Audubon County Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Audubon Co., Iowa) 1885-1894, 1889-04-18
The British Detective.

ne gravity OF our EngllSn cousins IL
proverbial, especially touching matters
official or legal. The wig and the gown
are still essential to preserving the
dignity of her judges. II it were moi
for these insignias of Office the citizen
might mistake a Judge for an ordinary
flesh and blood human like himself.
| As a specimen OF official gravity take
the case of Mr.. Morairity, who became
mixed up with ten tons of molten steel
| at Woolwich Arsenal. The War De-
partment decided to jointly bury the
remains of the department, together
with the metal that contained them.
Mark Twain's fiction Of the burial OF
fourteen yards of carpet containing the
remains OF William Wheeler is not near
ly so funny as this cold metallic fact
Readers of Mark Twain's Roughing
IT. will remember the verdict OF the
coroner's jury on the death OF Buck
Fanshaw, which was to the effect that
he ''died by the visitation of PrOvi-
dence," when he had suicided by four
different routes. Those with sense
of humor will be amply repaid by
reading the report of an official inquiry
just closed concerning the murder OF
the boy John Gill, at Bradford, Eng
land. The horror was of the Jack
the Ripper order. The body was
found dismembered, the heart cut out
and the boots placed in the abdominal
cavity. The average American court
OF inquiry would have jumped to the
conclusion that death had resulted from
this artistic carving process, "but they
do these things much better hin Hing
land, don't cher know" They sent
the contents OF the stomach to be
analysed under the impression appar-
emily that death resulted from dose
OF cold pizen. This is the result of the
analysis:
1.-The first witness called was Mr.. F.
M. Huntington, borough analyst, Brad
ford. In answer to Mr.. Freeman, he
said he had received the stomach of the
deceased boy for examination. 1t
contained farinaceous food with few
currantS; and he concluded that the
boy had been eating currant cake"
Here was u clue to IA mystery! Cur
rant cake has been often known to
wrestle nightly in the flight with the
rash stomach that urrOInds it; never
before had it been known to rise up and
smite its victim hip and thigh, and cut
his heart out, and then in sportive
mood take his boots to its embrace.
One clue leads to another. however,
for presently the sleuth-hounds Of the
law discovered in the house of an inno-
cent milk vender named Barrett a
bread knife and spice cake. Read the
official report.
detective Butterworth, examined by
Mr.. Freeman, said that on Saturday,
December 20, at 10 o'clock in tho morn
ing, he, with Detective King, visited
the house of the prisoner and assisted
in searching it. Detective King took a
bread knife with broad blade from a
drawer in the kitchen. In the house
witness found spice cake, and he cut
a piece off it so that the medical men
might examine it."
Unfortunately the result of the anal
ysis of the spice cake is not given, but
doubtless it was an incendiary and
murderous cake. But the plot thickens,
and the meshos OF the law slowly but
surely entangle their victim! On
searching their prisoner the officers
discovered a deadly pants button.
Straightway they HE them back to the
house and renew the search. The lynx
eyed detectives are rewarded; they find
n pair of pants with missing button!
And with this damning evidence of
guilt they are now sure of convicting
the assassin.
But an Obtuse magistrate refuses to
recognize the button as affording con-
elusive evidence, or as even a link in
the chain. The detective testiiies:
From over the right-hand pocket of
the cord trousers button was missing.
The buttons that were on the trousers
correspondent with the button found on
Barrett when he was apprehended."
Whereupon the following colloquy oc-
Cured:
"Mr. Waugh said the button produced
was like those on the clothes the pris-
oner now wore. Several people in
court said their buttons were the same.
''Mr. Waugh asked the prosecution
to say what they hoped to make out by
the button.
MIR. Freeman: This button was
found in the possession of the prisoner
at the time OF his arrest, and a
similar button is missing from the
newly washed trousers. That is pc
culiarity.
The Chairman: What is the pc
culiarityp / should not think it
peculiar for a man in the prisoners
position to be found with spare
trouser button in his pocket 1t is
perfectly natural thing for the
missing article to be found in his pos
session.
"Mr. Waugh: The police must have
been aware that similar buttons were
on the prisoners other trousers"
The result Of the trial was a terrible
setback to the detectives. With the
shrewdness and acumen characteristic
Of the profession, and which only
comes by long practice. extraordinary
intelligence and intuition, they had,
TO their own satisfaction at least,
bounded down a red-handed murderer,
and at every step had forged a new
link in the chain of evidence.-TeXaS