A Detective’s Experience

A Death Struggle

The wide river that sweeps around our city so grandly has been made the receptacle of many a deed of crime, has hid beneath its silent waters many a horror. “Many years ago it was the scene of a tragedy, the saddest I ever witnessed,” said Mr. F——; “and despite the long years that have flown, it still rises as vividly before me as if it occurred but yesterday. Mr. I—— and myself had been watching a man for weeks, suspected of a heavy robbery in the East. We had no proof, and were waiting day by day for details that should satisfy the law. You may have read an account of it in the Picayune. It was published far and near, this homicide on the river.

The man gave his name as Torpin, a tall, finely proportioned man, and with a face bearing no traces of crime. His wife was one of the most beautiful women I ever met. They had been here for weeks, with no apparent occupation or design. They visited all places of amusement, rode out daily, and never seemed happy unless mingling with the crowd. There was a restlessness about them which no effort could wholly repress, and which first excited our suspicious. There was another fact… Read More