Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1896-02-01
A DETECTIVE STORY

The old detective was telling stories and
a Star reporter was listening with both his
ears.
There are some people," said the re-
porter, when the old man had finished a
robbery tale. who say that murder will out,
whether 1t will or not. Have You ever come
across case in which 1t did not out?"
No. but can tell you of one, which came
about as near to 1t as II could, and quite near
enough to save the murderer from the rope.
III happened twenty years ago In a western
city, where 1 was doing private detective
duty. There was an old man worth about a
quarter Of a million dollars who lived with
his daughter, widow, who had one child a
Son OF twenty-one, and bad boy, of riot
Gus habits. This boy was the sole heir OF
the old man, his mother being comfortably
liked by her husband. The boy spent money
rSht ana LETT, and had frequent rows with
his grandfather, who was not always as lib
eral as the boy thought he ought to be-
'One night the boy and his mother went
across the street to birthday party given
10 young fellow about the same age of
TINS chap I'm telling about, and when they
returned, at IL o'clock, they found the old
mar, man sitting In the library, with his head
knocked In. his money and watch gone and
window leading to back porch Open The
oid man had been dead an hour or two when
Iouhu. tnere was absolutely no clue to the
murderer, and the motive was very plainly
robbery. knew something about the grand
son, and suspected him, but / did not dare
10 take any direct steps. Later / did much
10 MS mothers horror and that of the neigh
DORIS ana the guests of the birthday party
all OF whom testified that the boy had been
In the rooms all evening" except for a min
ute or two, when he was blindfolded in the
hall, as part of some pa mo Tho, -, , o
ing. WIZ p'a'
That. of course. knocked out my theory.
ana We started off in various directions but
70 no purpose Two years later the bows
mother died. really from a broken heart
caused oy the life the boy had been leading
s.Lce ne mad got hold OF the old mans
money. When she was gone he doubled
lne pace, and in five years he had RIM
through all the money, and was a wreck in
d hospital He died there, and among his
papers was one letter addressed to me IT
was not long, but II was strong. and told
row, when he was seated out in the hail
biindfolded, waiting for the others TO cali
MN IN, ne had taken a sudden wild notion.
ma MAO aashed out and across the street into
his grandfather's library had smashed his
mead in with a cobblestone from the street
without bringing the blood, then hidden his
watch and money to make IL look like a
ropperY. and had come back and put the
beginning " ''io
He had not been gone five minutes. and
IL was nothing but luck that kept The people
nom coming out during his absence, for
within minute after his return they called
him in. He had his nerve with him for 7
remember that was one of the strong points
IN ms favor, when tried to fix il on him
and he enjoyed himself with the others as
II nothing had happened out of the ordinary
Neither did he ever give any sign. either
waxing or sleeping, of the weight of the
do
DO you suppose he had a conscience?"
asked the reporter, and the detective in.
sisted that nothing could live without soma
Kind Of a conscience.