The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1911-02-01
THE SCRATCHED
BULLET
BY RUTH GRAHAM
Copyright by American Press Asso-
citation, 1911.
By RUTH GRAHAM


safe he went in next door and foun,
the occupant, Daniel Jones, sitting il
his chair with his head down on hi
desk, dead
My office was in the same building
and hearing of the murder / wen
into Jones' office. A surgeon was ex
tracing the bullet from the wound
and as soon as he had done so 1t wa:
seized upon by detective who stool
waiting for It. The detective rolled
1t up in his handkerchief and was
going away with 1t when l said Il
him:
u believe you detectives are hum
bugs, making great ado about small
things to keep up an appearance of
efficiency. I'll bet you hundred dol
lars to ten that the bullet you have
taken never leads to the discovery OF
the murderer"
"Since you offer large odds I'll take
your bet. / think In about one case
in ten the bullet with which a man
is murdered will lead to the discovery
of the person who shot him"
Every WELL" / replied. 'if It is SO
in this case come to my office, tell
me the story, and I'll give you hun
bred dollars"
We exchanged names and addresses
and thought no more about the mat
ter till saw it stated in newspaper
that man had been tried for the
murder Of Daniel Jones. The jury had
not been ten minutes in coming to a
verdict of iustiiable homicide The
very next morning the detective with
whom / had made the bet came into
my office and claimed hundred dol
lars. invited him to be seated and
tell me the story.
81 examined the bullet with a micro
scope" he said, "and discovered tiny
scratch on one side, and, looking
further, found another scratch twice
the breadth of the first about one-third
the distance around the circumference.
If could find pistol with two specks
in the barrel at such distance from
each other to make those two scratches
on a bullet fired from 1t would have
the weapon with which Mr.. Jones was
killed
"Fhe next move was of course TO
learn of a person or persons who
would have motive for the murder.
The family of The murdered man were
very loath TO point finger of sus-
nj % had N har
time to get anything out of them.
Jones had debtor Evans, whom the
family admitted to have pressed so
strongly for payment that the two had
quarreled bitterly about the matter.
Then there was discharged coach
man who at the time of his discharge
went away muttering curses. These
were the only suggestions could get
from the family, and | went to work
on both Of them at once
II effected an entrance to the house
of Jones debtor and found pistol in
his drawer, but of a different caliber
from the one with which he Jones'
had been killed Besides, from other
indications made up my mind that he
had nothing to do with the murder.
also found tho coachman who had
been discharged, but no pistol in his
possession.
II sat down one day, lit cigar, put
my feet up on a desk and did job Of
thinking. can think out any soluble
problem with a cigar In my mouth and
my feet in the air, The murderer, af-
ter shooting Jones, would naturally
be worried about the pistol with
which he committed the deed, since it
might be used as evidence against
him. Even the fitting of the ball in 1t,
considered with other discriminating
circumstances, might convict him. He
would endeavor TO get rid of it. Howl
He would ether try to lose ii, give it
away, sell 1t or pawn 1t. rely greatly
on criminals anxiety to get rid of In
eliminating articles. There was a
chance in this case that the pistol
would find its way into either sec
ond hand store or pawnshop. CON
cluded to go through all there were Of
both in the town.
TN pawnshop l found new re-
volver, only one barrel of which had
been used, that had been pawned a
day or two after the Jones muir
der. focused the suns rays in
the barrel with glass and thought
saw some scratches, but could not be
sure. / bought the pistol, loaded the
barrel that had been used and fired
the ball into a tank full of water. Re
covering the bullet I found on It the
scratches l was looking for"
The detective paused, and !, taking
up my checkbook, wrote him check
for a hundred dollars. Handing it to
him ! remarked that the rest Of bis
Job was doubtless dead easy, but l
would like to hear how it was man.
aged.
Il was not long" he continued. ford
.ng the check and putting 1t in his
pocketbook, "in finding the person
who had pawned the revolver. He
was q tramp and said he had been
walking on a road toward the city
and met a man In an auto driving
furiously. The tramp turned to look
ut the registered number and made n
mental note OF IT, Just then he saw
the man IA the auto throw something |
away. he went after it and found a
revolver
Taking It into the city he pawned