The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1905-06-25

horses, and also about Desborough,
the second faVorite, which was in
charge of Silas Brown at the Maple
ton stables. He did not attempt to
deny that he had acted as described
upon the evening before, but declared
that he had no sinister designs, and
had simply wished to obtain first hand
information. When confronted with
his cravat he turned very pale, and
was utterly unable to account for it's
presence in the hand of the murdered
man. His wet clothing showed that
he had been out in the storm of the
night before, and his stick, which was
q Penang lawyer weighted with lead,
was lust such a weapon as might by
repeated blows have inflicted the ter
rible injuries to which the trainer had
succumbed On the other hand,
there was no wound upon his person,
while tho state of Straker's knife
would show that one at least of his
assailants must bear his mark upon
him There you have it all in a nut
shell. Watson, and if you can give me
any light l shall be infinitely obliged
to you
| had listened with the greatest in
terest to the statement which Holmes,
with characteristic clearness, had laid
before me. Though most of the facts
were familiar to me, / had not suf-
ficiently appreciated their relative inn
portance, nor their connection to each
other
rs it not possible" 1 suggested,
that the incised wound upon Straker
may have been caused by his own
knife in the CONCLUSIVE struggles
which follow any brain iniury?"
at is more than possible; it is pro-
bable." said Holmes. I'm that case
one of the main noints in favor of the
accused disappears"
land vet" said l, "even now / fail
to understand what the theory of the
police can be-
II am afraid that whatever theory
We state has very great objections to
it," returned my companion. THE
police imagine, / take it, that this
Fitzroy Simpson. having drugged the
lad, and having in some way obtain
ed a duplicate key, opened the stable
door and took out the horse, with the
intention, apparently, of kidnapping
him altogether. His bride is missing,
so that Simpson must have put this
on. Then having left the door open
behind him.. he was leading the horse
away over the moor, when he was
I either met or overtaken by the train
/ er. A row naturally ensued. Simpson
beat out the trainers brains with his
heavy stick without receiving any in
, jury from the small knife which
/ Straker used in self-defense, and then
the thief either led the horse on to
some secret hiding place, or else 1t
may have bolted during the struggle,
| and be now wandering out on the
moors That is the case as it appears
| to the police, and improbable as 1t is,
/ all other explanations are more inn
probable still. However | shall very
quickly test the matter when ] am
| once upon the spot, and until then ]
cannot really see how we can get
much fuarther than our present posi-
/ ton"
1t was evening before we reached
the little town of Tavistock, which
| lies. like the boss of a shield i'm the
middle Of the huge circle of Dartmoor
Two gentlemen were awiting us i'm
the station-the one a tall, fair man
with lon-like hair and beard, and
curiously penetrating light blue eyes:
the other small, alert person. very
neat and dapper. in a frock coat and
CATERS, with trim little side whiskers
and an eyeglass. The latter was Col
onel Ross, the well-known sportsman.
the other Inspector Gregory, a man