Ceredo advance. [volume] (Ceredo, W. Va.) 1885-1939, 1894-06-06
PART II.
icy 4. CONAN DOYLE.
CHAPTER VII-CosrrsuEp.

! usually guide rather than n him
Ndrance. In solving "A problem OF this
sort, the grand thing ia to he able to
reSSon backward. That is a very use
full Accomplishment and very easy
one, but people do not practice il
much. In the everyday affairs of life
1t is more useful TO reason forward.
and so the other comes to be neglected.
There are fifty who can reason syn
thetically for one who can reason an
alytically"
IL confess" said l, that do not
quite follow you"
Il hardly expected that you would.
Let me see if | can make it clear Most
people, if You describe n train of events
TO them, will tell you what the result
would be. They can put those events
together in their minds, and argue
from them that something will come
TO pass. There are few people. how
ever, who, if you told them "A result.
would be able to evolve from their own
inner consciousness what the steps
were which led up to that result. This
power is what mean when | talk of
reasoning backward, or analytically."
Il understand" said /.
@NONf billS WIS n case In which you
Were given the result and had to find
everything else for yourself Now, let
me endeavor TO show you the different
steps in my reasoning. To begin at
the beginning: approached the house,
as you know, on foot, and with nv
mind entirely free from all impress
sions. i naturally began by examin-
$ing the roadway, and there, as have
already explained TO you, saw clearly
the marks of n cab, which. | ascer-
tained by inquiry, must have been
tRre during the night. | satisfied
nttFelf that il was cab and not a pri-
va carriage by the narrow gauge of
tx wheels. The ordinary London
Rfpwler is considerably less wide than
akentleman's brougham
This was the first point gained. |
tHen walked slowly down the garden
path, which happened to be composed
Oh clay soil. peculiarly suitable for
t4z&pg impressions. No doubt il ap-
pe4z&ed TO you to be mere tramplcd
line of slush, but to my trained eyes
every mark upon its surface had n
meaning. There is no branch of de
tectiye science which is so important
and - much neglected as the art of
tracing footsteps Happily, have al
waysAaid great stress upon it, and
muclis{practice has made il second
nature. to me. ! saw the heavy foot
InarlSs*pf the constables but | saw
also the tracks of the two men who
had first passed through the garden.
II was easy to tell that they had been
before the others, because in places
their marks had been entirely obliter-
ated by the others coming upon the
top of them. In this way my second
link was fprmed, which told me that
the nocturnal visitors were two in
number, one remarkable for his height
(as calculated from the length of his
Stride) and the other fashionably
dressed, TO judge from the small and
elegant impression left by his boots.
"On entering the house this last in
ference was confirmed. My well-booted
man lay before me. The tall one, then.
had done the murder. IL murder there
was. There was no wound upon the
dead mans person, but the agitatcd
expression upon his face assured me
that he had foreseen his fate before IL
came upon him. Men who die from
heart disease or any sudden natural
cause never by any chance exhibit agi-
tation upon their features. Having
shifted the dead mans lips. detected
slightly sour smell. and came 90 the
co1clhsion that he had had poison
~-lsfced upon him. Again argued
that IL kad been forced upon him.
from the hatred aud fear cx
pressed upon his face. BY the
methodfof exclusion I had arrived at
H.
would meet the facts Donot imagine
thai IL was a very unhcard-of idea.
Tbo forcible administration Of poison
10y no means a new thing in criminal
a4nals. The cases Of Dol-ly. i'm Ode.-
- and Of Leturier in MuntppIicr
ill occur at once TO any toxicolorist
And now came the great question
20 the reason why Robbery had
not been the object Of the murder. for
nothinR was taken Was 10 politics.
then. or was IL a woman That was
the question which confronted me. 4;
was inclined from the first 20 the lat
ter supposition Political assassins
are only too glad 20 do their work and
70 fly. This murder had. on the con.
trary, been done most deliberately.
and the pcrpctratUr had left bis tracks
al over the room. showing that he
had been there all the time. II must
have been private wrong. and not a
political one. which called for such q
methodical revenge. Whom the in
scriptiOn was discovered upon the ,,aIl
was more inclined than over 10 rny
opinion The thing was too evidently
a blind. When the ring was found
however, 10 settled the question
Clearly the murderer had used 10 IN
remind his victim Of some dead or alb.
sent woman. 10 was at this point that
j asked GreQson whether be had i'm.
qusred in his telegram 90 Cleveland az
20 any particular point in Mr Drebber's
Former career. lie answered, you re-
member i'm the negative.
- then proceeded 10 make a careful
examination Of the room, which con.
frmed me Ia my opinion as 10 the muir.
sisreTs heieht. and fuyRished me with