The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1886-06-11
A TELL-TALE INK MARK.
It Led to the Detection of q Muir
derer.

derer.
A few evenings since a st. Paul
Pioneer Press reporter stepped into a
sm all retail establishment on a side
ttreet of St. Paul 10 make the purchase
of cigar, and after securing the weed,
was turning to leave, when the proprie-
Tor remarked: "Some time ago no
ticed an item in your paper which said
that in San Francisco they photographed
the thumbs of Chinese, and that there
seemed to be a greater difference in
their thumb nails than in their faces.
Now, that is wrong impression of the
matter. 1t is the underpart, or sole, of
the thumb which is photographed, as
the lines and circles in the skin are not
the same on any two persons in the
universe. This fact is not generally
known; but, if am not mistaken, is
taken as subject of illustration in
Mark Twain's Life on the Mississippi
in which murderer is ferreted out, but
at the end the wrong man pays the
penalty of the crime. For many years
/ was in the detective business, and in
one case the only clue l had was the I'M
print of mans thumb. 1t is not a
very long story. and if you are not in a
hurry will tell you about it." Being
requested to relate the incident. he re-
sumed: AT the outbreak of the war,
/ enlisted from Illinois; and after re-
ceiving my discharge at Memphis,
made my way up the Mississippi to a
city situated on the river-the name of
the place | will omit for various reasons
for the purpose of visiting relatives
before returning to New York, my
native State. where had been offered
the position as head of a detective
agency. The city where was visiting
then had population of perhaps eight
or ten thousand inhabitants, and by the
time set for my departure had cult
waited quite an extensive acquaintance,
among whom was very eccentric old
man living alone with his granddaught-
er, a young lady just verging into
womanhood and between whom there
was a strong attachment. Very little
was known concerning them, but from
the young lady herself afterward heard
a very remarkable history concerning
her parents and grandfather. They had
formerly lived in Virginia, where the
old man had been highly connected.
His only child, daughter, married,
against his wishes, a shiftless, lazy fell
low, and was disowned by her father,
her mother having died several wears
before. This man, finding that he would
get none of the fortune which rightfully
belonged to his wife. soon tired of her,
and before they had been married a
year, he kicked her out of the house on
q winter night. She returned to her
fathers house and asked forgiveness,
but he was relentless, and in a week s
time she died in the almshouse after
giving birth to a daughter. When il
was too late the old man repented OF
the manner in which he had treated her
and took his little grandchild and left
for the West, hiding from the disgrace
to which he had subjected himself
Buying home, he devoted his life to
the education of his grandchild. The
house in which they lived was situated
on a high bluff overlooking the river,
and was gained only by . narrow path
running up the side of bluff
This path, must confess, had trav.
ersed almost daily for some time pre-
vious to my intended departure
for the purpose of viewing the scenery
after reaching the summit, but for the
pleasure of an hours chat with the old
mans granddaughter. On one of these
occasions the young lady told me that
one of the peculiarities of her grand.
father was that he had for years KEEP,
quite large sum of money in the house,
not trusting the bank for its safe keep
ing, and that she was always in fear OF
her life in consequence. This story
had heard from my own relatives, and
was not greatly surprised when, on nv
way to the steamboat landing one morn.
ing to secure passage to St. Louis,
heard that during the night some one
had broken into the old mans house,
murdered him as he lay in bed and
made his escape with the money. This
news banished all intention of leaving,
and at once fastened to the scene OF
the tragedy and prevailed upon the
young lady to accept the hospitality OF
my relatives until the matter could be
Strengthened up, which she thankfully
accepted. i then set to work to ferret
out the murderer. The entrance and
exit had been made through window
in the rear of the building, and, while
looking for tracks under the window, ]
notice black mark on the sill which had
been painted white. Upon close examina-
ton it proved to be the imprint of man s
thumb. The manner in which it came
there was easily explained. The money
which had been stolen was hidden in a
common writing desk in the old mans
bedroom, and in the hurried search for
the treasure the assassin had overturned
a bottle of ink, getting some of it on
his hands, and in leaving the house had,
by this means, left the mark. This. !
soon discovered, was the only clew ]
had; but. poor as it seemed at first, II
afterward proved to be a good one. ]
Immediately sent word to the agency in
New York asking to be released from
the engagement and then settled down
to work on the case The first thing
did was to saw out the piece of the win
dow sill on which was the stain, and
Kept the piece of wood secreted in my
trunk. The only chance for me ever to
find the murderer lay in the hope that
he would not leave the city; but if he