The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1905-05-31
ctive Which Made Their Author A. Conan Doyle Famous

Having got SO far, my next step
was, OF course to examine into the de-
tails Of the crime, and to see how far
they would help us. went up to the
that was to be seen. The wound upon on
the dead man was, as L was able to
determine with absolute confidence.
fired from revolver at the distance of
somthing over four yards. There was
no powder blackening on the clothes.
Evidently, therefore, Alec Cunning CHAM
had lied when he said that the two men
we're struggling when the shot was
1 fired. Again, both father and SON
agreed as to the place where the man
escaped into the road. At that point,
beweHeh, a as It haPpens there is
/ AS there were no indications of boot.
marks about this ditch, I was absolutely
sure not only that the Cunninghams had
again lied, but that there had never
at all. -
SAnd now have to consider the mo-
tive Of this singular crime. To get at
this, endeavored first of all to solve
the reason of the original burglary at
MT. Acton 8. understood, from some
thlng which the colonel told us, that a
a%su M mad Ai been going gGa the on between
hams OF course, it Instantly oe
cured to me that they had broken
INTO your library with the intention of
getting at some document which might
be ct Importance in the case"
<<rb preca nsn he So said Mr.: Acton.
their intentions. I have the clearest
claim upon half Of their present estate.
and II they could have found single
paper---which, fortunately, was in the
strong,box of my solicitors they would
undoubtedly have crippled our case. -
inn mere eeTe ; you are, - said Holmes, smil-
tempt, In which I seem to trace the in
; fuence of young Alec. Having found
nothing. they tried to divert suspicion
by making it appear to be an ordinary
burglary, to which end they carried off
, whatever they could lay their hands
] upon. That is all clear enough. but
, there was much that was still obscure.
What 1 wanted above all was to get
: the missing part of that note. I was
: certain that Alec had torn it out of the
dead mans hand, and almost certain
fnaf ne Of 9ust have thrust it into the
!, else could he have put it4 The only
L question was whether it was still there.
e 1t was worth an effort to find out, and
: for that object we all went up to the
q house.
: : "The cunninghams Joined u.s. as you
= door,, It was, of course, of the very
= first Importance that they should not
! be reminded Of the existence of this
= paper, otherwise they would naturally
destroy it without delay. The inspect
b or was about to tell them the import
5 the luckiest chance in the world I
tumbled down in sort of fit and so
h Good heavens!' cried the Colonel,
t laughing, edo you mean to say all our
{ q sympathy ny &. was wasted and your fit an
:; ,"speaking professionally, it was
d amazement at this man who was for
{ ever confounding me with some new
8, phase of his astuteness.
n .tIlt'is an art which is often useful, "
s. aged, by device which had perhaps
e some little merit of ingenuity, to get
y old Cunningham to write the word
y twelve, so that Z might compare it
1 with the twelve upon the paper
ooh, what an ass I have been!' I
t, IT could see that you were commits
n Holmes, laughing. "I was sorry to
~ cause you the sympathetie pain which
= I know that you felt. We then went
4 upstairs together, and having entered
Il H..
+ hanging up behind the door, I con-
d triyed, by upsetting table, to engage
ID their attention for the moment, and
t. slipped back to examine the pockets.
al had hardly got the paper, however
is which was, as [ had expected, in one
- of them-when the two Cunninghams
were on me, and would, I verify be-
lieve, have murdered me then and
Re there but for your prompt and friendly
ID aid. AS it is, 1 feel that young man g
S. grip on my throat now, and the father
g has twisted my wrist round in the effort
t. to get the paper out of my hand. They
N saw that I must know all about it,
ID you see, and the sudden change from
IS absolute security to complete despair
IS made them perfectly desperate.
IN ct had a little talk with old Gun
ze ningham afterwards as to the motive
t. Of the crime. He was tractable enough
err though his son was a perfect demon
10 ready to blow out his own or anybody
~ else s brains if he could have got his
the case against him was SO strong hi
IS. lost all heart and made a clean breast
Mt of everything. It seems that William
OF had secretly followed his two masters
IS on the night when they made their raid
as upon Mr.. Acton g, and having thus got
threats OF to Levy
es, dangerous man to play games of that
k sort with. It was a stroke of positive
re-, genius on his part to see in the burg
In larry scare which was convulsing the
~ country side an opportunity of plausi
n bly, getting rid Of the mar
ch whom he feared. William was de
Is coyed up and shot, and hat
We they only got the whole Of the note an6
an Ipaid little more attention to detail il
h. their accessories, it is very possible
that suspicion might never have beer
in. aroused
II, "And the note?' I asked.
er- Sherlock Holmes placed the SubjOineC
on paper before us.