The Winslow mail., 1900-09-20
| THE OLD MAN IN THE
LINEN DUSTER.
ONT you ever miss the o!t
life?" he asked, as the three
By HUGH PENDEXTEB.


IL life?" he asked. as the three
of us sat in my Greene street home
slipping hot scotch and respinn'ng old
yarns.
Jim had reference to my leaving
the force, but could in all honesty
answer: Not as much as you would
imagine. Although l am no longer on
the pay roll, 1 yet have my diversions.
And really some of the most peculiar
cases l ever happened upon have come
to me since resigning."
''Such as the spotted bull dog?'
suggested Kenton.
"Well, yes," responded. "That was
unique, but devoid of all ugliness; no
brutal features, you know. 1t was
pretty enigma, and l wish all Grim
inal problems were resulting in as
little harm"
DO you ever run across any cases
as complicated as those set down by
Doyle in his Sherlock Holmes stories?"
asked Jim. refilling his pipe.
No and yes" l answered. Il have
known of some extremely puzzling
affairs that ball<ed all efforts of So
luton, affairs seemingly blind, yet
made clear by a trife. But I have
never believed in this deduction the
ory. Doyle is brilliant man to in
vent such deductions, but, of course,
he works backward. If a man could
possess the quick intuition of his
Holmes he could make extremely
clever guesses, but in the long run
would be completely astray by his
very acumen. 1t wouldn't do in real
life to put down every sunburst man
as coming from India or every worn
sleeve as belonging to typewriter"
rs there any truth in this sporad-
ic, DR.. Jekyl-Mr. Hyde business::" in
quired Kenton.
"a little" 1 said, running over in
my mind the different crimes and
their perpetrators. did / ever tell
you about the old man in the linen
duster?"
"No," both replied. Lets have it,"
1T began like this: Back in the
days when Jim Fisk was commodore
of the Fall River steamboats, 1 had oc-
casion to go to Newport. Completing
my business there 1 took passage for
New York in the same boat 1 had
come down on.
EARLY in the morning I was up to
see the sunrise, it being fad of mine
when afloat. AS quite number OF
us were chatting near the rail on the
port side there was considerable of a
splash in the water below and deck
hand cried out: Man overboardn
There he is one man cried, pointing
excitedly. They were reversing the
engines meanwhile.
"'He acts queer muttered some
one at my left. Then he saw the
reason for it, For, as the suns first
shaft struck the water the man rolled
over and assumed an almost upright
position, while ray of light flashed
across his face, revealing a dark red
discoloration. He's. been shot through
the head!' cried deck hand below
who was in better position to see.
"The right arm of the corpse was
now flung upright, probably by the
action of the water from the propel-
ler, and seemed to point above us.
Instinctively we all looked to the
upper deck, and there, hanging far
out, with a face wearing the most
malignant hate, or hellish glee, l
ever saw, was an old man, whose long
white hair and beard marked him con-
spicuously.
"We all rushed for the stairway,
but ON gaining the upper deck he
:. was gone. A steward informed us
that such person dashed by him and
that he wore long linen duster. He
also said that the man was mutter-
ing something to himself wholly un-
ineligible.
.sWes informed the captain of what
we had seen, and at once orders were
given to search the ship. No passen-
gers were found anywhere answering
the description A second search was
made, every passenger being scru-
tinized, Then all hands were inspect
ed, but with the same result.
"On reaching the West street pier
officers were stationed about the
gangway, and as the passengers filed
ashore all were again subjected to
close eXam1nat1O buU no ola gem
tleman was found wearing white hair
and beard. Then the boat was given
a second overhauling, with the former
: success.
= "a year passed, and l had we'll
nigh forgotten it. o. l should re-
mark that the body of the man was
secured day after the murder was
committed. For it was murder. the
hole in the head having been made by
a revolver fired at close range.
"As 1 was, saying. I had forgotten
it when I received orders to sail at
once for Savannah to look after
case there On the first night out 1
y had been paying whist in the smok-
ing-room and did not leave the table
until quite late. AS l entered the
saloon 1 heard a cry at the farther
end and thought l saw some one
dart into passageway. The saloon
was deserted and dimly lighted.