Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1911-12-18

Mten said 70 me: Why 90 you lay /
20 much stress upon Peter Crewe's
optical powers when the solution Of |
many of these cases was due quite as |
much to the fertility Of his mind and
bis deductive powers as to his ability |
70 remember everybody and every
thing that he had ever SEEM"
Ny answer to this criticism has
been that, while Crewe possessed in
q marked degree the ordinary detec-
tive instinct. yet in almost every case
II was his optical gift that started him
along the correct line OF investga-
ton. II was his power Of calling up
an exact scene, a footprint on car
pet, a misspeIled letter IN a manu-
script, the slightest deviation from
the normal, which none other could
have discovered, that furnished him
with his clues.
Take, for example, the case OF the
murder OF Walter Bentley. Everybody
suspected. OF at least sensed the fact,
that he had been killed by Sewell.
But Il was Crewe who, by means OF
this power Of his, afforded us proof
positive of Sewelrs guilt. Once the
pistol trap had been laid bare, Sewell
was shown to have purchased the
weapon, he was identified by dozen
persons, a net Of circumstantial evt
dence was woven around him, indie
pendently Of the confession which he
aftervard retracted, and ultimately he
paid the penalty Of his crime.
Bentley had moved into his palatial
Of va
Gated them. He had rented them
ready furnished, and thus, before he
left, SeweIl was enabled to lay his
trap. Had Bentley known who the
last occupant had been he would
never have taken up his abode there;
but Sewell had engineered the matter
30 cunningly, having first lived there
under an alias and subsequently Sc
cured Bentley's tenancy through q
series of adroit measures-had worked
the scheme with such perfection that
he got Bentley as his successor. That
was all he wanted. II ever a man had
cause to hate another, Sewen had
cause to hate Bentley. The man had
ruined him by Jndersellfng his Once
a-Year" clock, in the patent on which
a flaw existed, and flooding the mar
ket with an inferior product. Then he
had foreclosed a mortgage. left Seweli
penniless, and finally alienated his
wife's affections. Sewell had pondered
over these things until he became in
dubitably insane. He should have
been sent to an asylum; but he was
found guilty Of murder, for the Jury
considered that no lunatic could have
contrived so ingenious a conspiracy.
Bentley was highly pleased with his
new apartment, which he considered
a bargain. SO II was; that was part
OF the lure. When he saw one of his
own brand of "Once-a-Year" clocks
ticking merrily upon the mantel he
laughed and rubbed his hands, think.
ing how he had ousted Sewell, the in.
ventor. Altogether, Bentley was In q
high good humor.
Gordonia Mansions. where Bentley
lived, was in one Of those parts Of the
city in which the past and the future
seem to be struggling for supremacy
1t was an old house and the district
had once been fashionable-was still
so: but just across the street a row o.
rookeries had sprung up. inhabited b.
Italians Of the poorest and most reck
less character. Pistol duels were com
mon among them. When, therefore
Bentley was found dead upon the Zoo
OF his dining-room. an ugly bulle
wound In his head and a hole in tn,
plaster Of the wall, II was decided tina
n stray shot from the tenement
across the street must have cause'
his death. Suspicion was. for a time
drawn toward sewell, who had beel
breathing out threats Of murder; bu
Sewell had been staying in a countr.
house 20 miles from Gordonia Mar
sions. and had been there a week a
the time OF Bentley's death. The COZ
oner's jury brought in a verdict @
found dead" and the matter droppe'
out Of public notice.
II was Mrs. Bentley who urged m
TO investigate the affair. She had OF
tanned her divorce from Sewell. ha
married Bentley. and. knowing tn
ruthless and relentless character c
her former husband. besides bein
crazed with grief over Bentley's dealt
resolved to bring the murderer to Jus
tiee. Although / had little faith |
her suspicious Of Sewell, enliste
Peter Creve's aid in the matter. Tn
apartment had been left Just as It wa
At the time Of Bentley's death. Crew
and i went there to investigate. Dui
lay thickly over everything. the blu
let hole remained In the wall, and th
''Once-a-Year' clock still licked me
rflv vrror, fha ra.ntal
Crewe took his station in the doc
way and let his eyes travel slowl
around the room. In those Ion
glances he was photographing upo
the sensitive retina of either eye Ii
exact presentiment Of everything wit
In the boundary Of those four wall
Never thenceforvard, knew, woul
the smallest particular be forgotte
by him.
The bullet came through this wa
from the outside" said Creve. indies
ing the bullet hole. and went clei
through Bentiey's skull. Where did
go then? II was not found?"