Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1910-06-30
DETECTIVE STORIES.
Little Things as Aids In Solving
Problems In Crime.
THE VALUE OF SMALL CLEWS
I'm All My Experience" Says Police
Sergeant Cuff, One of Wilkie Col.
Inns Creations, a Have Never Yet
Met Such a Thing as a Trifle."

Inns Creations, a Have Never Yet
Met Such Thing as a Trifie."
If you ask some London publishers
they will tell you that no book sells so
well as a detective story and that peO-
pie still find fascination In the
achievements of Edgar Allan Poe's
Dupin. Gaboriau's Lecocq and Tabarct
and the redoubtable Sergeant Cuff OF
Willlie Collins.
These men were the forerunners of
Sherlock Holmes, and their feats of
criminal tracking were as remarkable
as those achieved by the famous char.
acter created by Sir Arthur Conan
Doyle. Perhaps the least known is
Cuff. who figures in The Moonstone."
Cuff looked for clews In trifies. In
vestigating a smear on newly paint
ed door he was told by the superin.
tendent who had the case in hand that
it was made by the petticoats Of the
women servants The superintendent
said petticoHtS were trifies.
"In all my experience along the
~
replied Cuff. 81 have never met such
thing as trihe yet We must see
the petticoat that made the smear and
we must know for certain that the
paint was wet"
LccocQ. the beau ideal OF the French
detective. was wont to explain his de
auctions to assistants just as Sherlock
Holmes did to his friend Watson In
the story of "!'ile No. 113" a safe has
been robbed There is a scratch on
the door of the safe which seems to
have been made by the key slipping
from the lock. But Lecocq explained
that the paint was hard and that the
scratch could not have been made by
the trembling hand of the thief letting
the key slip.
He therefore had an iron box made,
painted with green varnish, like the
safe. AS Lecocq inserted the key he
asked the assistant to endeavor to pre-.
vent him using the key just as he was
about to insert 1t In the lock The MS.
sistant did so. and the key held by
Lecocq. pulled aside from the lock.
slipped along the door and traced upon
it "A diagonal scratch from top to bot
tom, the exact reproduction of the one
shown in photograph of the safe.
Thus II was proved that two persons
were present at the robbery - one
wished TO take the money ANA the
| other to prevent it's being taken.
In the play Sherlock Holmes. the
| detective. with the aid of an accom-
plice raises an alarm of fire at the
house of the L0rrabces during the eX.
element of which he is able to inves-
tigate the mystery OF the purloned
documents.
A somewhat similar incident occurs
in Edgar Allan POe's The Purloined
Letter" when Dupin having obtained
| entrance to the house of minister
of the state who had purloined Il let
ter OF great importance from a lady
wished to take it from its hiding place
"a card rack over the mantelpiece-
and substitute fac-simile. While
Dupin was talking to the minister
there was sudden report of pistol
beneath the window followed by fear.
full screams aud loud shouting. The
minister rushed to the window, and
while his attention was thus distracted
Dupin took the real letter and subsIi
tuted the false one which he had pre-
pared Needless to say, the diversion
had been created by Dupin'S assist
ants
Although The Adventures Of Sher
lock Holmes somewhat overshadow
the S.ories OF other detectives which
appeared in the strand Magazine. one
should not forget TO mention Martin
Hewitt. investigator. and Dick Don
ovuu
Both these detectives worked alone
and were past masters in the art OF
solving robbery mysteries murders
and the crimes of secret societies.
And the value Of noting trifes, par
ticularly In detective work. is striking
lv illustrated in "'rhe Case Of Mr.. Fog
gait" The latter had been murdered
i'm his chamber. which was situated az
the top of the building in which Hew-
itt had an Office. Hewitt was the first
one on Tue Nteut. llN h''l NhN tNNh
ed. and when he got inside the room
he found Foggatt lying across The Ia
Die. shot dead There was sheer
drop Of FIFTY feet outside the windows
How had the murderer got in. and
how had he escaped:
on the sidcboard were the freshly
bitten remains Of an apple Hewitt
noticed that It had been bitten by "a
person who had lost two teeth one
ut the top and one below. He also
saw that the dead man had an excel
lenr set of false teeth. with mono
missing. He observed. too, that an ar-
tive young man could, by standing ON
the window sin. draw himself on thr
roof and thus escape Thus Hewitt
comes TO look for tall. athletic looE
ing young man with two teeth miss
ing. lie finds him. obtains by ruSe
another apple which he has bitten
compares the two and ultimately nl
tains the startling story Of the muir
der from the murderer himself after
the coroner's jury had returned a YER
dict Of accidental death" r Londoi
Tit-Blts
u a. tbo lf+tIn rteaSura1 which mako