The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1907-10-22

mails after the manner of the Great
Wyrlev fend and then steal noiseleSS-
Nv away into the dark? How could
such a man find his way over streams
and bitches without a slip or Iaise
step TO betray him?
If Sir Arthur had any doubt of ms
clients innocence, this development re-
moved the last trace of it.
Then began the battle between the
real Sherlock Holmes" and his theo-
ries. and the stern law which calleo
for facts as loudly and as insistently
as ever did Mr.. Gradgrind There
were sneers for Sir Arthur; he was
called dreamer" idle theorist," and
even crank" The secretary OF state
for home affairs, before whom he car
ried the case, snubbed the authorize
tective, and other government of1clals
followed suit.
But Sir Arthur had much of the
public with him, and so great became
the popular clamor that after EdalJi
had served three years. the nome
secretary. Mr. Herbert Gladstone, an
nounced that the crown would par
dom the young man. So Edalji got
out of prison with a pardon, but not
a yindication; he was free, but he
could obtain no satisfaction for the
years he had spent in jail.
Edalii. with Sir Arthurs aid, tnen
began fight to clear his name anu
recover damages for false imprison-
ment. But the government was oo-
durate. A pardon" was all Edal1l
could get.
Then, like thunderbolt from clear
sky. came the news that the Great
Wyrley ''slasher" was at work again,
And this time, Edalji was a hundreu
miles away at the hour the outrages
were committed. Sir Arthur hao
prophesied when he was arguing with
the government, that the siasher
would return, and that Edaiu Woulo
then have an absolute alibi. Time hao
indicated his client.
At last the officials made an arrest
of a suspect at Wolverhampton. There
wasn't anything very important ABOUT
this arrest itself, for the prisoner IS
not supposed to be the man wanted
and Sir Arthur has a theory that
points a vastly different way. But II
did show absolutely that the police
were ready to admit that EdalJi hao
been wrongful1y accused, and that Sir
Arthur was right in his protestatlons
of his clients innocence.
That Edalji will get the compensa-
ton he seeks for false Imprisonment
and full restoration of his rights, no
one doubts. Meanwhile Sir Arthur
may prevail upon his friend, Dr. wat
son, to tell another story of the real
sherlock Holmes"
In an interview the other day on
the Edalji case, Sir Arthur said:
'aThere is no doubt in my mind that
the crimes of 1903 and 1907 were COM
mitted by the same man. When at
Great Wyrley, where, by the way, no.
body knew me, / traced back the his
tory of the whole miserable business
to personal vengeance. For reasons
which L need not go into there were
two brothers who hated Edalji like
poison One of them is now dead; the
other, who is stiH alive appears to me,
speaking as a medical man. to be
type of the malignant degenerate,
HE undoubtedly is a mailman. His
particular mania might be called cruel
ty to animals. 1t is a sort of blood
lust, and well known to students of
the psychology of crime. 1t can be
flendish things to animals and birds.
Should the Wolverhampton suspect
prove his innocence, it is quite likely
that the police, now thoroughly hum
bled, will seek out Sir Arthur and take
UP his once despised theory of the
mailman, even as they Endorsed his
efforts by deciding to make the first
arrest
They are telling stories now in Eng
land about Sir Arthur's early ability
as a detective. Long before he brought
out Sherlock Holmes he met a man
at his tailor's who was buying a suit
of clothes, and seemed to have a
strong objection to any material with
a stripe in it.
Sir Arthur at once set the man down
as an ex-criminal, and, to satisfy him
self as to how far his deduction was
correct, he determined to try to trace
the mans history. This was by no
means an easy matter, but some
afterward, CHANGING to visit a
convict prison, he saw the mans por-
trait in the rogues' gallery.