The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1900-06-03

Don't you ever miss the old life?"
he asked as the three Of US sat in my
Greene street home slipping not Scotch
and respinning old yarns. jim had ref
erenee 10 my leaving the force. but I
| could in all honesty answer: Not as
| much as you would imagine. Although
am no longer or the pay roll, I yet
! have my diversions. And really some
Of the most peculiar eases L ever hap
| pened upon have come TO me since re-
/ signing"
'such as the Spotted Bull Dog?"
suggested Kenton.
..Well, yes" I responded. That was
unique, but devoid of all ugliness; no
/ pretty enigma, and | wish all criminal
problems were resulting in as little
| harm"
! DO you ever run across any cases
as complicated as those sat down by
! Doyle in his Sherlock Holmes stories 20
asked jim, reflling his pipe Although
L call him Jim, like Kenton and my
| self he was past the prime of life,
| Three old cronies we were who had
only the past to live in.
No and yes" l answered. I have
/ known Of some extremely puzzling af-
fairs that baked all efforts of s0lu-
/ ton, affairs seemingly blind, yet made
/ clear by d trifle. But / have never be
lieved in this deduction theory. Doyle
/ is brilliant man to invent such de-
| auctions. but. of course, he works
| backward. If a man could possess the
/ q,.ick intuition OF his Holmes he could
make extremely clever guesSes, but in
| the long run would be led completely
| astray by his very acumen. It wouldn' t
J do in real life to put down every sun
| burned man as coming from India or
| every worn sleeve as belonging to d
! typewriter"
rs there any truth in this sporadic,
| DR.. Jekyl-Mr Hyde business? in
| quired Kenton.
"A little.p ] said, running over in my
mind different crimes and their perpe-
! traitors. 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, / had occasion
| to go to Newport. Completing my bust
ness there l took passage for New
York in the same boat l had come
down on. Early in the morning ] was
up to see the sunrise, 1t being a fad of
mine when afioat. AS quite a number
of us were chatting near the rail on
the port side there was considerable
] d
| deck hand cried out: Man overboardi'
J We all sprang forward and leaned over
i the rail, while not a few grabbed hold
of ropes ready TO throw to the uHfOr-
/ tunate. There he is one man cried,
pointing excitedly. They were revers-
/ ing the engines meanwhile. He acts
| queer muttered some one at my left.
| Then we 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, reveal
/ ing a dark red disc0loTatiOn. He's been
shot through the headi' cried deck
] hand below. who was in better posi-
! ton to see. The right arm of the
| corpse was now flung upright, prob
ably by the action of the water from
the propeller, 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
4 hair and beard marked him consplcu-
Ously.
we all rushed for the stairway, but
| on gaining the upper deck he was gone.
/ A steward informed us that such per
/ son dashed by him and that he Wore
a long linen buster. He also said that
! the man was muttering something TO
himself wholly unintelligible BY this
! time the ship was III connection. We in
/ formed the captain of what we had
| seen, and at once orders were given
to search the ship. No passengers were
/ found answering the description. A sec
| ond search was made. every passenger
/ being Scrutinized. Then all hands were
! inspected, but with the same result On
| reaching the West street pier officers
were stationed about the gang-Way
/ and as the passengers filed ashore all
were again subjected to close eXamin-
alton. But no old gentleman was found
wearing white hair or beard. Then the
/ boat was given a second OVerhaulinS
with the former success.
1T created a great deal of excite
ment at he time and the papers were
/ full of it,
/ "A year passed and I had well nigh
/ forgotten it. o, 1 should remark that
/ the BODY of the man was secured a
day after the murder was committed.
For it was murder, the hole in the head
! having been made by a revolver held
/ at close range. As l was saying / had
forgotten it when I received orders to
sail at once for Savannah to look after
a case there. On the first night out I
! had been playing whist in the SmOk-
/ ing room and did not leave the table
until quite late. AS 1 entered the sa-
| loon I heard a cry at he farther end
and thought I saw some one dart into
] a passageway. The saloon was deserted
and dimly lighted. / hurried forward,
not expecting to find any one, so was
startled when L stumbled upon a young
man sprawling in pool of blood and
moaning feebly. I called for help and
tried 10 bolster him up. Ny partner at
the whist table now appeared and sew
eral servants. We found he had been