Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Benton County, Or.) 1900-1909, 1902-08-26
CHAPTER w.

led me 10 the nearest L0ieSi opii o'io'
when he dispatched a long telegram
He then hailed cab and ordered the
driver to take us to the address given
us by Lestrade.
O., There's nothing like first-hand evil
dence," he remarked; ''as matter OF
fact, my mind is entirely made up up
on the case, but still we may as we'll
learn all that is to be learned.
"You amaze me, Holmes" said l.
"Surely you are not as sure as you pre-
tend to be of all those particulars
which you gave"
There is no room for mistake, ne
answered. "The very first thing which
/ observed on arriving there was that
q cab had made two ruts with its
wheels close to the curb. Now. up to
last night we have had no rain for a
week, SO that those wheels, which left
such a deep impression, must have
been made there during the night.
There were the marks of the horses
hoofs, too, the outline of one OF which
was far more clearly cut than that OF
the other three, showing that there
was a new shoe. Since the cab was
there after the rain began. and was
not there at any time during the morn
ing-I have Gregson's word for that
It follows that it must have been there
during the night, and. therefore, that
it brought those two individuals to the
house"
"That seems simple enough" said I;
"but how about the other mans
height?"
"Why, the height of a man, in nine
cases out of ten can be told from the
length of his stride. 1t is simple cal
culation enough, though there is no
use my boring you with figures.
this fellows stride, both on the clay
outside and the dust within. Then
had a way of checking my calcula-
tions. When a man writes on wall.
his instinct leads him to write about
the level of his own eyes. Now, that
writing was just over six feet from
the ground 1t was child's play"
"And his age?" 1 asked.
"Well, if a man can stride four and
a half feet without the smallest effort.
he can't be quite in the sere and yel-
low. That was the breadth of a pud-
die on the garden walk which he had
evidently walked across. Patent
i1ather boots had gone around and
square toes had hoped over. There
is no mystery about 1t at all. | afh
simply applying to ordinary life few
CT those precepts of observation and
deduction which I advocated in that
article. Is there anything else that
puzzles your"
"The finger nails and the Trichinop-
oily" I suggested.
"The writing on the wall was done
with a mans forefnger dipped in
blood. My glass allowed me to oh
serve that the plaster was slightly
scratched in doing it, which would not
have been the case if the mans nail
had been trimmed. I gathered up
some scattered ash from the floor. II
was dark in color and fiaky-such IN
ash as is only made by Trichonopoly
have made a special study of cigar
ashes-in fact. have written mono
graph upon the subject. I flatter my
self that can distinguish at a glance
the ash of any known brand of cigar
or of tobacco. 1t is in just such de-
tails that the skilled detective differs
from the Gregson and Lestrade type
"And the fiorid face?" I asked.
"Ah, that was more daring shot
though I have no doubt that l was
right. You must not ask me that al
the present state of the affair."
passed my hand over my brow.
my head is in whirl" l remarked;
"the more one thinks of it., the more
mysterious it grows. How came these
two men-if there were two men-in
to an empty house? What has become
of the cabman who drove them? How
could one man compel another to take
poison? Where did the blood come
from? What was the object of the
murderer since robbery had no par
In it? How came the woman's rims
there? Above all, why should the sec
ond man write up the German wore
Rache before decamping? I confess
that cannot see any. possible way o
reconciling all these facts"
NV companion smiled approvinglv.
"You sum up the difficulties of tn
situation succinctly and we'll" he said
There is much that is still obscure
though I have quite made up my min
on the main facts. AS to poor LIE
strade's discovery, it was simply
blind intended to put the police upo
wrong track, by suggesting socia
ism and secret societies. Tt wa
not done by n German: The A
II YOU noticed. was printed some
what after the German fashion
Now real German invariably print
In the Latin character, so that We ma
safely say that this was not written b
one. but by a clumsy imitator. VIII
overdid his part. 1t was simply
ruse. to divert inquiry into a wron
channel I'm not going to tell vo
much more of the case. doctor. So
know a conjurer Gets no credit whe
once he has explained his trick, an
IL I show you too much of my metho
of working you will come to the CO
clusiou that am a very ordinary ind
vidual after ALL"
"I shall never do that" I answered
"you have brought detection as ne;
an exact science as it ever will
brought in this world"
NY companion flushed up with plea
ure at my words and the earnest ws
in which I uttered them. | had &
ready observed that he was as sens
tive to f1attery on the score of his a
as any girl could be of her beauty.
'T'n tell you one other thing"
said. "Patent-leathers and Squa1
toes came in the same cab and thu
walked down the pathway together ;
friendly as possible-arm in arm,
all probability. When they got insf'
they walked up and down the room
or rather, Patent-leathers stood sti
while Square-toes walked up al
down. I could read all that in Il
dust; and / could read that. as
walked, he grew more and more e