The Black Hills union and western stock review. [volume] (Rapid City, S.D.) 1904-19??, 1906-07-27

tous points OF the case. 1t will help YOU
In following my investigation"
He unfolded the rough chart. which
1 here reproduce, and he laid it across
Holmes knee. l rose and standing be-
hind Holmes, studied it over his
shoulder.
1T is very rough. of course, and It
only deals With the points which seem
to me essential. All the rest you will
see later for yourself. Now. first of all.
presuming that the assassin entered
| the house, how did ne or she come in?
Undoubtedly by the garden path and
the back door, from which there is
| direct access to the study. Any other
way would have been exceedingly COM
plicated. The escape must also been
| made along That line. for Of the other
two exits from the room one was
blocked by Susan as she ran down.
stairs and the other leads straight to
| directed my attention at once to the
garden path, which was saturated with
recent rain, and would certainly show
any foOtmarks.
My examination showed that 1 was
| dealing with q cautious and expert
criminal. No footmarks were to be
found on the path. There could be no
| question. however, that someone had
passed along the grass border which
lines the path. and that he had done
so in order to avoid leaving track.
could not find anything in the nature
of distinct impression. but the grass
was trodden down and someone had
undoubtedly passed. 1t could only
have been The murderer, since neither
the gardener nor anyone else had been
there that morning and the rain had
| only begun during the night"
| "One moment said Holmes. "Whera
does this path lead to-"
| ITO the road"
How long is it?"
"A hundred yards or So"
well. on the road itself?"
No. it was all trodden into mire.'
"Tut-tut! Well, then these tracks
upon the grass, were they coming or
going?"
1T was impossible to say. There
was never any outline"
| "A large foot or a small?"
You could not distinguish"
Holmes gave an ejaculation of inn
patience.
1T has been pouring rain and blow
ing Il hurrican ever since" said he. 1T
| will be harder to read now than that
palimpsest Well, well, it can't be
helped. What did you do, Hopkins,
after you had made certain that you
had made certain Of nothng?"
II think I made certain of a good
| dedl, 1lOlllcS. KNEW llldI SOI11e-
one had entered the house cautiously
from without. l next examined the
corridor. 1t is lined with cocoanut
mating, and had taken no impression
of any kind. This brought me into
the study itself. 1t is a scantily fur
nished room. The main article is a
large writing table with fixed bureau
This bureau consists of a double COL
umn Of drawers. with a central small
cupboard between them. The drawers
were open. the cupboard locked. The
| drawers. 1t seems, We're always open,
and nothing of value was kept in them.
| There were some papers of Importance
In the cupboard. but there were no
| signs that this had been tempered with,
and the professor assures us that MOTH
Ing was missing. 1t is certain that no
| robbery has been committed.
II now come to the body Of the young
| man. 1t was found near the bureau,
| just to the left of 1t, as marked upon
that chart. The stab was on the right
side of the neck and from behind for
| wards, SO that II is almost impossible
that it could have been self inflicted"
Unless he fell upon the knife" said
Holmes.
Exactly. The idea crossed my mind.
But we found the knife some feet away
from the body, so that seems impos-
sible. Then, Of course. there are the
mans own dying words. And, finally.
there was this very important piece OF
evidence which was found clasped in
the dead mans right hand"
From his pocket Stanley Hopkins
drew small paper packet. He I'M
| folded 1T and disclosed Il golden pince-
nez with two broken ends Of black silk
cord dangling from the end Of it.
"Willoughby Smith had excellent
sight" he added. There can be no
| n hot f1,ic
the face or the person Of the assas-
| sim"
Sherlock Holmes took the glasses into
his hand and examined them with the
| utmost attention and interest, He
held them on his nose, endeavored to
read through them, went to the VIM
dow and stared up the street with them,
looked at them most infinitely in the
full light OF the lamp and family with
a chuckle seated himself at the table
and wrote few lines upon sheet Of
| paper, which he tossed across to STAN
ley Hopkins.
That's the best I can do for YOU"
said he. ut may prove to be of some
use"
The astonished detective read the
note aloud. 1t ran as follows:
Wanted, a woman Of good address,
attired like lady. She has re-
markedly thick nose, with eyes which
are set close upon either side of it.
She has a pucke"ed forehead, a peer
| ing expression, and probably rounded
| shoulders. There are indications that
she has had recourse to an optician
at least twice during the last few
months. AS her glasses are of re-
markable strength, and as opticians are
not very numerous, there should be no
| difficulty in tracing her.
Holmes smiled at the establishment
Of Hopkins, which must have been re-
fiected upon my features
| Surely my deductions are simplicity
ITSELF said he. 1T would be difficult
to name any articles which afford a
| finer field for Inference than pair of
glasses, especially SO remarkable IA pair
as these. That they belong to a wom-
and infer from their delicacy, and also,
| Of course, from the last words of the
| dying man. AS to her being a person
| of refinement and well dressed, they
are, as you perceive, handsomely
mounted in solid gold, and it is incon-
| ceivable that anyone who wore such
| glasses could be slatternly in other re-
| spects. You will find that the clips
are too wide for your nose, showing
! that the lady's nose was very broad at
| the base. This sort of nose is usually
sufficient number of exceptions to pre-
vent me from being dOgmatic or from
| insisting upon this point in my descrip-
ton. My own face is Il narrow one,
and yet I find that 1 cannot get my