Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1902-08-11

may appear to you, it may be the means
of providing me with a clue"
He thought for Il moment and then
said that he had noticed nothing out
of the common. He had just gone out
of the room when he reappeared and
told me that he had noticed one thing
about one of the guests. but it could
have nothing 10 do with the robbery.
He had noticed that one OF the men
had always had his shoes cleaned while
they were on his feet. He always col
lected all the shoes and took them down
to be cleaned, but Mr.. Dane, the man
who always talks about machinery and
electricity to Mr.. Middleton, always
came and had them cleaned on his
feet"
In the evening | had another talk
with the man and asked him to give me
an account of everything that happen
ed Oh the night of the robbery. He told
me that the gentleman had been out all
day. and in the evening Mr.. Middleton
had sent an order to him to bring some
apples into the awins-room; these
apples We're Of special kind grown
on the place. He had taken them into
the dra wing-roOm and it was soon after
this that Mr. Middleton had gone and
fetched the diamond from the safe.
| made mental note of these facts.
Later on | had Il chat with Mr.. Dane,
and. being myself something of an au-
thority on dynamics. was able to in
tercst him. | was looking at him close
ly all the time we were talking. There
was only one thing that distinguished
him from any other guest. This was
that half of one of his front teeth was
missing: it had been broken off in al
most exactly the middle.
did not connect Mr.. Dane with the
robbery; in fact. l had UP to this time
not the slightest suspicion Of clue.
1t was early the next morning that |
was put on the scent. had visited til"
lawn under the window Of the room
from which the diamond had been
stolen. and was looking to see if could
find any trace of footprints Oh the
beds or the lawn. | did not tind any
trace of footprints, but noticed the
half of an apple directly under the win
dow. l picked it up and examined it
carefully. AS was turning it over and
over | was thinking and wondering
how it came there. 1t must have been
thrown there recently. otherwise it
would have been swept up. Then It
struck me that apples had been eaten
on the night that the diamond had been
stolen, and l understood that no one
had gone out on that night OF course,
| thought some one might have thrown
it there since that night. Then | no.
ticed a popularity of the marks of the
teeth on the apple. About half of it
had been eaten. and at every place
where the apple had been bitten !;
small portion of the apple remained, a
small ridge about an eighth of an inch
in width and extending the entire
who had been eating the apple 1t was
the man with the broken tooth, Mr..
Dane. and the ridge was left where the
missing tooth must have bitten. Now it
occurred to me that it was just possible
that after Mr.. Middleton had given the
diamond to his wife (Which was just
after the apples had been brought i'm
Mr. Dane had followed her and taken
his partly finished apple with him.
After she had left the room, leaving
the diamond in the casket he had gone
in. and, when opening the box. had put
the apple down. and not knowing ex-
actly what to do with it had opened
the window. which opened after the
fashion of door. ana had thrown ii
down on the grass below. Another
thought struck me. Why did Mr. Dane
have his shoes cleaned on his feet. in
stead of having them cleaned as thu
other guests did? There must he SOM.
reason for this unless ii was fad.
asked my confidential servant which
was Mr.. Danes bedroom, and in the
evening when Mr.. Dane was IN the
drawing-rOOm with his pumps on,