Mexico weekly ledger., 1893-12-28

ture has the appearance of true water.
The proportion of blood cannot be
more than one in a million. / have no
doubt, however, that we shall be able
to obtain the characteristic reaction"
| AS he spoke, he threw into the vessel q
few white crystals, and then added
some drops of a transparent fluid. In
an instant the contents assumed a dull
mahogany color. and a brownish dust
was precipitated to the bottom of the
glass jar.
Hal ha!' he cried, c1apping his
hands, and looking as delighted as a
child with a new toy. what do you
think of that?"
at seems to be a very delicate test"
I remarked.
beautiful beautiful! The old
guaiacum test was very clumsy and I'M
certain. So is the microscopic exami-
nation for blood-corpuscles. The lat
ter is valueless If the stains are a few
hours old. Now, this appears to act
as we'll whether the blood is old or
new. Had this test been invented,
there are hundreds of men now walk
ing the earth who would long ago have
paid the penalty of their crimes"
"Indeed!" / murmured.
Criminal cases are continually
hinging upon that one point. A man
is suspected of a crime months per-
haps after it has been committed. His
linen or clothes are examined, and
brownish stains discovered upon them.
Are they blood-stains, OF m~ud-stains,
or rust-stains, or fruit-stains, or what
are they? That is a question which
has puzzled many an expert, and why?
Because there was no reliable test.
| Now we have the Sherlock Holmes
| test, and there will no longer be any
difficulty"
His eyes fairly glittered as he spoke,
and he put his hand ove his heart and
bowed as if to some a~pplauding crowd
conjured up by his imagination.
You are to be congratulated" l re-
marked, considerably surprised at his
enthusiasm.
There was the case of Won Bischoff
at Frankfort last year. He would GER
tainly have been hung had this test
been in existence. Then there was
Mason, of Bradford, and the notorious
Muller and Lefevre, of Montpelier,
and Samson, of New Orleans. could
name a score of cases in which it would
have been decisive"
"You seem to be a walking calendar
of crime" said Stamford, with a laugh.
You might start a paper on those
| lines. Call it the Police News of the
Past"
every interesting reading it might
be made, too," remarked Sherlock
Holmes, sticking a small piece of plas-
ter over the prick on his finger. Il
have to be careful" he continued, turn
ing to me with q smile, "for I dabble
with poisons a good deal" He held
out his hand as he spoke, and noticed
hat it was all notified over with SINH
lar pieces of plaster and ~discolored with
strong acids.
I'VE came here on business" said
Stamford, sitting down on a three
legged stool and pushing another one
in my direction with his foot MY
friend here wants to take diggings,
and as you were complaining that you
could get no one to go halves with
you, l thought that | had better bring
you together"
SDcE1OCk I1j1lltS stOiilCu L
at the idea of sharing his rooms with
me. II have my eye on a suite in
Baker street," he said, (which would
suit us down to the ground. You don't
mind the smell of strong tobacco, ]
hope?"
81 always smoke ships myself" ]
answered.
"That's good enough. l generally
have chemicals about, and occasional
ly do experiments. Would that annoy
you?"
by no means"
"Let me ~see-what are my other
shortcomings? get in the dumps al
times and don't open my mouth fo1
days on md. You must not think
am sulky when 1 do that. Just let me
alone and I'll soon be all right. What
have you to confess, now? It's just as
we'll for two fellows to know the
worst of one another before they be.
gin to live together"
I laughed at this cross-examination.
81 keep a bull-pup,"I said, land OBJ
ject to rows, because my nerves are
shaken, and l get up at all sorts of I'M
cody hours, and / am extremely lazy.
l have another set of vices when I'm
well, but those are the principal ones
at present."
do you include violin-playing in
your category of rows2" he asked,
~anxiously.
SIT depends on the player" I an,
swered. "a well-played violin is a treat
for the gods; a badly played one"
sob, that's all right" he cried, with
a merry laugh. 81 think we may con.
slider the thing as settled-that is, il
the rooms are agreeable to you"
"When shall we see them?"
Call for me here at noon tomorrow,
and We'll go together and settle every.
thing" he answered.
"All r~ight-noon exactly" said l,
shaking his hand.
We left him working among his
chemicals, and we walked together to-
ward my hotel.
by the way" / asked suddenly.
stopping and turning upon Stamford.
"how the deuce did he know that l had
come from Afghanistan?"
My companion smiled an enigmatical
smile. That's just his little pecul.
larlty, ne said. IN good many PEG.
pie have wanted to know how he finds
things out"
"Oh! a mystery, is ito" / cried, rub
bling my hands. This is very piquant.
l am much obliged to you for bringing
us together. The proper study OF
mankind is man. you know"
You must study him, them" Siam
ford said, as he bade me good-bv.
You'll find him a knotty problem,
though. I'll wager he learns more
about you than you about him. Good
by"
"Good-by," I answered, and strolled
| ON tn M hn&nl