Then he borrowed Bradley's wagon; and taking with him the coroner, he drove out to the beach, just below the gas-works, to fetch home the mutilated corpse.

When they reached the spot, the body was not there, and Potts said he was very much afraid it had been washed away by the flood tide.

So they drove up to Keyser's house, about half a mile from the shore, to ask if any of the folks there had heard the fatal pistol-shot or seen the body.
On going around to the wood-pile they saw Keyser holding a terrier dog backed close up against a log.

The dog's tail was lying across the log, and another man had the axe uplifted.

A second later the axe descended and cut the tail off close to the dog, and while Keyser restrained the frantic animal, the other man touched the bleeding stump with caustic.