Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1889-01-30
CODICIL.
S 2S IS % "a D
II E 28 2S u 10
x 2S 9 IA IL o

"Can you make any thing out of that"
asked the detective.
IS ex duo is probably Latin,' replied the
reporter "Td want to wrestle with it for
about six weeks"
"And it would throw you every time"
the detective said, with {. laugh. ''It was
supposed to refer to codicil, and to state
where it was to befound, but nobody had
succeeded in deciphering-i it. The deceased
had been noted for his eccentricity, and
there was no surprise about the mystery
with which he had surrounded the where
abouts of the codicil
60 was newsboy at the time, and served
the firm with the morning papers. l had
heard them talk about the mysterious
cipher that had baffled them, and 1 one day
asked them to let me have a copy Of it.
When / said that ] believed that could
solve it they laughed right heartily. No,
the senior member of the firm did not laugh.
He looked sharply at me over his glasses
and said:
"'Who knows but what he can? Perhaps
the rest of US are entirely too smart. There
is such thing as being too smart; or,
rather, we sometimes miss solution be-
cause of its simplicity
"The next morning when entered the
office said quite jubilantly; I've solved it,
SIR
"'Oh, you have, ehs' replied the senior
member of the firm, with an incredulous
grin. you must be an exceedingly bright
boy. Can you read itl'
"'Yes, sir said.
"' And does it make sense?'
"'You must be the Judge of that, SIR
was my reply. 1t says: With W. W. Ward
"The detective sprang to his feet, look
of intense astonishment on his face. He
struck his desk blow with his fist and ex-
claimed
"As sure as I'm alive, boy, you have
made something intellgible out of it. Bet
ter still, you have correctly solved It'll re-
call that w. w. Ward was an intimate
friend of the testator. Mr.. Ward will re-
turn from Europe next month, and l am
satisfied that he is the custodian of the
codicil. how did you hit upon the key?
Can you make the thing read that way for
meg
"sOf course can, SIR said 1. 4 don't
know how it came to me, but got the i'm
preston that s'sex duo'' was ''exodus"
transposed, and that the figures on the out
side of the square stood for the eleventh
chapter and tenth verse, which reads:
"And Moses and Aaron did all these won
ders before Pharaoh That clew aided me
to solve the figures inside the square; %
OCCuIS 1OOI ItulCSs anu ottsIlOS IOI OlIO AOuI
WIS. Here is the paperupon which figured
it out
HE examined the paper, his face beam
ing with satisfaction. Under the letters in
| the verse had arranged the numerals in
their regular order, and by substituting
letters for the figures in the cipher had
solved the puzzle which had baff1ed some of
the best detectives In the city. How did
come to grapple with it in that way! Ask
me something not so hard. 1t came to me
intuitively, and that is all can say about
| itn
"1t was correctl" asked the reporter
''It was"
"And the codlcil was foundP'
''It was.'
"And what was there in it for you?''
asked the reporter. Il suppose the heirs
paid you handsomelyf"
mo, they didn't. They had no reason to-
| The codicil was less kind 10 them than the
will Still, had my reward. The senior
detective said to me: What do you make
| week, on an average, selling papersl
! Nine dollars said. Well, I'll give you
twelve dollars week and put you on the
| force. You have done a wonderful piece of
! good work. You are a born detective
Things come TO you as revelation. You
will certainly rise in the profession Well,
! rose. Perhaps am not done rising. I've
| got the aptitude"
"Yes, that's sou assented the reporter