Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1912-12-12
The Case Of Oscar Slater =
By SIR arthur Conan D0yle

uation' 1t might be said also that save
d WILL 1t would be difficult to imagine
any paper which would account for such
an enterprise, while jewels, on the other
Idhd, were an obvious mark for whoever
knew of their existence.
Fresuming that the assassin was indeed
after the jewels, 1t is very instructive to
note his knowledge of their location. and
also IT'S limitations Why did he go
straight into the spare bed room where
the jewels were actually kept?
Inc same question may be asked with
equal force if we consider that he was
after the papers. Why the spare bed
room?
THE CRIMINAL.
ANY knowledge gathered from outside
10Y watcher in the backward. for ex-
ample would go to the length of ascer-
tanning which was the old lady's room.
one would expect a robber who had
gained his Information thus to go straight
TO that chamber. But this man did not
40 So He went straight to the unlikely
room in which both jewels and papers
actually were. Is not this remarkably
suggestive? Does ii not pre-suppose a
previous acquaintance with the inside OF
the fiat and the ways of its owner?
But note the limitations of the knowl
edge. If it were the jewels he was after,
he knew what room they were in, but
not in what part of the room A fuller
knowledge would have told him they were
kept in the wardrobe. And yet he
searched a box.
II he was after papers, his information
was complete; but if he was indeed after
the jewels, then we can say that he had
the knowledge of one who is conversant,
but not Intimately conversant, with the
household arrangement.
TO this we may add that he would seem
TO have shown ignorance of the habits OF
the inmates, or he would have surely
chosen Lambie's afternoon or evening out
for his attempt, and not have done it at
time when the girl was bound to be
back within very few minutes.
What men had ever visited the house
The number must have been very limited.
what friends? what tradesmen? what
plumbers? Who brought back the jewels
after they had been stored with the jew
elers when the old lady went every year
to the country?
Lines Of inquiry.
One is averse to throw out vague sus-
picions which may give pain to innocent
people, and yet 1t is clear that there are
lines of inquiry here that should be fo7
lowed up, however negative the results
How did the murderer get in If Lam
bic is correct in the thinking that she
shut the doors?
I cannot get away from the conclusion
that he had duplicate keys. In that case
all becomes comprehensive, for the old
lady-whose faculties were quite normal
would hear the lock go and would not be
alarmed, thinking that Lambie had re-
turned before her time. Thus she would
only know her danger when the murderer
rushed into the room and would hardly
have time to to rise, receive the first
blow, and fall. as she was found. beside
the chair, upon which she had been sit
ting. That is Ineligible.
But if he had not the keys, consider the
difficulties. If the old lady had opened
the fiat door her body would have been
found in the passage. Therefore. the po-
lice were driven to the hypothesis that
the old lady heard the ring, opened the
lower stair door from above (as can be
done in all Scotch flats), opened the fiat
door, never looked over the lighted stair
to see who was coming up, but returned
to her chair and her magazine, leaving
the door open, and a free entrance to the
murderer
This is possible, but is it not in the
highest degree improbable?
Miss Gilchrist was nervous of robbery
and would not neglect obvious precau-
tons
The ring came Immediately after the
maids departure. She could hardly have
thought that it was her returning, the
less so as the girl had the keys and would
not need to ring. If she went as far as
the hall door to open it, she only had tt
take another step to see who was ascend
ing the stair. Would she not have taker
ii if 1t were only to say:
"What. have you forgotten your keys"
That nervous old lady should throw
open both doors, never look to see whC
her visitor was, and return to her din
ing room is very hard to believe.
AN ANALYSIS.
And look at 1t from the murderer's
point of view He had planned out his
proceedings. It is notorious that 1t Is
the easiest thing in the world to oper
tho lower door of Scotch fiat. Inc
blade of a pen knife will do that.
If he was to depend upon ringing II
get at his victim, it was evidently bet
fer for him to ring at the upper door
as otherwise the chance would seem very
great that she would look down, see him
coming up the stair, and shut herself in.
on the other hand, if he were at the
upper door, and she answered 1t, he haG
only to push his way in. Therefore, the
latter would be his course If he rang al
all
And yet the police theory is that though
he rang. he rang from below.
1t is not what he would do and II ne
did do it. it would be most unlikely tha'
he would get in. How could he suppose
that the old lady would do so Incredible
thing as leave her door open and return
TO her calling? II she waited, she might
even up to the last instant have shu
the door in his face.
If one weighs all these reasons, one
can hardly fail, ] think, to come to th'
conclusion that the murderer had Keys
and that the old lady never rose from
her chair until the last instant because
hearing the keys in the door, she took /
for granted that the maid had come back
But If he had keys, how did ne ge
the mold, and how did he get them maze
There is a line of inquiry there.
The only conceivable alternatives are
that the murderer was actually concealed