Waterbury Democrat., 1900-11-21

U. ] lcs A clerk behind a counter occasionally, it is true, leans upon his forearms. But incessant contact with the counter leaves across the front of his trousers an unmistakable line of wear, at level varying according to the height of the individual This line was not present in the case of the man in the cab. On the other hand, his waistcoat is frayed at the level of the fourth but ton from the top. Therefore I main tain that he was in the habit of work ing at a desk. Now the trousers, al- though not new, are not baggy at the knees, though free from the seams which would suggest the effect of press ing or of trouser stretcher.- Conclu- sion, the desk is high one; for the man stood at his work Most men who work standing at high desks are book keepers of one kind or another. There fore, as I said before, this man was probably bookkeeper. Now, as to his salary; l do lot pretend to know the exact amount of it, of course. But when a man, who was evidently not dude, has his clothes made to order, of imported material and when his linen, his hat and his shoes are of good quality, it is fair to infer that the mans income was comfortable.
 T proceed with the arrangement of my data:
 "Secondly: the man in the cab died of a wound caused by bullet fired at very close quarters. Indeed, the weap- on must have been held either against the victims body, or at any rate, very near to it; for the coat is badly burned by the powder.''
 'On these points at least" assented Dr. Thurston, T can agree with you. The bullet probably penetrated the upper lobe of the left lung.''
 AYes," added Sturgis, "and it passed out at the back far below where it went in.''
 What makes you think it passed out? The wound in the back may have been caused by another bullet fired from the rear."
 "That hypothesis might be tenable were it not for this.'
 With these words the reporter pulled out his watch, opened the case, and with the blade of a penknife took from the surface of the crystal a minute ob- ject, which he handed to the physician.
 Look at it, said he, pushing over a magnifying glass.
 Dr. Thurston examined the object carefully
 GA sFliu ter of bone," he said, al .ast-
 "Yes. } found it oa the surface O. the wound in the back How did it get there?'
 "You are right" admitted the physi- elan; ''it must have come from with in, clipped from rib and carried out by the bullet which entered from the front"
 T think there can be no doubt as to that. Now, the bullet does not seem to have been defiected in it's course by ifs contact with the rib, for, as far as I have been able to judge by probing the two wounds with my pencil, their direction is the same. This is impor- tant and brings me to point three, which is illustrated by these diagrams, drawn to scale from the measurements I took this afternoon"
 As he said these words, the reporter handed to his friend a sheet of paper upon which he had drawn some ge- ometrical figures.
 ''The first of these diagrams shows the angle which the course of the bull let made with a horizontal plane, the second represents the inclination from right to left. The former of these an- gles is nearly and the latter not far from forty-five degrees. The inclina- ton from right to left shows that the shot was fired from the right side of the dead man. Now then, one of two things: Either it was fired by the man h, lo l>o;, 1,o T l, right hand; or else it was fired by an assassin who stood close to the vic tim's right side. The first of these hy- potheses, considered by itself, ,eis ad- missible; but it involves the assump- tion of an extremely awkward and un- usual position of the suicides hand while firing. On the other hand, the dead man is tall-six feet one inch and to fire down, at an angle of sixty degrees, upon a man of his height, his assailant would have to be a colossus, or else to stand upon chair or in some equally elevated position, unless the victim happened to be seated when the shot was fred"
 Happened to be seated!" exclaimed Thurston, astounded, ''why, of course he was seated, since he was in the cab.''
 That brings up point four, which is not the least puzzling of this in- teresting case" said Sturgis, impress ively; ''the shooting was not done in the cab.'
 Not done in the cab!''
 "No; otherwise the bullet would have remained in the cushions; and it was not there.'
 Tt might have fallen out into the street at the time of the collision,'' sug- gested Thurston.
 ]. "No; I searched every inch of space in which it might have fallen. If it had been there I should have found it, for the spot was brilliantly lighted by an electric light, as you remeul- ber."
 The physician pondered in silence for a few minutes.
 With all due respect for the accu- racy of your observations, and for the rigorous logic of your inductions,