The Darrow Enigma - Page 125/148

Q. How long have you been at work on this case?

A. Ever since the murder.

Q. When did you first visit M. Latour's rooms?

A. Do you mean to enter them?

Q. Yes.

A. I did not enter his rooms until the day he was arrested. I went to other rooms of the same tenement-house on previous occasions.

Q. Have you reason to believe M. Latour ever saw you prior to the day of his arrest?

A. No. I am sure he did not. I was especially careful to keep out of his way.

Q. You are certain that on the several occasions when you say you entered his rooms you were not observed by him while there?

A. I did not say I entered his rooms on several occasions.

Q. What did you say?

A. I said I never was in his rooms but once, and that was upon the day of his arrest.

Q. I understand. Were you not assisted in your search for Mr. Darrow's murderer by certain library books which you discovered M. Latour had been reading?

A. I--I don't quite understand.

Q. M. Latour obtained some books from the Public Library for hall use, giving his name as--as-A. Weltz. Yes, they did assist me. There were some also taken under the name of Rizzi.

Q. Exactly. Those are the names, I think. How was your attention called to these books?

A. I met Latour at the library by accident, and he at once struck me as a man anxious to avoid observation. This made it my business to watch him. I saw that he signed his name as "Weltz" on the slips. The next day I saw him there again, and this time he signed the slips "Rizzi." This was long before the murder, and I was not at work upon any case into which I could fit this "Weltz" or "Rizzi." I was convinced in my own mind, however, that he was guilty of some crime, and so put him down in my memory for future reference. During my work upon this present case this incident recurred to me, and I followed up the suggestion as one which might possibly throw some light upon the subject.

Q. Did you peruse the books M. Latour borrowed under the names of Weltz and Rizzi?

A. I did not.

Q. Did you not look at any of them?

A. No. It did not occur to me to examine their names.

Q. You probably noticed that there were several of them. Among the pile was one by Alexander Wynter Blyth entitled, "Poisons, Their Effects and Detection." Did you notice that?