Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1912-12-10
The Case Of Oscar Slater -
or1ock Holmes in Real Life
rOnAY'S INSTALLMENT.
By Sir Arthuy Conan Doyle

.. nae the one really damaging allie
s,n-so damaging that had L myself
II 49,, unon the jury and believed 1t to
o should have recorded my YER
~. ,gainst the prisoner, and yet this
No fatal point had no substance at all in
IN This incident alone, there seems
no IN lie good ground for revision
.he sentence. or a reference of the
.,.,. to some court or committee of ap-
80, Here is the extract from the lord
s,...sta's speech to which | allude:
DAMAGING STATEMENT
.,t this time he had given his name
Cookies neople in Glasgow as Oscar
.,.,.r ON December 25th, the day he
vac IN go back to Cookies office-his
name and his description and all the
.ost of il appeared in the Glasgow papers
and he sees that the last thing in the
,.old that he ought to do, if he studies
his own safety. is to go back to Cooks
,tfice As oscar Slater. He accordingly
proceeds to pack up all his goods and
.+facts mon the 25th SO far as we know,
lie never leaves the house from the time
1s sees the paper. until little after 6
o'clock. when ne goes down to the Cen
tral station
Here the allegation is'clearly made and 1t
Is repeated later that Oscar Slater
name was in the paper. and that, subse-
onently to that, he fled. Such a fight
would clearly be an admission of guilt
That point is of enormous, even vital
Importance.
md yet on examination of the dates,
+, will be found that there is absolutely
no foundation for it. 1t was not until the
evening Of the 10Th that even the police
heard Of the existence of Slater, and it
was nearly a week later that his name
appeared in the papers, he being already
lar out upon the Atlantic.
What did appear upon the 25th was the
..scrfption Of The murderer, already
uloted: with his face shaved clean OF
m hair" etc, Slater at that time having
marked mustache Why should he take
such description of himself, or why
should he forbear to carry out journey
which he had already prepared for? The
goint goes for absolutely nothing when
examined, and yet If the minds of the
Jury We're at all befogged as to the dates,
the definite assertion of the lord advo-
cafe, twice repeated, that Slater's name
had been published before his flight, was
bound 10 have a most grave and pref
JUDICIAL effect
Some of the lord advocates other state
ments are certainly surprising. Thus he
SAYS: THE prisoner is hopelessly unable
to produce single witness who says that
he was anywhere else than at the scene
Of the murder that night"
Let us test this assertion Here is the
evidence of Schmalz, the servant, YER
batim I may repeat that this woman
was under no known obligations TO Sla-
ter and had just received notice from
him The evidence of the mistress that
Slater dined in the fiat at seven ON the
night OF the murder I pass. but I do not
understand why Schmalz's positive cor
roboration should be treated by the lord
advocate as nonresident.
The prisoner might well be hopeless"
his witnesses were to be treated so.
Could anything be more positive than
thiso
Q. Did he usually come home TO
dinner"
A. Yes always. Seven o'clock was
the usual hour
.. WAS it sometimes nearly eight"
\. ut was my fault. Mr. Slater
was in"
Q. But owing to your fault was it
about eight before it was served?''
\. NO. Mr.. Slater was in after
seven, and was waiting for dinner"
This seems very definite, The murder
was committed about, seven. The muir
oerer may have regained the street about
ien minutes or quarter past seven. 1t
vas some distance to Slater's fiat. If he
40 done the murder he could hardly
nave reached it before half-past seven
al the earliest. Yet Schmalz says he was
IN at seven, and so does Antoine.
The evidence of the woman may be
good or bad, but it is difficult to under
stand how any one could state that the
prisoner was "hODelaSSly ma bIa IN nro-