These murderers, like many others, betrayed themselves by a simple
oversight. One look at the ladder and Fordney knew no man could have
climbed up or down it. The thirty-foot ladder was placed _two_ feet from
the house. Any person ascending or descending the ladder in such a
position would have fallen backwards before reaching the top or bottom.
To all facts there are laws,
The effect has its cause,
And I mount to the cause.
Lord Lytton.