until such person could be found, and his
innocence shown, the chances of Winters's guilt or innocence of the
murder would be equally divided.

Of course I recognized the fact that Winters might have taken them all,
but it seemed very unlikely. It was clear from the evidence that between
the time the officer saw him leaving the vestibule and the time he
rejoined his friend in the saloon on Sixth Avenue but a very brief
period could have elapsed, not enough under any ordinary circumstances
to account for the disposal of a hundred and fifty dollars. There was no
suggestion that he had spent any while with his friend before they
visited the gambling house, and he had lost but one of the bills there.
If, then, he had secured more than one of them, he must have kept the
balance in his possession; but to admit this was to conclude that he had
abandoned his gaming while he had plenty of money in his pocket, which
was highly improbable in a man of Winters's habits and temperament; such
was not the way with his kind. I concluded, therefore, that it was not
unreasonable to assume that he had not taken all the bills and that some
one else had probably been on the scene that night, in which case the
police must either negative this assumption or find that other person,
and establish his innocence, before they could with any certainty
establish Winters's guilt. At least so I reasoned.

As I further reflected, however, there occurred to me another
explanation of the disappearance of the money that did not involve the
intervention of a third party. White had apparently gone out that night.
Why should he not have disposed in some way of all but the one bill
during his absence? It was possible, just as possible as any other
hypothesis, and would undoubtedly suggest itself to the prosecution when
the question arose. There would still, of course, remain some doubt as
to the true explanation of their disappearance; and every doubt, no
matter how small, was a cloud upon the State's case; but I felt it would
be insufficient to weigh against the other evidence unless corroborated
by additional facts. I was thus compelled to look further for the
evidence I sought.

The only other tangible factor in the case that seemed to suggest in
any way the presence of a third party was the ulster. My former theory
that its absence from the scene--since it had not been taken by
Winters--proved the presence of a third party, failed now since it had
evid