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                              A MASTER HAND

                           THE STORY OF A CRIME

                            BY RICHARD DALLAS


G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS
NEW YORK AND LONDON
The Knickerbocker Press
1903

Copyright, 1903
BY G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS

Published, August, 1903

The Knickerbocker Press, New York




[Illustration: "It is no use," he said; "I can see by the papers that
everybody thinks I am guilty."]




INTRODUCTORY


Twenty years have passed since the happening of the events, the history
and sequel of which I am going to relate. It is the tale of a crime
committed in one of the large cities of this country, and which,
baffling the authorities at the time, still remains a mystery to all but
myself and one other. Even now, at this late day, in deference to a plea
that bore the seal of death, I shall only write of it with such changes
of scene and names as I hope may prevent identification.

To me the history of this tragedy has always seemed convincing proof of
the insufficiency of circumstantial evidence, except where such evidence
is conclusive. I do not intend, however, to indulge in any abstract
discussion of that subject, but shall consider that I have sufficiently
fulfilled an obligation I owe to the law when I shall have submitted the
bare facts of this particular case as I know them to have occurred.

While the changes of scene and names which I shall allow myself may
involve some minor changes in the same line, I shall take no advantage
of the opportunity that may thereby be afforded to complicate or
exaggerate in any way the mystery that veiled the case, for to do so
would be to subvert my purpose; but shall adhere to a plain statement of
the facts, in every particular, as they successively discovered
themselves to me. That it will prove an entertaining tale I do not
promise, but that it will be a curious and interesting one I feel sure,
and especially so to those who by profession are brought in contact with
crime in its various phases.




CONTENTS


       I.--A SOLILOQUY

      II.--A GAME OF CARDS

     III.--A TRAGEDY

      IV.--THE SUSPECT

       V.--THE INQUEST

      VI.--THE INQUEST CONCLUDED

     VII.--AN EVENING AT THE CLUB

    VIII.--THE PROSECUTION AND THE PRISONER

      IX.--A CLUE AND A CONFERENCE

       X.--THE TRIAL

      XI.--THE TRIAL CONCLUDED

     XII.--AN EPISODE AND A DINNER

    XIII.--THE TRUTH AT LAST

     XIV.--THE DEATH OF WINTERS




A MASTER HAND




CHAPTER I

A SOLILOQUY


On a Monday evening in January, 1883, I had returned comparatively late
from work in the District Attorney's office in New York, and was in my
rooms at the Crescent Club on Madison Square, corner of Twenty-sixth
Street, making a leisurely toilet for dinner, when a note was brought me
from Arthur White. In it he asked me