arresting face marred by a broken nose, which gave to him
a most unprepossessing, almost sinister, look. Yet he was
far from sinister. Rather, romantic and emotional. His
boyhood had been one of poverty and neglect, causing him
in his later and somewhat more successful years to look on
those with whom life had dealt more kindly as too favorably
treated. The son of a poor farmer’s widow, he had seen his
mother put to such straits to make ends meet that by the
time he reached the age of twelve he had surrendered
nearly all of the pleasures of youth in order to assist her.
And then, at fourteen, while skating, he had fallen and
broken his nose in such a way as to forever disfigure his
face. Thereafter, feeling himself handicapped in the
youthful sorting contests which gave to other boys the
female companions he most craved, he had grown
exceedingly sensitive to the fact of his facial handicap. And
this had eventually resulted in what the Freudians are
accustomed to describe as a psychic sex scar.
At the age of seventeen, however, he had succeeded in
interesting the publisher and editor of the Bridgeburg
Republican to the extent that he was eventually installed as
official local news-gatherer of the town. Later he came to be
the the Cataraqui County correspondent of such papers as
the Albany Times-Union and the Utica Star, ending
An American Tragedy
743
eventually at the age of nineteen with the privilege of
studying law in the office of one ex-Judge Davis Richofer, of
Bridgeburg. And a few years later, after having been
admitted to the bar, he had been taken up by several
county politicians and merchants who saw to it that he was
sent to the lower house of the state legislature for some six
consecutive years, where, by reason of a modest and at the
same time shrewd and ambitious willingness to do as he
was instructed, he attained favor with those at the capital
while at the same time retaining the good will of his home-
town sponsors. Later, returning to Bridgeburg and
possessing some gifts of oratory, he was given, first, the
position of assistant district attorney for four years, and
following that elected auditor, and subsequently district
attorney for two terms of four years each. Having acquired
so high a position locally, he was able to marry the
daughter of a local druggist of some means, and two
children had been born to them.
In regard to this particular case he had already heard from
Miss Saunders all she knew of the drowning, and, like the
coroner, had been immediately impressed with the fact that
the probable publicity attendant on such a case as this
appeared to be might be just what he needed to revive a
wavering political prestige and might perhaps solve the
problem of his future. At any rate he was most intensely
interested. So that now, upon sight of Heit, he showed
plainly the keen interest he felt in the case.
“Well, Colonel Heit?”
“Well, Orville, I’m just back from Big Bittern. It looks to me
as though I’ve got a case for you now that’s going to take
quite a little of your time.”
Heit’s large eyes bulged and conveyed hints of much more
than was implied by his non-committal opening remark.
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744
“You mean that drowning up there?” returned the district
attorney.
“Yes, sir. Just that,” replied the coroner.
“You’ve some reason for thinking there’s something wrong
up there?”
“Well, the truth is, Orville, I think there’s hardly a doubt that
this is a case of murder.” Heit’s heavy eyes glowed
somberly. “Of course, it’s best to be on the safe side, and
I’m only telling you this in confidence, because even yet I’m
not absolutely positive that that young man’s body may not
be in the lake. But it looks mighty suspicious to me, Orville.
There’s been at least fifteen men up there in row-boats all
day yesterday and to-day, dragging the south part of that
lake. I had a number of the boys take soundings here and
there, and the water ain’t more than twenty-five feet deep at
any point. But so far they haven’t found any trace of him.
They brought her up about one o’clock yesterday, after
they’d been only dragging a few hours, and a mighty pretty
girl she is too, Orville—quite young—not more than
eighteen or twenty, I should say. But there are some very
suspicious circumstances about it all that make me think
that he ain’t in there. In fact, I never saw a case that I
thought looked more like a devilish crime than this.”
As he said this, he began to search in the right-hand pocket
of his well-worn and baggy linen suit and finally extracted
Roberta’s letter, which he handed his friend, drawing up a
chair and seating himself while the district attorney
proceeded to read.
“Well, this does look rather suspicious, don’t it?” he
announced, as he finished. “You say they haven’t found him
yet. Well, have you communicated with this woman to see
what she knows about it?”
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745
“No, Orville, I haven’t,” replied Heit, slowly and meditatively.
“And I’ll tell you why. The fact is, I decided up there last
night that this was something I had better talk over with you
before I did anything at all. You know what the political
situation here is just now. And how the proper handling of a
case like this is likely to affect public opinion this fall. And
while I certainly don’t think we ought to mix politics in with
crime there certainly is no reason why we shouldn’t handle
this in such a way as to make it count in our favor. And so I
thought I had better come and see you first. Of course, if
you want me to, Orville, I’ll go over there. Only I was
thinking that perhaps it would be better for you to go, and
find out just who this fellow is and all about him. You know
what a case like this might mean from a political point of
view, if only we clean it up, and I know you’re the one to do
it, Orville.”
“Thanks, Fred, thanks,” replied Mason, solemnly, tapping
his desk with the letter and squinting at his friend. “I’m
grateful to you for your opinion and you’ve outlined the very
best way to go about it, I think. You’re sure no one outside
yourself has seen this letter?”
“Only the envelope. And no one but Mr. Hubbard, the
proprietor of the inn up there, has seen that, and he told me
that he found it in her pocket and took charge of it for fear it
might disappear or be opened before I got there. He said
he had a feeling there might be something wrong the
moment he heard of the drowning. The young man had
acted so nervous—strange-like, he said.”
“Very good, Fred. Then don’t say anything more about it to
any one for the present, will you? I’ll go right over there, of
course. But what else did you find, anything?” Mr. Mason
was quite alive now, interrogative, dynamic, and a bit
dictatorial in his manner, even to his old friend.
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746
“Plenty, plenty,” replied the coroner, most sagely and
solemnly. “There were some suspicious cuts or marks
under the girl’s right eye and above the left temple, Orville,
and across the lip and nose, as though the poor little thing
mighta been hit by something—a stone or a stick or one of
those oars that they found floating up there. She’s just a
child yet, Orville, in looks and size, anyhow—a very pretty
girl—but not as good as she might have been, as I’ll show
you presently.” At this point the coroner paused to extract a
large handkerchief and blow into it a very loud blast,
brushing his beard afterward in a most orderly way. “I didn’t
have time to get a doctor up there and besides I’m going to
hold the inquest down here, Monday, if I can. I’ve ordered
the Lutz boys to go up there to-day and bring her body
down. But the most suspicious of all the evidence that has
come to light so far, Orville, is the testimony of two men and
a boy who live up at Three Mile Bay and who were walking
up to Big Bittern on Thursday night to hunt and fish. I had
Earl take down their names and subpoena ’em for the
inquest next Monday.”
And the coroner proceeded to detail their testimony about
their accidental meeting of Clyde.
“Well, well!” interjected the district attorney, thoroughly
interested.
“Then, another thing, Orville,” continued the coroner, “I had
Earl telephone the Three Mile Bay people, the owner of the
hotel there as well as the postmaster and the town marshal,
but the only person who appears to have seen the young