Kingsbury County independent. (DeSmet, Kingsbury County, S.D.) 1894-1929, 1907-12-27
A STUDY IN pRoBABILITIEs.

est ne was. Their could be no doubt
ing it; he had read into them some
meaning which / had failed utterly TO
see.
/ sat down in my chair again, my
nerves a%-quiver: at last, we were on
the verge of success.
well, let's hear it," / said.
II intend that you shall-wait till l
get them arranged. III build up the
story as / go along, and | want you
TO ask any questions or point out any
defects that occur to you. or course,
1t will be only q study in probabilities;
but between us. l think we can get Ii
pretty straight"
He got up from the desk with the
clippings I'm n neat little pile, and sat
down in the chair facing mine. He
took a m~editative puff or two before he
began.
WEN have to start with a few gen
eral observations" he said, at last.
It's evident that Thompson wouldn't
have carried these clippings around
with him for SO long unless they in
some way concerned HIM. It's evident
that Miss Croydon would never have
dared TO take them unless she was
pretty certain hat they somehow vital
ly concerned her. It's evident that
Tremaine wouldn't have taken so
much trouble to look for them unless
he was mighty anxious To find them.
We arrive. then, at our first conclu-
sion, namely, hat these clippings neces-
sarily shed some light upon the
tragedy recently enacted in this room,
and upon the connection of these people
with Zach other"
Yes" / agreed: unless all these
people were mistaken In their estimate
of the value OF the clippings"
THAT, of course, is possible; but l
don't think it probable. At any rate,
let us disregard that suggestion for
the moment. and proceed along the 9TH
err line. What light is II possible for
these clippings TO shed on the murder
of Thompson. Obviously. 1t must be
only by explaining motives. The ma
jority of them seem to be concerned
with the adventures OF a Frenchman,
who goes under various names, but
who, 1 am sure. Is one and the same
person. He must, then, be either Ire
maine or Thompson. But Thompson
was evidently not a Frenchman, and
Tremaine pretty evidently is, though
his contact with he world has served
to rub away a good many of the marks.
| think we're pretty safe, therefore. In
assuming that the Frenchman of these
clippings is Tremaine. AS we go on, L
believe wen find some internal evil
dence confirming this. You agree with
me thus far"
Perfectly" 1 said, admitting your
first premise that these clippings are
really concerned with the cose."
That, too, / believe, Wen soon be
able to prove by internal evidence. OF
course, IL they haven't any connection
with 1t, they'll soon lead us into chaos
But there's another thing; we mustn't
expect too much from them. We
mustn't expect n story complete in all
Its parts-lt's bound to be fragmentary.
The wonder Is hat Thompson succeed
ed in keeping this many links In the
chain. Maybe in his more prosperous
days he had a mania for clippings. At
best, we mustn't be disappointed If
there are long gaps in the story"
Yes i agreed again; that's evil
dent enough"
Very well; Wen begin with the clip
pings, then. substituting Tremaine's
name for the one used. The first clip
ping is merely a marriage notice, an
n~ouncing that on the 23d of August.
1888, Tremaine married one Therese
Bertigny, at Dieppe. Let me see; Ire
maine was then probably about &c
years Of age. No doubt he was born
at Dieppe, so that the name given here.
Victor Charente. Is his real one. You'll
notice that he's retained the first name
which is a bit of c~orroborative evil
dence."
"or a mere coincidence" supple
mented.
"Tll wire our correspondent at Dieppe
TO look up this Charente-perhaps he
can get a photograph. That would set
tie the question"
/ nodded. Yes, that would settle II
for Tremafne at 40 was probably no
greatly different from Tremaine at 20.
THE second clipping" proceeded
Godfrey, shows US that our hero 500
wandered from the straight n marrow
path, Inc gives us, too, a little ligh'
upon his personal history. In the sprint
following his marriage-April is. 1884
to be exact-while assistant manage o
the ship supplies house of Brique
Freres, he absconds with SO, 900 francs
1t is discovered that he kept a mis-
tress at Rouen. He is believed to hav,
gone 10 Amefica--to have been SNUG
gled out OF the harbor by a friendly
American captain. Surely, IL is not I'm
possible" ne added, that this friendl,
American captain was Thompson"
Very few things are impossible"
commented. / began to be impatien
with Godfrey. He was permitting hi
prejudice against Tremaine TO warp hi
judgment.
Wen. we'll keep that for a hypothes
is, anyhow" and he turned to the thir'
clipping. This" ale continued, show
us that he indeed came TO America
Ii is dated July %, 1885, and state
that a young Frenchman n a traml
skipper named Johnson-ah. you see :?
did indeed, see-here was the frs
OF Tremaine's zombi-of hi
familiar devil. I looked ut Godfre,
with the iiveliest admiration. This con
~structiye reasoning was something
which l. certainly. was quite incapabl
OF.
$50 that ] on Thompson's arm wa
the initial OF his real name" observed
Godfrey II thought is was lit ha'
been there a long time. and an effor
had been made 20 erase II. After
man has started on the crooked path
he doesn't want any tattoo marks Of
him-they make identification too easy
For johnson. then. Well hereafter rea'
Thompson.
nodded. ! VAS beginning to be con
WINGED.
Wen continued Godfrey. ~Tremain
md Thompson. hen. were arrested
New Fork. July rs. 1886, at "A low re
'norf where they were having a cnrous'
They had Beaten and robbed anothe
sallor. II seems that nothing was lel
cf the sixty thousand francs, and nat
nr1axy Tremaine found II .diculfnt !
co hoMestiy 20 work again. The fourt
r7frpirg. undated. but probably som
~unonfas ia<Sr. shows that Trematne ar
ThofsSr3ufs we've sentenced 60 tnrs
v<rrs each IN Sing Sing. But the
rfidr9f stay there 30 long he AIDE
turning 20 the next clipping: ~ Zee