The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1893-07-08
Continued from Third bdge.)

ooked as if it were taking its first jour
ney for years. The number of the
check was 662. When | returned to
the coaches my suspect had gone
into the smoker with a cigar. This
left me free to work among the pas
sengers, and | went from one to an
other with my own check on my palm,
and asked
Excuse me, please, but does this
check belong to you p
Every one of the seven took out his
or her check to make sure they had
not lost it. thus saw the numbers of
all, and none had the number above
given. That settled the ownership of
the trunk | had selected. 1t certainly
belonged to my suspect | dared not
approach him on the matter of his
check, as that would alarm him and
destroy the case | had built up. The
only thing | could do was to watch
him when we arrived at Weston.
There were three hotels there, but all a
mile away from the depot. There was
a north and south road crossing there,
but we would get in at 7 o'clock, and
no train would pass before midnight.
| gave the man no further heed until
we reached our destination. Eight of
the nine trunks were sent up town,
while his was left in the baggage room.
Three of us went to the same hotel.
Had my suspect been intending to
stop fer a day or two he would have
had his trunk brought up, | figured
that he intended to 90 north or south
during the night He made no inquir-
les about trains, however, nor did he
visit the uptown ticket office At 9
o'clock he went to bis room, leaving nc
word with the clerk. That certainly
looked as if he meant to stay all night
but when | had seen him off | went
and told my story to the chief of police
/ was laughed at, of course. | had
made a rope out of sand. The Officer
patted me on the shoulder in father
ly way and advised me to stick to my
line and let the professional detectives
do the detecting. That ought to have
squelched me, but it didn't When
left the chief, | started for the depo
to have a close look at that trunk. II
stood on end in the baggage room anc
was the only trunk in the room. The
door was wide open, and as | reached
it dog trotted in off the platform anC
began shifting and smelling at the trunk
After minute he began to whine anc
paw, and as | approached he growlec
at me.
The actions of the dog would have
attracted anybody's attention. | called
to the baggage man, and, after watching
the performance for a bit, he agreed
with me that there was something t.
investigate. We drove the dog on
and had sniff at the trunk. There
was a rank, unpleasant odor. One
sniff satisfied me that | had made nc
mistake in working up my case. | hac
no proof that this trunk belonged tc
my suspect 1t had come off oul
train, and | believed it to be his, but
there might be mistake. | returned
to the chief, and though still inclined
to ridicule my case" he consented tt
20 down and see the trunk In abou
half minute he was satisfied that there
was something out of the ordinary, but
could not see his way clear We haC
no right to look into the trunk, and W,
had no proofs to warrant an arrest. By
getting hold of the train baggage man
| satisfied the chief that nine trunk
had come down on the train. Elgh
of them had been taken away. If the
owner of the ninth meant to take the
cross line he would of course, reCheck
The chief argued that my suspect would
not have taken room for the night
intending to 90 away, but asked tina
he wait and see what might happen. A
I1:3o my man came down in a hack
He had come down stairs at II anC
settled his bill and made excuses fol
his change of plan. He at once stepped
to the ticket office and bought a cross
line ticket and then began to walk up
and down, saying nothing about bag
gage. l kept him in sight, but took
care he should not see me. AT II:45
acting under instructions, the baggage
man approached him and said
excuse me, but you did not give
me your baggage check. Where shall
| reCheck TOP"
"Why-I-I-why, | have no check
no baggage" stammered the man as
he felt in his pockets.
He was badly upset, and even the
cautious chief grew suspicious. | wa:
so willing to stake everything upon q
single meve that | walked straight UP
to the man and asked:
"If that isn't your trunk in there
how do you happen to have the key tc
it2 Its your trunk Of course, l saw
you check it at Chester. Why do you
deny ownership
He wasn't a man Of nerve. He
turned pale, choked and stammered
and suddenly made break for the
door. The baggageman caught him.
and he redeemed himself somewhat by
giving the three of US lively tussle fol-
a couple of minutes The key was
taken from his pocket and the trunk
unlocked, You have guessed its con
tents-a dismembered human body,
and that of woman. Next day when
the doctors got to work they said it was
a Young woman who had been killed