The San Francisco call., 1899-01-29
Trides as Clews.

detective officers, the jeweler and the
cabman.
Trifles as Clews.
establish a clew. Four letters. half word
scratched upon chisel, have led to the
Identification OF its guilty owner. A but
ton dropped after a burglary has been
found TO correspond with those of a man
in custody for another offense, and the
evidence has been clinched by the fact
that his coat lacked button.
In the famous Gervais case in France,
proof depended greatly upon the date
when the roof of a cellar had been dis
turbed. This was shown to have been ne
ceSsarily some time before, for in the in
terval the cochineal insects had laid
their eggs, which they only do at par
The ineffaceable odor OF musk and other
strong perfumes has more than once
brought home robbery and murder to
their perpetrators. An interesting case is
recorded in India, where in the plunder of
native banker an entire pot Of musk,
exactly as It had been cut from the deer,
was carried off with a number of val
obtained generally from far off Thibet
The police, in following up a band of da-
colts, invaded their tanda and were at
overpowering smell of musk. which was
presently dug up with number of coins
of an uncommon currency, that were
identified by tie banker.
For close, hard, logical deductions from
small indications, growing gradually into
strong surmise and then into a certainty,
the Frenchman Maces detection of the
famous murderer in the Rue MaZarin Is
better than anything ever invented by
Gaboriau. On a January afternoon a SER
geant de Vile hurrying home after being
relieved from duty, was stopped by the
Princess with horrible story. From the
depths of the well in his courtyard he had
fished up package containing human
leg in an advanced stage OF decompoSi-
ton. The commissary of the quarter, NJ.
GuStaVe Mace, then a young man on the
threshold Of a distinguished detective ca
reer, was summoned to the spot: He made
a close Investigation of the well and sue
ceeded in fishing up another parcel. The
cover was a black glazed calico. Each
end was simply knotted, but the middle
moval of this exterior covering revealed
another covering made Of qart OF
trousers leg in iron gray cloth: inside or
all was another human leg. Like the 9TH
er, which was probably its fellow, it was
thin and shrunken and with little calf to
it. There was only one telltale indlcauon-
part of a sock bearing the initial b,
with a simple cross on each side OF it,
thus:
Now nly week or two previous hu-
man thigh bone had been picked up in
the Rue Jacob. Subsequently few NOR
sells of human flesh had been fished out
of the Seine and the Saint Martin Canal
Other Fragments Found.
The popular excitement ran wilo when
the officials of the Morgue reported that
just before Christmas human thlgh;
wrapped up in a common plue Kntteu
shawl and bearing traces of having been
only few days in the water had ,I9 Deen
deposited in the mortuary chamber. Then
the proprietor of a riverside laundry
near the Quay Valmy came forward with
a story of how about midnight on Decem-
q l., h,l har a short
in a long coat and tall hat industriously
engaged in throwing or scattering some
thing in the river by handtuls: Ihey
looked like scraps of meat. When inter
rogated he had laughingly replied, i am
a keen fisherman Tomorrow is a holi-
day 1 am batting the river for a big
days sport"
Now this date, the 18th. was just two
days later than the discovery Of the thigh
tied up in the old shawl, Everything
of a ghastly nature. Dr. Tardieu of the
MorgIIe decided that the legs were those
of a man advanced in years. A clearly
found on one leg Another fact had been
shrewdly and quickly verified by Mace.
The glazed calico cover, the peculiarly
knotted ends, the stitchlng WIN L 6i oiaSk
work of a tailor. From the concierge ne
drew out the fact that young seam
stress, Mile. Dard, had recently gwen up
among her visitors was tailor VINO
brought her occasional work ard who
used to carry up water from her from the
we'll
voirbo, the Tailor.
Through Mile. Dard herself it was sub
sequentiy learned that the name OF the
water-carrying tailor was Voirbo. She
could not supply his address, as she had
not seen him since his marriage, a few
weeks previous. But she unhesitatingly
eaye all information that she could.
Among other facts Mace learned that
Voirbo's only constant companion was
man named Desire Bodasse, whose aunt,
Nine Rodasse was a bandage-maker
living In the Rue de Mesles. The bandage-
maker, when interviewed, described her
saved money, but who was eccentric and
Iniserly She had not seen him for a
whole month, but she was not anxious,
for he had often disappeared for weeks.
The last time she had seen him was on
Sunday, December 1S, with his friend,
Voirbo
please describe voirbo."
''He is short, and generally wears a long
overcoat and tall hat
For the first time the scent was begin
ming to grow warm. Voirbo's trade and
name began with the initial "B' were
good starting points. Nine. Bodasse was
driven over to the Morgue. She identi-
fed all the fragments of clothing as hav-
ing belonged to her nephew. She herself
had marked the socks with the "B'' be-
tween the two crosses. AS to the scar on
the leg, she remembered that her nephew
had cut himself badly by falling on the
sharp edge of n broken bottle.
Voirbo and Bodasse.
Mace traced Voirbo from his old address
in the Rue Mazarin to a new one in the
Rue de la Martin. From a woman who
cleaned Voirbos apartment more particu-
lars were cleaned. She spoke of his in
timacy with Desire Bodasse and ex-
pressed her surprise that the latter had
not been present at Voirbo's marriage.
Voirbo himself had appeared much an
noyed at this.