Omaha daily bee., 1921-07-31
Worlds Greatest Detective Cases


cause | had known Brinkley fo
some time and | had never seei
him drinking; besides l knew hin
to be a teetotaller."
II was plain to Fowler that i
Parker was telling the truth, ane
if both Parker and Brinkley dranl
out of the same bottle without any
i'll effects, that the prussic acid mus
have been put in it by someone after.
ward. In the meantime he could
not see any reason why the Beck
family should attempt to commit
suicide. Neither could he understand
why either Parker or Brinkley
should attempt to murder the
couple: and furthermore, Brinkley
never knew the Becks and had not
even met them.
Together All the Time.
As the case stood in the Scotland
Yard mans mind, either Brinkley
or Parker had put the prussic acid
in the bottle of stout. Fowler then
ross-examined Parker. -
you both drank out of the bot.
tie" he observed.
"Yes, sir, we did
"Then where did you go:"
"Brinkley and | went out together
Down the street l parted from him
and went to the house of a man
named Marsh who had given me
the dog. | stopped at Marshs
house all night"
Either before or after you two
had drink of that stout. did you
leave the room at ALL" asked the
Scotland Yard man.
I'VE were together all the time,
replied Parker. Just moment" he
added, except for about a minute.
Brinkley complained that the stout
was too strong and wanted a drink
of water. | went down stairs and
came right back again. 1t did not
take me a minute
Fowler was satisfied that Brinkley
had time enough to mix the prussic
acid in the bottle of stout even in
that short period But why he should
want to poison the Becks, whom he
did not know, puzzled the Scotland
Yard man the most.
DO you know where Brinkley
lives" he asked Parker.
Il was going to take the dog to
Maxwell Road, Fulham," Parker re-
piled.
"Are you intimately acquainted
with Brinkley?"
"I can not say l was intimately
acquainted with him, but l have
known him for sometime" answered
Parker. Some years ago we had an
argument over my wife. Then later
he wanted me to commit perjury. He
had will and he asked me to swear
that | had witnessed il"
"Will?" questioned the Scotland
Yard man.
"Yes, it was a will. He said that
there was some money left to him,
and he asked me to swear that saw
the party who left him the money
sign the will. But i never saw it
signed, so l told him l could not
swear to something l did not see."
Fowler began to see motive
which Parker himself had not under
stood. To the detectives mind it was
clear that Brinkley had intended the
poisoned stout for Parker and that
the Becks had been poisoned acci-
dentally. At any rate even if it could
not be proved that Brinkley put the
poison in the stout, Fowler could
have him put under arrest in the will
case, both of which he wanted to in
vestigate further.
Fowler was certain that Brinkley
was the murderer so he made up his
mind to go to Fulham and put
Brinkley under arrest.
1t seems to be human nature, or
peculiar to the weakness of criminals
under suspicion, that they make the
most damaging statements, insigni-
fcant as they may be, at the moment
of their arrest. The recorder of
these cases has examined several
hundred famous cases all over the
world and he noticed that in nearly
every case few words of protesta-
ton, or expression of innocence, gave
the experienced detective his major
clue.
"Brinkley, l put you under arrest
on charge of administering poison,
namely prussic acid, to Reginald
Parker with intent to murder him.
announced the Scotland Yard man
as he gave Brinkley the usual
stereotyped warning that anything
he might say would be used against
him in the future
Brinkley's reply was the exclanla-
ton, "Well 1 am sugared!"
As Fowler put the hand cuffs on
Brinkley he. further informed his
man that he would probably also
be charged with the murder of Mr..
and Mrs. Beck. "They have died
as result of the prussic acid ad-
ministered to them," he added.
Il am sugared again." Brfnkley