The Marshall republican., 1911-04-28
THE
BULLET
BY RUTH A
Copyright by American Press Asso-
citation. 1911.
BY RUTH GRAHAM

bills at the time. but rs soon as he
had finished and thrust them In his
safe he went In next door and found
the occupant. Daniel Jones. sitting IN
his chair with his heud down on hi
desk. dead.
My ONCE was in the same building
and hearing Of the murder ! went
into Jones' Office. A surgeon was ex
tracing the bullet from the wound.
and us soon as he had done so II was
seized upon by a detective who stood
waiting for Il. The detective rolled
II up In his handkerchief and was
going away with II when ! said to
him:
II believe you detectives are hum
bugs. making a great ado ubout small
things to keep up an appearance Of
efficiency. I'll bet you a hundred dol.
lars TO ten that the bullet you have
taken never leads to the discovery OF
the murderer"
"SIuce 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 WE'LL" I replied. III II Is so
In this case come TO my office. tell
me the story. and I'll give you a hun.
dred dollars"
We exchanged names and addresses
aud ! thought no more about the mnt.
ter til ! saw II stated In a newspaper
that n man had been tried for the
murder OF Daniel Jones. The Jury had
not been ten minutes In coming 20 n
verdict OF J%ustlHnblc homicide The
very next morning the detective with
whom I had made the bet came Into
my Office and claimed u hundred dol
lurs. invited him 20 be seated and
tell me the story.
81 examined the bullet with a micro.
scope" he said. ''and discovered u tiny
scratch on one side. AMI. lookila
further. found another scratch twice
thr breadth Of the first about one-thlrd
The distance around the circumference
II I could ind n pistol with two SpeckS
In the brrrcl nj such distance from
zach other 20 make those two scratches
'fl " ifuNttf HlfN lfplii " Y Nbhlh nav
.hr weapon with which Mr. Jones was
killed.
'''rhc next move was OF course TO
learn OF u person or persons who
world have n motive FOR the murder
The family OF The murdered man were
very loath 10 point a finger OF sus
piclon az any one. and ! had . hard
| sIna. - ...0 .uushls.. ss - ehAVt.
Jones had n debtor. Evans. whom the
family admitted 10 have pressed 80
strongly for payment that the two had
l%unrrelcd bitterly about the matter
Then there was q discharged coach
man who nc the time ~ his discharge
went away muttcring curses. These
were the only suggestions | could get
from the family. and ! went TO work
~ both OF them NJ once,
II effected mn entrance to the house
~ Jones debtor and found n pistol H.
his drawer. but OF a different callber
from the our With which be JoncS'
had been killed. Besides. from other
Indications I made mp my mind thur he
i,si nothing to do with the murder.
also found the coacnmnn who had
hcen discharged. hut no pistol In his
i~,osseS'iou
II sat down one day. liz u cigar. put
iny feet up. ON. n desk and did "a joa ~
blinking. I can think out my soluble
problem with n cigar In my mouth and
my feet In the air. The murderer, M
t'tcr shooting Jones. would naturally
be worried about the pistol with
which he committed the deed. since u
might be used as evidence against
him. Even the htting OF the ball In Il
considered with other incriminatinc
circumstances, might convict him III
would cndeavor TO get rid Of II. How
He would ether try to lose Il. give II
away. sell II or pawn It. ! rely greatly
on criminals anxiety to get rid OF In
cr!minnting articles. There was d
chance In this case that the pisto
would find It's way into either a sec
ond hand store or a ~pawnshop. ! con
Guided 10 60 through all there were OF
both In the town.
I'm a pawnshop l found u new re
,olver. only one barrel OF which hut
been used. that had been pa wned
day or two after the Jones muir
der. focused the suns rays II
the barrel with a glass and thought
saw some scratches, but could not b.
sure. l bought the pistol, loaded thu
barrel that had been used and hret
the ball into a tank full OF water Re
covering the bullet I found on II TN
scratches I was looking for"
The detective paused. and !. taking
up my ~checkbook. wrote him a checl
for a hundred dollars. Handing Il 4
him remarked that the rest Of hi
job was doubtless dead easy. but
would like TO hear how II was mnn
aged.
II was moi long" he continued. fold
hg the check and putting II IN hi
pocketbook. ''ln dndIng the persol
who bad pawned the revolver. III
was q tramp and said he Ind beel
, -r.tllu. ~ rooS tnvvopt tha atf,