A MOMENT OF ANGER.

Lake Wakatip Mail, Issue 2644, 4 September 1906, Page 6

A MOMENT OF ANGER.

BY ROBERT HOI K.

-OR The History of Mr and Mrs Browillow's Quarrel.

) "I don't know." i ' "Then you will tell me nothing about her I" "No, sir." CHAPTER n. The lady's father understood at once that he would oijiy lose t ; me by insisting: he questioned t'ua servants, went to the chief of police and gathered all possible information. The functionary quietly explained that there were every day women disappearing from their conjugal domicile; hctuideven the kindness to communicate statistics compiled with great cart by the head cierk of the bureau of police showing that the annual average of these disappearances was much larger for women between twenty and thirty-live than for women that were older or younger. • The desolate father clamored against the hypothesis which this communication implied; he answered for • his daughter's moral character, and, besides, supposing that she had left her husband willingly, she would have made known her intention or explained her flight; she would have earned with fcer some luggage, a;id, moreover, the husband would not have accepted this departure with such incredible resignation. But the chief of police put to him the following dilemma: "Either your daughter wer.t away willingly; in this case I shall send you to an inspector, who will put. at your disposal some of his agents who are accustomed to make these kind of researches; it will cost you a few hundred dollars; but I doubt of the success in the absence of the clew. Or eise there has been a crime committed, as you seem to believe. 1 have not sufficient ground to order immediately a search to be made; but you can address yourself to the district attorney, who, upon your affidavit, will put the wheels of justice in motion." This was very grave, but tt:e unhappy lather, after having consulted his wife and a few intimate friends, after having sent to the family lawyer, who could obtain no explanation, he thought he could not pass in silence Leonora's disappearance, and he decided to put the case in the bands of judicial authorities.

The public prosecutor had the case explained to him. Mr. and Mrs. Champion were rich property owners. Leonora was their only daughter. They had made the acquaintance of Gustave Brownlow in the country at the house of a mutual friend. Gustave belonged to an honorable family who had owned a fortune, but had lost it again. Nothing wrong was known concerning him, if not that he was without money and without a position. They had not encouraged his attentions to Miss Champion; but tne girl had fallen deeply in love with the handsome gentleman. The parents refused to give their consent to the marriage; the girl declared that shewouid never take any man for her husband but Gustave. They were obstinate on both sides, and when she came of age she married her favorite suitor. Unfortunately, Leonora, once she had attained her majority, enjoyed the free disposal of a large fortune which had been left her by an aunt, and the young man must have been acquainted with this fact. The marriage had taken place against the formally expressed will of the parents, and since that time all relations between the two families had been broken off.

It was known through the servants and the school friends of Leonora, who continued to visit her, that there was trouble in the house, that there were often violent storms between the husband and the wife. The absolute silence in which Mr. Brownlow shut himself up justified any kind of supposition, for he had no interest in covering up the wrong doings of his wife if there had been any, or to hide the motives of her absence if he knew them. Of course it was repugnant to impute a murder to a man whose education and bringing up seemed to prevent such suspicion. But it was not impossible that a man of a secretive nature might have been carried away by a moment of anger and that once the crime committed he had applied all the resources of a cultivated and intelligent mind to wipe out all traces. The district attorney could hardly believe that a man of position like Mr. Brownlow could have committed so frightful a crime. He knew besides how difficult it is to hide a body. If tho husband had come back from a journey one would suppose that he had thrown his wife over a precipice, drowned her in a river, or strangled her in some wood. But he could not have left his house until seven o'clock; he had returned at three o'clock in the morning. It was not in eight hours that he could have found the necessary time for the execution of the crime. It was legitimate to exact from him an explanation as to the en.p! vment of his time and to discover what reasons he might have given to himself for this apparently unexplainable disappearance. On the next morning- Gustave Brownlow received an invitation to present himself at the office of the public prosecutor. On seeing him enter this officer was struck by the expression of gioomy determination which was stamped on his face; one could read in it at the first glance a cold resolution and an entire self possession. He took a seat without saying a word, looking attentively at the prosecutor. The two men observed each other before opening hostilities. The people's lawyer waited for a moment in the hope that his adversary would by his first words betray sentiments of some kind; but the silence becoming prolonged he was forced to open the conversation. " I have sent for you, sir, to ask you for some explanation of the disappearance of

"I HA VL M'NT FOli VOL."

Mrs. Cownlow. I warn you that a complaint ha» been lodged by your wife's family, and I hope that y. j will not persist before me in the attitude that you hehl at iho time ox the visit of t'cio chief of police. The circumstance.-, vi.icli accompanies! tins disappearances.:-'.. crave er.r.'iL'h to impel me to demand an aec-junt thereof." "I have n Ihi rig ;r. >re lo t<'ll you, Mr. District .Attorney, than I have told already to the poisons who liavc questioned me on this subject. luo not know where my wife is." "Under what circumstances did she leave your house "That does not concc-rn you." M How, pi: '' l exclaimed the lawyer, confounded. ''You forget that you lire speaking

to the representative of the law. Let me remind you of it." " i do not know by what right you question mo upon what passes in my house, and I find your inquisiUvencss offensive." " '1 horo can be no offense in the exercise of a i< ?ai mission. I invite you to answer me and to do it politely." " Set mo the example by not mixing yourself in my affairs without being asked." "I nm obliged to mix myself in your affairs,' 1 answered the prosecutor, becoming impatient; "before going farther in this affair I had a wish to talk with you in the hope that the explanations that you might have given me would put me in a position to calm the anxiety of a justly alarmed family; but your answers justify all suppositions." " What suppositions do you allude to!" asked Gustave Brownlow. " You have killed your wife." " You are impudent, sir." ' " Take care, sir; you insult me." "It was you who insulted me first by throwing in my face an allegation unbecoming among well-bred people. Name two of your friends; I will put them in relation with my own and to them we will submit our difference."

"What! A challenge! You may retire, sir. I shall find a way to make you speak." "It was not worth while to disturb me if you had nothing else to tell me." The two interlocutors coldly separated. The public prosecutor was indignant and exasperated. Ho was used to speak to humble people who endeavored to please him and always were respectfully submishis presence, and he could not admit the pretension of this man to treat him as an equal. He had been on the point of having hitn arrested on the spot, upon the accusation of insulting a law officer in the exercise of his functions; then he was afraid to open a prosecution on a personal incident. It is always disagreeable to acknowledge that we have been treated disrespectfully. He had, besides, a perfectly regular means at his disposal to make his adversary understand that one can not thus attempt to bade justice; it was to allow the proceedings to follow their normal course. The very same day he sent the papers to a judge, with his own brief to the court, and the next day an inspector of police, accompanied by two detectives, presented himself at the house of Mr. Brownlow with a warrant of arrest. The prisoner made no resistance and no observation. In conformity with the law he was taken within twen-ty-four fours to the Tombs and submitted to a first interrogatory.

Asked as to whether he wished to answer the complaint, the prisoner declared that tiie warrant of arrest had modified the situation. So far he had been a citizen acting in the fullness of his liberty; he had determined not to be forced to answer questions which no one had a right to ask him; he had become angry at his visitors. Now, as he was in the hands of the law, ho had no reason for refusing to answer. He did not consider himself when before the judge as a man in the presence of an equal, but as a prisoner standing before the representative of the law, and he was disposed to answer the questions that might be addressed to him in so far as they bore directly upon tho accusation. Consequently he told his name, first name, age, profession, his address and place of birth. He affirmed to the judge who questioned him that he could read and write, and that he had never been arrested before, and that he had satisfied his obligations as a citizen. But when the magistrate asked him if he had killed his wife he simplv answered: "So." "Wherei3 she?" "I do not know." "When did she go away?" "On Tuesday, the 14th, between seven and half-past seven o'clock." "What circumstances have caused her departure?" " As to that, I do not owe any account to anv one."

The judge remarked to him that this systematie refusal to answer singularly aggravated his case, and even constituted, to tell the truth, the only serious charge against him. He replied with an imperturbable coolness that be could not be prosecuted for the simple fact that his wife had left his house and that was the only fact he acknowledged. "You accuse me of having killed my wife," said he. " I deny it. It is for you to furnish the proof. Show me her body. I can not prove that I have not killed my wife. Prove to me that I have killed her." "But what reasons hare you to refuse the explanations which would save you from an'indictment of murder? If there is any thing of a delicate nature concerning the honor of your name you must have confidence enough in the justice of your country to know that it will not be divulged. The personal duty of the magistrate, as well as his professional honor, is a guarantee to you. If you do not answer if is because you have something to hide. It is iu your own interest to speak, for whatever you have to hide could never be as grave as that of which you are accused." '• I shall answer 110 question which has not a direct bearing on the act of which I am accused. State your proofs; I shall discuss their value. My wife's disappearance is not a proof that I have killed her." After this interrogatory the judge made out a warrant of arrest against Brownlow, who was committed to prison. CHAPTER 111. As soon as it became known that Brownlow had not only been arrested, but that he was under formal accusation, and that his trial for murder would soon take place, the excitement which pervaded the neighborhood of his handsome house on Fifth avenue abated. But the newspapers threw themselves with all the more earnestness into the mystery of clearing up the disappearance of his wife. Their reports were seiitc'.ilin every direction, and at times thc-y supplemented the work of the detectives. and at times they went into investigations on their own account in a characteristic way. The families of both Browniow and Champion were successfully interviewed and emissaries of the press were constantly dogging the heels of the police and presenting themselves at headquarters to find the latest clew. Certain enterprising reporters visited the morgue from day to day and tried to identify bodies as the remains of Mrs. Brownlow, and many a sensational story produced good returns to its writers by the space given to the matter by all the principal papers in the city. The private life of Champion was laid bare before the public in a way that was little gratifying to that gentleman. Meantime the police continued their investigations by themselves, and gave as little information to the reporters as possible. The detectives called upon the servants of Mr. Brownlow, and used all the devices in their power to induce them to give testimony which should lead to a definite clew. The servants admitted that they had been present at some pretty lively discussions which were brought about by the jealousy of Mrs. Brownlow or the irritation of Mr. Brownlow against her parents. But the disagreement had never, apparently, gone further than high words between them. In these disputes Mrs. Brownlow never hesitated to give ventjtQjier anger in the ( i'o ll<: COlll'llined. )