Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1908-08-20
Process of DeduC ton
t1rt. ....

and Feet has borne good reputation peftineill. his attorney has been li' and says he has got a stay. so that one more effort may bc made to solNe what hc5coIsiders mystery.
 I took up the case with interest ana went with rettingiil to the mousse where the murder had been commit ted. He showed me the lounge where Walker was lying asleep one warm September afternoon and the hole Ill the window pane through which the hUlIct had either entered or left the room. Pettingill would have claimed that t 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 q methodical man. If l werent t I wouldn't be detective. Pettingill said that search had been made for the bullet within the limit of the car rying power of a revolver and it had not been found. l examined the hole in the pane. l took into consideration also the direction of the shot from the only point in the room from which it could have been very well fired. There was a clean sweep outside of mlie without an obstruction. except several different houses from 800 to 1000 yards away. made up my mind first to find that bullet if I had to hunt six months for it.
 After an hour chatting, thinking, eX- amining, l went away. resolved to come back the next day with Il small telescope with which to fix directions. The sun rose clear in the morning. with not a cloud in the sky brought my telescope to bear on the different houses in the way of possible shots. There was a sideboard in the room. and one of the directions l noted was along it's top. On this top rested blers, finger bowls, etc l made q diagram in my notebook of certain points outside. intending first to eX- amine them and. if no bullet was found Embedded in them. to hire an army of boys to hunt on the ground.
 
 was a barn in line with the sdeboa.h and the hole in the window pane got a ladder and climbed to the peak of the roof I hadn't moved my lad der more than two or three times be- fore l found a suspicious hole. Wit, my knife dug out bullet It was not pistol bullet but rifle bullet
 Of course it might have been fired into the barn by anybody. However, I got a piece of chalk and made white round spot as big as a football. Then ] went back to the house and. laying q 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 l had nothing to build on. sat looking at the sideboard racking my brain for some possible connec- tion 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 it, and the decanter conccn- trated the rays in focus. Somehow went out and got some gunpowtler 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 l had put in it's path. Presently there was an explosion.
 Remote as Were the probabilities in the ease, began to be interested in the hypothetical structure was en- deavoring to find foundation for confess l smiled at the connection which l was building as showing how far man may reach out for q clew. This was as far as had got: A man pointing 1lintlock musket over the Sldeboald would not need to pull the fri2ger-the sun and the decanter would do if for him.
 But We detectives must follow a trail nlindlX. What firearms were there in the house: 1 searched and in a closet Hound rifle. l took out an exploded cartridge The bullet had found fitted the metal case exactly.
 This hypothetical germ that was de. 'Nlol'luS i'll HiN DIaln suddenly took q start but prudence fo"hmlle my hurry ang on. had found the rifle and the ball with which Walker had been kill ed, but had I not proved that Peet had killed him: Why hadn't the prosecu- tlon got on to the ri.'': Lucky for Feet that they hadn't. though. since they had convicted him it made no diff ference.
 l found box of cartridges with the .rlfie and fitting one in f went down stairs. laid it on the si.rboard and pointed it at my chalk i.rget. The muzzle of my gun. the place where Walkers head had bee he hole in the glass, were a!! = < raight line Had it not been .it t,i,, ..,.us of the suns rays 1 shou, '',.,. ...oved peet guilty. AS it was i:r .o>us may have fired thu gun.
 Here was cue to the solution. questioned peet, and he remembered that he had cleaned and loaded his rifle and laid it n.i 1'1a ciIahoar1 yvh;l, ,