station and reported the case, and then came to me. After which he sent a messenger for Mr. Littell and went himself for Mr. Van Bult, but the latter had left the city by an early train, at least so the servant said. That he had then returned to the house, where a large number of people were gathered. He knew nothing further about the matter.

The Inspector asked if there had been any money on the card table when he had left that night, to which he answered that there had been some large bills left by one of the gentlemen after the game, but that he did not see them there in the morning.

The plaid cap, which had been found back of the divan, was here produced and shown him and he was asked if he recognized it. He responded promptly that it was a cap which White was in the habit of wearing sometimes on rough nights and volunteered the statement that both it and a corresponding ulster had been lying on the chair near the window the night of the murder, but the latter was not there in the morning.

Benton was succeeded on the stand by Davis. The latter had little to tell, however. He briefly related in a weak voice about our doings there the previous evening, stating that he had left about the same time as Benton, leaving White stretched out on the divan, and had closed the door behind him. That he had gone up to his room and retired. In the morning about seven o'clock he was aroused by a commotion and the call of the housemaid and had dressed and gone down immediately to find White dead on the divan, as described. That a police officer was then in the room, and the landlady and housemaid were in the passage. That shortly afterwards others came, myself among the number.

He also testified that Van Bult had left four fifty-dollar bills on the table the night before and that they were there when he left, but that he did not see them in the morning; so, also, he said the plaid cap and ulster had been on a chair near the window, but were missing in the morning.

He offered no further testimony and was permitted to leave the stand without questions.

Littell was then called and told briefly and clearly what had happened as I already knew it on the night of White's death. After reciting the events of the evening, he stated that he had walked to Madison Square with me and then continued uptown to his hotel. That on the following morning while dressing, he thought about eight o'clock, he received a note from Benton, which he produced, telling him of the murder, and that he had then gone at once to White's house and found things as they had been described. He corroborated Benton and Davis about the missing money and the cap and ulster. He also was not cross-examined.

Van Bult was then called, but did not answer, and the sheriff's deputy explained he was "non est." This, coupled with the statement of Benton that he had left the city early on the morning of the murder, created some stir among the audience, their first active demonstration of interest that I had observed, though they had given close attention to all the proceedings.

Next the day-officer on White's beat took the stand and told of his call by Benton, the visit to White's rooms, and his guard over them until others arrived on the scene and took charge. He confirmed the statements of the previous witnesses as to the conditions of the room and position of the body, but as he had not come on duty until six in the morning, he could give no information on the important matter of what happened earlier.

The Inspector here leaned over and asked me if I cared to testify, but as I could throw no additional light upon the subject and preferred on account of my official position not to take the stand, I declined. He then suggested that as he had no further important testimony ready to offer the hearing be adjourned to the second succeeding day.

I guessed that his purpose in omitting the testimony of the night-officer was to collect evidence against Winters before disclosing his case, but I felt it was only right he should do so and as I was anxious that more should be learned if possible of the whereabouts of the ulster, I agreed to the suggestion and the hearing was accordingly adjourned.

After requesting him to send Detective Miles to me the following morning to report, I gathered up the notes of the evidence which I had taken for later use, and in company with Littell and Davis took my way to the Crescent Club.

As we walked uptown Davis seemed too depressed for conversation, while Littell with his usual serenity contented himself with the remark that it was an unpleasant affair and he hoped it would soon be over.

I was not satisfied, however, to let the subject pass in so indifferent a way, for I wanted some expression from him on certain points in the case. I therefore asked him what he made of the disappearance of the ulster. He answered rather impatiently, I thought, that he made nothing of it, that he did not see how he could be expected to under the circumstances, as no one had furnished him any information on the subject.

At this Davis, who always had an ear for the ridiculous, laughed in a half-hearted way.

I felt a little annoyed, however, at his indifference, more especially as I was confident that his astute mind had not overlooked the incident or its importance, and I asked him rather sharply not to trifle with a serious subject, but to give me his real opinion, for I wanted it.

"Well, Dallas," he said, "if you must have it at this very undeveloped stage of the evidence, I think that when you find the ulster you will be on the track of the murderer," and after a moment's pause he continued: "The ulster was in the room when we left it and it was not there the following morning. Some one, therefore, was in the room in the meanwhile and removed it. Now, it is very unlikely that more than one man was there, and that man must have been the murderer as well as the thief." He reflected a moment, and then went on: "The ulster, nevertheless, was not taken for its value, for to have realized on it the thief must have contemplated selling it and no man in his right senses, who had been guilty of murder, would have jeopardized his neck by selling any article taken from the scene of the crime so conspicuous as that ulster. No," he resumed, after a moment's thought, "it was taken with some deeper design and is now either destroyed or safely hidden, or, more likely still, disposed of in some ingenious way that will only further baffle the authorities when found."

Thus far Littell's reasoning had been similar to my own, only, as I had to confess, clearer and more direct. I wished now to lead him a step further and confront him with the dilemma that had met me when I learned that White himself had worn the coat out that night after we left him. So I told him that within less than half an hour after we parted with him White had left the house wearing the ulster.

"How do you know that?" he asked.

"Because," I answered, "the night-officer saw him."

"Well," Littell said, "that is a curious coincidence, I admit, but it does not interfere at all with our theory. If he did leave the house," he continued, reasoning apparently as much to himself as to me, "he certainly returned, because he was murdered there, and upon returning he removed the ulster and lay down again and the original conditions were restored. I do not see that it alters the situation, except that it drops the curtain a little later."

"Then," I said, "you adhere to the theory that the murderer took the ulster?"

"Yes, I see no other solution," he replied.

I reflected that if Littell's reasoning were correct, then Winters, or whomever the man may have been that the night-officer had seen coming out of the vestibule of White's house, had not been the murderer, and I determined to see what view Littell would take of it. I, therefore, related this incident to him and continued:

"This man, it is thought by the police, was concerned in the murder, but he did not have the ulster with him when