The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1894-07-13
PART II.
CHAPTER yII-CoyrryuEp
BE A. CONAN BOYLE

Il nave already explained to yOl
that what is out of the common i
usually a guide rather than a hin
drance. In solving a problem of thi
sort, .he grand thing is to be able t.
reason backward. That is a very use
full accomplishment and a very cas-,
one, but people do not practice i
much. In the everyday affairs of lif,
it 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."
II confess" said I, that / do moi
quite follow YOU"
II hardly expected that you would
Let me see if l can make it clear. Nos,
people, if you describe 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 fem that something will come
to pass. There are few people, how
ever, |Ao, if you told them a result,
would be able to evolve from their own
inner consciousness what the steps
T. l.
power is what l mean when | talk of
reasoning backward, or analytically. :"
81 understand" said I.
Now. this was 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. | naturally began by examin-
ing the roadway. and there. as have
already explained to you. saw clearly
the marks of cab. which. / ascer-
tanned by inquiry, must have been
there during the night. | satisfied
myself that il was a cab and not a pri-
vate carriage by the narrow gauge of
the wheels. The ordinary London
growler is considerably less wide than
a gentleman's brougham.
This was the first point gained.
then walked slowly down the garden
path. which happened to be composed
of clay soil. peculiarly suitable for
taking impressions. No doubt it ap-
peared to you to be a mere trampled
line of slush. but to my trained eyes
every mark upon its surface bad a
meaning. There is no branch of de-
tective science which is so important
and so much neglected as the art of
tracing footsteps Happily. have al
ways laid great stress upon it. and
much practice has made it second
nature to me. l saw the heavy foot
marks of the constables. but saw
also the tracks of the two men who
had first passed through the garden.
1t 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 formed, which told me that |
the nocturnal visitors were two in |
one remarkable for his height |
las calculated from the length of his
stridel and the other fashionably |
dressed, to judge from the small and
impression left by his boots.
ION entering the house this last in
ference was confirmed. My well-booted
man lay before me. The tall one. then.
had done the murder, if murder there
was. There was no wound upon the
Head mans person. but the agitated
upon his face assured me
that he had foreseen his fate before it
zane upon him. Men who die from
heart disease or any sudden natural
,ause never by any chance exhibit agi-
.ation upon their features Having
shifted the dead mans lips. detected
! Slightly sour smell. and came to the
conclusion that he had had poison
orced upon him. Again I argued
hat it had been forced upon him.
rom the hatred and fear ex-
PRESSED upon his face. BY the
method of exclusion had arrived at
his result, for no other hypothesis
would meet the facts. Donot imagine
hat it was 4 very unheard-of idea.
The forcible administration of poison
S by no means a new thing in criminal
nnals. The cases of Dolslxy. in Odes-
a. and of Leturier. in Montpelier.
Tiu occur at once to any toxicologist.
And now came the great question
s to the reason VIII. Robbery had
ot been the object of the murder. for
othing was taken Was it politics.
hen. or was it a woman? That was
he question which confronted me. /
-as inclined from the first to the lat
er supposition. Political assassins
re only too glad to do their work and
, fly. This murder had, on the con-
AIRY, been done most deliberately, !
nd the perpetrator had left his tracks
L over the room. showing that he =.
ad been there all the time. 1t must
ave been a private wrong. and not 4 I
olitical one. which called for such
ethodical revenge. When the in
,ription was discovered upon the wall
was more inclined than ever to nv
oinion- The thing was too evidently
blind When the ring was found,
owever, it settled the question. =
early the murderer had used il to .
mind his victim of some dead or alb o
Mt woman 1t was at this point that
asked Gregson whether he had in C
Tired in his telegram to Cleveland as
any particular point IN M. Drebber's n
rner career. He answered, you re-
euter, IL The negative.
Il then proceeded to make careful
ANIMATION of the room, which con-
med me in my opinion as to the muir
.rer's height and furnished me with