Brookings weekly register. (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1898-1903, 1900-07-05

already supplanted-Mr. Porter In the
affections Of Miss Dodge. Accordingly
Porter. though not arrested. was kept
under strict police surveillance, with
Srders from headquarters to arrest him
n he attempted to leave the city.
A few thought Mr.. Morse might have
returned to the office and shot his CASH
Ter. How came 1t, they asked, that his
desk was open and the cashbook on
Il? 1t was his custom to close his desk,
a roll top. when he left the office for
the day. He may have been the man
seen on the stairs, they pointed out.
having gone up that way In order to
avoid being seen by the elevator man.
They mentioned two possible motives.
the first and strongest being jealousy,
as usual, and the second the rather
unique one that upon examination Of
the cashbook he had discovered that
the firm had been robbed and In his
wrath had murdered the cashier. Mr..
Morse could not establish q perfect
alibi. After leaving the Office at
O'Clock he ate his luncheon in the ex-
change restaurant and then went to
his boarding house. He saw and spoke
to two or three people In the house and
then went to his room. This was about
3 o'clock. He had intended to 60 out
for spin on his bicycle; but, seeing
that tie weather was threatening, he
changed his plans and remained In his
room reading until about o'clock. No
one In the house had actually seen him
between 2:30 and o'clock, though two
or three persons were firm In their con-
during that period. 1t was admitted,
however, that he might have passed
out of the house and returned unob-
served. The police did not believe he
was In any way connected with the
crime. II crime it was, and he was suf
| fered to go and come unmatched by
the authorities.
Such was the information at hand
and such was the status Of affairs on
the Wednesday following the Satur-
day when Miss Dodge met her death.
Up In the office of the city editor of
| The Daily Telegraph group Of men
were gathered that afternoon. The
evening edition had just gone to press.
and there was lull In the rush that
usually characterized the place. The
city editor had swung round In his
swivel chair and thrown one leg care
lessly over the arm. He picked up
| from his desk piece of yellow paper.
1t was telegram.
| II learned" he said. addressing the
company generally, "that Sherlock
| Holmes was up In Chicago and wired
| him asking IL he couldn't come down
and assist on this case. thought 1t
the paper IL he could be induced TO do
So This Is his reply: Impossible TO
come. Am starting for London to-
| night So that ends that" And the
city editor tossed the message back to
his desk, with a look OF disappointment
on his face.
"By the way. Professor Gilman.
what is your estimate of Mr. Holiness
| asked the city editor.
sherlock Holmes-a mere ignora-
| mus" replied the professor contemptu,
susly. why, sir, his biegrapher him.
| self tells us he was ignorant Of the
Copernican theory. familiar to every
schoolboy. and OF the composition of
the solar system" [Let it not for a
moment be supposed that the author
| Of this article shares Professor Gil
| mans opinion Of Mr.. Holmes. On the
contrary. he has a very lively admira.
tion for that gentlemap's remarkable
| astuteness. We must remember that
Professor Gilman is eminent In the sci
| ence OF astronomy. and Mr.. Holmes
| ignorance Of the theory advanced by
| C0pernicus. trifling matter as IL might
seem TO the average mind, might In the
| professors mind stamp him as little
short Of idiotic.l
At this the city editor looked as much
abashed as a city editor may. for,
though he believed Sherlock Holmes to
be one Of the greatest OF detectives. he
felt an immense respect for Professor
Gilman, not alone for his wide reputa-
ton as a keen detective. but for his
wider and far more desirable reputa-
| tion In the world Of science. He cough
| Ell, got up and walked over to the Gus.
pidor and returned to his chair.
| Sherlock Holmes was not referred to
again, but the chief Of police, who was
present. began to repeat a theory re-
garding the death of Miss Dodge
which, though he seemed unconscious
of 1t, most of those present had heard
him advance before.
'The further | hook into this case"
he said. "the more think Porter killed
the Dodge girl was talking with him
yesterday and got him tangled up on
two or three statements. For one thing,
he said he and the girl never quarreled,
but we've got letter he wrote to her
not more than ten days ago, and In II
he said he wasn't going to stand her
going round much more with that fel-
low Morse. You see, he could have
slipped up into Morse's Office as easy
as nothing and shot the girl, II he'd
wanted to-"
"On what do you base your theory,
aside from the motive Of Jealousyy In
Quired Professor Gilman.
l xvo,flI hayo hoov, an