The star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1908-1909, 1908-09-25

my life"
what is it?" asked Sherlock
Holmes.
"Why, this article" / said. pointing
at 1t with my egg-spoon as l sat down
TO my breakfast. II see that you have
read 1t. since you have marked it. 1
don't deny that it is smartly written.
1t irritates me, though. 1t Is evidently
the theory of some armchair loungeI
who evolves all these neat little
p%aradoxes in the seclusion of his own
study. 1t is not practical. I should
like to see him clapped down in a
third-class carriage on the Under
ground, and asked to give the trades
of all his fellow travellers. l would lay
a thousand to one against him"
You would lose you money" Sher-
lock Holmes remarked, calmly. LAS
for the article, l wrote 1t myself"
"'Youi"
yves; I have a turn both for obser-
walton and for deduction. The theories
which l have expressed there. and
which appear to you to be so chimeri-
cal, are really extremely practical-so
practical hat / depend upon them for
my bread and cheese"
And how" l asked involuntarily.
well. l have a trade of my own. l
suppose l am the only n in the world.
I'm a consulting detective. II you can
understand What that is. Here In Lon
don we have lots of government de-
tectives and lots of private mes. When
these fellows are at fault, they come
to me. and 1 manage to put them on
the right scent. They lay all the evil
dence before me. and / am generally
-. -. 49, AAiA - t,RxY hnnuyln6l a or
the history of crime, to set them
straight. There Is a strong family re-
semblance about misdeeds, n IL you
have all the details of a thousand at
your fnger-ends. 1t is odd If you can't
u~nrayel the thousand and first. Le-
strade is a well-known detective. He
got himself into a fog recently over a
forgery case, and that was h
brought him here"
And these other people?"
"They are mostly sent out by pri-
vate inquiry agencies. They are all
people who are in trouble about m
thing, and want a little enlightening.
1 listen to their story, they listen to
nv comments, and then I pocket my
fee"
But do you mean to say" / said,
that without leaving your room you
can unravel some knot which other
men can make nothing of. although
they nave seen every detail for them
selvese"
quite SO. I have a kind of intui-
ton that way. Now and again a case
turns UP which Is a little more COM
pIex. Then I have to hustle about and
see things with my own eyes. You
see. I have a lot of special knowledge
which I apply to h problem, ana
which facilities matters wonderfully
Those rules of deduction laid down In
that article which aroused your scorn
are invaluable to me In practical work.
Observation, with me, Is second nature.
You appeared to be surprised when
told you, on our first meeting, that you
had come from A~fghanistan.'
"You were told, no doubt"
Nothing of the sort. / knew you
came from ~Afghanistan. From lone
habit the train of thought ran sc
swiftly through my mind that | ar
rived at the conclusion without being
conscious Of intermediate steps. There
were such steps, however. The train
of reasoning ran: Hero Is IA gentle
man of a medical type, but with the
air of a military man. Clearly an
army doctor, then. He has just come
from the tropics. for his face Is dark
and that is not the natural tint OF his
skin, for his wrists are fair. He has
undergone hardships and sickness, as
his haggard face a y clearly. His left
arm has been injured. He holds 1t
in a stiff and unnatural manner.
Where in the tropics could an Eng
lish army doctor have seen much hard
ship and got his arm wounded? Clear
ly in Afghanistan.' The whole train of
thought did not occupy a second. !
then remarked that you came from
Afghanistan. and you were aston
ished."
1T is simple enough as you explain
It," I said, smiling. "You remind me
of Edgar Allan Poe's Dupln. I had no
idea that such individuals did exist
outside of stories"
Sherlock Holmes rose and lighted his
pipe.
mo doubt you think that you are
c~omplimenting me In comparing me to
Dupin," he observed. Now. in my
opinion, Dupin was a very inferior
fellow. That trick of his of breaking
In on his friends thoughts with an
apropos remark after a quarter of an
hours silence is really very snowy anu
superficial. He had come analytical
genius, no doubt: but he was by no
means such a phenomenon as Poe ap-
peared to imagine"
Have you read Gaboriau's works.
1 asked. Docs Lecoq come up to your
idea Of a detective?"
Sherlock Holmes shifted sardonically.
"Lecoq was a miserable bungler." he
said, In an angry voice; "he had only
one thing to recommend him, and that
was his energy. That book made me
positively I'll. The question was how
to identify an unknown prisoner. ]
could have lone 1t In twenty-four
hours. Lecoq took six months or so.
II might be made a textbook for de-
t~ectives 10 teach them what to avoid. =
l felt rather indignant at having two
characters whom I had admired
treated in this cavalier style. l walked
over to the window. and stood look
ing out into the busy street.
This fellow may be very clever" 4
said to myself. but he is certainly
very conceited."
There are no crimes and no Grim
mails in these days" he said. queru-
lousy. What is the use of having
brains in our profession? l know well