Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1905-10-13
DAILY SHORT STORY
FOOTPRINTS IN THE SNOW.

suburb of the city, all evidently Dy the
same hand. and yet the police had
not found the culprit-
/ know that the police worked hard
on this case. and that every seeming
clew was carefully followed. and that
they let "A boy fifteen years old take all
the credit away from them was not
their fault. 1 was that boy, and that
/ solved the mystery was owing TO
luck. The crimes began about the
middle OF September. and l gave them
no attention until about the LIST of No
vember. Then l happened 10 he talk
ing with man who had had his push
cart stolen This, in fact, was at the
beginning of the thefts. He mentioned
that the tire of one of the wheels had
been wrapped withVwire to tighten it,
On the night of the talk another
house was robbed. 1t was only two
blocks from my fathers house. and 1
went there. with others The police re-
fused all information, but during the
day | was told by Il son of, the house
holder that they had foundttracks. IN
der a window. 1t was am open fall.
and the ground had not yet frozen.
the sole of one had been mended L
went up and down the alley in the'rear
of the house with this boy, and i'll
the dust we found the impress Of what
looked 10 he buggy tires. They were
something else, however-they were the
impress of the tires of that puShcart.
At every revolution one of the wheels
left sort of smudge, and l was JUS
titled in believing that it was the Stire
that did it,
My theory was that all thes stolen
goods had been taken away in the
pushcart, but the case was blocked
right there. Where had they been
taken? Had | gona to thetpohce with
my theory | should have been .ridicul-
ed. The detective who can't find
cIew himself doesn't want any one else
to lind one. When had lainfawake
dozen nights trying TO figure things
out luck helped me. The St1eetS were
still dusty. \ barn had been broken
op0n and lot of bedding temporarily
stored therein had been taken.
l happened to be passing abe place
when the discovery was made and the
police telephOned for. There were the
tracks of the pushcart again. In the
dusty road following the cart were
boot tgackS. and one OF them had
patch Oh the sole. | followed them for
mile straight out into the, country
before they were lost.
1t was easy 10 figure that if the thief
was not selling any of his plumber he
was storing il somewhere and that'the
country offered Il safer place than the
city. The idea now was to follow
along the road and spot off iany likely
looking place. | had my mind made up
that il would be an old barn +Out about
two miles. | walked out on the road
for five miles and found no one but
farmers Of honest standing. / took
two crossroads and followed them for
distance. but with the same result.
The thief had gone out that roadswith
the puShcart and the bedding, but
where had he brought up: The wealth
er changed. the ground froZe, and
all ut once the crimes ceased.
Then luck came again. / waSsbuy-
ing pair of winter gloves in a.store
when IL farmer called and asked for a
pair of mittpns for woman. Some
talk followed. and ii came out that
she was a widow who was living next
To him. three miles out of town. He
also asked where lie could get pair
Of rubber boots for her.
| got the idea right then and there
that the widow was the criminal. 1t
seemed absurd. but yet the idea chung.
y detective would have told me To go
home and soak my head, and a report
er would have laughed me out OF his
room. ! chewed over the thing for
week. and then something happened.
7 had been sent on an errand. directly
after breakfast. and | passed a house
which had been burglarized the night
before. There were quite number OF
people about. and the owner was tell
ing them how entrance had been effect
ed and what had been taken. What
hunters and farmers call a tracking
snow had fallen during the night. and
the first thing i looked for was the
track of that pushcart.
An alley ran alongside the house, and
there they were. There We're also
prints of rubber boots. The alley gate
opened rather hard. and sticking to il
We're some small threads of blue yarn.
The farmer had bought blue mittens
for the widow. Taking up the tracks.
followed them for two miles before
they were oblterated by travel. / kept
on to the house of the widow and
found il a small cottage. Between the
gate and the road the cart tracks and
the footprints We're as plain as day.
l had worked the case as far as /
could, and l now went to the police
was sneered at and warned not to
NEEDLE with their business. / went to
the sufferer by the last robbery. and as
he was a man of influence ana anxious
70 get his property back he not only
listened. but insisted that something
be done. A search warrant was pro-
cured, a couple of detectives went out
to the widows farm. and from an out
door cellar enough stolen proDertv Was