The star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1908-1909, 1908-10-17

CONTINUED From Yesterday
Nov, this was a case in which you
were given the result and had to hnd
everything else for yourself. Now, let
me endeavor to show you the different
steps in my reasoning. To begin at the
beginning. l approached the house, a.
you know, on foot, and with my mind
entirely free from all Impressions. l
naturally began by examining the road
way, and there, as 1 have already ex-
planned to you, l Jaw clearly the marks
of a cab, which, I ascertained by In
quiry, must have been there during the
night. 1 satisfied myself that 1t wa>
a cab, and not a private carriage, by
the narrow gauge of the wheels. The
ordinary London growler Is consider
ably less wide than a gentleman's
brougham.
"This was the first point gained. I
then walked slowly down the garden
path, which happened to be composed
of a clay soil, peculiarly suitable for
taking Impressions. No doubt 1t ap-
peared to you to be a mere trampled
line of slush, but to my trained eyes
every mark upon its surface had a
meaning. There is nc branch Of detec-
tive science which Is SO important and
so much neglected as h art of trac-
ing footsteps. Happily. 1 have always
laid great stress upon 1t, and much
practise has made 1t second nature
to me. I saw the heavy foot-marks of
the constables, but 1 saw also the
tracks of the two men who had first
passed through the garden. 1t was
easy to tell that they had been before
the others, because in places their
marks had been entirely obliterated by
the others coming upon the top OF
them. In this way my second link was
formed, which told me that the noe
turnal visitors were two In number,
one remarkable for his height Gas !
calculated from the length of his
stride) and the other fashionably
dressed, to Judge from the small and
elegant impression left by his boots.
ION entering the house this last In
ference was confirmed. My well-booted
man lay before me. The tall one, then,
had done the murder, IL murder there
was. SThere was no wound upon the
dead mans person, but the agitated ex-
preston Upon his face assured me that
he had foreseen his fate before 1t came
upon him. Men who die from heart
disease or any sudden natural cause
never by any chance exhibit agitation
upon their features. Having shifted
the dead mans lips, 1 detected a slight
ly sour smell, n l came to the con-
clusion that he had had poison forced
upon him. Again. /, argued that 1t had
been forced upon him, from the hatred
and fear expressed upon his face. By
the method Of exclusion / had arrived
at this result, for no other hypothesis
would meet the facts. Do not imagine
that 1t was a very ~unheard-of idea.
The forcible administration of poison Is
by no means a new thing in criminal
annals. The cases of Dolsky, In
odessa. and of Leturier, in Montpelier,
will occur at once to any t~oxicologist.
"And now came the great question
as to the reason why. Robbery had
not been the object of the murder. for
nothing was taken. Was 1t politics,
then, or was 1t a woman? That was
the question which confronted me. I
was inclined from the first to the lat
ter supposition. Political assassins are
only too glad to do their work n to
fly. This murder had, on the contrary,
been done most deliberately, and the
perpetrator had left his tracks all over
the room. showing that he had been
there all the time. 1t must have been
a private wrong, and not a political
one, which called for such a methodical
revenge. When the inscription was
discovered upon the wall I was more
inclined thar ever to my opinion. The
thing was too evidently a blind. When
the ring was found. however 1t settled
the question. Clearly the murderer
had used it to remind his victim of
some dead or absent woman 1t was
at this point that 1 asked Gregson
whether he had inquired In his tele-
gram to Cleveland as to any particular
point in Mr.. Drebber's former career.
He answered, you remember, in the
negative.
IT then proceeded to make a careful
examination of the room, which on
drmed me In my opinion as to the muir
derer's height, and furnished me with
he additional detail as to the Trichi-
nopoly cigar and the length of his nails.
I had already come to the conclusion.
since there were no signs of a struggle,
the blood which covered the floor
had burst from the murderer's nose In
his excitement. I could perceive that
the track of blood coincided with the
of his feet. 1t Is seldom that any
man. unless he is very full-blooded,
breaks u In this way through emo
ton, so I hazharded the opinion that
the criminal was probably a robust
and ruddy-faced a Events proved
I had Judged correctly.
Having left the house, I proceeded
to do what Gregson had neglected. I
t~elegraphed to the head Of the police
at Cleveland, limiting my inquiry to
the circumstances connected with the