Omaha daily bee., 1919-07-14

side, you see, is the thumb mark
very good impressions all of them. u
He spoke without raising his voice
but Mr.. Cupples could perceive that
he was ablaze with excitement as
he stared at the faint gray marks
This one should be the index
finger. I need not tell man of your
knowledge of the world that the pat
tern of it is singie-spiral whorl, with
deltas symmetrically disposed. This
the print of the second finger, is a
simple loop, with staple core and
IS counts. l know there are IS, be-
cause | have examined in detail
Look-!' he held one of the mega
tives up to the light of the declin-
ing sun and demonstrate with a
pencil point. You can see they're
the same. You see the bifurcation
of that ridge There it is in the
other. You see that little scar near
the center. There it is in the other
There are a score of ridge charac-
teristics on which an expert would
swear in the witness box that the
marks on that bowl and the marks
l have photographed on this mega
tive were made by the same hand"
"And where did you photograph
them? What does it all mean?''
asked Mr.. Cupples, wide-eyed.
81 found them on the inside of the
left-hand shelf of the front window
in Mrs. Manderson's bedroom. AS
| could not bring the window with
me, | photographed them, sticking a
bit of black paper on the other side
of the glass for the purpose. The
bowl comes from Manderson's room.
1t is the bowl in which his false
teeth were placed at night. | could
bring that away, so | did"
But those cannot be Mable'
finger marks"
Il should think mott" said Trent
with decision. "They are twice the
size of any print Mrs. Henderson
could make"
Then they must be her hus-
band's.'
Perhaps they are. Now shall we
see if we can match them once
more? | believe w can" Whistling
family, and very white in the face,
Trent opened another small squat
bottle containing dense black pow
der. "Lamp-black," he explained.
Hold bit of paper in your hand
for a second or two, and this little
chap will show you the pattern OF
your fingers" He carefully took
up with a pair of tweezers one of
the leaves cut from his diary, and
held it out for the other to examine.
No marks appeared on the leaf. He
tilted some of the powder out upon
one surface of the paper, then, turn
! ing it over upon the other; then
shook the leaf gently to rid it of
the loose powder. He held it out
to Mr.. Cupples in silence. On one
side of the paper appeared unmis-
takably, clearly printed in black, the
same two finger prints that he had
already seen on the bowl and on
the Photographic plate. He took up
the bowl and compared them. Trent
turned the paper over, and on the
other side was a bold plack replica
of the thumb mark that was printed
in gray on the glass in his hand.
Same man, you see" Trent said
with a short laugh. II felt that it
must be so, and now | know" He
walked to the window and looked
out. Now | know" he repeated in
low voice, as if to himself. His
tone was bitter. Mr.. Cupples, I'M
Outstanding nothing, stared at his
motionless back for a few moments.
Il am still completely in the dark"
he ventured presently. Have often
heard of this finger-print business,
and wondered how the police went
to work about it. 1t is of extraor-
binary interest to me, but upon my
life | cannot see how in this case
Manderson's finger prints are 60
/ ing"
Il am very sorry, Cupples," Trent
broke in upon his meditative speech
with a swift return to the table.
when l began this investigation |
meant to take you with me every
step of the way. You mustn't think
| have any doubts about your discre-
ton if l say now that l must hold
my tongue about the whole, thing,
at least for time. | will tell you
this: l have come upon fact that
looks toe much like having terrible
consequences if it is discovered by
any one else" H looked at the other
with hard and darkened face, and
struck the table with his hand. 1T
is terrible for me here and now. Up
to this moment l was hoping against
hope that l was wrong about the
fact. | may still be wrong in the
surmise that l base upon that fact
There is only one way of finding Out
that is open to me, and l must
nerve myself to take it," He smiled
suddenly at Mr.. Cupples' face OF
CONSERVATION. "All right-I'm not
going to be tragic any more, and
III tell you all about it when | can
Look here, I'm not half through my
game with the powder bottles yet.
He drew one of the DETAINED
chairs to the table and sat down
to test the broad ivory blade of the
paper knife. Mr.. Cupples, swallow
ing his amezement, bent forward in
an attitude of deep interest and
handed Trent the bottle of lamp
| black.
Continued Tomorrow