The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1905-08-13

- the season. He was lounging
H\ upon the sofa in a purple
dressing gown, a pipe-rack
within his reach upon the
right and a pile of crumpled
morning papers. evidently newly studied,
near at hand Beside the couch was a
wooden chair, and on the angle Of the
back hung a very seedy and disreputa-
BILE hard-felt hat, much the worse for
wear and cracked in several places. A
lens and forceps lying upon the seat of
the chair suggested that the hat had been
suspended in this manner for the purpose
of examination.
you are engaged" said l; perhaps
l interrupt you"
mot at all. am glad to have a friend
with whom I can discuss my results. The
matter is a perfectly trivial one Che jerk
ed his thumb in the direction of the old
haD, but there are points in connection
with It which are not entirely devoid of
interest and even of instruction
I 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.
Il suppose" | remarked that, homely
as it looks, this thing has some deadly
story linked on to it-that it is the clue
which will guide you in the solution of
some mystery and the punishment of some
crimeT'
mo, no No crime" said Sherlock
Holmes, laughing only one of those
whimsical little incidents which will hap
a. l...r fs.fsV~ h4fF no. n
beings all posting each other within the
space of few square miles. Amid the
action and reaction of so dense a swarm
of humanity every possible combination
of events may be expected to take place.
anu many a little problem will be pre-
scented which may be striking and bizarre
without being criminal. We have already
had experience of SUCH
$50 much So | remarked that of the
last six cases which ! have added to my
notes three have been entirely free of any
legal crime"
Precisely You alude to my attempt
to recover the Irene Adler papers 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 commissionalre?"
Yes"
1T is to him that this trophy belongs"
at is his hat?'
mo no; he found 1t. Its owner Is un-
known. | beg that you will look upon 1t
not as a battered billy-eoek. but as an in
tellectual problem. And first as to how
II came here. II arrived upon Christ
mas morning. In company with good
fat goose, which Is, | have no doubt,
roasting at this moment in front of Peter
sons fire. The facts are these: About
o'clock on Christmas morning Peterson,
who as you know, is a very honest fell
low was returning from some small jolli-
fcation and was making his way home
ward down Tottenham court road. In
front of him he saw, in the gas light,
tallish man. walking with II slight stag
ger and carrying white goose sinng
over his shoulder AS he reached the
corner of George street a row broke out
between this stranger and little knot
of roughs. One of the latter knocked off
the mans hat. on Which he raised his
stick to defend himself, and swinging
II over his head Smashed the shop win
dow behind him Peterson had rushed
forward to protect the stranger from his
assailants, but the man. shocked at hav-
ing broken the window and seeing an Of
ficial-loolSing person In uniform rushing
toward him. dropped his goose, took to his
heels and vanished amid the labyrinth
of small streets which lie at the back
of Tottenham Court road. The roughs
had also fed at the appearance of Peter
son. so that he was left In possession of
the field of battle and also OF the spoils
of victory In the shape of this battered
nat and a most unimpeachable Christmas
goose"
(Which surely he restored to their own
err"
MY dear fellow. there lies the prob
lem It Is true that For Mrs Henry
Baker was printed upon a small card
which was tied to the birds left leg, and
il Is also true that the initials II. b.
are legible upon the lining of this nat;
but as there are some thousands of Bak-
ers and some hundreds of Henry Bakers
in this city of ours, 1t Is not easy TO
restore lost property to any one of them.
what, them did Peterson do?'
''He brought round both hat and goose
to me on Christmas morning, knowing
that even the smallest problems are of
interest to me. The goose we retained I'M
til this morning. when these We're signs
that In spite of the slight frost. II would
be well that il should be eaten without
unnecessary delay Its finder has car
ried 1t off, therefore, TO fulfil the ulti-
mate destiny of goose, while / continue
TO retain the hat Of the unknown gen
tleman who lost his Christmas dinner
did ne not advertiser
No"
to his identty?'
"Only as much as we can deduce."
From his hat?"
Precisely"
but you are joking. What can you
gather from this old battered felt?'
Here is my lens. You know my meth
DDS. What can you gather yourself as
to the individuality of the man who has
worn this article?"
| took the tattered object in my hands
and turned it over rather ruefully. 1t
was a very ordinary black hat of the
usual round shape, hard, and much the
worse for wear The lining had been OF
red silk, but was good deal diseolored.
There was no makers name; but as
Holmes had remarked, the initials II.
b." were scrawled upon one side. 1t was
pierces in the brim for hatsecurer. but
the elastic was missing. For the rest ii
was cracked, exceedingly dusty, and
spotted in several places, although there
seemed to have been some attempt to
hide the discolored patches by smearing
them with ink.
II can see nothing" said 1. handing it
back to my friend.
ION the contrary Watson, you can see
everything. You fail, however to reason
from what you see. You are too timd in
drawing your differences
Then, pray tell me what it is that you
can infer from this hat?'
He picked 1t up and gazed at II in the
peculiar retrospective fashion which was
Characteristic of him. 1T is perhaps less
suggestive than it might have been he
remarked, land yet there are few infer
ences which are very distinct and few
others which represent at least strong
balance of probability. That the man