The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1894-08-25
AN EDITORS STORY.


sit was in q western city some years
ago = remarked the city editor, s.that
I was holding down the city. desk ON q
daily for the first time We had : man
On the paper, who was, simply i crank
on homicide, and he was more than o
mere reporter, for he had .detactive tai
emit Of the highest order. he. didn't care
much for tbs. common c-rimes-bur-
glaries l~arcenies and such-but give
him : good. mysterious murder and he
was. splendid. Not only did he have the
history M all the famous murders at
his angesy' ends, but he delighted In
ferreting ont the most mysterious crimes
that came within our province. In every
case, except the one i ann telling about
and there we're o good many killings
In that town-he traced out the muir
derer before the detectives even dreamed
Of his identity.
"I have since thought the secret OF
his success was that he put himself
mentally in the place of the murderer
and reasoned it out from motives rather
than from the 'clews' of the ordinary
detective.
/" There In seldom much method in
murdsr,' he once said to me when in a
rarely communicative mood. Most men
would commit IL i'm about the same way
under the same circumstances Tt is
only when q murderer goes about it
systematically, as do the thugs o. In
dia. that . murder becomes truly mys-
teriogss, .al
II epcs asked him why he did not
become . regular detective. ee
/ was born and bred . newspaper
man he said, and habit isstoe strong
30 break That was literally trna I'm his
case. Otherwise ] might mos have 20
tell this story 4
"Ona morning the body OF aHne lock.
ing man YVES foundkins nm alley adioia.
ing the electriOs Light worhssan Gle very
heartof the CITY, To afteEnoons papers
had, d chance ats IL but didn't make
mpahseut oe Id SOL st once assigned at
20 J1aess "A Me will call him AlAh0ugh
he did not show mp at the usual heur. 7
hadsnO donbt lthak he ,was already at
W0xk On IL 90 liz WA a. mysteEi0usaa
Cases ID seven he coald desire.
THE NiCtim wAs identifed as q tra4-
cling man who had Just arrived, and
aa faR o. knOwn, he had mo- &Ea0aad@ 0r
acQuaiusamoeesfn Tire city. IL was n0sa
case az robbery for AL his money sad
yaluableg were lefts on the body. There
was . slight contnsion On the back a.
the head and . small needIelikeh hole Ill
| reCsay AhrOagh the man's heart Itawms
especially strange that such d criane
couldsh ave been comnitted ina public
thoronghfare, while there wassabssluse-
/ II no ol6w 20 tho, murderer or his xnOs
tive.
"But these difficulties were only such
% would ordinarily pat Jones ON his
mettle, no i did b doubt that he wogId
have q good account OF the affair. !
was therefore somewhat surprised
when he came sneaking in about s
o'clock in the evening TO see what his
assignment was. He looked worn and
haggard, but denied that he was i'll, sol
gave him the murder assignment. I
thought / saw q startled look in his
eyes, but he maintained his outward
composure and went ont without d
word.
ST did not see him again that even
ing. About midnight I began to wonder
why / had not heard from him, bnt
only speculated ON the possibility OF
something having happened to him, for
the idea that he could possibly fail
never occurred to me. Finally, after al
hour had gone by. ] telephoned to the
police station. Word came back that
there were mo- new Developments in ahe
case, and that Jones' had not been there.
Sending two men ont To hunt him mp !
set to work myself tomake mp astofy Of
the murder from the afternoon papers.
Just then Jones came I'm. His step was
unsteady and his face flushed He had
evidently been drinking heavily--some-
thing I never knew him TO do befcrs
butshe wa moi drunk. rather he seemed
at kigh neryeszs tension, although out.
waxdlys as calm - eyer.
81 decided 10 let this breach OF dis
cipline spssa and merely asked him Ton
his murder STORY. He replied that hs
Il y y 81
well, get 90 work On 1t mt once, !
said rather sharply.
Then he really surprised me by say.
ing that he had nothing 20 write beyond
the baxe 1actssalready known. The po-
Ice had developed nothing new, and ~
supposed that / had worked MP the story
from the evening papers.
And has it come 10 pass that yOu
wait for the police to develop . murde1
case for your ] exclaimed angrily. "A
for the reports i'm the evening papers,
you can fake q better story than they
hadl'
He sat down. In apparent despair,
OF his desk. Then ! relented and o.,
joled him q little, begging him not Il
spoil his great record by falling down
on such "A assignments There i d start
81 Tor you, said ]. throwing him Chi
article 7 had commenced. Nov, 81
ahead and I'LL that ont with d column
description OF the scene.
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