Canyon City news. (Canyon City, Tex.) 1903-1908, 1906-12-21

and even Godfrey's heart gave a sud
den leap.
For there, coiled thrice upon itself
lay little viper, with venomOus, tri
angular head.
Then in an instant Godfrey smiled.
Its not alive" he said. Don't you
see, it's some marvellous kind of nut"
Simmonds approached cautiously and
took another look.
"a nut?" he repeated. "A nut? Well
that beats me!'
And well it might, for in every de
tail the form was perfect. Godfrey
looked at it musingly.
This may give us n clew," he said.
II shouldn't imagine nut like this
grows In many parts of the world,
though, Of course, Il sailor might pick
1t up ywhere-from another sailor,
in a slop shop even here in New York.
perhaps"
He closed the shell together again
and placed 1t in the bag. stufiing the
rest Of the clothing in after it,
Thompson had no very exalted idea
of cleanliness" he remarked. His
clothing needs visit to the laundry.
And this Is all?"
"Yes. He'd rented his furniture from
store down the street, He had to pay
his rent in advance because he had so
little baggage. That receipts the only
thing that's got his name on it-oh, yes.
There's a letter tattooei on his left
arm, but it's not Tits j.
(which goes to show that his name
wasn't Thompson. | think you're right,
Simmonds, in putting him down as a
sailor thought so last night; in fact,
I've already got two men making Il
tour Of the docks trying to find some
body who knew him."
Have you?' said Simmonds, smiling
"Thats like you, There's another curl
Gus thing, though, about the clothing
he had on"
"What is that?"
"Some Of it's marked with one initial,
some with another. Not one piece is
marked with his"
The door opened and the coroner's
clerk entered,
"NIr Goldberg sent the exhibits back
to you" he said, holding out parcel
to Simmonds.
Simmonds opened it and took out a
pocketboOk, Il pipe, a knife and some
silver money.
"All right" he said, and signed a
receipt
Godfrey waited until the door closed,
then he rose and came over to Sim
monds' side.
There's something here that might
help us he said picking up the
pocketbook. "Those newspaper clip.
pings-why, they're not here.'
Simmonds smiled dryly.
That's another thing | wanted to
tell you. The clippings have been re-
moved"
Removed? BY whom?"
"That's question. They We're re-
moved some time between the moment
we looked ut them and the moment
the coroner took charge"
Godfrey stared Mt him with startled
eyes.
"You remember" Simmonds contin,
ued, that after we looked at the
pocketbook | put it back in Thomp'
sons pocket"
"Ycs; | saw you do that"
1--WE then went into the bedroom and
had a look around, leaving the body
alone
with Miss Croydon" said Godfrey,
completing the sentence.
There's another thing continued
Simmonds after moment. Heres
the piece of pipe we found on the floor
Do you know where it came from?'
"No-I was going to look that up"
ut came from the radiator. The
plumber was replacing them. This is
a piece of pipe he had removed and
left lying behind the radiator. He re-
members. it distinctly. Do you recall
the position of the radiator:'
Yes; opposite the bedroom door"
Exactly. Then the person coming
from that door must have crossed the
room to get it. More than that, he
must have hunted for it or known 1t
was there. Miss Croydon knows more
than she's told us. | don't think she's
been square with us"
"Well, perhaps she hasn't" Godfrey
said slowly. Anyway we've got to
work at the case from the other end.
We've got to identify Thompson first
Yes" agreed Simmonds. you'll
let me know If you find out anything"
"Of course" said Godfrey, rising,
and with a curt nod he went out and
down the steps to the street.
AT the office he found two reports
awaiting him. One was from the men
he had sent along the docks-they had
found no one who could identify the
Of Thompson. The other
was from Delaney, the head of the
Records Intelligence department. At
2 o'clock that morning, just before re-
firing, Godfrey had phoned message
to the office:
Delaney-I want all the information OBJ
tainable concerning the history of the