Democratic Northwest and Henry County news. [volume] (Napoleon, O. [Ohio]) 1894-1905, 1895-02-28

al that Is to be learned.
''You amaze me, Holmes, said L
"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. "The very first thing which
/ observed ON arriving there was that a
cab had made two ruts with its wheels
close to the curb. Now up to last night
we had no rain for week. so that those
wheels, which left such deep impress
sion. 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 tho cab was
there after the rain began and was not
there at any time during the morning
] have Gregson's word for that-it fol-
lows that it must have been there dnr-
ing the night, and, therefore. that it
brought those two individuals to the
house"
THAT seems simple enough, said !;
'but how about the other mans height"
why. the height of man in nine
cases out Of ten can be told from the
length of his stride. 1t is a simple cal
culation enough, though there is 70 use
my boring you with figures. I had this
fellows stride both or the clay outside
and on the dust within. Then / had a
way of checking my calculation. When
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. It was
child's play"
Sand his age?" asked.
"Well, If a man can stride ~ feet
without the slightest effort, he can't be
quite in the sere and yellow. That was
the breadth of puddle on the garden
walk which he had evidently walked
across. Patent leather boots had gone
around, and square toes had hoped
over. There is no mystery about it at
all I am simply applying to ordinary
life few of those precepts of observa-
tion and deduction which advocated in
that article. Is there anything else that
puzzles you?''
''The finger nails and the Trichinop-
oly," / suggested.
"The writing on the wall was done
with man 8 forefnger dipped in blood.
My glass allowed me to observe that
the plaster was slightly scratched in
doing it, which would not have been
the case il the mans nail had been
trimmed. I gathered up some scattered
ash from the floor 1t was dark in colo,
and haky, such an ash as is only made
by Trichinopoly. I have made study
of cigar ashes-in fact, have written
a monograph upon the subject. I fat.
ter myself that I can distinguish at q
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 T"
''And the florid face?'' I asked.
"Ah, that was a more daring shot,
though / have no doubt that I was right,
You must not ask me that at the pres
ent state of the affair.
/ passed my hand over my brow.
"My head is in whirl," I remarked
''The more one thinks Of it the more
mysterious it grows. How came these
two men--if there were two men-intc
an empty house? What has become Of
the cabman who drove them? How coult
one man compel another to take poison
Where did the blood come from? Wha
was the object of the murderer, since
robbery had no part in it? How camt
the woman's ring there? Above all, why
should the second man write up tht
German word 'Rache' before decamp
ing? / confess | cannot see any possible
way of reconciling all these facts. /"
My companion smiled approvingly.
''You sum up the difficulties Of thu
situation succinctly and well," he said
''There is much that is still obscure
though | have quite made up my mint
ON the main facts. As to poor Lestrade'
discovery, it was simply blind intend
ed to put the police upon wrong tract
by suggesting socialism and secret SO
cieties. It was not done by a German
The a., if you noticed. was printed
somewhat after the German fashion
Now, real German invariably prints il
the Latin character, so that we ma,
safely say that this was not written b,
one, but by q clumsy imitator, wit
overdid his part. Tt was simply rus
to divert inquiry into wrong channel
I'm not going to tell you much more o
the case, doctor. You know a conjure
gets no credit when once he has explain
ed his trick, and if Ishow you too mucl
of my method of working you will COM
to the conclusion that am very or
dinary individual, after all. \
II shall never do that" I answered
"You have brought detection as nea
an exact science as it will ever b
brought in this world. +"
My companion flushed up with pleas
ure at my words and the earnest way il
which I uttered them. | had alread.
observed that he was sensitive to fiatter.
on the score of his art as any girl coul'
be of her beauty.
"I'll tell you one other thing" h
said. Patent feathers and square toe
came in the same cab, and they walked
down the pathway together as friendl.
as possible-arm in arm in all probabil
ity. When they got inside, they walke'
up and down the room, or rather paten
feathers stood still while square toe
walked up and down. Ieould read al
that in the dust, and / could read that
as he walked, he grew more and NOR
excited That is showr by the increase
length of his strides. He was talkin
all the while and working himself mp
no doubt, into a fury. Then the TRACED
occurred, I've told you all know my
self now, for the rest is mere surmis