Wallowa chieftain. [volume] (Joseph, Union County, Or.) 1884-1909, 1902-09-18
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} A STUDY IN SCARLET. s
BY A. CONAN DOYLE
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CHAPTER ".
BY A. CONAN DOYLE.

driver TO take us TO the address given
US by Lestrade.
There's nothing like first-hand evi-
dence." he remarked; "as a 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 ba learned"
You amaze me. Holmes" said I.
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" he
answered. The very first thing which
/ observed on arriving there was that
u cab had made two ruts with its
wheels close to the curb. Now, up TO
fast night we have had no rain for a
week, so that those wheels. which left
such deep impression. must have
been made there during the night.
There We're 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
vas a new shoe. Since the cab was
Nhere after the rain began. and was
not there at any time during the morn
tng-I have Gregson's word for that
II follows that it must have been there
during the night. and. therefore. that
1t brought those two individuals to the
house"
THAT seems simple enough" said I;
~but how about the other mans
height?"
"Why, the height of man, in nine
cases out of ten can be told from the
length of his stride. 1t is a simple cal
culation enough. though there is no
use nv boring YOU with figures. I
this fellows stride. both on the clay
outside and the dust within. Then |
had way of checking my calcu1a-
tions. When a man writes on a wall.
his instinct leads him to write about
the level of his own eyes. Now, that
writing was lust over six feet from
the ground. 1t was child's play"
And his age?" I asked
well. if & man can stride four and
q half feet without the smallest effort
he can't be quite in the sere and yell
low. That was the breadth of a nud-
die on the garden walk which he had
evidently walked across. Patent
leather boots had gone around ana
suuare toes had hoped over. There
is no mystery about it at all. am
simply applying to ordinary life a few
Of those precepts of observation and
deduction which I advocated in that
article. Is there anything else that
puzzles you?"
''The finger nails and the Trichinop-
oily" suggested
''The writing on the wall was done
with a mans forefinger dipped in
blood. Ny glass allowed me to OBJ
serve that the plaster was slightly
scratched in doing it, which would not
have been the case If the mans nail
mad been trimmed. gathered up
some scattered ash from the floor. It
was dark in color and flakv-such IN
ash as is only made by Trichonopoly.
I have made a special study of cigar
ashes-in fact, have written a mono
graph upon the subject. I flatter N.Y.
self that I can distinguish at a glance
She 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 florid face?" I asked.
'Ah. that was a more daring shot
though I have no doubt that I was
right. You must not ask me that at
the present state of the affair"
/ Dassed my hand over my brow.
MY head is in whirl." remarked: :
"the more one thinks of it. the more
mysterious it grows. How came these
-wo men-if there We're two men-in-
TO an emDty house? What has become
OF the cabman who drove them? How
could one man compel another to take
poison? Where did the blood corne
from? What was the object of the
murderer since robbery had no part
III it? How came the woman's ring
there? Above all why should the Sec
ond man write up the German word
Rache before decamping? I confess
that I cannot see any possible way of
reconciling all these facts"
Nv companion smiled approvinglv.
''You sum up the difficulties Of the
situation succinctlv and we'll" he said.
There is much that is still obscure.
though have quite made up my mind
on the main facts. AS to poor Le-
strade's discovery, it was simply a
blind intended to put the police upon
q wrong track by suggesting social
Ism and secret societies. It was
not done by German. The A.
II you noticed. was printed some
what after the German fashion.
NJ" real beTHldu lHEdTldDlN DTlnIS
in the Latin character, so that we may
safely say that this was not written bv
one. but by clumsy imitator. who
Cverdid his part. 1t was simply a
ruse. to divert inquiry into a wrong
channel. Pm not going to tell YOU
much more of the case. doctor. You
GInow coniurer gets no credit when
once he has explained his trick. and
II show you too much of my method
Of working you will come to the con
clusion that am very ordinary indi-
vidual after all"
az shall never do that" answered :
~sTou have brought detection as near
an exact science as it ever will be
Drought in this world"
NV companion flushed up with pleas
ure at my words and the earnest way
In which I uttered them. | had al
ready observed that he was as sensi-
tive to fiattery on the score of his art
as any girl could be of her beauty.
'T'r tell you one other thing" he
said. @'Patentleathers and Square
toes came in the, same cab and they
"A ha foo