“You, ladies and gentlemen, will have to test the strength of this deduction in your minds. Against it you must place the probability that Mrs. Garr did intend to go to Chicago, that she bought a second ticket, mislaid or had it stolen from her, and missed the train. A second ticket, indeed, turned up in the house, although good proof has been given that that ticket had never belonged to Mrs. Garr. It has not actually been proved that the trip was a ruse on Mrs. Garr’s part.
“At any rate, we are certain Mrs. Garr did not go to Chicago. She may have been seen near the 593 Trent Street house around eight thirty by Mr. Grant. This is a likely time for her return. What happened to her from then on, we can only conjecture.
“We do know that at some time before ten o’clock the door of Mrs. Garr’s basement kitchen was opened, and one or all of the animals shut in there escaped. If they all escaped, the dog and two of the cats may have been returned to the kitchen or held captive in some other room before Mrs. Dacres returned at ten o’clock, but we have the evidence of two people that one animal, the female cat, was loose in the house at ten o’clock. We are also sure that no animals at all were loose in the house when Officer Foster searched the house shortly after midnight.
“We know, too, that at some time Mrs. Garr’s hat, coat, and handbag were left in the storage room, either by herself or some other person. Whether this was before or after the search on Friday night, we cannot be certain. The room was looked over that time, but Officer Foster was looking for a person, not a few clothes on a chair.
“I will now enter more closely into whether Mrs. Garr was or was not murdered. Nothing, you remember, is known of her activities from eighty thirty p.m. of that Friday. I will first consider the possibility of murder.
“Here a variety of occurrences is possible.
“We know, from the police surgeon’s testimony, that the body was probably placed in the room in which it was found not later than Saturday. Sometime, then, during Friday night, since such a thing would be extremely difficult to do during the day.
“Could Mrs. Garr have been murdered outside the house?
“This would entail bringing her to the house, carrying her either through the one front-entrance door and the front hall, or through the rear door and Mrs. Dacres’ apartment.” (You can imagine yourself how that one tensed me!) “There is a door with stairs to the basement in Mrs. Dacres’ kitchen, but that door has a rusted bolt on Mrs. Dacres’ side and is nailed shut on the other. Heavy dust on those stairs was undisturbed. The body, therefore, would have to have been brought in through the front. Extremely risky, but it may have been done. Why? We are not here entering into motives, though I may just as well interpolate here as later that motives may have been plentiful. Mrs. Garr was a woman with whose infamous past you have been tersely acquainted. And she was given to secreting small sums of money around the house. Such money was found.
“To return to our outside murder. If Mrs. Garr was thus returned to the house, dead or alive, by her murderer, it may have been between eight-five and ten, between ten and midnight, between the finish of the search and daylight. Which time we do not know. We only know, from the cat, that the kitchen door had been opened before ten o’clock and was opened again to receive the cat between ten and midnight. It is very unlikely that these activities could have been carried on by anyone not well acquainted with the house.
“We shall now consider the likelier possibility of Mrs. Garr’s having been murdered inside the house.
“In that case, she may have returned to the house by herself anytime between eight-five and ten, anytime between ten and midnight, anytime after the search. At any rate, she meets or is met by the murderer within the house and is killed and locked in the kitchen with her pets. One witness in particular has shown a strong belief that Mrs. Garr surprised a prowler at work and was killed by them willfully or in self-defense. It is also suggested that this same prowler, since there could scarcely be two, is the one who attacked Mrs. Dacres later. We know this prowler did not break into the house through Mrs. Dacres’ apartment, because her chairs were still hooked under the doorknobs of her front doors when she recovered.
“No evidence has shown how this possible murderer locked the animals and the remains in the kitchen, and left the one key inside.
“You must also bear in mind that the fact that Mrs. Garr’s possessions may have been searched in her absence does not prove that such a thief committed murder.
“Nor must you be influenced by merely the strong belief some of the witnesses have shown that Mrs. Garr was murdered.
“I shall now consider the case of natural death. In that case, the simple course of events would seem to be this.
“Mrs. Garr descended into her basement on her return to the house around eight thirty. She may have sat in the storage room on her accustomed chair. She has left her wraps and handbag in the storage room. Sometime before ten o’clock, she has opened the door of the basement kitchen, and the cat escapes. She may have been down there when Mrs. Dacres returned at ten. No one in the house will admit having gone to the cellar that evening, at any time before the search. At some time between ten and midnight Mrs. Garr recaptures the cat, returns it to
