Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1911-09-15

arose quite early, and taking a spade
with him, went toward a house near
the outer part Of the town. He
walked to the side of the building
and, clearing away the snow from
portion of the ground, prepared to
dig. Pinkerton appeared at this awk-
ward moment.
"a little early in the morning for
physical culture he remarked, dryly.
Eyes grinned Billy, throwing down
his spade. Il guess you're right about
that"
He was taken into custody by the
Pinkertons and the local police.
After he had been placed under lock
and key, the officers proceeded with
the interrupted job. They dug down
two feet into the ground and found
an ordinary fruit jar which con-
tanned large portion Of the missing
number of settings from which the
diamonds were missing. Robert
Pinkerton knew that one Of Billy's
tricks was a habit of hiding his booty
in the most unheard-of places.
''This squirrel" it was remarked,
'has been concealing his choicest
kernels in the expectation of hard
| winter. We must look elsewhere"
Naturally they went to Coleman's
home and there began one of the
most thorough searches known in the
annals of crime. For completeness, it
| could only be compared to the meth
| DDS Of M. Dupin. Those who have had
| the good fortune to read E'The Pur-
Joined Letter" will recall that the
celebrated French sleuth left nothing
to chance. M. Dupin boosted that he
had keys with which he could open
any chamber or cabinet in Paris.
| The entrance of the police into the
suspected house, however, was only
the preliminary to this famous case.
| The Partisan police, 1t will be remem
| bered, engaged in a series of exam
| nations which make the work Of the
redoubtable Sherlock Holmes look
clumsy and amateurish in comparison.
They investigated first the furniture
| of each room. They opened every
possible drawer, saying, by way of
parenthesis, that to a properly-trained
police agent such a thing as secret
drawer was impossible. After the
cabinets they took the chairs. The
cushions they probed with fine, long
needles. From the tables they re-
moved the tops. They examined the
rungs of every chair in the house.
and indeed the jointings of every de-
scription of furniture by the aid Of
most powerful microscope. They
| looked for any traces of recent dis
turbances. ga single grain Of ginlet
dust" the project said, would have
been as obvious as an apple"
But in this famous piece of fiction
al detective work the police went still
further They looked to the mirrors,
between the boards and the plates,
they probed the beds and the bed
clothes as well as the curtains and
the carpets. Even this was not con-
sidered sufficient. They looked among
the books and the papers of the sus-
pected man. They opened every pack
age and parcel; they not only opened
every book, but they turned over
every leaf in every volume. They
also measured the thickness Of every
book cover with the most accurate
measurement Some five or six vol
umes, fresh from the binder, they
probed longitudinally with the
needles. They explored the floors be-
meath the carpet and the paper on
the walls. The examination included
the ground about the house. The moss
between the bricks was scrutinized
and found undisturbed. In fact. they
divided the house and the two houses
Immediately adjoining, and scrutin-
lied each individual square inch with
the aid Of microscope. Not until
al this was done-and it occupied
weeks OF time-did they finally con-
clude that the missing letter was not
in that house.
With such an i1lustrious example
before them, the Pinkertons began
the examination Of Billy Coleman's
house. They locked Into chimneys
and fireplaces. and even gazed in
quiringly behind the pictures on the
walls. It seemed like game Of
blind mans buff. When all seemed
hopeless, Pinkerton's attention was
attracted by a number Of flowers and
plants that occupied the section of
bay window in the living room.
Examine those plants" directed
Pinkerton
The searchers looked at him in
amazement.
EYES," he smiled, in answer to
their incredulous glances, II mean
what I say"
"How shall we begin?" asked one
of the searchers.
Start on that big rubber plant"
The man did as he was directed.
A long, sharp stick was run into the
earth of the tub that held the plant.
The stick struck foreign substance.
The earth was quickly removed and
pasteboard box was found at the
bottom Of the tub. It contained sixty
nine Of the diamonds that had been
stolen at Connargfnyvn fr1uY months