Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1908-07-08
Quick Work.
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[Orisinall
A number of detectives were loung-
ing at headquarters awaiting assign
ments and swapping stories. All but
one had told Of some puzzling case
that he had solved, and he was called
upon to help the party pass the time. =.
"Come, Billy" said one of the num-
Der; "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 kind of
cases. Suppose to vary the entertain
ment give you the easiest case ever
tackled and you fellows guess how 1
solved it?'
'That's good idea. Proceed"
1T was a case Of Identification, not
one to discover a criminal, though l
solved that, too, afterward. When I
was on the secret service force Of the
town of Yardley telephone came from
try that the dead body Of man had
been discovered lying beside a road so
stripped and mutilated as to be unrec-
ognizable. They wanted a police force
sent out to attend 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
charged me especially to find out the
name of the murdered man, since it is
bothersome for the police to keep
body and it's bad policy to bury it
without Identification.
I'VE drove out to the farmhouse from
which the telephone was sent, where
I found Farmer Bowers, who led me
half a mile down the road and showed
me the body. Whoever had done the
job had taken great precaution to con-
ceal the identity of his victim. Why
he did so afterward gave me clew
by which brought him to the gal
lows The outer clothing had been
taken off the body, and there was not
a mark anywhere on his undergar-
ments. A small bit of material had
been cut out at the bottom of the
shirt bosom, where shirtmakers usually
place the owners initials. The shoes
probably bore the makers name, for
they had been taken away. AS to the
face, it had been mutilated beyond
recognition. 1 looked for some defect
on the body. like mole or a birth
mark, but there was nothing Of the
kind. No dog whined beside his MUIR
dcred master. Indeed, there was no
living thing about him, except the &C.
cupants of dovecot on barn near by
and cat in the road watching; them.
Il confess l was puzzled The only
way l 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 l did a
hard job Of taking in surroundings
and in fifteen minutes hit on an ex,
pcdient. Two hours and thirty min.
utes after l arrived on the ground
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. Now,
how did do it?''
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 It or paper tossed about by the
wind, had been found. But the story
teller averred there was no such arti-
Gle of any kind whatever. Then one
man guessed that the cat mentioned
belonged to the dead man and had his
name and address on the collar. The
reply to this was that the cat belonged
on the farm where the barn stood.
Then there was a guess that the mans
son knew where his father was and
came of his own accord. This would
not do for Billy had sent him a mes.
sage to come and where to come to.
One superstitious detective guessed
that the murdered mans ghost gave
the necessary information, and anoth.
er suggested that it was a case of
mental biography. Finally every man
gave up the conundrum and asked for
the solution. The story teller resumed
"Among the doves in the cot" he
said, II saw several of a different
breed entirely from the rest. They
were fraternizing with the others 60
ing and coming to and from the cot
but not at all like them. The reason
why noticed these apparent strangers
was because have always had pi.
geons on my barn ut home, and had
never seen this variety before. I had
seen pictures Of them. but couldn't
remember the breed.