That night, while the two younger members of the Bishop family sped away by train to what place I do not know and old Bishop expressed great mystification over their disappearance, I made a little bonfire in my grate of papers which had once been the property of the diplomat, and which I knew would be of no interest to my Government. There were a few papers which I did not burn a memorandum or two, and a bulky typewritten copy of ManoePs diary, which I found amusing reading before I took it to Berlin.
I called upon my English friend the next day, but I did not see him. He had fallen ill and been obliged to leave Nice immediately. No; it was impossible to say what the ailment was.
"Ah, well," I thought, as I returned to my room, "he will get over it."
It was an embarrassing loss, but not a fatal one; and doubtless he could explain it satisfactorily at home.
I was sorry for him, I confess. But more than once that day I laughed as I thought of the scene of last night, as Mile. Bishop had described it to me. An old game but it had worked so easily.
But then, wasn't it Solomon who complained about the lack of original material on this globe?
The diary? I took it to Berlin, as I have said, where it was a matter of considerable interest. Subsequently it was published, after discreet editing.
But at that time I was engaged upon a matter of considerably more importance.
CHAPTER V
THE STRONG ARM SQUAD
Germany displays an interest in Mexico, and aids the United States for her own purposes The Japanese-Mexican Treaty and its share in the downfall of Diaz.
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Fighting For His Life;
Koglmeier Is Murdered
Harnessmaker Is Found Dying in His Shop, With Many Evidences of a Desperate Struggle; Had Been Beaten Over the Head With Some Blunt Instrument; Robbery Theory Is Abandoned.
AFTER apparently struggling desperately, with hts assailants, E. E. Kogjmeier, aged 52 years. volunteer fireman and pioneer El Pasoan, was murdered in his place of business, 319 South Santa 5?e street, some time between the hours of 7:30 and 9 oclock Saturday night. Five jagged cuts and holes, some of them being located in the" back of the head, and four wounds of a similar nature inflicted .en the face, resulted in his death. Life was- all but extinct when Mr. Koglmeier was found lying in a pool of blood TLTrxJtit --tire, center of the room of his harness and saddlery shop. He was., in ms shirt sleeves Robbery is not believed to have been the motive for the crime.
William Gieseler, a merchants' policeman, was the first one to discover Mr. Koglmeier. He had passed the shop on his first rounttrafe? oclock Saturday night when it is said that he spoke, to Mr. Koglmeier. Returning to the scene on his second round at 9:15 o'clock Gieseler saw the door of the open. Gieseler walked in. He presentiment that something was wrong. The glare from th flashlight disclosed the Koglmeier. He removed to a local undertaking establishment.
Evidences of a Struggle.
Despite the fact that the first blow evidently had been delivered when his back was turned to his murderers, Mr. Koglmeier must have struggled before he was beaten down for the last time; Trails of blood ran from almost every section of the room, showing that the struggle had been long before the victim was finally compelled to succumb from the blows dealt him with either a dull hatchet or some iron instrument.
Theory of the Crime.
The belief is that two men called at the harness shop a little after 7 o'clock. They had gone there under the pretense of making a purchase. Bridles and collars hang suspend the ceiling of the place, murderers had evident horse collar at the
REPORT OF KOGLMEIER'S MURDER FROM THE EL PASO HERALD FOR DECEMBER 22nd, 1913.
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IT was in Paris that my next adventure occurred. I had gone there following one of those agreeably indefinite conversations with my tutor which always preceded some especial undertaking. "Why not take a rest for a few weeks? ': he would say. "You have not seen Paris for some time. You would enjoy visiting the city again don't you think so?': And I would obligingly agree with him and in due course would receive whatever instructions were necessary.
It may seem that such methods are needlessly cumbersome and a little too romantic to be real; but, in fact, there is an excellent reason for them. Work such as mine is governed too greatly by emergencies to admit of definite planning beforehand. A contingency is foreseen faintly, and as a possibility only and it is thought advisable to have a man on the scene. But until that contingency develops into an assured fact, it would be the sheerest waste of energy to give an agent definite instructions which might have to be changed at any moment.