The daily morning Alaskan., 1904-02-24
A MeSSaSe
 In Blood

dead but be did not die for some time after the blow was struck. Unable to leave the bed in which he was mur- dered. there seemed to be no way of communicating information that would lead to the punishment Of his murder or. Yet he succeeded in leaving au that was essential
 Klapper was used to reading at night in bed before going to sleep and kept on stand beside bis bed lamp matches and some books. When the body was discovered in the morning the lamp was burning, though the oil was nearly exhausted. People who had passed the house between II and l2 reported that they had seen no light but a man who had passed just before dawn on his way to a train declared that be had noticed a light in Klappera room. He knew Klapper and won' dered if he were not ill. He said be would have stopped to find out but had barely time to reach his train.
 I trnmed several theorlesf 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 1t have been burning in the morning unless be had lived long enough after the blow to light iti had feeling q can fnd no better word to express 10 that the lamp had been lighted by the victim with a purpose after be had been struck.
 ] looked for a communication on pa. DIT. but found none. was a0senuy turning over the leaves Of one Of the books on the table when came to a red smudge. It covered the word "ten." It at once occurred to me that Klnpper had communicated something concerning the murder by words smudged by hls own blood. and look ed for more. which found I'eXpect' ed that they would lie in the order of a message. but they did not Consec- utiyely placed they read:
 Ten crisp. man. en- beard. me. Called. National i've bill took dellnr. hair lore | head. new. because. scar. red and stabbed ! I of an. ten.
 The moment | had placed these
 words on paper in the above order ] ! knew from the words scar, beard and ! hal. that lt contained a description of the murderer. l also inferred from the wo ds crisp. five, bil, ten and national that it also contained a description of a bank bill or bills that had been talk CD. My drst effort ln declphering the ! message resulted as follows:
 Man called on mo beard and hair. red ] rrar on forehead. took ten new crisp hve | dollar bnls on lsoms) national (banD'
 This was evidently not the solution, for there were a number of words un- used. ] tried it again:
 st.bbsd Cby) man with red hair and ] bea "a. Scar on forehead He took ten | new crisp five dollar blh on (aomol nae ! toual lbsnlJ bocauaa ! called
 Tlis was better than the first effort; but like the first the words were not all used. made a number of trials before found a correct reading.
 though ! did not know whether the
 murderer took ten five dollar bills or
 Hve ten dollar bills. This was my last effort:
 Man tvithl red halr and beard. scar on ! forehead. stabbed me because called ! Odel took ten new crisp i've dollar blia, | an uf the Tenth National
 Since the bank might have been the ! Fifth or the Tenth National, went to both and learned at the Tenth that it | had paid out some new five dollar bills the day before. and Mir. Klapper's ac- ! count showed he had been paid $50 the saras day. Therefore the last part of the message read, "Ten new Ave dollar bilA au of the Tenth National" l at once advertised to give a ore
 milm to any one who could furnish me with one of these billE A woman, the ] cashier of a third rate restaurant an swered the advertisement. bringing one l 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 1t to her was so rough looking that she feared lt was counterfeit and took it to her employer before changing it. In this way the nIotter 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 1T he bad any record oe a crimi-
 nal with red hair and beard and a scar
 on bis forehead. After examination he
 found that the description fitted Jim Rourke. alias Patsy Burne, alias Cauky
 lack and a number of other aliases,
 vho had recently been released from l the penitentiary and seen ln town The
 man was watched for, arrested and
 identified by the restaurant cashier. Two of the bills were found on his per
 con.
 He was tried and convicted AfteT
 his conviction be gave an account of ! the robbery and murder that tallied | with my theory. He entered the house by means of O window that had been ! lsgt unfastened and after finding noth.
 mg below went up to Klapper'a bed
 room and turned a dark lantern on the aleeDer. While the robber was sr5rch Ing for valuables Klapper called for
 help. The robber warned hlm IT hc did
 t again be would kin him. KlaDpef repeated the call, and the robber kept
 hls word Finding the bills In the muT
 dered mans pocket, he took them and
 having Klapper for dead. made bis es-