Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Benton County, Or.) 1900-1909, 1902-08-15
came and had them cleaned on his

came ana naQ them cledneu OIL LIS
feet"
In the evening l had another talk
with the man and asked him to give me
an account of everything that happen
ed on 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 drawing-room; these
apples were of a special kind grown
on the place. He had taken them into
the draw1ngroom and it was soon after
this that Mr.. Middleton had gone and
fetched the diamond from the safe.
l made mental note of these facts.
Later on l had chat with Mr.. Dane,
and, being myself something of an au-
thority on dynamics, l was able to in
terest him. l 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.
l did not connect Mr.. Dane with the
robbery; in fact, 1 had up to this time
not the slightest suspicion of a clue.
1t was early the next morning that
was put on the scent. l had visited the
lawn under the window of the room
from which the diamond had been
stolen, and was looking to see if l could
find any trace of footprints on the
beds or the lawn. l did not find any
trace of footprints, but l noticed the
half of an apple directly under the win
dow. l picked it up and examined it
carefully AS l was turning 1t over and
over l 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 l no.
ticed 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 Il
small portion of the apple remained, 4
small ridge about an eighth of an inch
in width and extending the entire
length of the bite. l saw in moment
who had been eating the apple 1t was
the man with the broken tooth, MIR.
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 iD
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-
the window, which opened after the
fashion of a door, and had thrown it
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 the
other guests did? There must be some
reason for this unless it was a 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,
went to his room, and, as l expected
could not find the shoes. l could,
however, give a guess that they were
in large box which stood in the corner
of the room. Further evidences: Why
did he keep his shoes locked up in his
box? | pulled bunch of keys out of
my pocket and tried to unlock the pad
lock, but not one key in my possession
would fit the lock. The next morning
by six O'Clock l was being driven to
locksmith with the purpose of obtain
ing fresh keys.
On the evening of that day watched
for the appearance of Mr.. Dane with a
certain amount of excitement l felt
as though l was going to find the dia-
mond that night. Presently he appear
ed as usual in his pumps and challeng-
ed me to game of billiards. l would
rather not have played, but l accepted
his challenge and we had game
1t seemed a terrible long game, but
at last it was finished, and he made his
way to the smoking-room, while made
my way to his bedroom. / closed and
locked the door and then started to try
the various keys. Almost the first key
fitted and opened the box and got out
the shoes. They were of common make
and there appeared to be nothing ont