The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1894-12-06
THE CRIMSON BOW.

two bank clerks who were carrying a
heavy load of currency to the clearing
house, II see that it's quite the fad
nowadays to fill up the papers and maya
zines with detective stories. I suppose
this here Sherlock Holmes fellow is re-
sponsible for it. u
agreed that he had diagnosed the mat
ter about right and Immediately braced
myself against the side of the nearby
building in sort Of interrogative atti-
tude, knowing well that my friend, the
inspector, would have something more of
interest to say, if it was only to express
an opinion.
sWell, - he continued as the bank clerks
disappeared within the entrance to the
clearing house, 'sI4have read some of these
stories, and think could tell few my
self that would go them one better. L
have one in mind now that would interest
you, and local enc at that, but I've got
to meet my partner round on Milk street
in 20 m in uses, and don't believe I ought
to start on it new
insisted that he should, however, and
he rather reluctantly, as thought, began
to tell the}tale.
e'Tlss stayysK am about to tell you"
said hsSinD prsssively, concerns one Of the
most interesting and mysterious cases
that ever game Riltaer my observation and
goes to prove, anrong other things, that
even first class college education will
sometimes faiis to restrain mans crimi-
nal propensa4sas. la fact, l sometimes
think it has. a tendency to augment them.
'But I'm net talking to you about the
philosophy of crime. I'm going to tell
Won aiac71t tina lfsIIIynissiSn OF il.
lone evening In the summer of 1889
shortly before 9 O'clock two men walking
through enc of the side streets of the west
end of Boston stumbled over the PROSTATE
form of a man. 1t was lying on the dark
sidewalk little distance from a couple of
small stores which furnished about the
only light to tie street, the electric service
being only in its inception about that
time.
GA hasty examination on the part Of
the two Startled. pedestrians discovered
that the body kaa been subjected to the
most horrible naatiiatio A terrible cash
had been made In the side of the head,
eviden5ly " fssa sharp habehet One of
the arIas was cfiopped clean off, and va
rious other fGutliatiGns had been made by
the flendish ASSISTANT.
HOW SUCkt a aHcdNlA ga uCSn SOuid ave
been committed in thickly settled neigh
borhood within a stones throw of two
open stores without instant discovery was
something the two men could not under
stand.
81 was connected with the Joy Street
station at tlaat tiIne-and, by the way, l
never could understand why they didn't
either change thasnanae Of that street OF
move the station house off Of it-and be-
ing a special officer l was assigned to
work r2saise oaae.
II haeie1nighty little to work on when I
started but when got through felt that
1 was farther along toward promotion
than Z was when / first began.
Even the very victim of the crime was
useless in the way Of furnishing clew.
The body was neatly attired in new suit
of rather pronounced blue, but there was
an utter absence of watch, cards, letters
or anything else upon which Identification
might be based.
81 wasted NO time in trying to identify
the victim, but gave my first attention to
looking around for motive and an assall-
ant. This rmaRsstrike you as apparently
reversing the usual process of unraveling
crime Of this sort, but had my reasons
for doingrit, as will appear later.
"My first discovery was the ak with
which the deed had been accomplished.
This really helped me very little, however,
for was not long ia. finding that it had
been taken from in front of the farthest
of the two little stores. The instrument
was what is known as a broadax and had
been taken from a case in front OF the
store, where lot of other tools were dis
played for sale.
1.-THE other. store, I should have remark
ed, was one Of thosefurnishing stores SO
common in the west and north ends Of
the city. Strange to say, the proprietor
of neither saw the theft of the ak nor
heard anything Of what had happened SO
near them.
'eFrem the hardware dealer, however,
I did elicit the information that he had
heard, probably about ten minutes before
the two mer'fSEd made their sensational
discovery, paEty4o young men pass the
door, evidently full of enthusiasm or
something stronger. He knew they were
young men by the tope~ef their voices, al
though he had not taasen enough interest
In them to turn round and look in their
direction.
s.Thisanews might prove of Importance,
30 made mental note of, the circum-
stance You sesss;lRe detectives are good
deal like you nawspaperaneh-we have &c
study the trif.esh as we'll as the manifestiy
important things, for it is the sum total
of the triftss that usually counts in our
case. f"t
81 returned to the scene and STUDIED
every square inch of the ground, or rain
or the brick sf&swalk. Brick Sidewalks
are good deal like dead men themselves
however-they tell few taies-ano ZOE
time was totally without anything re-
semblng$a olew.
Il had almost given up my search Ia
despair waep j. caHae across small DOW
of bright czafnsen ribbon that was lying
in the guitar a1neng 9 lot OF rubbish not
far from tile spot waere the deed had peeh
committed.
.'Itwas badly soiled, having evidently
been tYamp1ed underfoot ina scuHe, ana
while was unable to invest it with any