Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-12-16
Yesterdays Mystery Solution

THE case Of 1.-THE Green
-.,nno >, Samuel skiddore, the
a,.or had prepared it in advance as
nu s,,h, He had to leave town early
on avsn;ps to allow himself time to
'nu' ,;, The crime by 0:15 in Center
cv ,m. Hence he sought for some form
'," e,,,I chat would make 1t appear that
u ,,,d not have left for Centerviile
ne son'u ,ntor after 8 80, the time OF the
last mail collection. A.. ~ on
n 4, the mail chute, and with
,,s.Ia ve,JIp omm pressed 1t to the inside OF
ntt'e ,,,te knowing that when the jani-
tne ...ned on the steam ut 9 o'clock the
t.oonTa.,,no toT morning the gum would melt
io,iIb I ,bo letter drop into the mail box
an, III IN time for the first collection,
.Nm, ve,v making It appear that 1t had been
ms;Ied some time after $3.50 the eve
ming before. =.
XVIII ".".
Can you solve this mystery
'" THE NAILED WINDOW
<xIT is remarkable Harvey Hunt
l unused, ito what ingenuities, the
,.,,minal mind will resort to make
thing which we know to be faCt ap-
Ia ,mpossible. 1t seems to be an
absession with a certain type OF mur-
Jorer. Il he can leave his victim in n
.',oro securely locked on the inside, that
be Is safe.
eyes" agreed DeKyne, looking up
from his book at the promise of some
reminiscences from the criminal inves-
tqator, "I remember your story OF the
boIted room, in which the murderer shot
the bolt behind him by means OF loop
Of string passed between the door and
the sssl.'
"Here's a similar case," said Hunt.
He thumbed the pages of the diary on
Che table before him. and continued
"I won't bother you with names and
letes. It wasn't really sensational
case, and the attendant circumstances
were sordid. But these were the facts !:
"A man was found snot through the
head. He was found In room appar-
sptly bolted and locked securely on the
inside. The assumption upon casual in
spection, but only upon casual lnspec-
tfon. was that he had committed suicide.
But the bullet had entered his forehead
and there were no powder marks on the
skin. Another suspicious circumstance,
the revolver was quite free from finger
prints. As the dead man wore no
gloves, how could he have avoided leav-
ing the mark Of his hand on It? Unless
be had worn gloves and had an arm
many feet long he could not have shot
himself without leaving fingerprints and
powder marks.
80 we assumed murder, and found
a man against whom there was over
Whelming circumstantial evidence. The
only gap in the chain was how he got
out Of the room leaving 1t barred on the
inside. He wasn't clever enough to see
the obvious conclusions we'd draw from
the absence of powder marks and finger
prints, but I'll have to admit he showed
brains in closing that room behind him.
'"There was one door, and one win
dow. The door was locked, with the
kew on the inside. 1t was the sort Of
lock that might have been manipulated
from the outside with q pair Of thin
forCeps, but there were no scratches,
even under microscopic examination, to
show that this had been done. Besides
there was much heavy furniture piled
against it on the inside. You see, il
was n door that opened inward.
The window was securely fastened