The San Francisco call., 1905-03-19
dIT

: STAND respectively Tor N, v anu II.
Even now was. in considerable diff
ficulty, but a happy thought put me in
possession of several other letters It
occurred to me that if. these appeals
came. as l expected, from some one
who had been intimate with the lady
in her early life, a combination which
contained two E's with three letters
between might very well stand for the
name ELSIE. On examination
found that such a combination formed
the termination of the message which
was three times repeated. 1t was GER
tainly some appeal to Elsie. In this
way I had got my l., D and /. But
what appeal could it be? There were
only four letters in the word which
preceded Elsie and it ended in e
Surely the word must be COME
tried all other four letters ending in
Z, but could find none TO MT the case
So now I was in possession of c. o
and NJ, and-I was In a position to at
tack the first message once more,
dividing it into words and putting dots
for each symbol which was still un-
known. So treated, it worked out in
this fashion:
Now the first letter can only be A.
which, is a most useful discovery, since
it occurs no fewer than three times in
this short sentence, and the II is also
becomes:
AN HERE AE SLANE.
Or, filing in the obvious vacancies
in the name:
AM HERE ABE sLANEY.
had so many letters now that could
the second message, which worked out
in this fashion:
A. ELRI.ES
Here / could only make sense by put
ting T and G for the missing letters,
ard supposing that the name was that
of some house or inn at which the
writer was staying"
Inspector Martin and 1 had listened
with the utmost interest to the full
and clear account of how my friend
had produced results which had led
to so compile a command over our
difficulties.
What did you do then, sir?" asked
the inspector.
Il had every reason to suppose that
this Abe Slaney was an American.
since Abe is an American contraction,
and since a letter from America had
been the starting point of all the trou-
bic. / had ALSO eyerv cause to think
that there was some criminal secret
in the matter. The lady's illusions to
her past; and her refusal to, take her
husband into her confidence, both
pointed in that direction. Il therefore
cabled to my friend, Wilson Hargreave,
of the New York Police Bureau, who
has more than once made use Of my
knowledge of London crime. I asked
him whether the name Of Abe Slaney
was known to him. Here is his reply:
The most dangerous crook in Chicago
.On the very evening upon which had
his answer, Hilton Cubitt sent me the
last message from Slaney. Working
with known letters, it took this form:
vi nj n MI
The addition Of P and D completed
a message which showed me that the
rascal was proceeding from persuasion
to threats, and my knowledge OF the
crooks of Chicago prepared me to fnd
that he might very rapidly put his
words into action. / at once came to
Norfolk with my friend and colleague,
DR.. Watson, but, unhappily, only in
time to find that the worst had already
occurred"
1T is a privilege to be associated
with you in the handling OF a case
said the inspector warmly. you will
excuse me, however, if 1 speak frank
" to you. You are only answerable to
yourself, but i have to answer TO my
superiors. If this Abe Slaney, living
at Elrige's, is indeed the murderer,
and if he has made his escape while
am seated here, I should certainly get
into serious trouble"
You need not be uneasy, He viii
Eot try to escape"
How do you know?"
ITO fly would be confession Of
guilt"
Then let us go and arrest him."
Il expect him here every instant"
But why should he Gomez"
Because 1 have written and asked
him.
But this is incredible, Mr.. Holiness!
Why should he come because you have
asked him? Would not such a request
rather rouse his suspicious and cause
him to fiy?''
Il think have known how to frame
the letter. said Sherlock Holmes. I'm
fact, if 1 am not very much mistaken,
here is the gentleman himself coming
VI. the drive
A man was striding up the path
which led to the door. He was a. tall,
handsome, swarthy fellow. clad in a
suit of gray flannel. a Panama hat,
a bristling black beard, and a great,
aggressive hooked nose, and flourish
ing a cane as he walked. He swag-
gered up the path as If the place be-