The Twin Falls times. [volume] (Twin Falls, Idaho) 1905-1916, 1910-07-14
Quick Work.
forIgll13al.l

one Ind told of some puzzling case
that be haa solved. and he was called
upon to help the party pass the Tins.
sCome, Billy" said one OF The num-
Der; don't sit there mum when we're
giving experiences Tell us the Iaost
difficult case you ever tackled
You've AL been giving that kiDd OF
cases. Suppose to vary the entertain.
! ment | give You the easiest case / ever
tackled and you fellows guess how !
solved itY'
That's good idea. Proceed"
1T was a case Of Identification. not
one to discover criminal, though
solved that too. afterward When 4
was on the secret service force OF the
town Of Yardley telephone came from
a farmhouse dozen miles IN the coun,
try that the dead body Of man had
been discovered lying beside road so
stripped and mutilated as to be unrec.
ognizable They wanted police force
sent out to attend to the matter. The
captain told me to take the patrol
wagon and a man ortwo 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 il
without Identification.
I'VE drove out to the farmhouse from
which the telephone was sent, where
found Farmer Bowers, who led me
half 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 a clew
by which brought him to the gal
lows. The outer clothing had been
taken off the body, and there was not
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 INITIATED beyond
recognition. | looked for some defect
on tie body, like mole or birth
mark, but there was nothing of the
kind. No dog whined beside his MUIR
dered master. Indeed, there was no
living thing about him. except the oc-
cupants of doyecot on a barn near by
and a cat ia the road watching them
Il confess | was puzzled. The only
way | could see to find out who the
man was was to talse the body to the
police station. publish the facts and
wait for claimants. But this was not
what the chief wanted. SO | did &
hard job Of taking in surroundings
and in fifteen minutes hit on an ex-
padient. Two hours and thirty min.
utes after | arrived on tie ground I
had brought the murdered mans son
from Il distance of fifty miles to his
fathers body, which he identified at
once beyond the slightest doubt. Now.
how did do it,
There was a long silence. broken at
last by one of the party who claimed
that some missing article, like
handkerchief with a name or initials
on it or a paper tossed about by the
wind h1d been found But the story
teller aYefred there was no such artf-
Gle of any kind W4atever. Then one
man guessed that the cat mentioned
belonged o the dead man and had his
uame and address on the collar. The
reply to this was that the cat belonged
on the farm where the barn stood
Then there was guess that the mans
son knew where his father was aud
came of his own accord This would
not do, for Billy Ind sent him 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 case of
mental telegraphy. Finally every man
gave up the conundrum and asked for
the solution. The story teller resumed:
Among the doves in the cot" he
said, Il 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 at home and had
never seen this variety before. / had
seen pictures of them. but l couldn't
remember the breed.
While | was thinking a boy came
up 70 the crowd carrying a wicker bas-
ket with q cover. He said he Ind
found it short distance up the read.
] couldn't see any connection between
1t and the murdered man unless pos
sibly he had been carrying something
In it. Why it occurred to me don't
know, but l connected it with the
pigeons.
Suddenly I recollected They were
carrier pigeons. It's wonderful how
rapidly sometimes one idea will lead
to another. Suppose these interlopera
had belonged to the murdered MANI
Without waiting to think about the irl-
probability of such q contingency