Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1912-12-12
The Case Of Oscar Slater
By Sir Arthnr Conan Douie
: Conan Doyle

a VIII, it would be difficult to imagine
any paper which would account for such
an enterprise, while jewels, on the other
hand, were an obvious mark for whoever
knew Of their existence.
Presuming that the assassin was indeed
AFTER the jewels, it is very instructive TO
note his knowledge of their location. and
also its limitations. Why did he 20
straight into the spare bed room where
the jewels were actually kept?
Inc same question may be asked with
equaI force If we consider that he was
room?3
THE CRIMINAL.
Any knowledge gathered from outside
10Y watcher in the backyard. for ex-
anlple) would go to the length of ascer-
ldlhlhs Which was the old lady's room
one would expect a robber who had
gained his information thus to 60 straight
10 Ihdt chamber But this man did not
90 so lie went straight to the unlikely
room in which both Jewels and papers
actually We're. Is not this remarkably
suggestive? Does it not pres suppose a
! previous acquaintance with the inside of
the fiat and the ways of it's 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
If 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
a time when the girl was bound to be
| back within a 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 fol-
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 fats, 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-
tions.
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 to
take another step to see who was ascend
! ing the stair. Would she not have taken
! it if it were only to say
what, have you forgotten your keys?"
That a nervous old lady should throw
open both doors, never look to see who
her visitor was, and return to her din
| ing room ia very hard to believe.
AN ANALYSIS.
And look at it from the murderers
point of view He had planned out his
! proceedings 1t is notorious that 1t is
the easiest thing in the world to open
the lower door of Scotch fat. The
blade of a pen knife will do that.
If he was to depend upon ringing to
get at his victim, it was evidently bet
ter 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 OIleT NdHDt II iS NSlO dt NiIS
upper door. and she answered it, he had
only to push his way in. Therefore, the
latter would be his course if he rang at
all.
And yet the police theory is that though
he rang, he rang from below.
It is not what he would do, and if he
did do ii, it would be most unlikely that
he would get in. How could he suppose
that the old lady would do so incredible
q thing as leave her door open and return
to her calling? If she waited, she might
even up to the last instant have shut
the door in his face
II one weighs all these reasons, one
can hardly fail, I think, to come to the
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 it
for granted that the maid had come back.
But if he had keys, how did he get
the mold and how did he get them made?
There is a line of inquiry there.
The only conceivable alternatives are,
that the murderer was actually concealed
in the fat when Lambie came out, and