Omaha daily bee., 1905-10-08

'"rhose are the main facts Of the case,
stripped of all surmise, and stated as badly
as possible shall now recapitulate what
the police have done in the matter.
Inspector Gregory, to whom the case has
been committed is an extremely competent
officer. Were he but gifted with i'm
agination, he might rise to great heights
in mis- profession. On his arrival he
promptly found and arrested the man
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, 1t appears,
was Fitzroy Simpson. He was a man of
excellent birth and education, who had
squandered fortune upon the turf, and
who lived now by doing little quiet and
genteel bookmaking in the sporting clubs
of London. An examination of his betting
book shows that bets to the amount of G5,-
900 had been registered by him against tho
favorite. On being arrested he volunteered
the statement that he had come down to
Dartmoor in the hope of getting some in
formation about the Kings Pyland horses,
and also about Desborough, the second
favorite, which was in charge of silas
Brown at the Mapleton stables. He did
not attempt to deny that he had acted as
described upon the evening before, but
declared that he had no sinister designs,
and had simply wished to obtain first-hand
information When confronted with his
cravat he turned very pale and was utterly
unable to account for its presence In the
hand of the murdered man. His wet cloth
ing showed that he had been out in the
storm of the night before. and his Stick
which was a Penanglawyer, weighted with
lead, was just such "eapon as might
by repeated blows, have inflicted the terri
BILE injuries to which the trainer had sue
cumbed. On the other hand there was no
wound upon his person, while the state
of Strakers knife would show that one AT
least of his assailants must bear his mark
upon him. There you have 1t all In
nutshell, Watson, and if you can give me
any light 1 shall be Infinitely Obliged 10
you"
had listened with the greatest interest
TO the statement which Holmes, with char
acteristic clearness, had laid before me-
Though most of the facts were familiar 70
me, had not sufficiently appreciated their
relative Importance, nor their connection
10 each other
''Is It not possible" suggested, that the
incised wound upon straker may have been
caused by his own knife in the convulsive
struggles which follow any brain iniury?'
cit is more than possible, it il probable"
said Holmes I'm that case one OF the
main points in favor of the accused dis
appears"
"And vet" said I. "even now I fail TO
understand what the theory OF the police
can be-"
81 am afraid that whatever theory we
state has very grave objections 10 it, re-
turned my companion. THE police mag
inc I take Il, that this Fitzoy Simpson,
having drugged the lad and having In
some way obtained a duplicate key, opened
the stable door and took out the horse
with the intention, apparently OF kidnapping
him altogether. His bride is missing, so
that Simpson must have put this on. Then
having left the door open behind him, he
was leading the horse away over the moor
when he was either met or nVertaken by
the trainer. A row naturally cnsued. simp-
son beat out the trainers brains with his
heavy stick. without receiving ony injury
from the small knife which straker used
in self-defsnse, and then the thief either
led the horse on TO some "ecret hiding
place or else It may have bolted during the
struggle and be now wandering out on
the moors. That is the case cs IL appears
to the police, and improbable as II r., all
other explanations are more improbable
still. However, ] shall very quickly test
the matter when I am once upon the spot
and until then / cannot really see how we
can get much further than our present
position"
It was evening before we reached the
little town OF TavistOck, which lies like
the boss Of a shield. in the middle OF the
huge circle OF Dartmoor Two gentlemen
were awaiting us in the station-the one
tall, fair man. with lion-like hair and
beard and euriously penetrating light blue
eyes; the other a small. alert person. very
neat and dapper, in q frock coat and gait
ers. with trim little side whiskers and an
eyegiass The latter was Colonel Ross. the
Gen known sportsman the other Inspector