Ashland tidings. [volume] (Ashland, Or.) 1876-1919, 1913-03-24

| ana tneSe were my 1aVOrlteS.
One day when | was alone in the Of
| fee l opened the cabinet and began
handling the contents. There were sew
eral buttons, razor, two shoes mot
mates), bloody shirt, two knives, one
pistol and bullet.
The last named had been put in the
day before and had killed a man; there
fore | was very much interested in 1t,
taking it up and examining it closely.
On it | noticed three scratches of diff
: ferent depth and length, two near to-
gether, the third on the opposite side
Of the circumference. | took up the
pistol and, looking into the muzzle. no
ticed bit of rust about as far down
in the barrel as | could see. Then an
idea occurred to me. Might not the
scratches on the bullet have been made
by bits of rust or other inequalities in
the barrel of the pistol from which it
was fired?
knew the pistol in the cabinet had
nothing to do with the bullet, for the
former had been there a long while,
but the pistol from which the latter
had been fired doubtless existed, and if
another ball should be fred from it the
same streaks should appear on its sur
face as on the first one.
My experience with boys has taught
me that they know a lot of things
man doesn't take time to consider. For
instance, boy living beside a rail-
road knew every train and its number
that passed his home and a great many
, other things about the road of which
his father was profoundly ignorant. l
had shown boys observation in no.
ticing the scratches on the bullet and
: resolved TO do a bit of investigation
I on my own account. i had q pistol at
. home and that evening put a drop of
B water in its barrel near the muzzle.
' The next morning there was a rust
' spot where the water had been. took
: smooth bullet out into the yard,
. loaded the pistol with it and, fred it
straight up into the air. / found it
:. when it came down and examined it.
T There was a scratch on it. but not well
| marked l rusted the pistol in two
3 find three scratches on it.
p asked at the office II the pistol
: from which the bullet in the cabinet
; was fired had been found and was told a
9 man living in the same house as the
= murdered man was suspected Of the
!, murder. A revolver had been found in
+ the suspects room with one empty
chamber, but there was nothing to
prove that the bullet 1t contained had
done the murder, except that the bull
let was of the same caliber as the pis-
tol.
l wished to get possession Of that
pistol, If possible, and see If the bull
let fitted it, but the pistol was not in
the cabinet, and l didn't know where
1t was. So went to the chief and told
him that If he would get the pistol for
me l would tell him whether it had
contained the ball that did the murder.
He asked me how / would know, and
refused to tell him, whereupOn he de-
clined to let me have the pistol. which
was in the hands of one of the office
force After that said no more about
the matter.
Several days later he and the detec-
| tive who had the pistol belonging to
| the suspect called me to them and ques-
toned me as to what l had meant by
connecting the bullet and the pistol. |
told them that If they would fire new
bullet from the pistol of the suspect
into the air | would tell them if the
bullet in the cabinet did the murder
They decided to fire it into water.
Taking me with them, they fired it into
a wooden cistern eight feet high, and
when it was found they showed it
| to me.
looked at it and saw scratches
| on it to correspond with those on the
bullet that had done the murder. |
took the two bullets and showed the
| two men the corresponding scratches
| on each, proving that both had been
fred from the same pistol. Subsequent
ly the rust spots inside the pistol were
located. On this evidence alone the
| suspect was convicted.
My chief told me that l was a born
| detective and had better follow the
| business. Young as l was, he took me
| on the force and put me on cases
| just the same as the other detectives.
have been successful, but l don't
| think any Of my cases have been as
| neat as the one that insured my en-
| trance into the profession. ] attribute
| 1t first to the fact that ! had a boys
| instinct to observe what man would
| pass over lightly and upon noticing the
scratches on the bullet in the cabinet
| was fortunate in seeing rust spot
| near the muzzle of the pistol there,
| Had that rust spot been trihe farther
| down In the barrel I would not have
| seen 1t. would not have associated it
| with the scratches, would not have To-
Gated the murderer and would not have
become a detective. Possibly ! might
1 houo hnaA onuoafhipey haitian