The Goodland republic. [volume] (Goodland, Kan.) 1891-1907, 1895-12-06

murder. be once said to me. when IN 3
rarely Communicative modd. Most men /
would commit 1t about the same way /
under the same circumstances. lis
only when q murderer goes about it /
systematically, as do the thugs Of In
dia, that a murder becomes trulg mys-
teFions.
81 once asked him Why be did not be-
come a regular detective.
Il was born and bred a newspaper
man. be said, and habit is too strong
to break That was literally true in
his case, otherwise I might not have to
tell this story.
sOne morning the body OF a fine
looking man was found in an alley ad-
joining the electric light works, in the
very heart of the city. The afternoon
papers had a chance at it, but didn't
make much of il, so 1 at once assigned
it to Jones-as we viii call him. Al
though he did not show up at the usual
hour, 1 had no doubt that he was al
ready at work on it, as it was as mys-
terious a case as even he souId desire.
"The victim was identified as a tray-
cling map, who had just arrived, and,
as far IS known, he had no friends or
acquaintance IN the city, it was not a
case of robbery. for all his money and
valuables were left on the body. There
was a slight confusion on the back Of
the head, and a small, nesdle-Iike hole
directly through the mans heart. It
was specially strange that such q crime
could have been committed in a public
thoroughfare, while there was absOlu-
tely no clew to the murderer or his
motive.
"B1t these difficulties we're only
such as would ordinarily put Jones on
mis- mettle, so I did not doubt that be
would have a good account OF the affair.
was therefore somewhat surprised
when he came sneaking in about 6
o'clock in the evening to see what his
assignment was. He looked worn and
haggard, but denied that he was i'll, so
l gave him the murder assignment. I
thought 1 saw startled look in his
eyes, but he maintained his outward
composure and went out without
WORD.
81 did not see him again that evening.
About midnight I began to wonder why
1 had not heard from him, bnt only
speculated on the possibility of some
thing having happened to him, for the
idea that he could possibly fail never
occurred to me. Finally, after an hour
HAD gone by, telephoned to the police
station. Word came back that there
was no new developments in the case,
and that Jones had not been there.
Sending out two men to hunt him up
I set to work myself to make up a story
of the murder from the afternoon
papers. Just then Jones came in. His
step was unsteady and his face flushed.
He had evidently been drinking heaYi-
ly-something I never knew him to do
before-but he was not drunk; rather,
he seemed at high nervous tension, al
though outwardly as calm as evers
81 decided to let this breach of disci-
pine pass, and merely asked him for
his murder story. He replied that he
hadn't written it.
We'll, go to work on it at once I
said, rather sharply.
"Then he really surprised me by say
ing that he had nothing to write be-
yond the bare facts already known.
The police had developed nothing new
and he supposed that I had worked up
the story from the evening papers.
"'And has it come to pass that you
wait for the police to develop a murder
case for your I exclaimed angrily. AS
for the reports in the evening papers,
you can fake a better story than they
hadP
"He sat down in apparent despair at
his desk. Then relented and cajoled
him little, begging him not to spoil
his great record by falling down on such
an assignment. There's a starter for
you, said 1, throwing him the article I
had commeced. Now, go ahead and
fill that out with column description
of the scene
" 4 haven't even visited it, he replied.
Nevertheless, he picked up the pages
and read them as if compelled by some
hateful fascination. Then he picked
up his pen to make few minor cOrrec-
tions. Then, as if totally obliviOus Of
my presence, he began to write.
"As sheet after sheet fell from under
his fingers I snetched them up, read
them hurriedly, and shot them down
the copy tube to the composing room.
I read rapidly as an editor will, taking
but small account of the matter sOlong
as it ran smoothly, while [ had too
much confidence in him to question
the accuracy of his statements. 1 only
realized that he was writing great
istory-the greatest he had ever done.
He seemed inspired with the very in
lnermost thoughts of the murderer, and
under his touch every trivial incident