Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1922-02-11
True
Detective Stories
BROKEN GLASS

W7HEN sergt. John F: Brennan Of
w New York's police force reached
Sixty-ninth street and Park ave-
nue. shortly after the accident which
caused the death Of John McHugh. he
found practically nothing which could
come under the head Of evidence"
McIiugh, II appeared, had been driv-
Ing along In a light buggy. shortly
after dark. An automobile. speeding
from behind. had struck the buggy
and smashed II To bits. killing Nc
Hugh instantly. Apparently the only
living witness to the tragedy was the
horse, but. as Brennan said. there's
no way Of maxim u horse talk"
So the sergeant set to work TO col
lect what bits OF evidence he could
gather from the surrounding street.
Caught on one of the spokes of the
buggy wheel where II had evidently
been torn Off by the force of the col
lision, was a nickel-plated lamp rim
bearing the name Of the Ham Lamp
Company Rochester. y. " That,
and a small fragment of automobile
tire about three inches in length. APP
peared to be the only results Of the
damage which the automobile had suf-
fered.
But Brennan figured that. as the
lamp rim had been torn from Its
socket, the lens of the lamp would
naturally have been shattered. so he
set to work to pick up the bits OF
glass When he returned 10 head
quarters that night he brought with
him an envelope containing twenty-one
pieces of glass. together with the nick
eled rim. the buggy spoke on which
IL had caught and the jagged piece
torn from the automobile tire.
What are you going to do with
that junk?" inquired his associates on
the force. "If Sherlock Holmes had
had those he could have told you the
make OF the car. the complexion or
the man who was driving IT, the IL
cense number and how many gallons
of gas there was in the tank-but.
outside of book. what good are
they?'
Maybe none at all" admitted
Brennan. "but II you'll use some brains
when you look at 'em you'll note sew
eral things that may he Of help in To-
catin' the car that killed McHugh and
then drove off into the night. | never
did take much stock In the Sherlock
Holmes stories-it's easy enough 10
fix 1t so that your hero can solve
I al Ia ~
but here's one case In which ! think
that his de,lucin' theories will come In
pretty handy.
"See that smudgei" and the ser
geant held up the buggy spoke and
pointed TO what appeared to be worn
place on the wood toward the end
which had been nearest the wheel
AT first thought il was merely
where the paint had worn OF and the
wood showed through. But the rest
Of the buggy was spick and span
Only few days out Of the shop. So
examined II more carefully and
found that Il was a bit of gray paint.
scratched off the body of the death
car itself!
''rake that lamp rim. now. There
are fourteen cars on the market that
are equipped with lamps made by that
company. So that reduces the number
of suspects that much more. We've
got TO look for a gray car Of one OF
those fourteen makes. which elm
mates more than 20 per cent OF the
cars in the city"
But what about those pieces Of
glass: What are they goin to tell
your"
Eventually. the name Of the man
who owned the car" replied Brennan
There are three kinds OF glass there
one plain glass. one mirror lens and
one concaye.convex lens. II you'll ut
'em together you'll see that the car
carried eight-lnch gas headlights and
six-inch oil sidelighis. Therefore II
was an old model. The bit Of rubber
was very evidently ripped on four
inch tire. Now. you members Of the
traffic squad, what kind OF car an
swerS those speclficationsT'
"A 1909 Packard. model IS" came
III u tiihEuS AEuiu otNNiat Va AtSH
who had been trained TO recognize
the make and model OF an autOmo-
bile from the appearance of its head
lights.
"Rightw snapped Brennan. "old
Sherlock Holmes wasn't so far out OF
the way after all Now all We have
TO look for is 1909 model Packard,
painted gray. with AT least one cash
along the paint on the right side and
badly in need OF repairs. The head
lights are gone. so the car couldn't
have travelled very far. Get after the
garages around Slxty-ninth street and
we ought 10 have our man before
morning. I've done enough work for
one night and I'm perfectly wiliin'
that one Of you boys should have the
credit for the arrest y
II was less than an hour later that
the headquarters phone rang and
Brennan was notified that the owner
a