The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1904-12-17

only to learn that it contained no such
names. l was about to examine some
OF the directories of neighboring towns
when it occurred to me that the easiest
would be to consult the green slips
upon which they had procured their
books, and l accordingly asked the at
tendant to kindly let me look at them.
While she was collecting the slips.
re-examined the list Of books taken by
Weltz and Rizzi, especially those which
h had been taken en- BY both n. msn; one s
that was that most Of these latter were
large books, which would take a long
time to peruse and would require to
be borrowed several times for hall use,
were they to be examined with any
care. l put this fact down for future
the green slips, the whole twenty. of
which the attendant now placed before
me. The residence Of Weltz was given
at No. Is Stamford place, Boston,
while that of Rizzi was No. S Oak
street, Boston. / was about to- walk
over to Oak street to see if Rizzi were
still there when, in returning the, slip
to the attendant, noticed peculiari-
ty in Weltz's ~ which I had thought
L had seen in Rizzi g signature. | i'm
mediately compared the slips. There
was the same oddly shaped ~ in both.
1t was made like this and he hand
ed us a slip Of paper with this strange
"z' upon it.
''You see," he continued, cit is so
unusual a way Of making the letter that
it at once attracted my attention, not
withstanding the fact that Rizzi wrote
with his left hand. Closer examination
revealed other peculiarities, common to
both hands. Well, to make a long story
short, l satisfied myself that the same
person wrote the whole twenty slips and
was, moreover, ambidextrous. This l
cry, so much so, indeed, that I gave up
an engagement I had for the evening
and decided to camp right thereuntil the
library closed. Happily the books I
had been consulting were still on the
table. [ picked out those borrowed I'M
der the names of Weltz and Rizzi, and
began most careful examination Of
them. I had been working about two
hours, when I discovered something that
fairly took my breath away. [ was not
sure that I was right, but I knew that,
if my miscroscope bore me out, | would
be able to stake my life that the MUIR
derer of John Darrow had read that
book. T was aware, however, that even
then I should not be able to name the
man who had put his marks upon the
book, but I could take oath that the
record was made by the same hand that
! committed the murder.
81 was too excited to do more till this
had been settled, so I besought the Off
cial in charge to let me take all the
books home with me, if only for day,
explaining to him the vital Importance
of my request. He readily consented
and I FASTENED home with the whole
lot. You may imagine with what inter-
est / put the page l wished to examine
| under my microscope and laid beside it
the piece of glass which, you will per-
| haps remember, cut from a window of
/ the room in which the murder was COM
planned to Miss Darrow why preserved
that bit of glass. There were two rea-
sons for it. The house had been
primed that day and there were two
smutches of paint upon the glass and
two almost identical smutches upon the
sill. One was simmons line, as if the
glass had been struck with short bit of
rope-or possibly rubber tubing since
no rope-like texture was visible-which
had previously been soiled with the
paint from the sill. The other mark
at the world $ fair an exhibit of these
thum b-marks collected by Frenchman
who has made an exhaustive study of
the subject, and had learned there fol
the first time that no two thumbs in the
world can make the same mark.
knew, therefore, that this slip Of glass
would at any time tell me whether
or not a suspected man were guilty.
had not failed, to get the thumb mark:
that day, as we'll as those of every othel
i. person known to be about the place
The marks upon the glass could not, By
any possibility, have been made by an
OF, them: The deduction was inevi
. table. They were. made by the ma,
who stood by the window when the muir
der was committed -
F.: "You will be surprised when I tel
3 you 1t was some moments before I coul,
: summon up courage to look thru m,
= microscope upon the page beneath ii
J., You see, I had been seized by an un
i accountable CONVICTION that 1 had a
last found real clue to the murdere,
Q should show this to have been an id
:. deluslon; At length looked. Tn
,. thumb that had pressed the paper wa
t. the thumb that had pressed the glass
There was not a doubt Of it.. NY sus
e picions were confirmed. Everythin
y mense Importance. The page upo
which the mark was found-well.
think you would open your eyes il
were to read it to you: I will defe
l this pleasure, however, till I see if m
! suspicious are correct. The thumb
l. mark is upon page 400 of tPoison
Their Effects and Detection by Alei
n ander Wynter Blyth.
= "No sooner had I made sure Of m
Il discovery than set out for No. S Ga
+ street, the address given by Rizz
/ There was no such person there, nor ha
10 there been anyone Of that name in tt
, II house during the three years Of tt
I. present tenant IS occupancy. I went /
:. Is Stamford place with the same resul
A young woman about 25 wears of ae
If came to the door. She informed me tn;
: she had been born in the house an
+ had always lived there. She had new,
sr known anyone by the name of Welt
This was Just what I had expecte
g. The man for whom we are searching
e, shrewd almost bevond belief, and if v
le succeed in finding him it will not, v
lie may be assured, be the result of ar
bungling on his part. g.
tr 1T have now told you all I ha,
n learned, or rather all that is sufficient
IS definite to communicable is n
ir much, yet it is a clue and may serve
IS give our hope new lease of life. VIII
j. do you think of it, Miss Darrow9"
e. ct think what you have learned,
re- Gwen replied twill be Of the utmo
IN Importance. You have now somethil
y, definite to guide you. I am most f
rs tunate in having the services !,
Ie1,,n l. ~ 1&Sr S,nI4 NI