The Silver Arrow

 A  Page from the Criminal Calendar

 “Were you ever in the Tombs?”

Such was the salutation of my friend, Charles Mack, a rising young lawyer, as I encountered him upon the corner of Broadway and Leonard Street.

“Never,” I replied.

“Do you want a new idea—a strange insight into the mysteries of human nature?”

“By all means.”

“Come with me, then. I am going to see a young girl in the Tombs accused of murder.”

“A murderess! What could have induced her to commit the dreadful act?”

“My dear fellow, how rapidly you jump to a conclusion. I did not say a murderess, but a young girl accused of murder. I have every reason to believe her innocent, otherwise I should not have undertaken to defend her, which I have done at the request of her employer.”

“What are the facts in the case, as far as they have come to your knowledge?”

“Simply these:— The girl’s name is Sybil Clarke, some nineteen years of age, and said to be very beautiful. I have not seen her yet. She is an artificial flower maker and being all alone here, occupied a furnished room on Crosby Street—a not unusual style of living among girls of her class.— Last night, about ten o’clock, the neighbors were aroused by the cry of “murder” proceeding from her apartment, and upon entering discovered her kneeling over the body of a young man, which lay upon the floor weltering in blood. He was quite dead—stabbed to the heart with some sharp instrument. He was recognized as a person, Richard Baker by name, who occupied a chamber above, in the same building. He had been quite familiar with Sybil, and was supposed to be her lover. The neighbors, charitable souls, at once said that Sybil had killed him in a fit of jealousy. The girl was at once taken into custody and conveyed to the Tombs.— The coroner will render his verdict… Read More