Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1906-06-21

in, order To, break images which. ane nou
his own. that hrings 1t away from the
doctor and on to- the policeman"
Holmes sat up. again.
Burglary! This Is more interesting:
Let me hear the details"
Lestrade took out his official note
book and refreshed his memory from
its pages.
THE first case reported was four days
ago. said he. 1T was at the shop of
| Morse Hudson, who has place for the
| sale of pictures and statues in the Ken
nington Road. The assistant had left
| the front shop for an instant, when he
heard a crash. and hurryinG in no
| found a plaster bust of Napoleon, which
| stood with several other works of art
upon the counter, lying shivered into
Fragments He rushed out into the road.
| but, although several passersby de-
| clared they had noticed a man run out
of the shop. he could neither see any
one nor could he find any means Of
! Identifying the rascal 1t seemed to be
one of those senseless acts of Hooligan-
| ism Which occur from time to time, and
it was reported to the constable on the
| beat as such. The plaster cast was
not worth more than a few shillings.
and the whole affair appeared to be too
| childish for any particular investiga-
| ton.
The second case. however was more
| serious, and also more singular. 1t oc-
CURED only last night.
Iii Remington Road. and within a
! few hundred yards of Morse Hudsons
| shop, there lives we'll known medical
.elf,tt M % iont vxy1r
| has one of the largest practices upon
the south side of the Thames. His
residence and principal consulting room
is at Remington Road. but he has a
branch surgery and dispensary at
| Lower Brixton Road, two miles away.
| This DIR. Barnicot is an enthusiastic
admirer OF Napoleon, and his house Is
| full of books, pictures and relics of the
French emperor. Some little time ago
\ he purchased from Morse Hudson two
duplicate plaster casts of the famous
head of Napoleon by the French sculp-
tor, Devine. One of these he placed In
his hall in the house at Remington
Road, and the other on the mantel--
piece of the surgery at Lower Brixton.,
| Well, when Dr. Barnicot came down.
| this morning he was astonished to flnd
that his house had been burgled dur-
| ing the night, but that nothing had
| been taken save the plaster head FROM
the hall. 1t had been carried out and
had been dashed savagely against the
garden wall. under which it's splintereds
| fragments We're discovered
Holmes rubbed his hands.
This is certainly very novel," said,
he.
II thought it would please you. But
i have not got to the, end yet. DR..
| Barnicot was due at his surgery at
| twelve o'clock, and you can imagine,
! his amaZement when, on arriving there,
4 he found that the window had been
/ opened in the night. and that the
| broken pieces of his second bust We're!
strewn all over the room. 1t had been
\ smashed to atoms where it stood. In
neither case We're there any signs which.
could give us IL clew as to the criminal
\ or lunatic who has done the mischief.
Now, MIR. Holmes, YOU have got thes
facts"
They are singular, not to say,
grotesque," said Nj Holmes. May I;
ask whether the two busts smashed I'M
DIR. Barnicot's rooms We're the exact
| duplicates of the one which was de-
stroyed in Morse Hudson's shop?"
They We're taken from the same
mould i,
such a fact must tell against the
theory that the man who breaks them;
is influenced by amy general hatred Of
/ Napoleon. Considering how many hum
dreds of statues of the great emperor
must exist in London, it is too much to
promiscuous iconocast should chance
to begin upon three specimens of the
same bust"
well, thought as You do said
Lestrade. ION the other hand, this
Morse Hudson is the purveyor of busts
in that part of London, and these three
We're the only ones which had been in
his shop for years &c. although as you
say, there are many hundreds Of
statues in London, it is very probable
that these three were the only ones
in that district. Therefore, a local
fanatic would begin with them. What
do YOU think, Dr. Watson?'
There are no limits to the POSSIBLE
ties of monomania," l answered There
is the condition which the modern
French psychologists nave called the
'idee fine which may be trifling in
character. and accompanied by u COM,
plete sanity in every other way. A man
Who had read deeply about Napoleon.
or who had possibly received some
hereditary family injury through the
great war, might conceivably form.
such an 'idee tixe' and under it's i'm
rage"
That won't do, my dear Watson"
said Holmes, shaking his head, ..for no
amount of i&ee fiXe' would enable your
interesting monomaniac to find out
where these busts We're situated"
Well, how do you explain it?"
81 don't attempt to do so. l would
only observe that there is certain
method in the gentleman's eccentric
proceedings. For Example, in DIR.
| Barnicot's hall. where q sound might
arouse the family. the bust was taken
t outside before being broken, whereas
/, in the surgery, where there was less
= danger of an alarm. it was smashed
where ii stood. The affair seems abb
surdlg trifling, and yet | dare call Moth