"He Was Lyin' Like That When We Found Him"

"Who Killed Rutherford?"
By Walter D. Edmonds (1903-98).
First (and only) appearance: Scribner's, March 1927.
Online HERE.

It's pretty obvious somebody murdered Rutherford, but good luck figuring out who . . . and why:

 . . . " 'Very curious, that knife, Mr. Judd,' says Williams; 'we couldn't pull it out at all, though Mr. Bilberry used his feet tryin'. It took a very strong man to put that knife where it is, Mr. Judd'."

"Man?" cried Denslow. "Then it was a man—and he was murdered!"

"No doubt of it, and a strong man at that. 'It took weight skilful applied, Mr. Judd, power, I might say,' the lawyer says to me. 'He was lyin' like that when we found him. He hadn't stirred, sir'."  . . .

Walter Edmonds lucked out with Hollywood by having some of his historical fiction works (most notably Drums Along the Mohawk) adapted for films and TV.

Resources:
- Wikipedia has a short article about Edmonds HERE, his few film credits are HERE, and his Times obit is HERE.

Category: Crime fiction (and a whodunit of sorts)