Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-04-14
OWED THE MYSTERY
Factory Workman Proves a
True Sherlock Holmes.
HE RESCUED THE INNOCENT
How He Avenged His Murdered En-
ployer.
THE PROCESS OF REASONING
Amateur Detective Beat the French
Police-The Value of the
Cry of Conscience.
He RESCUED THE INNOCENT
THE PROCESS OF REASONING
Special Correspondence of The Star.

PARIS. April 4. 1906.
All France is admiring gray bearded
factory workman. who turns out to be
true French Sherlock Holmes
Where great detectives erred, he solved
the mystery, avenged his employer and
rescued the innocent Also he has dem
| onstrated the superiority OF Sherlock
Holmes analysis over the modern French
| system of dramatic play-acting and
shocking confrontations
| M. Henri Bedor senior hartman or &,
| great morocco house. lived with his
young wife and sporty elder brother in
a fiat accessible from the factory nv a
| stairway
| Every night he did his accounts in 4
second-f1oor office. looking down on the
workshop t'ateiier'D by large window.
On this cutoff second floor there was an
| other small room. for the archives of the
urn. All the rest was ground floor one
stairway leading from the workshop to the
| overlooking once, whose door opened only
| from the office side, and another leading
both to the courtyard and a side street,
| 10 TINS latter only M. Bedor and the ser
| want girl had keys.
| Toward 8 O'Clock of the fatal night Tho
| servant girl, Germaine PARROT, having re-
| turned from exercising the watch dogs
handed NJ Bedor the evening papers, and.
| as usual, left him alone in his Office with
| Diane, an enormous mastif noted for
ferocity to strangers. She descended the
| stairs to the workshop, pulled the self
!4chlhg door smut after her, passed through
the saiesroom and mounted the stairs to
| the Bedor living apartment
| Discovery of the Crime.
Toward 10 o'clock the janitor and his
| wife heard a heavy fall They called the
coachman, Ernest, and his wife. There
were no more sounds, and NJ. Bedor's win
dow was dark.
The 1anitor having key to the work
shop, the two men decided to make a
patrol The moment they arrived In the
| workshop they heard steps in the court
YARD. Hurrying toward them. they heard
| the street door slan-yet no one had its
Key put NJ. Bedor, his wife, brother, the
CANTOR. the coachman, the foreman and
| Germaine, the servant girl. They ran and
| looked up and down the street The
| shadoW OF a man was disappearing rapidly
| into the darkness.
| They called Germaine from her bed room
overlooking the courtyard. She answered
| ana ran TO wake the brother, Frederic
| Bedor. Then from the sales rooms they
heard Frederic Bedor scream. They ran
to him. At the foot of the stairs Of the
| private apartment lay the dead body of
| M Henri Bedor Doubtless he had fallen
| fracturing his skull. But when the police
| commissary came to certify the accidental
death he found pieces of a broken lamp
| chimney on the stairs, while the lamp with
self home had disappeared! The brother,
| Frederic. denied having picked it up
Undressing the body, they found two lit
| tie triangular wounds in the back and one
| IN the stomach. The thin blade of a
sword-cane had obviously been thrust
through M. Bedor, been partly withdrawn
and then thrust through him again.
The idea of robbery motive had to be
| set aside. The victim had still on him his
gold watch, his valuable jewelry, his
| pocketbook full Of bank notes and the
| keys to his safe.
In the second floor office Diane, the
watch dog, would have jumped at the
| commissary's throat had not Frederic Be-
dor quieted her with a word.
All was In order. But on the desk stood
the missing lamp! The assassin had come
up to the office with it after the crime
Yet the terrible Diane had made no sign!
The door to the double stairway was
| found locked, but the door to the other
| stairs which Germaine had locked by pull
| ing 1t shut after her, was wide open. And
| that was all.
Investigating the Crime
| At o'clock the next morning NJ. Hamard
| chief of the surete himself, had ali key
possessing employees before him. All pro-
duced their keys except the servant girl,
| Germaine. who found, to her stupefaction,
| that her ring with the key to the street
| courtyard door and the key to the private
/ office stairway door was missing! Yet she
4 Ldu locked DQtn Denln0 her the previous
| night when bringing NJ. Bedor the papers
and quitting him to go to bed Who
could have taken them afterward? Only
| Nine Bedor and Frederic were in the fat
| The police examined infinitely every
ounce Of merchandise and archives The
| ASA ssins weapon was not found. True
/ M. Henri Bedor had sword-cane; it was
| found in it's place. in the living apartment
| vestlbule; but experts testified it's blade
was too thick to make those tiny wounds
And the motive? If not theft, was it re-
| venge? But Bedor was universally be-
| loved; and why should an enemy carry the
| lamp TO the office? How could he have
| entered the street door to steal the boys
which Germaine had at o'clock and after?
And how could stranger pass the terri
| BILE Diane?
There remained the "drame intime" NJ
| Bedors wife, twenty years younger than
| himself, had formerly worked in a famous
| millinery house of the rue de la Paix. The
servant had been long known as serious
| and discreet. The brother, Frederic BedoT,
on the other hand, after rackety youth
had settled down to going in and out of
| institutions for his nerves He often COM
planned of his brothers harshness IN re-
| fusing him wine at table-and even the
| right to smoke cigarettesi
There remained NJ. Paul Charles Bedors
partner. At o'clock OF the following night
he was engaged with high police experts in
| the seeond-foor office. They asked him
disputed with his partner? Had not Bedor
wished him to enlarge the business? Had
| not he, on the contrary desired to draw
out money?
Trick Of the Detectives
Descending to the workshop. NJ. Charles
was troubled. How could he ignore the
| tendency of those terrible questions? They
trayersed the salesrooIn by the light of wax
matches Can we go to Madame Bedor a
| moment?" asked a policeman Certainly.
He led them toward the stairs to the living
apartment. At that instant. striking an
other match, he perceived at his feet the
dead body of his partner staring at him
with CLASSY eyes!
He screamed an awful scream. and, In a
perfect panic, ran out to the courtyard
When they came on him he was still shak-
ing. Nevertheless he had reflected. THAT
was an unworthy trick he said. You put
a dummy there to Brighten me. I win have
nothing more to do with you except by
force. Are you going to arrest me? Ar
rest me-
Shortly after. Frederic Bedor. having
passed an unusually satisfactory evening
drinking at the expense of pleasant stran-
ger, was led home by the unknown AS
they passed through the sales room the un-
known was speaking low and intensely of
c3,aafn n future life and Divine Vengeance.