The stayer. (Canyon City, Tex.) 1896-1903, 1901-10-24

get what remarkable results you have
often accomplished for the Daily Tenn
pest in detecting and following up
clews to which the official detectives
were blind. But, frankly, were not
your conclusions usually th3 result of
lucky guesses. which won'I have re-
manned comparatively useless as evil
dence had ,hey not been subsequently
proved correct by direct testimony"
Let me reply TO your question by an
other, Sprague,' answered Sturgis.
when you draw check, does the pay
ing teller at the bank require the tes-
timony of witnesses to your signature
before admitting its genuineness?
NO; of course not"
Precisely. He probably knows the
signature of Harvey NJ. Sprague, the
! depositor, better than he does the
! face of Sprague, the artist. And yet
the evidence here is purely circum-
| stantial. i know of at least one re-
| cent instance in which the officials of
a New York bank placed their i'm
plicit reliance upon circumstantial
evidence of this sort, in spite of the
direct testimony of the depositor,
who was willing to acknowledge the
genuineness of n check to which his
name had been forged"
II suppose you refer to the Forsyth
case" said Sprague; but you must
remember that Col. Forsyth was
actuated by the desire to shield the
forger, who was his own scapegrace
SON"
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 n Newton
formulatcs 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 its con-
clusi'tls," interrupted Sprague, 80
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
unrecUgnized differences in the pro-
ducing causes, TO additional or miss
ing links in the chain of evidence.
Therefore | hold that criminal,
however clever he may be, leaves be-
hind him complete trace of his every
act. from which his crime may be re-
constructed with absolute certainty
by competent detective"
I'm short, Murder will out.'" said
n man who had been silent listener
to the conversation up to this point.
He spoke with a quiet smile, which
barely escaped being polite sneer.
Sturgis' keen eyes met his inter
locutor's as he replied gravely:
Il should hardly care to make so
sweeping an affirmation, DR.. Muir
dock. l have merely stated that the
history Of every crime is indelibly
written in tangible evidence. The
writing il OH the wall, but of course
an illiterate man understand it.
Every event, however trivial, owes its
occurrence to natural cause, and
leaves its indelible impress upon na.
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
tsigs; while the bloodhound follows,
with unerring judgment, n still surer
though less tangible trail. The lat
ter's quarry has left behind, at every
step, an invisible, imponderable, and
yet unmistaknble part Of itself. Per-
haps my meaning can be made clear
by IN illustration. When a photog-
rapher in his dark room takes an ex-
posed plate from his camera it is APP
parently blank: but in reality there
is upon this plate the infinitely de-
tailed history of an event, which. in
proper hands, can be brought before
the least competent of observers rs
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 Murdoch, 1.-THE
ability happens to be on the side of the
quarry; in which case, the conspiracy
of natures forces turns against the
"Ah!" retorted the reporter, "the