The Globe-republican., 1894-04-27

upon the case. but still we may as well
learn all that is to be learned.
.sYou amaze me. Holiness, said !.
..Surely you are not as sure as you pre-
tend to be of all those particulars
which you gave"
There's no room for mistake, he
answered. 1.-The very first thing
which l observed on arriving there
was that a cab had made two ruts with
its wheels close to the curb. Now. up
to last aight, we have had no rain Tor
a week. so that those wheels. which
left such deep impression. must have
been there during the night There
were the marks of the horses hoofs,
too, the outline of one of which was
far more clearly cut than that OF the
other three. showing that that was
new shoe Since the cab was there
after the rain began, and was not
there at any time during the morning
Il have Gregson's word for that-it
follows that it must have been there
during the night, and. therefore. that
it brought those two individuals to the
house."
THAT seems simple enough" said l;
but how about the other mans
height?"
''Why, the height of a man, in nine
cases out of ten, can be told from the
length of his stride. 1t is simple
calculation enough though there is no
use my boring you with figures. I
had this fellows stride, both on the
clay outside and on the dust within.
Then had a way of checking my cal
culation. When a man writes on a
wall, his instinct leads him to write
about the level of his own eyes. Now,
that writing was just over six feet
from the ground. 1t was child's play"
''And his age?" asked.
"Well, if a man can stride four and
he can't be quite in the sere and yell
low. That was the breadth of puddle
on the garden walk which he had
evidently walked across. Patent
leather boots had gone round and
Square-toes had hoped over. There
is no mystery about it at all. am
simply applying to ordinary life few
of those precepts of observation and
deduction which l advocated in that
article. Is there anything else that
puzzles you?"
The finger-nails and the Trichinop-
oily" suggested.
THE writing on the wall was done
with a mans forefinger dipped in blood.
NV glass allowed me to observe that
the plaster was slightly scratched in
doing it, which would not have been
the case if the mans nail had been
trimmed. gathered up some scat
tered ash from the floor. 1t was dark
in color and flaky- such an ash as is
only made by Trichinopoly. l have
made a special study of cigar ashes
in fact, l have written a monograph
upon the subject. flatter myself that
l can distinguish at glance the ash Of
any known brand either of cigar or of
tobacco. 1t is just in such details that
the skilled detective differs from the
Gregson and Lestrade type"
And the florid face?" asked.
"Ah, that was a more daring shot.
though l have no doubt that ! was
right. You must not ask me that at
the present state of the affair.""
l passed my hand over my brow.
sMy head is in whirl," l remarked;
1.-The more one thinks of it the more
mysterious it grows. How came these
two men-if there were two men-intO
an empty house? What has become Of
the cabman who drove them? How
poison? Where did the blood come
from? What was the object of the
murderer. since robbery had no part in
it? How came the woman's ring there?
Above all. why should the second man
write up the German word ''rache" be-
fore decamping? confess that | can
not see any possible way of reconciling
all these facts"
My companion smiled apprOvingly.
''You sum up the difficulties of the
situation succinctly and we'll" he said.
There is much that is still obscure.
though have quite made up my mind
on the main facts. AS to poor Les
trades discovery it was simply blind
intended to put the police upon a wrong
track. by suggesting socialism and
secret societies. 1t was not done by a
German. The A. if you noticed, was
printed somewhat after the German
fashion Now a real German invaria-
bly, prints in the Latin character. so
that we may safely say that this was
not written by one, but by clumsy
imitator, who overdid his part. 1t was
simply a ruse to divert inquiry into a
wrong channel. I'm not going to tell
you much more of the case, doctor.
You know a conjurer gets no credit
when once he has explained his trick,
and if show you too much of my
method Of working, you will come to
the conclusion that am very ordinary
individual after all"
IL shall never do that" I answered.
you have brought detection as neal
an exact science as it ever will be
brought in this world"