The Guthrie daily leader. [volume] (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996, 1905-06-28

lock Holmes was very
v---- busy man. It is safe to
say that there was no
5M tG public case Of any din.
Guilty in which be was
not consulted during those eight years,
and there were hundreds Of private
cases. some OF ihem OK the most I'M
tricate and extraordinary character,
IA which he played prominent part.
AS have preserved very full notes OF
al these cases and was myself person
ally engaged in many OF them, 1t may
be Imagined that it il no easy task 10
know which j should select to lay be
fore the public ! shall, however. pre-
serve my former rule and give the pref
erence to those cases which derive their
interest nos so much from the brutality
Of the crime as from the ingenuity and
dramatic quality OF the solution For
this reason l will now lay before the
reader the facts connected with Miss
Violet Smith, the solitary cyclist OF
Charlington, and the curious sequel Of
oEr Investigation. which eliminated in
unexpected tragedy.
On referring to my notebook for the
year 1895 find thst Il was upon Sat
urday, the 23d of April, that we first
heard Of Miss Violet Smith. Her visit
was, remember extremely unwel-
come to Holmes, for he was immersed
at the moment IN very abstruse and
complicated problem concerning the
peculllr persecution to which John Vim.
cent Harden, the well known tobacco
millionaire, had been subjected My
friend, who loved above all things pre-
cision and concentration OF thought, re-
sented anything which distracted his
attention from the matter in hand
And yet, without a harshness which
was foreign TO his nature, 1t was i'm
possible to refuse TO listen to the story
Of the young and beautiful woman. tail,
graceful and queenly, who presented
herself at Baker street late In the
evening and implored his assistance
and advice. 1t was vain to urge that
his time was already fully occupied
FOR the young lady had come with the
determination to tell her story, and Il
was evident that nothing short of force
could get her out of the room until she
had done so. With a resigned air and
somewhat weary smile, Holmes beg
ged the beautiful intruder to take
seat and to inform us what IL was that
was troubling her
AT least It cannot be your health"
said he as his keen eyes daFted over
ber. so ardent a bicycllst must be
full OF energy"
She glanced down in surprise at her
own feet, and / observed the slight
roughening Of the side Of the sole caus-
si by the friction Of the edge Of the
pedal
"ycs 1 bicycle a good deal. NJ.
Holmes and that has something to do
with my visit TO yeu today"
My friend took the lady's unglove,l
hand and examined it with as c.ose an
attention and as little sentiment as a
scientist would show 20 a specimen.
You viii excuse me, am sure It
is M business" said he as he dr0- ed
it, Il nearly fell into the error Of sup
posing that you were typewritlng. OF
course it IS obvious that Il is music.
You observe the spatulate finger ends,
Watson, which Is common to both pro
feseions? There is a spirituality about
the face. however'-she gently turned
It toward the light" which the type
writer does not generate. This lady is
a musician"
Yes, Mr. Holmes, ] teach music"
In the country, presume. from
your complexion"
'Yes, sir; near Farnham, on the bor-
ders Of Surrey"
NOW, Miss Violet. what has happen
ed TO you near Farnham. on the bor-
ders OF surreyT
The young lady, with great clearness
and composure. made the following
curions statement:
My father Is dead. Mr.. Holmes. he
was James Smith, who conducted the
orchestra at the old Imperial theater.
Ny mother and were left without a
relation in the world except one un-
Gle, Ralph Smith who went to Africa
twenty-five years ago, and we have
never had a word from him since.
When father died we were left very
poor, but one day we were told that
there was an advertisement In the
Times inquiring FOR our whereabouts.
You can imagine how excited we were.
for we thought that some one had left
us a fortune. We went at oncs to the
lawyer whose name was given in the
paper There we met two gentlemen,
Mr.. Carruthers and Mr. WoOdley, who
were home on a visit from South Afri-
ga. They said that my uncle was a
friend OF thcirs, that be had died some
months before IN great poverty in Jo-
hannesburg, and that he had asked
then with his last breath to hunt up
bis relations and see that they were in
no want II seemed strange 70 as that
Uncle Ralph, who took 20 notice OF Us
when be was alive should be SO care
ful 10 look after Us when he was dead.
but Mr.. CaTuthe=s explained that the
reason was that my uncle had just
heard OF the death OF his brother and
80 felt responsible for our fate"
Excuse me-" said Holmes. When
wes this interview
Last December-four months ago"
Pray proceed"
"Mr. WoodleY seemed 70 me 10 be a
most odi0us person. He WEs forever
making eyes az me-a coarse. puny
faced. red mustached young man. win
his hair plasiered down on eacn siae
of bis forehead. thought that be was