It was not mere thoughtlessness that allowed the examination of the blankets to be delayed for a fortnight, for, if Ross’s supplementary statement of January 5 is looked at, it will be seen that he said on that day, in answer to a question, “I did have two blankets in the saloon. They were used as a rug or cover to lie down in the afternoons.” Thus put on his guard, one would have thought that, if Ross were a guilty man, he would have seen that the blankets did not rise up a week later to confront him. And one certainly would have thought that the detectives, if they had the case against Ross “well in hand” on the 31st, would have seen the desirability, at least on January 5, of sending out, while they had Ross temporarily in custody, and getting possession of the blankets. There was still another fatal weakness in the “reddish brown blanket” as a link in the chain connecting Ross with the murder. When Ivy Matthews was shown this blanket, she decisively tossed it aside as not having been in the saloon in her time. Either it was, or it was not, in the saloon on December 30. If it was not, the hairs on it could not have come from Alma Tirtschke’s head. If it was, then how comes it that not one spot of blood was found on it, when, according to the Harding “confession,” the place was like a shambles, and, according to the medical evidence, there would be much bleeding? It may be suggested that this blanket was under the girl’s head, and another blanket was under her body, and received the blood stains. If so, it would, if discovered, have been the most damaging piece of evidence against Ross, and its disposal must have been a matter of the gravest concern to him. Yet although he is supposed to have given to Harding the most minute details of unimportant matters, together with a complete account of how he disposed of the girl’s dress, he never said one word about this blanket, or its disposition! THE GIRL’S ATTIRE. Another of the facts urged as showing that Ross murdered the girl was the exact description he gave of her clothing on the morning following the girl’s disappearance. On being asked by Piggott how the girl was dressed, he described her dress and her hat with the college band on it, said in answer to a question that she had on a white blouse, and, on being asked “what else?” said: “Well, she had black stockings, and boots or shoes—I think boots.” (In the signed statement the corresponding passage is “she wore dark stockings and boots, or she may have had shoes on.”) Again, on being asked about her hair, he said it was golden coloured and hung down her back.