Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1905-05-23

lock Holmes was q very
busy man. Ii 10 safe to
A say that there was no
%WW public case OF any diff
Guilty In which he was
not consulted during those eight years,
and there were hundreds OF private
cases, some of them OF the most in
tricate and extraordinary characte
in which be played a prominent part.
As have preserved very full notes OF
ali these cases n nd was myself person
ally engaged in many OF them, it may
be imagined that IL Is no easy task TO
know which l should select 10 ley be
fore the public. / shall. however. pre-
serve my former rule and give the pref
erence TO those cases which derive their
interest not SO much from the brutality
or the crime as from the Ingenuity and
dramatic quality or the solution. For
this reason / will now lay before the
reader the facts connected with Miss
Violet Smith, the solitary cyclst Of
Charlington. and the curious sequel OF
our investigation. which eliminated In
unexpected tragedy.
On referring To my notebook for the
year 1895 find that ii was upon Sat
urdsy. the 23d OF April. that we first
heard OF Miss Violet Smith. Her visit
was. remember. extremely unwel-
come to Holmes, for be was immersed
a the moment in a very abstruse and
complicated problem concerning the
peculiar persecution to which John Win
cent Harden. the well known tobacco
millionaire. had been subjected. My
friend, who loved above all things pre-
cision and concentration Of thought, re-
scented anything which distracted his
attention from the matter In hand.
And yet, without a harshness which
was foreign TO his nature. ii was i'm
possible to refuse to listen to the story
or the young and beautiful woman. tall,
graceful aud Queenly, who presented
herself at Baker street late In the
evening and implored his assistance
and advice Ii was vain to urge that
his time was already fully occupied.
for the young lady bad come with the
determination to tell her story, and IL
was evident that nothing short of force
could get her out OF the room until she
had done so. With a resigned air and
somewhat weary smile, Holmes beg
gcd the beautiful intruder to take u
seat and 10 inform us what ii was that
was troubling her.
AT least II cannot be your health"
said he as his keen eyes darted over
her. 80 ardent a bicyclist must be
fun OF energy"
She glanced down Ia surprise at her
own feet, and l observed the slight
NJ ~ ha do NJ he
ed by the friction OF the edge of the
pedal
Yes. bicycle a good deal, Mr..
Holmes. and that has something TO do
with my visit TO you today"
My friend took the lady's unglOved
hand and examined II with as close an
attention and as little sentiment as a
scientist would show to specimen.
You will excuse me. l am sure, 1t
is my business said he as he dropped
it. Il nearly fell into the error OF sup
posing that you were typewrlting. OF
course il is obvious that IL is music.
You observe the spatulate finger ends.
Watson, which is common to both pro
fessions? There is a spirituality about
the face. however'-she gently turned
IL toward the llght-"which the type
writer does not generate. This lady is
a musician"
Yes. MIR. Holmes. l teach music"
In the country. l presume. from
your complexion"
Yes. sir: near Farnham. on the bOr-
ders of Surrey"
Now. Miss Violet. what has happen
ed to you near Farnham. on the Dor
ders OF SuTreyy'
The young lady. with great clearness
and conposure. made the following
curious statement:
MY father is dead. Mr. Holmes He
was James Smith. who conducted the
orchestra at the old Imperial theater.
My mother and 1 were left without a
relation In the world except one un-
Gle. Ralph Smith. who went TO Africa
twenty-five years ago. and we have
never had 4 word from him since.
When father died we were left very
poor. but one day we We're told that
there was an advertisement in the
Times ipquiring for our whereabouts.
You can imagine how excited we ware.
for we thought that some one had left
US n fortune. We went at once 20 the
lawyer whose name was given In the
paper There we met two gentlemen.
Mr. Carruthers and Mr.. Woodley, who
were home on a visit from South Afri
ca. They said that my uncle was a
friend OF theirs, that he had died some
months before in great poverty in Jo-
hannesburg. and that be had asked
them with his last breath 10 hunt up
his relations and see that they were in
no want II seemed strange To- Ne that
Uncle Ralph. who took no notice OF US
when be was alive. should be so care
full TO look after us when he was dead.
but Mr.. Carruthers explained that the
reason was that my uncle had Just