The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1886-06-12
A TELL-TALE INK MARK.
1t Led to the Detection Of a Muir.
derer.

A few evenings since a st. Paul |
Pioneer Press reporter stepped into
small retail establishment on side
street of st. Paul to 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 a subject of illustration in
Mark Twain's Life on the Mississippi
in which a 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 Ihad was the inn
print of mans thumb. 1t is not a
very long story, and if you are not in
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
city situated on the riyer-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 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 vergng into
womanhood and between whom there
was 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, shiftless, lazy fell
low, and was disowned by her father
her mother having died several years
before. This man, finding that he would
get none of the fortune which rightfulll
belonged to his wife, soon tired of her
and before they had been married {
year, he kicked her out of the house OIL
winter night. She returned to he
fathers house and asked forgiveness
but he was relentless, and in a week
time she died in the almshouse afte
giving birth to a daughter When i
was too late the old man repented O
the manner in which he had treated he
and took his little grandchild and lef
for the West, hiding from the disgrace
to which he had subjected himself
Buying a home, he devoted his life Il
the education of his grandchild. Tn
house in which they lived was situate
on a high bluff overlooking the river
and was gained only by narrow pat
running up the side of bluff.
This path, must confess, had tray
ersed almost da ly for some time pre-
vious to my intended departure-no
for the purpose of viewing the scener
after reaching the summit, but for th
pleasure of an hours chat with the oil
mans granddaughter. On one Of thes
occasions the young lady told me tina
one of the peculiartes of her grand
father was that he had for years keI
quite large sum ofmoney in the house
not trusting the bank for its safe keer
ing, and that she was ALWAYS in fear
her life in consequence. This story
had heard fion my own relatives, an
was not greatly surprised when, on m
way to the steamboat landing one morr
Ing to secure passage to St. Louis,
heard that during the night some on
had broken into the old mans hous,
murdered him IS he lay in bed an
made his escape W tn the money. Tn