Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1900-12-08
Ills DEATH
WARRANT.
A Story of a Newspaper
Reporter.

1T was in the north some years ago"
remarked Tie city editor. I'VE had Il
man on the paper who was simply a
crank on homicides, and he was more
than mere reporter, for he had de-
tCctive talent of the highest order. He
didn't care much for the common
crimeS-burglaricS, larccnicS and such
but give him a good, mysterious muir
der and he was splendid. Net only did
he have the history Of all t,.' famous
murlrrcrS at his fingers & 81: but he
delighted in tcrrctiH% out iii" most
mysterious crimes i!.it came within
our province. In eve. = rHSc except the
one am telling abb; and there We're
good many crin II that town he
traced out the E.G:''vrcr before the de-
tcctivcs even dr'a!ucd of his identity.
81 have sine" thought the secret of
his success WaS that he put himself
mentally in the place of the murderer
and reasoned it out from motives rath-
cr than from the 'clcws' of the ordinary
detective.
"'Therc is seldom much method in
murder he once said to me when E Il
rarely communicative mood. Most
men would commit it in about the
same way under the same circum-
stances. 1t is only when a murderer
goes about il Systematically. as do the
thugs of India. that Il murder becomes
truly mysterious
Il once asked him why he did not be-
come Il regular detective
81 was born and bred journalist
he said, and the habit is too strong to
break
THAT was literally true in his case
Otherwise | might not have to tell this
story
"Onc morning the body of fine
looking man was found in an alley ad-
joining the electric light works in the
very heart of the town. The afternoon
papers had a chance at it. but didn't
make much out of it. so | ut once as
signed it to Jones' as we will call him.
Although he did not show up at the
usual hour. had no doubt he was al
ready at work on it, as it was as myS-
teriOuS case as even he could desire.
'"Thc victim was identified as tray
eler who had Just arrived. and so far
us known he had no friends or ac-
quaintanccS in the town. 1t was not a
case of robbery. for all his money and
valuablcs were left on his body. There
was slight confusion on the back of
the head and Il small needlclke hole
through the mans heart 1t was espe-
cially strange that such Il crime could
have been committed in Il public thor
oughfarc, while there was absolutely
no Glow to the murderer or his motive.
But these difficulties were only such
as would ordinarily put Jones on his
mettlc, so | did not doubt that he
would have Il good account of the af
fair. | was therefore somewhat sur
prised when he came Sncalling in about
& o'clock in the evening to see what his
assignment was. He looked worn and
haggard, but denied that he was i'll, so
| gave him the murder job. lie went
out without Il word.
Il did not see him again that even
ing. About midnight | began to Won
der why | had not heard from him, but
only Spcculated on the possibility Of
something having happened to him, for
the idea that lie could possibly fail
never occurred to me. Finally, after
an hour had gone by, | telephoned to
the police station. Word came back
that there were no new developments
in the case and that Jones had not
been there. Sending two men out to
hunt him up. | set to work myself to
make story of the murder from the
afternoon papers. Just then Jones
came in. His step was unsteady and
his face flushed. He had evidently
been drinking heavily, something |
never knew him to do before, but he
was not drunk; rather he seemed at
high nervous tension, although out,
wardly as calm us ever.
IL decided to let this breach of disci-
pline pass and merely asked him for
his murder story. He replied that he
hadn't written it.
"'Well, get to work on it at once
said rather sharply.
''Then he really surprised me by say
ing that he had nothing to write be-
NOllNl llIt Iblt hllON II.
The police had developed nothing new,
and he supposed that had worked up
the story from the evening papers.
"'And has it come to pass that you
wait for the police to develop murder
case for youT exclaimed angrily. AS
for the reports in the evening papers,
you can fake" better story than they
had
"He sat down in apparent despair Mt
his desk. Then ! relented and cajOled
him a little, begging him not to spoil
his great record by failing in such a
case.
"'There's starter Tor YOU said |.
throwing him the article ! had COM
menced. Now go ahcud and fill that