The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1893-03-09

WIFI us pOSScSSlOn.
$ Its susceptibility of being pro-
| duced ?" said i.
THAT is to say, of being destroyed
said Dupin,
True" L observed; "the paper is
clearly then upon the premises. AS for
its being upon the person of the minis
ter, we may consider that as out of the
question"
Entirely" said the project Gle
has been twice waylaid, as if by foot
pads, and his person vigorously searched
under my own inspection"
"You might have spared yourself this
trouble" said Dupin. "D-I presume.
is not altogether fool, and, if not, must
have anticipated these waylayings, as u
matter of course
Not altogether a fool" said G., s.but
then he's poet, which take to be only
one remove from a FOOL
True" said Dupin, after long and
thoughtful Whit from his meerschaum
although have been guilty of certain
doggeral myself"
Suppose you detail" said /, s'the
particulars of your search"
Why, the fact is, we took our time,
and we searched everywhere. l have
had long experience in these affairs. 1
took the entire building, room by room;
devoting the nights Of whole week to
each. We examined, first, the furniture
of each apartment. We opened every
drawer; and presume you know that,
to a properly trained police agent, Such
thing as q secret drawer is impossible.
Any man is n dolt who permits a
secret drawer to escape him in search
OF this kind. The thing is so plain.
There is a certain amount of bulk-of
spacc-to be accounted for in every cab
met. Then we have accurate rules.
The fftieth part of line could not es-
cape MS. After the cabinets we took the
chairs. The cushions we probed with
the fine long needles you have seen me
employ, From the tables we removed
the tops
why so?"
Sometimes the top of table. or
other similarly arranged piece of furni-
ture, is removed by the person wishing
to conceal an article; then the leg is ex-
cavated. the article deposited within the
cavity, and the top replaced. The bot
toms and tops of bed-posts are employed
in the same way"
But could not the cavity be detected
by sounding?" asked.
by no means, if. when the article is
deposited, sufficient wa(lding of cotton
be placed around it. Besides. in our
case, we were obliged to proceed with
ont noise"
But YOU could not have removed
You could not have taken to pieces all
articles of furniture in which it would
have been possible to make deposit in
the manner You mention. a letter NAV
be compressed into n thin spiral roll. not
differing much in shape or bulk from Il
large knitting needle, and in this form
chair. for example. You did not take
to pieces all the chairs?''
"Ccrtainly not: but we did bettcr-
we examined the rungs of every chair
in the hotel. and, indeed. the jointings
of every description of furniture by the
aid of Il most powerful microscope. Had
there been any traces of recent disturb
ancc we should not have failed to detect
II instantly. \ single grain of gimlct-
dust. for example. would have been OBJ
vious as an apple. Any disorder in the
glucing any unusual gaping in the
would have sufticcd TO insure de
lection"
Il presume You looked to the mirrors.
between the boards and the plates. and
yon probcd the beds and the bcd-clothcs.
as we'll as the curtains and carpets"
That of course: and when we had
absolutely completed every particle of
the furniture in this way. then we ex-
aminrd the house itself. Wcdividcd its
entire surface into compartments. which
we numbered, SO that none might be
missed: then we scrutiniZed each indi-
vidua square inch throughout the
premises. including the two houses inn
mcdiatcly adjoining, with the micro
scope. as before
The two houses adjoining." | OK
claimed: You must have had Il great
deal OF trouble"
I'VE had: but the reward offered il
prodigious.'
You include the grounds about the
houscs?"
''All the grounds are paved with
brick. They gave us comparatively lit
tie trouble. We examined the moss
between the bricks, and found il undis.
turbcd."
ou iooNcu among Ia papers, OF
course. and into the books of the
library"
Certainly; we opened every pacl<a &c
and parcel: we not only opened every
book. but we turned over every leaf ir
each volume, not contcnting ourselves
with mere shake. according to tho
fashion of some of our police officers.
We also measured the thickness of every
book-covcr. with the most accurate ad
measurement. and applied to each the
most jealous scrutiny of the microscope.
Had any of the bindings hecn RECENTLY