Page:The Strange Case of Miss Annie Spragg (1928).djvu/324

 fall within the category of the natural and appear strange only as they are subject to the imaginations, the prejudices and the superstitions of the various witnesses involved.

On the other hand (wrote Mr. Winnery), there are certain elements which do not lend themselves to any reasonable solution. Among these are,

1. The statement of the undertaker of Winnebago Falls that the wounds on the body of Reverend Uriah Spragg were like those which might have been made by some pronged instrument such as the sharp horns of a goat. The skull had been pierced in three places by some sharp instrument. But it must be remembered that the black he-goat of Miss Annie Spragg was already dead at the time of the murder, having been killed that very morning by Uriah Spragg himself with a hatchet. Together with this element, there is also the fact that although the murder was committed on the open prairie in broad daylight with no shelter of any kind nearer than three miles and that although the body was still warm when found by Maria Hazlett, no one was seen and no trace of anyone was ever discovered near the spot. Nor was any weapon ever found.

2. The story told by Shamus Bosanky to Ed Hasselman and Maria Hazlett of the orgies which took place in the marsh at Meeker's Gulch. Shamus Bosanky had heard of God and the Angels and the Saints from the priests and