The Press., 1895-02-07

CuIn G0S6 was very cluIasy anu uuC6Ts | tain. So is the microscopic examination l for blood corpuscles. The latter is,yalue- 1 less if the stains are a few hours old. Now, this appears to act as well whether 1 the blood is old or new. Had this test been invented, there are hundi eds of men now walking the earth who would long ago have paid the penalty of their crimes.
 ''Indeed'' 1 murmured.
 Criminal cases arc continually hing l ing upon that ono point. A man is sus- pected of a crime months perhaps after it has been committed. His lillen or clothes arO examined and hrownish stains discovered upon them Are they blood stains or mud stains or rust stains or fruit stains, or what are they? That is question which has puzzled many an expert and why? Because there was no reliable test. Now we have tho Sher- lock Holmes test, and thero will no lon ger bo any difficulty"
 His eyes fairly glitter ed as he spoke, and he put his hand over lis heart and bowed as if to some arplauding crowd conjured up Iy lis imagination.
 "You arc to be congratulated, re- marked, considerably surprised at his enthusiasm.
 ''Therc was tho case of Von BiSchof1 at Frankfort last year. Ho would ccr- tainly have been hung had this test been ill existence. TEon there was Mason of Bradford, and the notorious Mule" and Lefevrc of Montpelier, and Samson ot New Orleans. could name a; score ot cases in wEich it world have been tleci> sive'' ;
 ''You seem to bo q walking calendar of crime, :" said Stamford, with laugh, "You might start paper on those lines Call it The Police News of tho Past. "
 'Very interesting reading it might bt made, too, remarked Sherlock Holmes, sticking small piece of plaster over the prick on his finger II have to be careful, :" he continued, turnineNto> me, with smile, flor l dabble with poi sons good deal" Ho held out his hand as he spoke, and noticed that it was all mottled over with similar pieces of plaster and discolored with strong acids
 "We came here on business, '' said Stamford, sitting down on a threA1egged stool and pushing another ono in my direction with his foot. My friend here wants to tako diggings, and as you were complaining that you could get no one to go halves with you thought that had better bring you together. ''a
 Sherlock Holmes seemed delighted at the idea of sharing his rooms with me- 1T have my eye on a suit in Baker street, he said, (which would suit us 4< . the smell of strong tobacco. hope?''
 II always smoke ships myself,' answered
 "Thats good enough. l generally have chemicals about and occasionally do experiments Would that annoy you?"
 By no means. "
 "Let mo see-what arc my other shortcomings? get in the dumps at times and don't open my mouth for days on end. You must not think am sulky when do that. Just let me alone, and I'll soon be all right. What haveyou to confess, now? It's just as we'll for two fellows to know the worst of one another before they begin to live together'' laughed at this cross examination. "I keep bull pup,' said, land object to rows, because my nerves arc shaken, and get up at all sorts of tngodly hours, and I am extremely lazy. have another set of vices when I'm we'll, but those are the principal ones at present.
 --~"Do you include violin playing in your category of rows?'' he asled anx- iously. }a ''It depends on tho player, k Ianswer ed. "A we'll played violin is treat for the gods. A badly played one
 ''Oh, that's all right, he criSd, with merry laugh. ''I think we may con. slider the thing as settled--that3if 3 if the rooms are agreeable to you.
 "When shall we see them
 ''Call for mo here at noon torlorrow, and we'll go together and settle every thing, ", he answered.
 "All right-noon exactly, said l. shaking his hand.
 We left him working among his chemicals and walked together toward my hotel.
 By the way,'' asked suddenly, stop ping and turning upon Stamford, sshow the deuce did he know that had come from Afghanistan?"
 My companion smiled an Rnignaatical smile. "That's just his little peculiar ity," he said, "A good many people have wanted to know how he finds things out. ''
 "Oh! A mystery, is it?' cried, rub ping my hands ''This is very piquant. am much obliged to you. for bringing us together. The proper study of man. kind is man, you know"
 "You must study him, then,'' Stam- ford said as he bade me goodby. You'll find him knotty problem, though I'll wager he learns more about you than you about him. Goodby." "
 "Goodby, " answered, and strolled on to my hotel, considerably interested in my new acuuaintance