Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1900-12-04
HIS DEATH
WARRANT.
A story Of . Newspaper
Reporter.

I WARRANT. I
A Story Of Nsvspspss !
Reporter. =
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1T was In the north some years ago."
remarked the city editor. I'VE had
man on the paper who was simply
crank on homicides, and he was moro
than a mere reporter, for he had de-
tectIve talent of the highest order. He
didn't care much for the common
crimes--burglaries, larcenies and such
but give him a good. mysterious nur~
der and he was splendid. Not only did
he have the history Of all the famous
murderers at his fingers ends. but be
delighted In ferreting out the most
mysterious crimes that came within
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.
Il have since thought the secret OF
his success was that he put himself
mentally In the place OF the murderer
and reasoned Il out from motives rath-
or 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 IL In about the
same way under the same circum-
stances. II Is only when n murderer
goes about 1t Systematically. as do the
thugs Of India, that murder becomes
truly mysterious
81 once asked him why he did not be-
come a regular detective.
"T 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.
zone morning the body Of fine
looking man was found In an alley al.
joining the electric light works In the
very heart OF the town. The afternoon
papers had chance at IL, but didn't
make much out OF 1t. so at once as.
signed Ii 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 II, as II was as mys.
terious a case as even he could desire.
"The victim was identified as a tray-
eler who had just arrived. and so far
as known he had no friends or ac-
quaintances In the town. Ii was not
case Of robbery. for all his money and
yaluables were left on his body. There
was slight confusion on the back OF
the head and small. needlelike hole
through the mans heart. II was espe-
clally strange that such crime could
have been committed In a 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 | did not doubt that he
would have a good account OF the af'
fair. I was therefore somewhat sur
prised when he came sneaking In about
o'clock I'm the evening to see-what his
assignment was. He looked worn and
haggard. but denied that he was III, so
I gave him the murder job. He went
out without word.
II did not see him again that even
Ing. About midnight began to won
der why had not heard from him, but
only speculated 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 a 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 l
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.
II decided to let this breach Of disci-
pline pass and merely asked him for
biz murder story. He replied that he
hadn't written II.
"well, 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 1t come to pass that you
wait for the police to develop murder
case for your 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 q little, begging him not to spoil
his great record by failing In such a
case.
There's q starter for you.' said I,
throwing him the article I had COM
menced. Now go ahead and al that
out with . column description Of the
scene
81 haven't even visited IT, he re
Piled. Nevertheless be picked up the
pages and read them, as II impelled by
scme hateful fascination. Then he
took up his pen to make a few minor
corrections. Then, as II totally obliv-
ious Of my presence, he began to write.
As sheet after sheet fell from under
bis fingers I snatched them up, read
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