Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1898-01-20
AUTHOR OF.


rest Of my born days"
II saw you pick up something beside
the body and put it into your pocket,
but could not see what it was," said
the doctor. ''Is it secret from me?"
The detective laughed good humored-
ly and put his fingers into his vest
pocket.
"Shan't keep thing from you, old
man." he replied. "I'd trust you with
my head. Do you see this tiny thing9'
'It looks like the burned end Of a
MATCH" returned the doctor, allowing
Hendricks to drop it into his palm.
"Does it look like an ordinary burned
end Of match?" asked Hendricks,
warming up to a revelation and smil-
ing boyishly.
II believe 90, except that perhaps it
Is very short"
"Shortp l should think so when less
than quarter of an inch Of it has been
left unburned. Now imagine It blazing
and let me see you hold it between your
fingers. "
Lampkin made the attempt, holding
possible. lit is all could have done,"
he said. "And it would have burned
my fingers, am sure. The fellow that
struck it must have had tough cigar
to light"
"And been anxious to smoke" added
Hendricks tentatively. Then be laughed
softly.
"Oh, I see now," began the doctor
eagerly. and then he stopped suddenly
"But, no; Stanwood said he did not
strike match, and Ralph Benton said
his father did not smoke"
"The murderer does, though, and
paused to light cigar after he had
fred revolver within. 200 yards Of
house full of men and women" said
Hendricks, with dry laugh. "At
least, that's about all the explanation I
can get out of the end of the match
However, there is one thing you have
not yet thought Of as All explanation
for the match having burned down SO
short.
What is that?'
II wonder 1t did not occur to you
that it might have continued to burn on
the ground after it fell from the hand
Of the man who struck it. "
II have always said l was an ass,
said Lampkin. "A 5-yearold child
could have thought of that.
"Then the 5-year-old child would
have been far from the TRUTH" said the
detective, enjoying the game he was
playing. He held the piece of match
between the nail of his thumb and fore
finger and extended it toward the doc
tor You see," he began, that the
match has burned evenly all round; no
farther on one side than another.
"That's plain, replied Lampkin.
Hendricks returned the tiny bit of
wood to his pocket and took a match
from his case and struck it.
Watch this he said, and when
the match was half consumed he luid it
still burning OH the ground. The flame
was instantly diminished, for only the
top Of the match continued to burn.
Presently it went out, and Hendricks
picked it up. "See," he said, with a
gratitied smile 1.-The unburned part,
owing to the moisture Of the earth, is
longer where it lay against the sand.
When picked up the match near the
body of the dead man, it was lying
fat on the eand as this one was just
now."
$50 you know it was held unusually
long In somebody 8 fingers?" said Lamp
kin.
~ have still another proof Of it,"
''What Is tnat!
Hendricks took out his lens and held
1t over the piece Of match he had found
near the corpse.
"If you will look closely" he said,
you'll see slight indentations at the
very edge Of the fire line on two sides
Of it,"
~ see," exclaimed Lampkin. "They
were made by finger nails"
Exactly" returned the detective,
"and nails which were pressed down
firmly for some reason or Other"
"You are simply wonderful" said
DR.. Lampkin admiringly. but what
became Of the burned, charred part OF
the matoh7"
Good! You are progressing" cried
Hendricks, slapping his companion on
the shoulder. II looked for it. 1t must
have clung little while to the cloth
ing of the murderer, for found it on
the walk half way between the body
and the spot where the tracks ended. !
did not pick it up because 1t could be
Of no use to me"
Lampkin's brow was contracted
thoughtfully.
"What do you deduce from the whole
match ideap" he asked.
Absolutely nothing so far" replied
the detective. Later may see some
reason for person desiring to see the
face of a man he has shot down in the
darkness and running the risk Of being
captured in order to do SC"
''That much is certainly interesting,
replied Lampkin. lit looks a little as
II be were in doubt as to whom he had
shot, doesn't it?'
Hendricks stepped from behind the
trunk of big tree to get q view Of the
spot where the body lay.
II see quite a crowd over there" he
said. ut is Meynell, the coroner, and his
men. Let's ioin them. The innnest.