Lower coast gazette., 1913-01-25
t,ons that to my mind call for expla'

10 'IlU you lOJlt0 hAb
Davis. 1t was still too dark for me W a
see the inspectors face, but teit c
sure that he was laughing at me. fe $
made me feel that way all too often. I
81 didn't" / answered rather cross
ly. "but what's that got to 90 WIN I
jt?" l
I'm afraid, Kent, as have said BE- I
fore, YOU will never make a good de- !
tectiye. You are entirely too unoO-
servant of important details. Do you
recall my asking early in u inVest-
CATION whether or not Crandail had
blue eyes"
Eyes" | g%rudgingly admitted, Z re
call it."
"As soon as / discovered that Gran
dali had blue eyes that eliminated MIN
as the probable criminal"
IL don't see your logic"
"I'ye told you before" said Davis,
after a pause long enough to permit
him to light another cigarette, that
there are classes Of crime INT types
of criminals, each strongly marked
after its own sort. I saw right at the
start that this crime was OF the MD
den sort, of the kind that includes con-
spiracy. blackmail, secret plotting
the kind that requires a skilful sneak.
You never in your life found a blue
eyed sneak. There are lots OF blue"
eyed desperadoes and burglars. Most
Of the notorious bad men Of the west
were b~lue-eyed, but you don't lind a
man with blue eyes shooting or STAB
bling a man In the back or kidnapping
a child or writing Matchmaking let
ters."
While I was not at all convinced
by his argument, I felt that 1t would
be useless for me to dispute it, for /
would be invading comparatively I'M
known territory, whereas he HndouDt'
edly had dozens of cases at his finger"
tips ready to illustrate his theory. /
decided to change the subject.
81 recall, too" I said. that you
asked IL Crandall was left-handed. So
far as I saw, he is not. What Of that?
Is that another proof Of Crandall's in
~nocence?"
NO." said Davis, "that didn't prove
Crandalls Innocence. 1t proved Rou'
ser's guilt. In fact. 1t was the left
handed clue that put me on the right
track ana eventually led me to this
very cottage"
"For Heavens sake" said | impa-
tiently, don't talk in riddles. Go or
and explain It."
you're not to blame" he continued
calmly, for not having seen the left
Ell handed clue. You lack the education
Only a person who had seen hundreds
and hundreds OF envelopes and hat
studied them closely would have Oh
served it. You remember that a po
liceman brought me part Of a yellow
envelope that had been found in oil
Andrew Elser's room. On it wal
stamp and part of the postmark. TIL
first thing that noticed was that til
stamp was put on crooked. Thi
might mean much or nothing. a let
handed person stamping q letter il
variably gets the stamp on crooked
!. 1t ordinarily is put in the upper RICH
hand orner Of the envelope. A RICH
handed person stamping a letter hs
the two edges Of the envelope as
guide. Try putting on a stamp viii
your left hand and you will see tn
your hand comes in such a positic
that the edges of the envelope al
hidden and in ninety.nine cases o.
Of a hundred the stamp is out
plumb. On the other hand. as a pos
office Inspector, / am well aware tn
in a business house or office whe
there is a large correspondence,
office boy mailing hundreds Of lette
at a time. Is apt to get mostEof t
stamps on crooked. If this yellow |
ter was one that had been mailed
a business Office, the crooked stan
meant nothing. II, or the other har
It had been mailed singly CT with
few others, 1t was pretty safe bettf
that the man who mailed 1t was lie
handed. It was easy after | came
Ardway, especially as Rouser was
ready missing and every n was ia
ing about him, to learn that he W
left.handed."
IT still fail to see," l said stubboI
ly, "why you did not suspect Cr'
dali. There we're many things IL
seemed to point to him-his teleph'
ing to Katharine just before she 81
herself, his sudden disappearance, I
finding of the morphine syringe in
rooms, the Ardway address in his no
book, coupled with the fact that G.
eral Parrish had forbidden him I
house. / do not see how you COZ
help %suspecting him."
"IN admit that On the surface thu
things all did look damaging,
against this was the one imports
fact that he was too well-balance'
too n II I might put 1t that "
I quickly learned that he was a re
table business man, that he was
OF the governors In two clubs, and
yourself informed me that Kathar
Parrish had thought highly Of b
No well-balanced man commitN cril
Of this sort. You might find an ms
man conducting a successful busin
and getting away with 1t. but II
highly improbable that he could
coed in not b~etraying his mental
dition to his club-feflows or his W
en- friends. On the other hand, a !
might be sane enough in society,
you would find the vagaries OF