Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1908-11-25
APrOCeSs of Deduction
tOriginal.1

[Orisinall
"Mac," said the chief to me, take
up the Peet case He has been con-
victed of numbering Walker in his
Peet's) house. They were friends,
and Peet has borne q good reputation
Pettingill, his attorney, has been IN
and says he has got stay so that
one more effort may be made to solve
what he considers a mystery"
took up the case with interest and
went with Pettingill to the house
where the murder had been commit
ted. He showed me the lounge where
Walker was lying asleep one warm
September afternoon and the hole in
the window pane through which the
bullet had either entered or left the
room. Pettingill would have claimed
that it entered, indicating that Walker
had been shot from the outside. But
1t went clean through Walkers head
and made no dent in the room.
I'm a methOdical man. If l weren't
I wouldn't be detective. Pettingill
said that a search had been made for
the bullet within the limit of the car
rying power Of a revolver and 1t had
not been found. l examined the hole
in the pane / took into consideration
also the direction Of the shot from the
only point in the room from which II
could have been very well fired. There
was a clean sweep outside of mile
without an obstruction, except several
different houses from 500 to 1000
yards away. l made up my mind
first to find that bullet If I had to hunt
six months for it.
After an hour chatting, thinking, ex-
aiming, l went away, resolved to
come back the next day with a small
telescope with which to fix directions.
The sun rose clear in the morning,
with not cloud In the sky. brought
my telescope to bear on the different
houses in the way Of possible shots.
There was sideboard In the room,
and one of the directions I noted was
, along its top. On this top rested
glass table articles, consisting of tum-
blers, finger bowls, etc. l made a
diagram In my notebook of certain
points outside, intending first to ex-
anime them and If no bullet was found
imbedded in them, to hire an army of
boys to hunt on the ground.
One Of the first points l searched
was barn in line with the sideboard
and the hole in the window pane. /
got ladder and climbed to the peak
of the roof. | hadn't moved my lad
der more than two or three times be-
fore l found suspicious hole. With
my knife I dug out a bullet 1t was
not pistol bullet, but rife bullet.
! OF course 1t might have been fired
into the barn by anybody. However,
/ l got a piece of chalk and made a
white round spot as big as a football.
Then / went back to the house and,
laying cane on the sideboard, with
' little adjustment pointed it directly at
my chalk mark. The hole in the win
: dow pane was in line.
! Still / had nothing to build on.
I sat looking at the sideboard, racking
! my brain for some possible connec-
ton between it and the direction of
the bullet. A decanter filled with wa
ter stood on the sideboard It's body
was round and smooth. The sun was
shining on it, and the decanter concen-
trated the rays in a focus. Somehow
l went out and got some gunpowder
and poured few grains on the cane
, where, If 1t were a rifle the nipple
| would be. The focus of the suns
rays approached the powder which |
had put in its path. Presently there
was an explosion.
Remote as were the probabilities In
the case, l began to be interested In
the hypothetical structure l was en-
deavoring to find foundation for
| confess / smiled at the connection
which l was building as showing how
far man may reach out for a clew.
This was as far as had got: A man
pointing flintlock musket over the
sideboard would not need to pull the
! trigger-the sun and the decanter would
do 1t for him.
! But we detectives must follow trail
blindly. What firearms were there in
the house? / searched and In a closet
found rifle. l took out an exploded
cartridge. The bullet had found fitted
i the metal case exactly
Tbs hypothetical germ that was de-
veloping in my brain suddenly took a
/ start, but prudence forbade my hurry
Ing on. | had found the rifle and the
ball with which Walker had been kill
ed, but had l not proved that Peet had
killed him? Why hadn't the prosecu-
ton got on to the rife? Lucky for
Peet that they hadn't, though, since
they had convicted him it made no diff
ference.
l found a box of cartridges with the
rifle and fitting one I'm 1t went down.
stairs, laid it on the sideboard and
pointed 1t at my chalk target. The
muzzle Of my"rgun, the place where
Walkers head had been, the hole i'm
the glass, were all i'm a straight line
Had it not been for the focus Of the
suns rays | should have proved Peet
guilty. AS it was the focus may have