El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1913-04-26
Ill The Arson Mystery--My First Big Case

ton Of 50 persistently bathing a mys-
terry. But, then, there's no such thing
as a "mystery"-if you'll only use a
little common sense.
Burns Begins n Hunt.
The previous detectives had reported
that a man named-let US say-BOh
Judd, had probably been the driver who
had moved the furniture; but they had
not succeeded in proving il. They had
tried to rope" him, and they had
talled. be a long since disappeared.
/ started out to find hin.
1 found the house in which Judd had
roomed-a quiet ordinary lodging
on a quiet ordinary street; and
the mistress Of the house was a quiet
ordinary landlady. The merely ordinary
young man who came there TO ask for
his friend Judd behaved in nj eXtraOr-
binary manner He was naturally dis
appointed to find that Judd had left
some months before, and that the land
lady did not know where he had gone.
She thought that he had left town.
She did not know the name OF any
relative or any friend of Judd's from
whom it would be possible to learn
his address.
We'll. he had a sweetheart. hadn't
heE" I hazarded with a confident
yes" she said. He had that. But
I don't remember her name"
Where did h liver
Il don't know that, either. But l
mind her father was q carpenter"
Where did he work."
why" she said, he worked, to be
sure, wherever he had work to do
He was a carpenter"
Cant you tell me any one place
where he ever WorkedE
Il can" she said. "He worked, once.
down to the fair grounds-when they
were building them sheds"
Well" I ended c~heerfully. IF you
see Bob, tell him I was looking for
him Burke tell him-Ned Burke,
I'm sorry he didn't leave his address.
The End of n MethOdicaI Quest
I went then to the fair grounds. and
asked the name of the contractor who
the contractors office, I obtained a list
of the carpenters who had been en-
plOyed on the contract And the list,
naturally, was long.
mystery there comes a time when
the one needed clue must be found by a
search so tedious that nothing could
be more commonplace and boresome-
This is another department Of practical
detective work that does not bulk as
large in imaginative literature as II
does in life. The successful detective
must have the patient application OF
stupidity itself in order to ploq
trough the task undlScOuraged. 1
began to run OUT my list OF carpen-
tiers m~ethOdically; and I went from
One to another, asking news OF JQuL
After three or -four day L arrived
AT the home of a carpenter named
a small frame house in the
suburbs OF St Louis. with nothing 20
indicate that there was a mystery
concealed behind the cheap a c cur
tains Of its front windows or the pam
els OF its sun-blistered door. ]
knocked in a manner altogether mat
ter-of-fact. The girl who answered
pretty. petite, neatly dressed
with a red ribbon in her black hair
connection with an important matter
that I have in hand" 1 explained.
and I thought you might be able 70
helm me locate him. His name is Judd
Judd"
She looked surprised Then she
wen" she said. hes just-he's
And she glanced back over her
The cottage had no hall. and the
door opened directly upon the
little parlor. There was no one IN
room. u through the doorway
beyond-in what was evidently a sorL
of dining room and living roomI
could see a tall young man slttlns
with his head turned to listen II was
at him that the girl locked over her
shoulder. He rose. and 1 advanced TO
Burns starts to Rope Judd
Are YOU Mr.. Judd? I'm sorry II 1
yes" said Judd coony. and I know
yOu are. You're another OF
detectives. And I want to tell
voU Won can't do business with me-.
I don't want to hav anything to DO
with any of you. In my OPINION
you're a lot Of crooks"
had come without any expectation
Of meeting Judd, and, OF course 49,
plan prepared for roplng nm
The girl had her hand on judas arm
if to restrain him. ma al
right I assured her. This Is eN-
actIv what I wanted to hear anu
remark was the nrst step OF NY
e-Dnroacb toward roping Jud
If you're going to gain the conf
of a suspect, you have TO 90 IN
the same direction that he's gong.
You have to get in step win
Judd had a grievance against detec-
tives. Ny only play was TO nave q
grievance against them too
So. when Judd further hau eA-
messed his suspicion OF detectives dhG
his belief that they were all ~crOoAs
1 said: That's exactly what L want
TO prove by you. I'm IN attorney from
Chicago representing a numoer OF m
surance companies. We DeIleNe ln@l
rev been robbed by these men we
find where you've been paid two
thousand dollars and we cant Ilhu
any report to cover it"
Judd was q lank and muscular sort
OF homespun yankee with a lean,
shrewd face. c~lean-shaven- He aid;
What? They never paid me 70
Exactly" I said. But they've got
you charged with two thousand dollars
What I want to do is to bring sul
and have these fellows arrested"
Well h dirty crooksf'
"n we can prove this by you that's
we want. And WeU appreciate 1t
very much. Now. I don't want to in
terfere with your call this afternoon,
but IL you can arrange to come to the
hotel tomorrow morning
nv name is Williams. J. Williams
I'm stopping there. And il you can
come there tomorrow morning at 10
o'clock -
A Boy Confederate.
It was finally arranged, in the most
natural way in the world, that Judd
was out Of work and had just
to town to see Miss Martin
should give a few hours Of the fol-
lowing morning to a consultation
with the lawyer for the purpose OF
the detectives of the arson
on a charge Of fraud
rs I left the house, I did not feei
sure that Judd would not change his
mind before morning and fail to keep
his appointment-in which case 1t
would be well to know where he was