Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1903-01-19
DAILY SHORT STORY
A Message in Blood.
TOriginal1

and was murdered one night during
blizzard. The murderer left him TO
dead, but he did not die for some tim,
| after the blow was struck. Unable t,
leave the bed In which he was muir
dered, there seemed to bt&, way o
communicating information mat woul,
lead to the punishment of his murder
er. Yet he succeeded in leaving al
that was essential.
Klapper was used TO reading at nigh
in bed before going to sleep and KEEP
on a stand beside his bed lamp
| matches and some books. When tn,
body was discovered in the morning
the lamp was burning. though the OF
was nearly exhausted. People who haC
passed the house between II and 1:
reported that they had seen no light
but man who had passed just before
dawn on his way to a train declared
that he had noticed Il light i'll Slapper's
room. He knew Klapper and won
dered if he We're not i'll. He said ht
would have stopped to find out, but
had barely time to reach his train.
framed several theories. more or less
influenced by this circumstance. Klap
per was surely in bed with the light out
when the murder was committed. How
then could it have been burning i'll the
morning unless he had lived long
enough after the blow to light it?
had feeling Il can find no better word
TO express it, that the lamp had been
lighted by the victim with a purpose
after he had been struck.
l looked for Il communication ON pa
per, but found none. l was abSently
turning over the leaves of one of the
books on the table when L came to a
red smudge. 1t covered the word
ten" 1t at once occurred to me that
Klapper had communicated something
concerning the murder by words
smudged by his own blood, and 1 look
ed for more, which l found. L expect
ed that they would lie in the order of
Il message, but they did not. Consec-
utively placed they read:
Ten, crisp. man, on. beard. me. Called.
National. five. bill. took dollar. hair. fore
head. new. because, scar. red and stabbed,
L of ALL ten.
The moment 1 had placed these
words on paper in the above order l
knew from the words scar. beard and
hair that il contained IL description of
the murderer. l also inferred from the
words crisp, five, bill. ten and national
that it also contained a description of
bank bill or bills that had been TAX
en-. My first effort i'll deciphering the
message resulted as follows:
Man called on me. beard and hair, red
scar on forehead. took ten new crisp five
dollar bills on (some) national (bank).
This was evidently not the solution,
for there We're a number of words I'M
Wed. 1 tried it again:
Stabbed Cby) man with red hair and
beard. Scar on forehead. He took ten
new crisp five dollar bills on (some) ma
tional (banLD because 1 called.
This was better than the first effort;
but, like the first, the words were not
all used. l made number of trials
though 1 did not know whether the
murderer took ten five dollar bills or
five ten dollar bills. This was my last
effort:
Man with red hair and beard. scar on
forehead. stabbed me because 1 called.
(EIe) took ten new crisp five dollar bills,
all of the Tenth National.
Since the bank might have been the
Fifth or the Tenth National, l went TO
both and learned at the Tenth that it
had paid out some new five dollar bills
the day before, and Mr.. Klapper's ac-
count showed he had been paid $50 the
same day: Therefore the last part of
the message read, Ten new five dollar
bills, all of the Tenth National
l at once advertised to give Il pre-
MUM to any one who could furnish me
with one of these bills. y woman, the
cashier of u third rate restaurant, an
swered the advertisement. bringing one
of the bills. Afterward there was an
other brought in, but too late to be of
advantage. The woman told me that
the man who gave it to her was so
rough looking that she feared it was
and took it to her employer
before changing it. In this way the
matter was impressed on her mind.
asked her if she could identify the man,
and she said she could.
The rest was comparatively easy.
laid the matter before the inspector and
asked if he had any record of crimi-
nal with red hair and beard and u scar
on his forehead. After examination he
found that the description fitted Jim
alias Patsy Burne, alias Cauky
Jack and number of other aliases,
who had recently been released from
the penitentiary and seen in town. The
man was watched for, arrested and
identified by the restaurant cashier
Two of the bills were found on his per-
son.
He was tried and convicted. After
III hn N account of
the robbery and murder that tailed
with my theory He entered the house
Dy means of a window that had been
eft unfastened and after finding moth
ing below went up to Klapper's bed
room and turned a dark lantern on the
sleeper. While the robber was search
ing for valuables Klapper called for
help. The robber warned him if he did
It again he would kill him. Klapper
the call, and the robber kept
IL II t. -.