The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-10-08

 he was a person of gentlemanly bearing, dressed in a gray suit of tweeds, with | cloth cap. He wore gaiters, and carried a heavy stick with knob to 1t. She was most impressed, however. by the extreme pallor of his face and by the nervous ness of his manner His age, she thought, would be rather over thirty than un- | der it.
 Can you tell me where l am?" he | asked. had almost made up my mind to sleep on the moor, when l saw the | light of your lantern
 You are close to the Kings Pyland training stables said she
 "'Oh, indeed What a stroke of luckn | he cried. T understand that stable boy | sleeps alone there every night Perhaps l that is his supper which you are carry | ing to him. Now, l am sure that you would not be too proud to earn the price l of a new dress would you? He took a piece of white paper folded up out of his waistcoat pocket See that the boy has | this tonight and you shall have the pret- | tiest frock that money can buy "She was frightened by the earnestness of his manner and ran past him to the l window through which she was accus- | toned to hand the meals. It was already opened, and Hunter was seated at tho | small table inside. She had begun to tell | him of what had happened, when the stranger came up again.
 ' Good evening" said he, looking | through the window. wanted to have | word with you. The girl has sworn that | as he spoke she noticed the corner of the little paper packet protruding from his i closed hand.
 | What business have you here?' asked l the lad.
 It's business that may put something ! into your pocket, said the other. You've ] two horses in for the Wessex Cup-Silver | Blaze and Bayard. Let me have the straight tip and you won't be a loser. Is 1t fact that at the weights Bayard could | give the other a hundred yards in five furlongs and that the stable have put | their money on him?
 | "So you're one of those damned touts! cried the lad. I'll show you how we serve | them in Kings Pyland.' He sprang up and | rushed across the stable to unloose the dog The girl fled away to the house, but 1 as she ran she looked back and saw that | the stranger was leaning through the win l dow A minute later however. when Hun ter rushed out with the hound he was | gone, and though he ran all round the buildings he failed to find any trace of | him."
 "one moment" I asked. Did the stable | boy, when he ran out with the dog, leave the door unlocked behind him?'
 "Excellent, Watson, excellent" mur- mured my companion '"rhe importance of the point struck me so forcibiy that I I sent a special wire to Dartmoor yes terday to clear the matter up.
 '.The boy locked the door before he left it. The window l may add, was not large enough for a man to get through.
 Hunter waited until his fellow grooms had returned, when he sent message to the trainer and told him what had oc- cured Straker was excited at nearing the account, although he does not seem to have quite realized it's true significance. It left him, however, vaguely uneasy, and Mrs. Straker, waking at one in the morning, found that he was dressing. In reply to her inquiries, he said that he could not sleep on account of his anxiety about the horses, and that he intended to walk down to the stables to see that all was we'll She begged him to remain at home as she could hear the rain patter- ing against the window, but in spite of her entreaties he pulled on his large mack intosh and left the house.
 1 Mrs. Straker rose at in the morning, l to find that her husband had not yet re- ! turned She dressed herself hastily, call l ed the maid and set off for the stables. l The door was open; inside, huddled to- ! gether upon chair, Hunter was sunk in a state of absolute stupor, his favor ites stall was empty and there were no signs of his trainer.
 .The two lads who slept in the chaff- cutting loft above the harness room were quickly afOuSeu. Iney ndu nedIu HOlH- ing during the night for they are both sound sleepers. Hunter was obviously under the influence of some powerful drug and as no sense could be got out of him. he was left to sleep it off, while the two lads and the two women ran out in search of the absentees. They still had hopes that the trainer had for some reason taken out the horse for early ex- ercse, but on ascending the knoll near the house, from which all the neighborng moors were visible, they not only could see no signs of the missing favorite, but 1 they perceived something which warned them that they were in the presence of a tragedy.
 About a quarter of a mile from the stables John Straker's overcoat was flap ping from furze bush. Immediately be- yond there was a bowl-shaped depression in the moor, and at the bottom of this was found the dead body of the unfortu- nate trainer. His head had been shat tered by a savage blow from some heavy weapon, and he was wounded on the thigh where there was a long, clean cut in- ficted evidently by some very sharp in- strument. It was clear, however, that Straker had defended himself vigorously against his assailants, for in his right hand he held a small knife, which was clotted with blood up to the handle, while in his left he clasped red and black silk cravat. which was recognized by the maid as having been worn on the preced- ing evening by the stranger who had visited the stables. Hunter, on recover ing from his stupor, was also quite posi- tive as to the ownership of the eravat. He was equally certain that the same stranger had, while standing at the win dow, drugged his curred mutton and so deprived the stables of their watchman. As to the missing horse there were abun- dant proofs in the mud which lay at the bottom of the fatal hollow that he had been there at the time of the struggle. But from that morning he has disappeared and although a large reward has been offered and all the gypsies of Dartmoor are on the alert, no news has come of him. Finally an analysis has shown that the remains of his supper left by the stable lad contain an apprecable amount of powdered opium, while the people at the house partook of the same dish on the same night without any i'll effect
 Those are the main facts of the case. stripped of all surmise, and stated as badly as possible I shall now recapitu- late what the police have done in the matter.
 'Inspector Gregory, to whom the case has been committed, is an extremely com petent officer. Were he but gifted with imagination. he might rise to great heights in his profession. On his arrival he promptly found and arrested the mar upon whom suspicion naturally rested There was little difficulty in finding him for he inhabited one of those villas which | I have mentioned. His name. it appears l was Fitzroy Simpson He was man | of excellent birth and education, who had squandered a fortune upon the turf, and