Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-11-25
THE SUPER
FLUOUS FINGER
Continued from page 10

absence OF every TACT gave me no Intl1Ilatlon
that there would be murder. Then came the
murder presumably of Mrs. Morey."
Isn't it Mrs Morey?" demanded the de-
tectve.
Mr.. Hatch recognized the woman as the
one he had followed; | recognized her as the
Dr. Prescott also recognized her" continued
The Thinking Machine. To convince myself,
after | had found the manner of death, that 1t
was the woman, looked at her LETT hand:
found that the forefnger was gone-it had
been removed by skilled surgeon at the tirst
Joint. And this fact instantly showed me that
the dead woman was not Mrs. Morey at all but
somebody else; and incidentally cleared up the
entire affair"
Howl" demanded the detective. al
thought you just said that you had helped cut
off her forefinger?"
Or. Prescott and cut off that finger yes
terday," replied The Thinking Machine calmly.
The finger of the dead woman had been cut
off months, perhaps years, ago!
The perfectly healed wound on the hand
eliminated every possibility but one Previously
had been informed that Mrs Morey did not
or said she did not, play the piano | had
seen the bare possibility of an immense insur
ance on her hands, and some trick to defraud
an insurance company by marring one. OF
course against this was the fact that she had
offered to pay large sum for the operation;
that their expenses here must have been
enormous; so was beginning to doubt the
tenabity of this supposition. The fact that
the dead womans finger off removed that
possibility completely, as it also removed the
possibility of crime of some sort in which
there might been have left behind a tellta1e
print of that foref1ger.
Then the one thing remained; that is, that
Mrs. Morey or whatever her name is, was in a
conspiracy with her husband to get possession
OF certain properties, perhaps a title (remem
Der, she is English) by sacrificing that finger so
boz, /
the description of an heir whom she was to inn
personate. We know conclusvely that the
dead woman in there is the woman whose
rights were to have been stolen by the SO
called Mrs. Morey."
But that is Mrs, Morey; isn't it," de-
manded the detective again.
NO" was the sharp retort. THE perfect
resem blanCe to Mrs. Morey and the finger re-
moved long ago makes that clear. There is,
| imagine, relationship between them-per-
haps they are cousins | can hardly believe
they are twins, because the necessity, then
OF one lmpersonatlng the other to obtain either
money or title would not have existed so pal
pably, although it is possible that Mrs. Morey,
if disinherited or disowned, would have resorted
to such a course. This dead woman is Miss
Miss, and he glanced at the back of photo
graph" Miss Evelyn Rossmore This is her
picture and perhaps the photographer can give
you her address"
But how did she come here-like this?"
Hatch inquired
You remember, Mr. Hatch, when YOU fol-
lowed Mrs Morey here you told me she changed
her dress and went out?" asked the scientist in
turn. at was not Mrs. Morey you saw then
she ILL., and knew it, from the operation
it was Miss Rossmore The manager SAYS
a hundred persons live in this house; that
there is great deal of passing in and out
Can't you see that where there is such a start
ling resemblance Miss Rossmore could pass
in and out at will and always be mistaken for
Mrs. Morey? That no one would ever notice
the difference?"
But who killed herr" asked Detective
Mallory curiously.
"Morey killed her." said The Thinking Ma
chine fatty, and he produced two other photo
graphs from his pocket. There are his pic
ture and his wife's picture for identification
purposes. / imagined first that he was a large,
powerful man because his grip on her throat
was powerful that he ruptured the jugular
inside; but instead of that he plays a piano
great deal, which would give hitn the hand
power to choke her. The cleverest part of
the affair was Moreys act in leaving his KEYS
with the manager here. He did not antici-
pate that the apartments would be entered
for several days-then they would be safely
away-while there was a chance that if neither
of them had been seen here and their disap-
pearance was unexplained the rooms would
have been opened to ascertain why. That is
all, | think"
Except to catch Morey and his wife" said