The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1886-06-03
A TELLrTALE INK MARK.
It Led to the Detection Of a Muir
derer.

It Led to the Detection Of a MUIR
derer.
A few evenings since a st. Paul
Honeer Press reporter stepped into a
small retail establishment on a side
street of st. Paul to make the purchase
of a cigar, and after securing the weed,
was turning to leave, when the proprie-
tor remarked: "Some time ago l 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 a 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 rwain's Life on the Mississippi,
in which q 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 had was the inn
print of q mans thumb. 1t is not q
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, 1
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, nv
native State, where I had been offered
the position as head of a detective
agency. The city where l was visiting
then had q population of perhaps eight
or ten thousand inhabitants, and by fbe
time set for my departure / had Guilt
waited quite an extensive acquaintance,
among whom was a 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, a 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
a winter night. She returned to her
fathers house and asked forgiveness,
but he was relentless, and in a week 8
time she died in the almshouse after
giving birth to a daughter. When it
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 a 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 a narrow path
running up the side of a bluff.
This path, / must confess, I had trav-
ersed almost da ly for some time pre-
yious to my intended departure-not
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 n of these
occasions the young lady told me that
nm NJ thu n0or,lso rpsfo, Is L. 1891
father was that he had for years kept
quite a 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
wa not greatly surprised when, on my
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 BIN 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 o.
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. 1 then set to work to ferret
odt the murderer. The entrance and
exit had been made through a window
in the rear of the building, and, while
looking for tracks under the window, ]
notice . black mark on the sill which ha6
been painted white. Upon close examina,
ton it proved to be the imprint of a mans
thumb. The manner in which it came
there was easily explained. The money
which had been stolen was hidden in 8
common writing desk in the old mans
bedroom, and in the hurried search fol
the treasure the assassin had overturned
a bottle of ink, getting some of it or
his bands, 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, i
afterward proved to be a good one.
Immediately sent word to the agency il
New York asking to be released from
the engagement, and then settled dowI
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
tspt the piece of wood secreted in my
trunk. The only chance for me ever t.
find the murderer lay in the hope tina
he would not leave the city; but if h,
had gone the probability was that h,
would v be apprehended. Picking
out those whom l suspected, / gained
their friendship, and in time woult
show them the peculiarly of the i'm
print of a thumb, and after gain:ngpo
session of it, would compare it with tn
ono on the block of wood. Thing
went. ION in this manner for severa
months, and I began to get discouraged
and as winter came on, 1 partially los
interest in the work, devoting my tim
to social enjoyments. While at a socia
gathering one evening. l became &C
qnainteu with the cashier of one of tn
leading banks of the city. and as he wa
. bne3,slsr like myself, 3 var friend