The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1911-12-05

him. nall an analysis has shown
that the remains of his supper left By
the stabie-lad contain an appreciatiya
quantit~ OF powdered opium. while
the people at the house partook OF
the same dish on the same night
without any i'll effect.
Those are the main facts OF the
case, stripped Of all surmise, and stat
ed Us BADLY as possible. | shall now
recapitulate what the police have
done in the matter.
inspector Gregory, to whom TIA,
case has been committed, is an OK
tremely competent officer. Were he
but gifted with imagination ne might
rise TO great heights in his profession
On his arrival he promptly found and
arrested the man upon whom SuSpi-
cion naturally rested. There WAS little
difficulty in finding him. for ne In
habited one OF those villas which I
have mentioned. His name, il I'd.
pears, was Fitzroy Simpson. He was
a man Of excellent birth and educa-
ton. who had s~Quandered a fortune
upon the turf. and who lived now bv
doing q little quiet and genteel book
making in tho sporting clubs of Lon
don. An examination Of his betting
book showed that bets 20 the amount
Of i've thousand pounds had been reg
istered by him against the faVorite.
On being arrested he volunteered the
statement that he had come down 10
Dartrnoor in the hope of getting some
information about the Kings Pyland
horses, n also about Deshorough.
the second favorite, which was H.
charge Of Silas Brown at the Maple
ton b He did not attempt To
deny that he had acted as described
upo the evening before, but declared
that he had no sinister designs, auc
had simply wished to obtain first
hand information. When confronted
with his cravat he turned very pale.
and was utterly unable to account for
its presence in the hand Of the muir
dered His vet clothing show
ed that he had been out in the storm
of the night before. and his stick.
which was q fenang-lawyer weighted
With lead, was just such q weapon as
might, by repeated blows. have In
fiicted the terrible injuries to which
the trainer had succumbed. on the
other hand. there was no iii upon
his person, while the state Of Stra~
ker's knife would show that one at
least OF his assailants must "a his
marks upon him. There you have
it ali IN a nutshell. Watson. and il
you can give me any light l shah bc
infinitely obliged to you"
| had listened with the greatest in
terest to the statement which Holmes,
with characteristic clearness, had laid
before me. Though most Of the
Ltl1to Wei tliii41i6 III liz J. Idd not
sufficiently appreciated their rela-
tiSe Importance, nor their councc-
ton to each other.
rs it not possible suggested.
that the incised wound upon Straker
may nave been caused by his "
which follow any brain injury?"
1T is more than possible; it il
probable" said Holmes. I'm that
case one OF the main points in favor
And yet said l, even now / fail
TO understand what the theory Of the
police can be-
4 am afraid that whatever theory
We state has very objections to
u. returned my companion. The
police imagine, / take it, tnat this
Fitzroy Simpson, having drugeed the
lad. and having In some way Oh
tanned q duplicate key, opened the
stable door and took out the horse.
with the intention, apparently. OF
kidnapping him altogether. Ills
bride IS missing, 50 that Simpson
must have put his on. Then. hav-
ing left the door open behind him.
he was leading the horse away over
the moor, when he was either met
or o~vertaken by the trainer. 4 row
naturally ensued. Simpson beat
out the trainers brains with his heavy
stick without receiving any injury
from the knife which Straker used
in self-defense, and then the thief
either led the horse on to some secret
hiding place, or else it may have
holted during the struggle, and be
now wandering out on the .nOorS,
IS the case as it appears to the
police, and improbable as it is, all
other explanations are more improb-
able still. However, / shall very
quickly test the matter when am
upon the spot, and until then
[ cannot really see how we can get
much further than our present po-
Il was evening before we reached
me lttle town Of TaVistock. which
lles, IKE n boss Of a shield, in the
ihlddie or the huge circle Of Dart
Two gentlemen were await
ing Us IN the station-the one q tall.
man with lion-like hair and