The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1905-07-12

washing MIN the compliments u Tug
season. He was Longing upon the sofa
!. in a purple dressing gown, a plpe-rack
within his reach upon the right, and a
: pile of crumpled morning papers, evil
IDENTIFY newly studied, near at hand. Be
side the couch was wooden chair, and
on the angle Of the back hung very
seedy and disreputable hard-felt hat,
much the worse for wear, and cracked
in several places. A lens and forceps
lying upon the seat Of the chair. sug-
gested that the hat had been suspended
in this manner for the purpose Of exam
ination. ...- ...- - .s
You are engaged said I; "per-
haps.I interrupt you.' ..... .. +.
"Not at all. I am glad to have
friend with whom 1 can discuss my
results. The matter is a perfectly
trivial one'' Che ierked his thumb in
the direction of the old :hat), ''but
there are points in connection with 1t
which are not entirely devoid of inter
est and even of instruction.
seated myself in his armchair and
warmed my hands before his cracking
fire. for a sharp frost had set in, and
the windows were thick with the ice
crystals. ~ SUPPOSE I remarked,
'tthat, homely as it looks, this thing
has some deadly story linked on to it
that it is the clew which will guide
you in the solution of some mystery and
the punishment of some crime. -
mo, no. No crime,' said Sherlock
Holmes, laughing, "Only one of those
whimsical little incidents which will
happen when you have four million hui
man beings all jostling each other
within the space Of few square miles.
Amid the action and reaction Of so
dense a swarm of humany, every pos
sible combination of events may be ex-
pected to take place, and many a little
problem will be presented. which may
be striking and bizarre without being
criminal. We have already had expe-
rience of SUCH
So much so,' I remarked, "that of
the last six cases which I have added
to my notes, three have been entirely
z free of any legal crime" .-.
"Precisely. You allude to my at.
tempt to recover the Irene Adler pa.
pers, to the singular case of Miss Mary
Sutherland and to the adventure Of the
man with the twisted lip. Well, have
no doubt that this small matter will fall
into the same innocent category. You
know Peterson, the commissionaire9
!" Yes.'
It is to him that this trophy be-
longs ~.. .--
cit is his hat.'' 49,
"No, no; he found it. It's owner il
unknown. I beg that you will lool
but as an intellectual problem. And
first, as to how it came here. It arrived
upon Christmas morning, in company
with good fat goose, which is, I have
no doubt, roasting at this moment ii
front of Peterson s fire. The facts are
s these: about four clock on Christmas
morning, Peterson, who, as you know
from some small publication, and wa
making his way homeward down Tot
tenham Court road. In front Of hin
4 he saw, in the gaslight, a tallish man
walking with slight stagger, and car
rying a white goose slung over hi
shoulder. AS he reached the corner O.
Goodge street, row broke out be
tween this stranger and little kno
Of roughs. One of the latter knocke
off the mans hat, on which he raise
e his stick to defend himself, and, swing
ing it over his head, smashed the sho
window behind him. Peterson ha
Al rushed forward to protect the strange
from his assailants; but the mar
shocked at having broken the window
and seeing an official-looking person i
uniform rushing towards him, droppe
his goose, took to his heels, and var
ished amid the labyrinth of sma
streets which lie at the back of Totter
ham Court road. The roughs had ais
fed at the appearance Of Peterson, 8
that he was left in possession Of tn
field of battle, and also Of the spoil
Of Victory in the shape of this battere
hat and most unimpeachable Christ
mas goose.'
(Which surely he restored to thei
owner7"
my dear fellow, there lies the prof.
. lem It is true that For Mrs. Henri
Baker was printed upon small car
which was tied to the bird 8 left les
# and it is also true that the initials q
B. are legible upon the lining of thi
hat; blu tas there are some thousand
Of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henri
Bakers in this city of ours, it is nc
easy to restore lost property to any on
Of them
What, then, did Peterson do7'
HE brought round both hat an
goose to me on Christmas mornin,
knowing that even the smallest prol
lens are of interest to me. The COOS
we retained until this morning, whe
p. there were signs that, in spite of til
slight frost, it would be well that
| should be eaten without unnecessar
delay. It's finder has carried it OF
therefore, to fulfill the ultimate de
tiny Of goose, while I continue to r
tain the hat of the unknown gentl
man who lost his Christmas dinner
Did he not ADVERTISED
HNo.''
Then, what clue could you have
to his identity7'
sOnly as much as we can deduce''
s From his hat9'