The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1908-09-14
QUICK WORK.

lHs ut HebuuuuTlcTS hWaiphB Hooseh
ments and swapping stories, All but
one had told OF some pu2zling case
that he had solved and he was called
spon to help the party pass the time.
Come, Billy" said one OF the
number: Don't sit there mum when
we're giving experiences. Tell us the
most difficult case you ever tackled"
You've all been giving that kina
OF cases Suppose to vary the enter
tainment give you the easiest case
/ ever tackled and you fellows guess
how / solved it?"
That's q good idea. Proceed"
ut was a case OF Identification, not
one to discover criminal. though
solved that. too. afterward When
was on the secret service force OF the
town of Yardley a telephone came
from q farmhouse a dozen miles In
the country that the dead body OF q
man had been discovered lying be-
side a road so stripped and mutilat-
ed as to be unacceptable. They
wanted a police force sent out 10 at
tend to the matter. The captain told
me to take the patrol wagon and a
man or two and drive out to the
place where the body lay. He charg-
ed me especially to find out the name
OF the murdered man. since IT Is both
ersome for the police to keep body
and it's bad policy to bury 1t With
out identification.
I'VE drove out 10 the farmhouse
| from which the telephone was sent,
| where found Farmer Bowers, who
| led me half mile down the road
and showed me the body. Whoever
| had done the job had taken great
| precaution to conceal the identity OF
| his victim Why he dld so afterwaFd
gave me a clew by which brought
| him TO the gallows. The outer cloth
ing had been taken off the body. and
there was not a mark anywhere on
his undergarments A small bit OF
1 material had been cut out at the bot
tom OF the shirt bosom. where shirt
makers usually place the owners
initials. AS to the face, II had
been mutilated beyond recognition. 4
looked for some defect on the body.
like a mole or a hirthmark, but there
was nothing OF the kind. No dog
whined beside his murdered MASTER
Indeed, there was no living thing
about him.
| 81 confess | was puzzled. The only
way | could see to find out who the
man was was to take the body to the
police station. publish the facts and
wait for claimants. But this was not
what the chief wanted. So | did q
hard job of taking in surroundings
and. in fifteen minutes hit on an ex-
pedlent. Two hours and thirty min
utes after arrived on the ground 1
had brought the murdered mans son
from a distance OF fifty miles to his
fathers body. which he identified at
once beyond the slightest doubt.
There was long silence, broken at
last by one OF the party, who claimed
that some missing article. like a
handkerchief with a name or initials
on II or paper tossed about by the
wind, had been found. But the story
teller averred there was no such ar
ticle of any kind whatever Then
one man guessed that the cat mem
toned belonged to the dead man and
had his name and address on the coll
lar. The reply to this was that the
cat belonged on the farm where the
h""u 9t'~d. '"'~n t'orn was q guess
lh%J the man son knew where his
father was and came OF his own ac-
cord. This would not do, for Billy
had sent him a message to come and
where to come to. One superstitions
detective guessed that the murdered
mans ghost gave the necessary in
, formation, and another suggested
that 1t was case OF mental telegra-
ply. Finally every man gave up the
conundrum and asked for the solu-
: ton. The story teller resumed
, Among the doves in the cot" he
said, Il saw several Of different
: breed entirely from the rest They
we're fraternizing with the others go-
ing and coming TO and from the cot.
but not at all like them. The reason
why | noticed these apparent strang-
ers was because | have always had
pigeons on my barn at home. and I
had never seen this variety before.
: had seen pictures of them, but !
couldn't remember the breed.
While | was thinking a boy came
up TO the crowd carrying a wicker
basket with a cover. He said he had
found it a short distance up the road
= | couldn't see any connection be-
q tween it and the murdered man un-
E less possibly he had been carrying
s something in 1t. Why II occurred To
}. me | don't know. but connected II
s with the pigeons.
= Suddenly | recollected. They
e were carrier pigeons. It's wonder
e full how rapidly sometimes one idea
: viii lead TO another. Suppose these
Z interlopers had belonged to the muir
$ dered man? Without waiting to
y think about the improbability OF such
: contingency | went to the barn
, climbed to the dovecot, caught car
rier pigeon wrote on one OF my
cards, Come at once TO Bowers farm