Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1877-03-21
A SHREnD DETECTIVE.

A" Murder viii out, some time, surep
exclaimed Daniel Wonder to few
hearers as he laid down a paper from
which he had just been reading aloud
q case Of mysterious murder, the per
petratOr of which had been discovered
after years OF ingenious and tortuOus
search. II have many time no
ticed it. IL is according to the laws
Of Nature, and must be so, If not right
of, then by and by; if not to-day, to-
morrow, next day, then year, ten,
fifty. perhaps a hundred years hence.
The murder and the murderer are sure
to come ont. II | was on a plank
alone with man in the middle of the
ocean, and was to murder him and
sink him, with no ship in sight
couldn't feel safe! Some time or other
something would bring me out. If |
didn't tell of myself, asleep or awake,
his bones would rise, Or
Or his sperrity' suggested some
body
No; | don't believe in spirits--but
his bones, clothes or the plank or it
might be somebody was looking at me
from a ship out of sight, through a
powerful spyglass, or perhaps from am
other plank, or perhaps happening to
pass by overhead IN Il silk balloon, and
sec me do it and so should feel sure
! was not safe until ut last | was led
out TO be hung You see there is al
ways "A chain Of evidence between the
murderer and the murdered. 1t may
he short or long. 1t may be broken
into many separate links: but in time
one man picks up one link here, an
other link there, another, another. and
so on, until all the links are found and
put together. and they are strong
enough TO hang the man"
" 1t does seem So" said one Of the
listeners, in thoughtful awe.
"Seems so, 1t is SO, | always know
that murder will out, and have seen
many oinguiar eases OF it. But the
most singular ease | ever heart'of was
the fate of Paul Picra, of Mosscreek,
"A clerk IN a dry goods store, and SO
covered up, according to the report,
chat no evidence was supposed TO be
left Of it. He was Unexpectedly
missed one day, and his body was not
found till three years afterward. Peo-
pie gave up all hopes Of hearing about
the poor fellow. how he came TO his
death, or where. or what for, or who
or where his murderer was. until q
traveller came to Mosscreek, and hear
ing of the murder of Paul PiCra, he
undertook to find the body, or at least
the real criminal, and bring him To
Justice. This Travellers name was
solomon FoNpaW, and he prided him
self on his detective powers-hiS pen
etration ana pcrSeyeranCe--and he had
a restless, rolling. staring, snappy kind
of eye that seemed to take in every
thing about him at glance. People
wished him success, but they didn't
expect it. Yet ne didn't care for what
they expected. He set to work to find
some links for chain of evidence.
But don't See"
\ on can't see ANYTHING vet. You
must wait and see. solomon FoNpaw
made inquiries for a month. but ascer-
tanned Just about nothing which would
lead 10 the first link. He then sat
down and reelected alone for three
days, and finally said to himself:
Here Is a piece of woods ont here.
and Paul tbcra was said TO he poorly.
What more likely than he should walk
I'm the woods for his health and there
he murdered ?'
To he sure What. indeed ="
with this idea. Sol, without say
ing a word 10 anybody because. he
hated interruption rs bad as do -
walks ont alone into the woods. and
kicks about among the dry leaves,
and examines the ground. and the
rocks, and the trees, with strong suS,
piCiou.
" To lind q clew p
" Why of comSe, 20 dud a clcw.
" But ! don see --'
" \ uu never viii see. if You don't
wait aud follow his idea. He pretty
soon found va" ,us letters. carved ON
various trees initials of names. per
hapS-aud among them all az last he
discovered ON t-ee 10y themselves.
the letters 'p. Pc
perl1uS Place. suppose"
PcrLouS Place, Nou suppose, No.
Paul PicrI he supposed, for ne knew
what 10 suppose, lie certainly eat
those letters, FoNpaw felt convinced
and he put d0Nu L. r. as his first
j.uk Now, SAYS he, 'lyegot some
hing 90 work ON. and he felt eugour-
gel. Looking about him little
harper, aS il Providence had directed
3m. 0e found aruSty jackknite, which
iJd Aal ten blades. 1t had three now
bag ONE, 10 little one, and a saw
blade The. horn was gone; but ht
felt conviction that this knife was