The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1900-10-30
HIS DEATH
WARRANT.
A Story of q Newspaper
Reporter.

our province. In every case except the
one am telling about-and there were
a good many crimes in that town-he
traced out the murderer before the de-
tectives even dreamed of his identity.
II have since 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-
er than from the 'clews' of the ordinary
detective.
There is seldom much method in
murder he once said to me when In a
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 1t Systematically, as do the
thugs of India, that a murder becomes
truly mysterious
81 once asked him why he did not be-
come a regular detective.
i was born and bred journalist
he said, and the habit is too strong to
break
"That was literally true in his case.
Otherwise l might not have to tell this
story.
zone morning the body of fine
looking man was found in an alley adj
joining the electric light works in the
very heart of the town. The afternoon
papers had chance at it. but didn't
make much out of 1T, so l at once as
signed 1t 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 1t was as mys-
ferrous case as even he could desire.
1.-THE victim was identified as trav-
eIer who had just arrived, and SO far
quaintances In the town. 1t was not
case Of robbery. for all his money and
yaluables were left on his body. There
was q slight confusion on the back of
the head and a small, needlelike hole
through the mans heart. 1t was espe-
cially strange that such crime could
have been committed in public thor
oughfare, while there was absolutely
no clew to the murderer or his motive.
"But these difficulties were only such
as would ordinarily put Jones on his
mettle, SO l did not doubt that he
would have a good account of the af-
fair. l was therefore somewhat sur
prised when he came sneaking in about
6 O'Clock in the evening to see what his
assignment was. He looked worn and
haggard, but denied that he was ill, so
gave him the murder job. He went
out without word.
81 did not see him again that even
ing. About midnight began to Won
der why had not heard from him, but
only specialized on the possibility OF
something having happened to him, for
the idea that he 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 I
never knew him to do before, but he
was not drunk; rather he seemed at
high nervous tension, although out
wardly as calm as ever.
81 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.
We'll, get to work on 1t at once l
said rather sharply.
'Then he really surprised me by say
ing that he had nothing to write be-
yond the bare facts already known.
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 you? exclaimed angrily. AS
for the reports in the evening papers,
you can "fake" better story than they
had
HE sat down In apparent despair at
his desk Then relented and cajoled
him a little. begging him not to spoil
his great record by failing in such
case.
There's a starter for you said l,
throwing him the article had COM
menced. Now go ahead and fill that
out with a column description of the
scene
az haven't even visited it. he re-
piled. Nevertheless he picked up the
pages and read them, as if impelled by
some hateful fascination. Then he
took up his pen to make few minor
corrections. Then, as If totally obliv-
ious of my presence, he began to write.
"As sheet after sheet fell from under
his fingers l snatched them up, read
them hurriedly and shot them up to the
composing room. I read rapidly, TAX
ing but small account Of the matter so
long as it ran smoothly, while | had
too much confidence In him to question
the accuracy of his statements. | only
realized that he was writing great
account-the greatest he had ever writ
ten. He seemed inspired with the very
innermost thoughts of the murder, and
under his touch every trivial Incident
came out with distinctness and CO.
herence that made the cause and meth
cd Of the crime perfectly plain.
"First he described the scene with
accuracy and detail that would have
been impossible for one who had not
studied 1t closely. The selection of the
spot was explained by the fact that the
bright electric light streaming through
the windows of the engine house made
1t impossible for the passerby to see
into the shadows Thus, while impen-
etrable darkness screened the assassin
the rattle and roar of the machinery
near by drowned all sounds OF the
struggle Of the falling body.
1.-The blow on the head, he demon
strated, must have been from stick,
while the wound through the heart
could only have been made by one OF
those long, fine bladed stilettos of Ital'
ian make. Furthermore, the fact that
this peculiar weapon was driven home