It was considered unique in many ways. Mr. Pitman
had always read all the murder trials, and used to talk about the
_corpus delicti_ and writs of _habeas corpus_--_corpus_ being the
legal way, I believe, of spelling corpse. But I came out of the Ladley
trial--for it came to trial ultimately--with only one point of law
that I was sure of: that was, that it is mighty hard to prove a man a
murderer unless you can show what he killed.
And that was the weakness in the Ladley case. There was a body, but it
could not be identified.
The police held Mr. Ladley for a day or two, and then, nothing
appearing, they let him go. Mr. Holcombe, who was still occupying the
second floor front, almost wept with rage and despair when he read the
news in the papers. He was still working on the case, in his curious
way, wandering along the wharves at night, and writing letters all
over the country to learn about Philip Ladley's previous life, and his
wife's. But he did not seem to get anywhere.
The newspapers had been full of the Jennie Brice disappearance.
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