Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-11-27
Amateur Detectives Give
Theories in MickIe Case

In reply to The Stars request for the
cries about the Mickle murder the follow
ing has been received:
One who has evidently carefully in
formed himself of the facts available
writes as follows:
81 believe William AIickle was killed
by petty thief who had no intention Of
committing murder when he entered the
dead mans store ] have reached my
conclusion by the following deduction:
"All murders have cause From my
point of view I can see but three-re-
venge, robbery an insane desire. The
last can be banished from the deduction,
as any one so inc ined would have prob
ably killed or injured several other per-
sons by this time. That Mickle was muir
dered for revenge Is improbable, because
as far as known he had no enemies, but
was liked by all who knew him. Even
if he had enemies it would hardly seem
probable that they would use a monkey
a time of evening and place where they
had to face the greatest peril The
wrench was a weapon that was most
handy. The weapon an American would
probably use for revenge would be a
firearm or a blackjack. Other nationali-
ties would probably use a dagger or
razor.
Not a Professional.
Therefore we have left only one rea-
son for the murder-robbery. A profess
sional burglar or hold-up man would not
have been willing to run the great risk
of being caught without being absolutely
certain of large gain. A professional
would have taken pains beforehand to be
absolutely certain on this point. The
most logical time for committing q rob-
berry would have been late at night, just
before Mickle was closing his store. Then
fewer people would have been about and
the proprietor would have probably had
q larger sum of money.
''The place where the murder was COM
mitted was a small back room, the door
and a portion of which are visible from
the street. When Mickle's body was
found 1t was face downward with the
head just about opposite the door. To
have been struck in the back Of the head
and knocked in such position Che was
hit at the base of the skull and the body
unmoved when the police arrived his
assalant would have had to be behind
him or MickIe would have had to be
leaning over, head down.
That the murderer could have been
back Of the man is improbable, as there
Is no entrance at the back Of the room,
also no hiding places. On the other hand
it is known the murdered man was in
the habit Of taking calisthentic exercises
Immediately after supper, during which
he OFTEN Dent over, toucnlng the moor.
Struck From Front or Side.
''On this theory the blow was struck
from the front or side. This means the
assailant either reached through the door
leading from the store to the room
(which Is In full sight Of the streeD or
was In the front of the room. Now in
the front of this room Is a small 'cuddy
hole quite large enough to conceal q
man. 1t seems probable If Mickie had
heard any one coming toward the back
room. even though he believed them
friendly, he would have paused in his
exercise long enough to see who they
| were. But Mickle was struck while
leaning over.
How could any one have gotten into
the cuddy hole? Easily. Mickle' q
friends say It was not unusual for him
| to leave the door open or unlocked while
he went to his home around the corner.
In this event q sneak thief seeing no one
| In the store could easily have started to
| rifle the cash drawer. which is locked
by a combination. But when the thief
| was in the midst of his operations, trying
| to find the combination of the drawer,
he heard steps approaching. Only one
place to hide-the back room. Hid ng
there he saw the proprietor take of his
sweater preparatory to going through
| his exercises. He believed the man