The Little River news., 1922-03-29
True Detective Stories IROQUOIS MURDER

THERE are many who have ridi- culed the methods by which Craig Kennedy, Sherlock Holmes and other master sleuths of fiction have arrived at their infallibly correct conclusions by deductive reasoning or by mechanical apparatus which re. .yis- ters every fraction of a heartbeat or every minute change in the suspects respiration.
 But every now and then these same methods are used by detectives in real life, frequently with great degree of success.
 For example there was the Hotel ! lroquoiS murder case in which Police Commissioner Dougherty of New York applied q mixture of the Holmes and Kennedy rules in such a manner as to make the guilty man practically con- viCt himself. although at the time he Wits ignorant of the fact that he was doing 1t.
 William H. Jackson, wealthy guest of the hotel, was found dead in his room one morning, stabbed through the heart. His gold watch and sew eral other pieces of jewelry had not been touched, but the only money in his clothes were three twenty-five cent pieces in one of his vest pockets. AS Jackson was known to have car ried good deal of money, the SUD- position was that he had been mur- dered by someone who had either lost his nerve or who feared to take the watch and jewelry because they could be too easily traced.
 Even Commissioner Dougherty's knowledge of the working of the criminal mind could find little that could be dignified by the term "clue."
 Jackson had evidently returned to his room rather late the night before in fact one of the clerks recalled seeing him enter shortly after mid night-but the elevator boy said that he had come up alone, and that no one had gone up or come down from the same floor for several hours after wards.
 "That means nothing," Dougherty point4 out.
 After a careful examination of the room and the body of the murdered man, Dougherty returned to his office and contented himself with seeing that the machinery of the police was kept carefully oiled. But to no effect.
 AS days passed without further de- o10 fc fhn fn or.if{ cize and find fault.
 Finally, when the wave of criticism had reached a height that he could no longer afford to overlook it, Con- missioner Dougherty decided to try method which, as he phrased it, twas a shot in the dark-and hundred-to- one shot at that"
 "All we've been able to find out" he said to one of his lieutenants, lis that Jackson was stabbed by left handed man, standing behind him and slightly to one side of him. Jackson dropped without a sound and the mur- derer was able to lift his roll with out disturbing the body in the slight est. The whole thing probably didn't take more than sixty seconds. Now, excluding the guests in the hotel at the time-most of whom it's manifest ly impossible to reach-I want you to round up every person who was in the Iroquois that night. Find out which ones are left-handed, and bring 'em down here and let me talk to 'em."
 "Third degree, chief?"
 "No" snorted the commissioner. "That wouldn't do in this case. At least the old-fashioned kind wouldn't. Pm going to try something new. It's q gamble, but we've got to take a chance"
 One by one the left-handed brigade was marched into DOugherty's office. One by one he put to them set of questions, one of the first of which regarded their health and the state of their pulse. Once he had his finger on the suspects wrist, he never lifted 1t until the final question had been asked and answered.
 It was not until the commissioner commenced to question Paul Geidel, the elevator boy who had taken Jack son up to his floor the night that he had been murdered. that he noted any material change in the pulse beats of the persons he was examining. When he asked Geidel what he had done i'm , mediately after Jackson had stepped out of his car, the boys pulse hesi tated and then commenced to race But his voice was quiet enough as he replied that Jackson had asked him for some ice water, that he had brought 1t, placed 1t outside his door l and gone on with his work.
 Instantly thought flashed into Dougherty's mind-"Jackson ppened the door. produced a roll of bills asked for change for dollar, and tipped ,Geidel quarter, slipping the other three into his vest packet Geidel. seeing the money, murdered Jackson either then or later. Al I least he knows something about the
 crime. His pulse is proof of that