Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1888-08-05

Nv.

CHAPTER ~.
"Well.n said Mr.. Gorby, addressing ms
reflection in the looking glass, i've oeen
finding out things these last twenty years
but this is O puzzler, aud no mistake
Mr.. Gorby was shaving, and az was ms
usual custom conversed with his refiection.
Being a detective, and of an extremely
r~eticent disposition, he never taikeu
outside about his business, oi
made q confdant of anyone
When he did want TO unbosom himseii,
hs retired to his bedroom and talked to ms
rejection in the mirror. This MODE Oh
nroceedipe was a safe one, and, moreover,
relieved his overbutdened mind OF any,
thing he wished to speak about, yet wanted
IN keen secret. The barber OF MIDAS,
when he found out what was under the
royal crown of his master, fretted ana
ebafed over his secret, until he stole one
morning to the reeds by the river, and
whispered, "Midas has ASS ears. In
the like manner Mr.. Gorby felt q necessity
at times to let out his secret Thoughts I'D
talk. and as he did not care about chatter
ing 10 the air, he made his mirror the con-
fidant Of his ideas, and liked to see bis "
Jolly red face nodding gravely at him out
OF the shining glass, like a mandarin. IL
that cheap little lookipg-glass which MT
Gorby stared at every morning could MY
have spoken, what revelations there wouia
have been of Melbourne secrets and Mel
bourne morals. Bat then, luckily for
some people, we do not live in fairy-land,
and however sympathetic Mr.. Gorby fonna
his mirror, il revealed nothing. Tnis
morning the detective was unusually AMI
mated in his talk with the 1o~oking-glass,
and al times q puzzled expression passed
over his face. The hanson cab murder
had been put into his hands in order TO
clear ND the mystery connected Herewith,
aud he was trying to think of how to make
q beginning.
.Hang it," he said, thoughtfally strop.
ping his razor, "a thing with an end must
have q start, and if / don't get the start
how am l to get the end?'
As the mirror did not answer this ques-
ton, Mr.. Gorby lathered his face, and
started shaving in a somewhat mechanical
fashion, for his thoughts were With the
case. and ran on in this manner:
Here's a maxwell, say a gentleman
who gets drunk, and, therefore. don't
know what he's up to. Another gent who
is ON the square comes up and sings. out for
a cab for him-frst he says he don't know
him, aud then he shows plainly he does
he walks away in a temper, changes his
mind, comes back and gets into the cab.
after telling the cabby to drive down TO st.
Kilda Then he polishes the drunk one of
with chloroform, gets out OF the cab, jumps
into another, and after getting out at Pow
lett street, vanishes-that's the riddle I've
got 10 find ont, aud / don't think the
Sphinx ever had a harder me-. There
are three things to be discovered
First, who is the dead man? Second,
what was he killed foiP-And third, who
did il? Once | get hold Of the first the
other two won't be very hard to find out,
for one can tell pretty well from a mons
life whether it's to %anyone's interest that
he ehould be got off the books. The man
that murdered that chap must have had
some strong motive, and / must find ont
what that, motive was. Love? No, it
wasn't that-men in love don't 90 to such
lengths in real life-they do in novels and
plays, but I've never seen it occurring in
my experience. Robbery? No, there was
plenty of money in his pocket. Revenge?
Now, really it might be that-it's a kind
of thing that carries most people further
than they want to 70. There was no vio-
lence used, for his clothes weren't torn, so
he must have been taken sudden, and be-
fore he knew what the other chap was up
to. By the way. l don't think / examined
his clothes sufficiently; there might be
something about them to give a clue; at
any rate it's worth looking after, so Tll
start with his clothes"
So Mr.. Gorby, after be had flushed
dressing and had his breakfast, walked
quickly to the police station, where he asked
for the clothes of the deceased to be shown
to him. When he received them he went
into a corner by himsGlf and started to ex-
anime them. There was nothing remark
able about the coat, rs it was merely q
we'll cut and well-mads dress coat, 80 with
a grnnt of dissatisfaction Mr.. Gorby threw
il on one side and picked up the waistcoat.
Here he found something which interested
him very much, and that was a pocket
made on the left hand side of the waistcoat,
and on the inside.
"Now, what the deuce Is this forP" said
Mr.. Gorby, scratching his head; 'it amt
usual for q dress waistcoat to hayea pocket
on it's inside ~ Pm aware of; and" con-
tinued the detective, greatly excited, this
amt tailor's work; he did it himself, and
Jolly badly he did it, too. Now he must
have taken the trouble 10 make this pocket
himself, so that no one else would know
anything about it, and it was made to
carry something vsluable-so valuable
that he had to carry it with him even when
he wore evening clothes. All! here's
a tear on the side nearest the
outside of the waistcoat: some
thing has been pulled out roughly. l be-
gin to see now. The dead mum possessed
something which the other man wanted,
and which he knew the dead one carried
about with him. He sees him drunk, gets
into the cab with him, and tries to get
what he wants. The dead man ~resists,
upon which the other kills'him by means
Of the chloroform which he had with him,
and being afraid that the cab will stop,
and he will be found out. snatches what he
wants out of the pocket so quickly that he
tears the waistcoat. and then makes of.
That's clear enough, but the question is,
What was it he wanted? A case with Jew
ELI? No! 1t could not have been any
thing so bulky. or the dead man would
never have carried it about inside his
waistcost. It was something fiat, which
could easily lie in the pocket-a paper
some valuable paper which the assassin
wanted, and for which he killed the other.
'"That is all very WELL" said Mr.. Cor
by, throwing down the waistcoat and ris-
ing. 81 have found number two before
number one. The fHt question is:
Who is the murdered man? He's
a stranger in Melbourne, that's
pretty clear, or else some one would be sure
to have recognized him before new by the
description given in the reward. Now, l
wonder if he has any relations hereP No,
he can't, or else he would have made in
quiries before this. Well, there's one
thing certain, he must have had q land
lady or landlord, unless he slept in the
open air. He can't have lived in a hotel,
as the landlord Of any hotel in Melbourne
would have recognized him from the de-
~scription. especislly when the whole place