The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1910-10-30
Under the Rose

Dr. Os6on, who briefly and tersely cat
alogued the long series of outra yes
which, as he truly said. had made fife
burden to the residents of Amman.
dale; he ended by calling for action
and invited suggestions.
One man after another rose, more
often to bcwail his own loss and annoy
ance than to proffcr some plan for 'ap-
pretending the rogue. More than one
speaker regretted the fact that Amman
dale possessed no regular police. which
prompted Constable Corrie to explain
mildly that tthrcc men couldn I hard
~ be expected to patrol ten miles of
roads day an night, though he an his
deputies had done their best This
nobody could deny.' One speaker pro-
posed the formation Of vigilance com
mittee, the members Of which should
patrol tho highways in relays of cou.
pies every night. This bold sugpes-
tIon met with no second; few of those
present fancicd spending several hours
OF cool autumn night out of doors,
instead OF snugly between warm blan.
kcts.
Matters were at An apparent dead
lock, when An interruption came from
an unexpected source. Major Scarlet
rose and begged leave to say few
words. What he suld was right to the
point and solved The difficulty in this
wise:
Gentlemen,'' said tho major, cigar
between thumb and forehnger, "while
not a resident among you, T am "a
mlllar with your troubles and have lis
tened attentively to all that has been
said here tonight. Permit me to re-
mark that in my humble Judgment you
have pretty large contract on your
hands. There s n mystery here. gentle
men--a series of happenings that can
not be explained by attributing them
TO the usual run Of petty criminals
You We. got to dig deeper. gentlemen.
Our friend Corric has doubtless done
hls best, but | II 90 so far as to say
that the Job is too big for him, even
If he had twenty men under his com
mand, instead of two. What you want
is an expert crminologist-no mere po"
licemen or detcctive-but an expert
investigator. In short. / advise YOU to
send for my old friend, Finney Valen-
tineD
So that was how the ex.inspcctor
came TO handle and solve the AMMAN
dale mystery-for solve it he did as
you shall hear
Valentine took up his abode rs the
ostensible house guest of the Birges.
lie drove and rode, walked and PLAYED
golf, went to church and to card par
ties for two or three weeks, just as
Major Scarlet had done before him,
only with this difference; The chief
managed to meet pretty nearly every
lnha bltanJ of Annandale. young or old,
Naturally his identity was kept secret;
some even of those who had voted to
employ him did not recognize his idcn-
tlty under the pseudonym of "Mr. At
terbury y; vet strangely enough. those
three weeks turned out 10 be one OF
the periodic zones of quiet Nothing
out OF the way occurred TO mar the
ldyIhc quiet Of Annandale. and for the
first time in months villagers and com
muterS slept peacefully in their beds.
Valentine himself was. as usual, in
scrutablc. Half or two-thirds Of each
night, wet or dry, cloudy or moonlit. he
spent afoot. literally "on the prowl -
But, beyond the mere cessation Of hos
nlltlcs, the mystery remained unrld-
died
1t was through Dr. Osbon that yalen-
talne obtained many personal details
cially those "nativcsn dwelling in
what was locally known rs "the south
cnd' near the railroad track, where
were carried on such useful industries
as blacksmithiug, cobbljng, Nhitewash-
ing and Jaundryirg. But all of the
people pursuing these humble caIIiugs
were above uspicion-indccd, some of
them had been among the earliest vic
tins.
Doctor Osbon was man past tho
prime Of life, with wide practice for
miles around-ablc. keen and univer-
sally liked. Indeed F'inncy Valentine
Of his medical caliber in. so rural n