The Washburn times. [volume] (Washburn, Wis.) 1896-1976, 1913-02-06


| stable, engaged in the work of awak-
ening him by the park policeman's
tnethod-kicking him on the soles of
| his shoes.
! The process was successful. The
constable snorted, drew up his lega,
rubbed his eyes and sprang to his feet.
''lt will be daylight in half an hour, |"
I heard Davis tell him. 81 want you
TO go and get the blackboard and drive
arGnd to where Rouser's body lies.
Bring me any papers you find in his
pockets. Leave his money and his
watch and keys, so as not to arouse
any suspicion Of robbery. AS soon as
you have done that l want you to
drive back and pick up the body be-
| fore anyone else finds it. Drive with
it to Millervale and leave it there.
Don't talk too much. Tell everybody
! that you found the body at the foot
of the precipice and impress on them
that it must have been an accident in
the dark. AS soon as you can convent
| emily get away, come back here. Make
| sure. though, that nobody follows you"
/ AS soon as the constable had gone,
Davis lit cigarette, turned up his
| coat collar and took a seat on a
rough bench just outside the door.
Come on out here, Harding, and
watch the sun rise," he called to me.
| rose hastily from where had
! been sitting gazing stupidity about me
/ and joined him on the bench.
There was something you wanted
| to ask me, wasn't there?" he said
pleasantly.
There were SO many things I want
| ed to ask him | hardly knew where to
begin, but the first thing | blurted out
was;
+; Us Hugh Craniall gulty?"
| "He is guilty only of being In love
with Katharine Parrish against her fa-
| theirs Wishes" he replied.
But surely" l said doggedly, "he
| has some connection with the crime
Of the yellow letters. He knew
Young He knew where to find him.
! There are many things about his ac-
| tions that to my mind call for eXpla-
nation
Did you notice his eyes?" asked
Davis. 1t was still too dark for me to
see the inspectors face, but | felt
sure that he was laughing at ME. He
made me feel that way all too often.
Il didn't" | answered rather cross
ly, but what's that got to do with
| it?"
I'm afraid, Kent, as have said be-
| fore, you will never make a good de-
tective. You are entirely too unob-
servant of important details. Do you
recall my asking early in our investi-
cation whether or not Crandall had
blue eyes?"
"Yes," / grudgingly admitted, Il re.
call it"
CAS- soon as l discovered that Gran
dali had blue eyes that eliminated him
as the probable criminal"
II don't see your logic"
1--WE told you BEFORE" said Davis.
after pause long enough to- permit
him to light another cigarette, that
there are classes of crime and types
of criminals, each strongly marked
after it's own sort. | saw right at the
start that this crime was of the hid
den sort, of the kind that includes con.
spiracy, blackmail. secret plotting
| the kind that requires a nkilful sneak.
You never in your life found blue
eyed sneak. There. are lots of blue
eyed desperadoes and burglars. Most
of the notorious bad men Of the west
| were blue-eyed, but you don't find a
man with blue eyes shooting or stab
| bling a man in the back or kidnapping
child or writing Matchmaking let
| ters."
| While | was not at all convinced
| by his argument, l felt that It would
| be useless for me to dispute it, for |
| would be invading comparatively un-
known territory, whereas he undoubt-
eddy had dozens of cases at his finger
| tips ready to illustrate his theory. |
decided to change the subject.
81 recall, too" l said, that YOU
asked if Crandall was left-handed. So
far as l saw, he is not. What of that t?
Is that another proof of Crandall's in.
nocence?"
NO" said Davis, that didn't prove
CrandalIs Innocence. 1t proved Rou-
ser's guilt. In fact. 1t was the left
handed clue that put me on the right
track and eventually led me to this
very cottage"
For Heavens sake" said l impa-
tiently, don't talk in riddles. Go on
and explain it,
you're not to blame,' he continued
calmly, s'for not having seen the left
handed clue. You lack the education.
Only a person who had seen hundreds
and hundreds Of envelopes and had
studied them closely would have OBJ
served it. You remember that po-
liceman brought me part of yellow
envelope that had been found In old
Andrew Elser's room. On it was q
stamp and part Of the postmark. The
first thing that ! noticed was that the
stamp was put on crooked. This
might mean much or nothing. A left
handed person stamping a letter in
variably gets the stamp on crooked.
It ordinarily Is put in thelupper right
hand corner of the envelope. A right
handed person stamping letter has
the two edges of the envelope as a
guide. Try putting on a stamp with
your left hand and you will see that
your hand comes in such position
that the edges Of the envelope are
hidden and in ninety-nine cases out
of a. hundred the stamp is out Of
plumb
IT still fail to see," said stubborn
ly, why you did not suspect Gran
Gall. There were many things that