The Washington herald., 1919-01-19

usual manner, and sent to jail TO
await trial
But the case never came to trial. A
learned District Attorney. possessed
OF a great deal of common sense and
fairness, saw the farcical injustice OF
the thing and promptly freed Cole
without a trial.
And there the long pursuit OF the
murderer OF Ada Gilbert Dennis off,
cially came to close.
There are times when murder will
not out" So writes a learned crimi-
nologist in a book that is in the police
library. ION these occasions" he
continues, "the relentless tentacles
of the law are far-fiung upon the dis
covery of the crime, in the hope Of
enmeshins some helpless man or
woman who wears the invisible brand
of Cain. But when clues and evidence
fail, when all the skill OF men trained
in the hunting Of man has been ira
versed TO its barren end, then the
( hand of the law, stayed by the wall OF
impenetrable mystery, goes cropping
/ through fruitless years, Unguided
save by surmise and conjecture. Then
ii is that the law recognizes that II
has come face to face with its arch
enemy. a being fortunately of rare
occurrence-The Perfect Criminal-he
or she who slays and leaves no trace
| behind.
Mystery UnsoIved.
His blood lust satiated, this being
( goes piece by piece over his cloth
| ing. No drop OF avenginE blood has
/ settled there to betray him. The hands
of his victim, outfung in mortal
agony. have failed to tear loose a
! single button or thread that might
later rise to fasten the black cap OF
( the condemned hang about his
eyes. And so, safe from every accu-
sation save that OF an outraged, rest
less conscience, the murderer fades
J into the obscurity whence he came. to
/ take up uninterrupted his casual Itfe.
and to leave the mystery OF another
! perfect crime upon the murder an
mails OF the age"
/ What of the strange cry in the night
, that was heard by three representa-
/ tives Of the police department? No
one can answer that satisfactorily.
. Every desk sergeant in the city can
/ tell Of heated arguments IL the sta
/ ton houses on stormy nights about
/ the cry Of the woman heard BY men
several blocks apart on the night that
Ada Gilbert Dennis was mysteriously
attacked. A few laugh the story TO
scorn. but three members of the Met
, ropolitan police department. one OF
them a high official. testified under
oath that they heard the strange
voice. Was it a warning from the
Z spirit world? Tris is the belief OF
many At any rate it has gone down
! in the history OF crime Investigations
( as one OF the mysteries that the skill
I OF man has failed to explain.
! So ends the story OF the strange
murder of Ada Gilbert Dennis. the
most celebrated case in the history
OF the Metropolitan Police Depart
ment. IL not. indeed. the most famous
: in the annals OF crime. 1t aroused
the attention OF some OF the great
CTiminologists Of Europe, who offered
hypothesis which could not he sus-
tained. 1t is always spoken OF as the
'unsolved mystery" So ends the
story, except
There are two little news items. ap-
parently unrelated, given below for
the reason that they are OF strange
interest. Without comment these two
items are submitted as memorandum
postsCTiDts:
Memorandum No. lin the autumn
of 1885,. 81 years ago. the city OF
Gainesville, Texas, was shocked one
morning by a horrible crime. Two
young girls. sleeping together. had
been brutally murdered and mutilated
with a hatchet. A young man OF the
town was suspected by the police and
was put under surveillance. but for
lack OF evidence he was not arrested
and the murders. which are recorded
as the most brutal in the history Ot
Texas crimes. were never avenged by
the law. The young man who was
suspected subsequently moved 1,
Washington. d. c.
The name Of the young man was
Samuel Preston.
Memorandum No. 2-In the earl,
morning of December 16. 1901. ;
man in the Ingleside Apartment,
in X street got up. wrote a not,
at a table in the room, and PLACED