Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1912-12-14
"The Case Of Oscar Slater
By Sir Arthur Conan Doyk

ton Of the crime. he. at least, could
nave had nothing to do with it.
There is one other piece of evidence
which may or may not have been Of i'm
portance. 1t is that of Miss Brown. the
schoolmistress.
An uncalled Witness.
This lady was in court bur seems r.
| have been called by neither side for the
reason that her evidence was helpful 70
! neither the prosecution nor the defense
| She deposed that on the night of the n,u,.-
oer' about ten minutes past seven. she
saw two men running away from the
scene One of these men closely CORES
ponded to the original description of the
murderer before it was modified bv Par
rowman. This one was of medium, b,,,,a
dark hair and clean shaven with tbraa'
quarter length gray overcoat. dark tweed
cap ana both hands in his pockets
Here We have the actual assassin DO
| scrlDed to the life. and had Miss Brown
usciared that this man was the prisoner
She would have been a formidable addi-
Not 70 the witnesses for the prosecution
MISS Brown, however, identified Oscar
0!ater (after the usual absurd fashion NJ
such identifications) as the second man
| "hom she describes as of dark glossy,
/ mar navy blue overcoat with velvet col
lar, dark trousers, black boots. sometime
IN mis- hand which seemed clur1ster Than
walking stick.
one would imagine that this object i'm
his hand would naturally be his hal since
| she describes the man as harebeaded Am
that can be said of tslis Incident is thar
II the second man was Slater. then he
! certainly was not the actual murderer
whose dress corresponds closely to the
| ursl' ana IN no particular to the second.
10 the Northern eye. all swatthy for
e!gHers bear resemblance, and that
Inere was swaTthy man. whether for
eign or not, concerned in this affair would
seem to be beyond question That there
should have been two confederates ons
OF whom had planned the crime while the
other, carried it out. is perfectly FEAST
BILE supposition.
Miss Browns story does not necessarily
contradict that Of Barrowman. as one
would imagine that the second man would
JOIN the murderer at some little dis
lance from the scene Of the crime How
ever, rs there was no cross examination
upon the story, II IS difficult to know
what weight TO attach 10 it.
Let me say III conclusion that have
had no desire in anything said in this
argument to hurt the feelings or usurp
the functions of any one, whether the
police or the criminal court, who had to
do with the case II is difficult to dis
cuss matters from a detached point OF
view without giving offense am well
aware that it is easier to theorize at a
distance than 10 work case out In
practice, whether as detective or as
counsel.
leave the matter now with the hope
that, even after many days some sud
den fash may be sent which will throw
a light upon as brutal and callous
crime as has ever been recorded in those
black annals in which the criminologist
finds the materials for his study
Meanwhile It is on the conscience of the
authorities and in the last resort on that
Of the community that this verdict, OBJ
tanned under circumstances which I have
indicated, shall now be reconsidered
THE END