Willmar tribune., 1900-07-25
CHAPTER 1I.-CoNT1NUED.

,H>: CHAPTER 1I.-CoNT1NUED.
''That is just the point" replied
Sturgis; another witness will be
biased by his interests or prejudices,
blinded by jealousy, love or hatred,
or handicapped by overzealousness,
stupidity, lack of memory, or what
not. Circumstantial evidence is al
ways impartial, truthful, absolute.
When the geologist reads the history
of the earth, as it is written in it's
crust; when Kepler or Newton
formulates the immutable laws of the
universe, as they are recorded in the
motions of the heavenly bodies, they
draw their conclusions from evidence
which is entirely circumstantial.'
Yes; but you forget that science
has often been mistaken in it's con-
clusions," interrupted Sprague, $50
that it has constantly been necessary
to alter theories to fit newly acquired
or better understood facts"
"Granted," rejoined sturgis, "but
that is because the interpreters of the
evidence are fallible; not because the
evidence itself is incomplete. The
same cause will always produce the
same effect; the same chain of events
will invariably terminate in one and
the same catastrophe. The apparent
deviations from this law are due to
unrecognized differences in the pro-
ducing causes, to additional or miss
ing links in the chain of evidence.
Therefore I hold that a criminal,
however clever he may be, leaves be-
hind him a complete trace of his every
act, from which his crime may be re-
constructed with absolute certainty
by a coz spetent detective"
I'm short, Murder will out!'" said
to the conversation up to this point.
He spoke with quiet smile, which
barely escaped being a polite sneer.
Sturgis' keen eyes met his inter-
locutor's as he replied gravely:
II should hardly care to make so
sweeping an affirmation, DR.. Muir
dock. I have merely stated that the
history of every crime is indelibly
written in tangible evidence. The
writing is on the wall, but of course
a blind man cannot see it, nor can
an illiterate man understand it.
Every event, however trivial, owes it's
occurrence to a natural cause, and
leaves its indelible impress upon ma
ture. The Indian on the trail reads
with an experienced eye the story of
his enemy's passage, as it has been
recorded in trodden turf and broken
twigs; while the bloodhound follows,
with unerring judgment, still surer
though less tangible trail. The lat
ter's quarry has left behind, at every
step, an invisible, imponderable, and
yet unmistakable part Of itself. Per-
haps my meaning can be made clear
by an illustration. When a photog-
rapher in his dark room takes an ex-
posed plate from his camera, it is ap-
parently blank; but in reality there
is upon this plate the minutely de-
tailed history of an event, which, in
proper hands, can be brought before
the least competent of observers as
irrefutable evidence. Here, the actinic
rays of the sunlight are the authors
of the evidence; but every natural
force, in one way or another, con-
spires with the detective to run the
criminal to earth.''
'Unless," suggested Murdock, "the
ability happens to be on the side of the
quarry; in which case, the conspiracy
of natures forces turns against the
hunter"
''Ah!" retorted the reporter, ''the
game is not an equal one. The dice are
loaded. For while on the one hand
the detective, if he falls into an error,
has lifetime in which to correct it,
any misstep on the part of the criminal
is fatal. And who is infallible?"
mot the detective, at any rate" an
swered Murdock, with suavc irony. 1T
has always seemed to me that the halo
which has been conferred upon him,
chiefly through the efforts of imagin
ative writer's of sensational fiction, is
entirely undeserved. In the first place,
most of the crimes of which we hear
are committed either by men of a low
order of intelligence or else by madmen,
in which latter category include all
criminals acting under the impulse of
any of the passions-hatred, love, jeal-
ousy, anger. And then, while the de-
tective takes good care that his sue
cesses shall be proclaimed from the
housetops, he is equally careful to
smother all accounts, or to suppress
every detail, of his failures, whenever
there is any possibility of so doing.
You can cite, 1 know, plenty of cases
in which, even after the lapse of years,
the crime has been discovered and the
criminal has been confronted with his
guilt, but"
I'm my opinion" piped the shrill voice
of an elderly m an of clerical aspect,
conscience is the surest detective,
after all.''
"Conscience!" retorted Murdock,
calmly; "the word is a euphemism.
Man gives the name of conscience to
his fear of discovery and punishment.
There is no such thing as conscience il
the criminal who has absolute conf
dence in his power to escape detec-
ton" - ~
"But where is the man who can have
that superb confidence in himself?"
asked Sprague.
His name is probably LEGION" an
swered Murdock, quickly. "He is the
author of every crime whose history
remains forever unwritten.''
And are these really SO numerous.?''