The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1912-07-11
SHERLOCK HOLMES 0M REAL LIFE
DROP OF TCRPENTINE PROVED THAT WOMAN WAS MUIR
DEIeED AND NOT A SUICIDE.

| accept the theory of suicide unless
there are indubitable proofs of it.
Now. in this case, the proofs all
tended the other way.
when l came into the bedroom 1
found Messner in Il state of collapse,
which remorse, il is true, might have
occasioned, and, while I gave him the
benefit of the doubt, 1 could not help
noticing that his usually sleek hair
was all awry. his collar and cravat,
usually so irreproachable, We're open.
and his appearance that of a third
class actor trying to create the i'm
preston of extraordinary excitement.
But in real life folks do not tear open
their collars when excited. They never
think about their appearance. FIRE.
quentlY even the expression of the
face. contrary to general belief, does
not index the inward tension.
so far common sense only had
made me suspicious. When + re-
turned to the bedroom. after hearing
what you had to say, l found a drop
OF oil of turpentine on the cover of
the washstand. We scientists know,
and Herr Messner. being employed by
the Thlenbuth laboratories. knows,
that alcohol. or sulphate of lead, or
oil of %turpentine will remove the
traces of phosphoric acid OF phos-
phoric salve. both of which. of course,
are highly luminous in the dark.
of oil of turpentine was suspicious, for
it is an ointment for which a house
hold hasn't much Use.
Il drew the blinds and closed the
shutters. so that the room was en-
tirely dark. Then / examined the
dead woman's mouth. The traces of
phosphoric salve had been carefully
removed. Blu several spots upon the
tongue, deep down in the cavity of
the throat, We're luminous.
"The possibility. Of course, existed
that your mother had poisoned her
self, and that your stepfather. fear
ing that suspicion would fall upon
him, had used his medical knowledge
to erase the traces of the poison, and
then suspended your mother to simu-
late suicide by hanging, which is the
for moi suicide to which women as q
rule give preference.
7 ascertain whether your mother
had been alive when she was hanged,
or whether her dead body had been
suspended. I removed the rope very
carefully from her neck. The very
fact that a rope had been used
pointed to murder, for suicides by
hanging almost invariably employ
some soft substance scarf, a silk
handkerchief or Indian silk-the sub
conscious tendency being to minimize
pain at the moment of death as much
as possible.
well, after I had laid the body
upon h bed I carefully examined the
skin and the flesh upon which the
rope had pressed. The double moose,
in hanging. squeeZes a fold of flesh in
between the two strands of the rope
or scarf used, particularly in persons
tending to corpulency, like your
mother. Now, We know that the cap
~illaries of the cutis-that is. the skin
Immediately, or almost Immediately
after death. empty themselves Of the
blood that Is in them. In persons who
have hanged themselves. the moose
being placed around the neck during
life. this fold of flesh will retain a
considerable amount Of blood for
hours after death; in fact. until the
moose Is removed. for the pressure to
which the neck is subjected by the
moose makes 1t impossible for the
blood to recede from between it.
your mothers neck did not pre-
sent this appearance. The skin caught
by the moose was saggy, and there
was not a drop Of blood left in the
skin or II flesh caught between the
noose-conclusive proof that the skin
and h flesh had become exsanguined
before h moose was placed about the
neck.
Lastly. to make assurance doubly