“Pardon me,” said Mr. Merritt, with a slight bow towards the Coroner, “but I should like to ask Jim how this man was dressed when he saw him last.”
“Just so ’s he is now, sah,” replied Jim, pointing to the Tuxedo coat, which had been thrown over the body.
The negro lad who next appeared, bowing and scraping, was not at all intimidated by the scene before him, and seemed to think himself quite the hero of the occasion.
“Your name is Joe Burr, I believe,” began the Coroner, consulting a small paper he held in his hand, “and you run the elevator here?”
“Yes, sah.”
“Now look carefully at this body and tell me if you recognize it as that of anyone you know.”
The boy looked at the dead man attentively for some moments and then answered: “Yes, sah.”
“Who is he?”
“I dunno his name, sah; he wouldn’t send up his card.”