The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1894-11-30
THE CRIMSON BOW.

= 0SS3 CttAA L. AAASAAj eAN opo 80
spector, as he lazily stood en- the corner
and followed with his restless eyes the
two bank clerks who were carrying a
heavy load of currency to the clearing
house, Il see that it's quite the fad
nowadays to I'LL up the papers and maya
zines with detective stories. I suppose
his here Sherlock Holmes fellow is re-
sponsible for it,"
1 agreed that he had diagnosedthe mat
.er about right and Immediately braced
myself against the side of the nearby
building in a 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
IN opinion.
"Well," he continued as the bank clerks
disappeared within the entrance to the
clearing house, II have read some of these
stories, and l think l could tell a few my
self that would go them n better. 1
nave one in mind now that would interest
you, and a local one at that, but I've got
to meet my partner round OF Milk street
in 20 minutes, and don't believe l ought
to start on it now"
/ insisted that he should, however, and
he rather reluctantly, as I thought, began
to tell the tale.
Tho story I am about to tell you,"
said he impressively, concerns one of the
most interesting and mysterious cases
that ever came under my observation and
goes to prove, among other things, that
oven a first class college education will
sometimes fail to restrain a mans crimi-
nal ~propensities. In fact, l sometimes
think it has a tendency to augment them.
But Pm not talking to you about the
philosophy of crime. I'm going to tell
you about the commission of it.
''One evening in the summer of 1889
shortly before 9 O'Clock two men walking
through one 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 a little distance from a couple of
small stores which furnished about the
only light to the street, the electric service
being only in it's inception about that
time.
ga hasty examination on the part of
the two startled pedestrians discovered
that the body had been subjected to the
most horrible mutilation. A terrible cash
had been made in the side of the head,
evidently with a sharp Ratchet. One of
the arms was chopped clean off, and va
rious other m~utilations had been made by
the fendish assailant.
"How such a dreadful deed could have
been committed in a thickly settled neigh
borhood within a stones throw of two
open stores without instant discovery was
something the two men could not under
stand.
II was connected with the Joy Street
station at that time-and, by the way, l
never could understand why they didn't
either change the name of that street or
move the station house off of it-and be-
ing a special officer / was assigned to
work up the case.
II had mighty little to work on when 1
started, but when 1 got through I felt that
I was farther along toward promotion
than 1 was when l first began.
Even the very victim of the crime was
useless in the way of furnishing a clew.
The body was neatly attired in a 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.
Il wasted no time in trying to identify
the victim, but ave my first attention to
looking around for a motive and an assail-
ant. This may strike you as apparently
reversing the usual process of unraveling
a crime of this sort, but 1 had my reasons
for doing it, as will appear later.
'tMy first discovery was the ak with
which the deed had been accomplished.
This really helped me very little, however,
for l was not long in 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 n had
been taken from q case in front of the
store, where a lot of other tools were dis
played for sale.
1.-The other store, I should have remark
ed, was one of those furnishing stores SO
common in the west n 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.
'From the hardware dealer, however,
I did elicit the Information hat he had
heard, probably about ten minutes before
the two men had made their sensational
discovery, a party of young men pass the
door, evidently full of enthusiasm or
something stronger. He knew they were
young men by the tone of their voices, al
though he had not taken enough interest
in them to turn round and look in their
direction.
sThis news might prove of Importance,
so I made a mental note of the circum-
stance. You see, we detectives are a good
deal like you newspaper men-we have to
study the trifles as we'll as the manifestly
important things, for it is the sum total
of the triles that usually counts in u
case.
81 returned to the scene and studied
every square inch of the ground, or rath-
er the brick sidewalk. Brick sidewalks
are a good deal like dead men themselves,
howeyer-thcy tell few tales-and for a
time / was totally without anything re-
sembling a clew.
81 had almost given up my search in
despair when / came across a small bow
of bright crimson ribbon that was lying
in the gutter among a lot of rubbish not
far from the spot where the deed had been
committed.
sit was badly soiled, having evidently
been trampled underfoot in a %souff1e, and
while | was unable to invest 1t with any
special significance at the Jlme | put it in
my pocket along with a half burned ciga-
went home TO do a little thinking.
"A piece of ribbon which might have
come there in 100 different ways made a
rather dubious clew, considering the cir
cumstances, and a half burned cigarette
was even more SO.
~ have a curious faculty of being able
to think more quickly and clearly when !
have a pen or pencil in my hand, just as