Little Falls herald. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1889-1950, 1908-11-06
A Process Of Deduction

1.
Mac said the chief to me, ''tak
up the Peet case. He has been con
victed of numbering Walker in hi
Peet's) house. They were friends
and -Peet has borne a good reputation
Pettingill, his attorney, has been il
and says he has got stay, so tina
one more effort may be made to solvt
what he considers mystery"
went with Pettingill to the house
where the murder had been commit
ted. He showed me the lounge where
Walker was lying asleep one warn
September afternoon and the hole il
the window. pane through which thu
bullet had either entered or left thu
room. Pettingill would have claimed
that it entered, indicating that Walker
had been shot from the outside. Blu
it went clean through Walkers head
and made no dent in the room.
I'm methodical man. If weren'
I wouldn't he a detective. Fettingil
said that a search had been made fol
the bullet within the limit of the car
rying power Of revolver and it hat
not been found. l examined the holt
in the pane. took into consideration
also the direction Of the shot from the
only point in the room from which +
could have been very we'll fred There
was clean sweep outside of mile
without an obstruction, except severa.
different houses from 500 to 1,OO(
yards away. made up my MIND
first to find that bullet if had to hun,
six months for it.
After an hour chatting, thinking, ex
aiming, I went away, resolved tt
come back the next day with small
telescope wi,h which to fix directions
The sun roe clear in the morning
with not 4 c:old in the. sky. brought
my telescope to bear on the different
houses in the way of possible shots
There was Il sideboard in the room
and one of the directions noted was
along it's top. On this top rested
glass table articles. consisting Of tum.
tlers, finger bowls, etc. l made {
diagram in my notebook of certain
points outside, intending first to ex.
anime them and, if no bullet was founl
Embedded in them, to hire an army OF
boys to hunt on the ground
One of the first points searched
was barn in line with the sideboard
and the hole in the window pane.
got a ladder and climbed to the peak
of the roof. hadn't moved my lad.
der more than two or three times be.
fore found a suspicious hole. With
my knife l dug out bullet 1t was
not pistol bullet, but rifle bullet
OF course it might have been fired
into the barn by anybody. However
got piece of chalk and made 8
white round spot as big as football
Then / went back to the house and
laying a cane on the sideboard, with
little adjustment pointed it directly al
my chalk mark. The hole in the win.
dow pane was in line.
Still l had nothing to build on. !
sat looking at the sideboard, rackina
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. Its body
was round and smooth. The sun was
shining on 1t, and the decanter concen.
trated the rays in focus Somehow
| went out and got some gunpowdel
and poured few grains on the cane
where, if it were a rife, 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 was en-.
deavoring to find foundation for. i!
confess l 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 a fintlock musket over the
sldeboard would not need to pull the
trlgger-the sun and the decanter would
do it for him. =
But we detectives must follow a trail
blindly. What firearms were there in
the house? / searched and in a closet
found rifle. took out an exploded
cartridge. The bullet I had found fitted
the metal case exactly
This hypothetical germ that was de.
ve1oping in my brain suddenly took q
start but prudence forbade my hurry.
, ing on. l had found the rife and the
ball with which Walker had been kill
ed, but had 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 box of cartridges with the
rifle and fitting one in it went down.
stairs, laid it on the sideboard and
pointed it at my chalk target. The
muzzle of my gun, the place where
Walkers head had been, the hole in
the glass, were all in straight line.
Had it not been for the focus Of the
suns rays l should have proved Peet