The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1922-01-05

AA0ANcss Uuk3 - 1kG1lu4n SAl0, EASfSn
AZ way of maxim d horse talk.
So the sergeant ut to work to col
lecf what bits Of evidences do could
gather from the SURROUNDING street.
Caught OH an the spokee of the
buggy wheel, where Ii had evidently
been torn on by the force of the col
lisi0n, was Il nickel-plated lamp rim
bearing the name OF the Ham Lamp
Company. Rochester, n r.. That,
and q small fragment OF automobile
tire about three inches In length, ap-
peared to be the only results Of the
damage which the automobile had SUI
fered.
But Brennan figured that, as the
lamp rim had been torn from Its
socket, the lens Of the lamp would
naturally nave been shattered, SO he
set to work to pick up the bits of
glass. When he returned to 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
1t had caught and the Jagged piece
torn from the automobile tire.
what r you going to do with
that junk" inquired his associates on
the force. "f Sherlock Holmes had
had those he could have told you the
make of the. car. the complexion of
the man who was driving it, the Ii
n number and how many gallons
of gas there was in the tank-but,
outside Of a book, what good are
theyT -#.
Maybe none at ALL" admitted
Brennan, "but If youth use some brains
when you look at 'em youth note sew
eral things that may be of help in To-
catin' the car that killed McHugh and
then drove off into the night. I never
did take much stock In the Sherlock
Holmes stories-it's easy enough to
fix 1t so that your hero can solve a
problem that you know the answer of
but here's one case In which I think
that his deducin' theories will come In
pretty handy.
"See that smudger" and the ser
geant held up the buggy spoke and
pointed to what appeared to be q worn
place IN the wood toward the end
which had been nearest the wheel.
AT first I thought 1t vas merely
where the paint had worn or and the
wood showed through. But the rest
Of the buggy was spick and span.
Only a few days out of the shop. So
1 examined 1t more carefully and
found that it vas a bit of gray paint,
scratched off the body of the death
car itself!
Take that lamp rim, now. There
are -four teen 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 70 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, n mirror lens and
n concave-convex lens. If you'll ft
EN- together you'll see that the ca
carried eight-inch gas headlights and
sfx-inch oil sidelights. Therefore it
was an old model. The bit Of rubber
was very evidently ripped off a four
inch tire. Now, you members of the
traffic squad, what kind Of a a an
swers those specifications"
"a 1909 Packard. model 49," came
In a chorus from several of the men
who had been trained to recognize
the make and model of an automo-
bile from the appearance of it's head
lights.
fright! !" snapped Brennan. "Old
Sherlock Holmes wasn't so far put Of
the way after all. Now all we have
% look for is a 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 S~ixty-ninth street and
we ought to have our mar before
morning. I've done enough work for
one night and Pm perfectly wfllin'
that one of you boys should have the
credit for the arrest! 7"
1t was less than an hour later that
the headquarters phone rang and
Brennan was notified that the owner
and driver Of the car had been ar
rested and had confessed. giving as
an excuse the fact that he hadn't seen
McHugh's buggy unfit he had been
right on top Of it and then 1t was too
late to stop the machine. But the fact
that he had driven On, without stop
ping to see what damage he had
caused. was enough to convict him of
manslaughter and send him to the
penitentiary for an extended vfsit-all
on account of a few pieces of glass, a
bit Of rubber and a smudge Of paint,
plus the ingenuity Of the detective
who s11ccesSfullv w0va these objects