for,
mer, no clue whatever being obtained. | say


no clue, but forgo, slight one which the
Investigations of the coroner brought forth; 4
curious silver button being deeply imbedded
in the flesh Of one of the old mans hands,
and which had taken possession OF. Ny
suspicious naturally fell upon the young
gentleman of the previous evening as the
murderer, but as / took 10 particular notice
! Of him any more than TO observe his form,
this would be Of no aid 10 me in my search,
In my examination Of the premises one thing
that had attracted my attention was window


in the adjoining house which appeared to be
exactly on level with that Of the room N
which the dead body was found, and that
anyone so inclined, could easily gain an en-
trance by placing plank across, as there
was but a short distance between the two
buildings. This was the only way that ap-
pcarcd at all plausible, and in an instant the
thought flashed across my mind that Mt that
very house lived a young man who as far
as height and bodily proportions we're con.
cerncd, rescmbled the stranger Of my former
experience. was 10th to believe that such
could be the case, but OF late he was in the
habit of trequenting gambling dens and
knew that person in such a condition would
use any means to obtain the necessary funds.
| was somewhat acquainted with him, and
this enabled me to keep close watch upon
his actions without his observing it, For a
while all went on as usual, but | soon found
that he had taken to gambling again, and the
large sums Of money that he staked only
served 70 convince lAe more firmly of his
guilt. About this time he took to drinking,
and when | saw him on the street he always
avoided me if possible One night he had
been drinking rather more than usual and
was scarcely able to staggcr from enc lamp





post to another. Taking hold of his arm
led him home, and was finally obliged to
carry him up to his room After had de-
posted him on the bed | turned to leave, and
uuintcntiOnaIly stepped into q closet, mistak.
ing this for the bedroom door, and rccolect.
ing the silver button, made good use of my
time. On y peg not to little remote from the
rest of the garments, hung a queer looking
coat, and as tnrned this over light vest
was discovered, and on this very vest were
the identical silver buttons. This Of itself
would have been sufficient to crIminaic him
had | not also on further examination fouGd
stains Of blood upon it, had hoped for the
parents sake that this would not be the result
but here was proof but too plain Hastily
catching up the coat replaced il on the peg,
and apologizng to his father who had just
then entered the room, and taking the right
door, proceeded slowly homeward ! was
obliged to arrest him on the following day,
and as produced the silver button, thrown
of his guard he confessed all. He was sen
fenced to Imprisonment for life, but bsing un.
able 10 stand the confinement, only lived
about year, 5.


MARsEILLEs, ILL, Oct 2lss, 1873