On the 17th of July, 1851, a tragedy of no little interest occurred in
one of the residences of the Colonnade in Lafayette Place.

Mr. Hasbrouck, a well-known and highly respected citizen, was attacked
in his room by an unknown assailant, and shot dead before assistance
could reach him. His murderer escaped, and the problem offered to the
police was, how to identify this person who, by some happy chance or by
the exercise of the most remarkable forethought, had left no traces
behind him, or any clue by which he could be followed.

The affair was given to a young man, named Ebenezer Gryce, to
investigate, and the story, as he tells it, is this:

* * * * *

When, some time after midnight, I reached Lafayette Place, I found the
block lighted from end to end. Groups of excited men and women peered
from the open doorways, and mingled their shadows with those of the huge
pillars which adorn the front of this picturesque block of dwellings.

The house in which the crime had been committed was near the centre of
the row, and, long before I reached it, I had learned from more than
one source that the alarm was first given to the street by a woman's
shriek, and secondly by the shouts of an old man-servant who had
appeared, in a half-dressed condition, at the window of Mr. Hasbrouck's
room, crying "Murder! murder!"

But when I had crossed the threshold, I was astonished at the paucity of
the facts to be gleaned from the inmates themselves. The old servitor,
who was the first to talk, had only this account of the crime to give.

The family, which consisted of Mr. Hasbrouck, his wife, and three
servants, had retired for the night at the usual hour and under the
usual auspices. At eleven o'clock the lights were all extinguished, and
the whole household asleep, with the possible exception of Mr.
Hasbrouck himself, who, being a man of large business responsibilities,
was frequently troubled with insomnia.

Suddenly Mrs. Hasbrouck woke with a start. Had she dreamed the words
that were ringing in her ears, or had they been actually uttered in her
hearing? They were short, sharp words, full of terror and menace, and
she had nearly satisfied herself that she had imagined them, when there
came, from somewhere near the door, a sound she neither understood nor
could interpret, but which filled her with inexplicable terror, and made
her afraid to breathe, or even to stretch forth her hand towards her