The Washington times., 1905-07-02

You have probably never heard of
Prof. Moriarity?" said he
Never
Aye, there's the g,s1ius and the Won
der of the thing.'' he cried The man
pervades London, and no one has heard
of him. That's what puts him on pin
nacle IN the records of crime / tell
you, watson, in all seriousness. that If
l could beat that man. if 1 could free
society Of him, / should feel that nv
own career had reached its summit. and
L should be prepared to turn to some
more placid line in life. Between our
selves, the recent cases in which / have
been of assistance to the royal family
OF Scandinavia, and to the French re-
public, have left me in such a position
| that l could continue to live in the quiet
fashion which is most congenial to me-
and to concentrate my attention upon
my chemical researches. But I could
not rest. Watson, / could not sit quiet
in my chair. If 1 thought such a man as
Professor Moriarty We're walking the
| streets of London unchaIlenged'
| hat has he done. then?''
| His career has been an extraordinary
one. He is a man of good birth and ex-
| cellent education, endowed by nature
with phenomenal mathematical faculty.
AT the age of twenty-one he wrote a
treatice upon the Binomial Theorem.
which has had a European vogue. On
the strength Of it he won the mathe-
matical chair at one of our smaller uni
versities. and had, to all appearances, a
most brilliant career before him. Bu1
| the man had hereditary tendencies of
the mcst diabolfcal kind. A criminal
IN In, hi ly1
| of beif.s modified, was increased and
/ rendered infinitely more dangerous by
his extraordinary mental powers. Dark
rumors gathered round him in the uni
versity town, and eventually he was
| compelled to resign his chair and to
come down to Londo.s, where he set UP
as an army coach. So much is known
to the world. but what I am telling you
now is what / have myself discovered.
] AS you are aware, Watson, there is
no one who knows The higher criminal
world of London so well as / do. For
years past I have continually been con-
scious of some power behind the male
factor, some deep organizing power
which forever stanas Z the way of the
law, and throws it's shield over the
wrong-doer. Again and again in cases
of the most varying sorts-forgery cases.
ence Of this force. and / have deduced
its action in many of those undiscovered
crimes in which I have not been per-
sonally consulted. For years / have en-
deavored to break through the veil
which shrouded it, and al last the time
came when / seized my thread and fol-
lowed it, until it led me, after thou
md cunning winnings, to ex-Professor
Morarity of mathematical celebrity
" Y
He is the Napoleon of crime. Wat
son. He is the organizer of half that is
evil and Of nearly all that is undetected
in this great city. He is a genius, a.
philosopher, an abstract thinker. He
has a brain of the first order. He sits
motionless. like a spider in the center
of it's web, but has a thousand radia-
lions, and he knows we'll every culver
Of each of them. He does little himself
He only plans. But his agents are nu-
merous and splendiGly organized. Is
there a crime to be done, a paper to
| be distracted, we will say. house to
be rif1ed, a man to be removed-the word
is passed to the professor the matter is
organized and carried out The agent
may be caught. In that case money is
found for his bail or his defense. But
the central power which uses the agent
is never caUght-never so much as sus-
pected. This was the organization
which 1 deduced, Watson. and which
devoted my whole energy to exposing
and breaking up.
But the professor was fenced round
with safeguards so cunningly devised
that, do what l would, it seemed impos-
sible to get evidence which would con-
Wet in a curt of law. You know my
powers, my dear Watson. and yet at the
end OF three months l was forced to
confess that ! had at last met an an
tagonist who was my intellectual equal
My horror at his crimes was lost in
my admiration at his skill But at last
he made a trip-only little little trip
but it wes more than he could afford
when l was SO close upon him. / had
my chance, and, starting from that
point, ] have woven my net around him
until now it is all ready to close. In
three days-that is to say, on Monday
next-matters will be ripe, and the pro-
lessor, with all the principal members
of his gang, will be In the hands of the
police Then will come the greatest
criminal trial of the century, the clear
ing UP of over forty mysteries, and the
rope for all Of them: but If we move at
all prematurely, you understand they
may slip out Of our hands even at the
last moment.
Now. If 1 could have done this with
out the knowledge of Prof MorIarity.
all would have been we'll But he was
too WHY for that. He saw every step
which I took to draw my tolls around
him. Again and again he strove to