The Lee County journal. (Leesburg, Ga.) 1904-19??, 1922-04-28
True
Detective Stories
BROKEN GLASS


Slxty-nlnth 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"
McHugh, It appeared, had been driy'
Ing along in a light buggy, shortly
after dark. An automobile, speeding
from behind, had struck the buggy
and smashed 1t 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 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 spoEes of the
buggy wheel, where 1t had evidently
been torn off by the force of the col
lIslon. was nickel-plated lamp rim
bearing the name Of the Ham Lamp
Company, Rochester, N. Y" That
and small fragment of automobile
tire about three inches in length, APP
peared to be the only results or the
damage which the automobile had sur
fered.
But Brennan figured that, as the
lamp rim had been torn from lts
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 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
it had caught and the jagged piece
torn from the automobile tire.
"What are you going to do with
that junk2" inquired his associates on
the force. IF Sherlock Holmes had
had those he could have told you the
make of tile car, the complexion OF
the man who was driving 1t, the IL
cense number and how many gallons
Of gas there was In the tank-Dut'
outside Of book, what good are
theyY
"Niaybe none at ALL" admitted
Brennan, "but If you'll use some brains
when you look at 'em you'll note sew
eral things that may be 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-its easy enough to
fix it so that your hero can solve a
problem that you know the answer OF
but here's one case In which think
that his deducin' theories will come in
pretty handy.
"See that smudge2" 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.
eat first / thought it was merely
where the paint had worn off and the
wood showed through. But the rest
of the buggy was spick and span.
Only few days out OF the shop. SO
I examined it more carefully and
found that it was a bit of gray paint,
scratched off the body Of the death
car itSelfi
"Take 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 gray car Of one OF
those fourteen makes, which elm
mates more than 20 per cent Of the
cars in the city,"
"Bnt 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 concave-cOnvex lens. If you'll ht
EN- together you'll see that the car
carried eight-ineh gas headlights and
six-inch oil sidelights. Therefore 1t
was an old model. The bit Of rubber
was very evidently ripped off four
inch tire. Now, you members Of the
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 its head
lights.
Right" snapped Brennan. sold
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, go the car couldn't
have travelled very far. Get after the
garages around Sixty-ninth street and
we ought to have our man before
morning. I've done enough work for
one night and Pm perfectly willin'
that one of you boys should have the
credit for the arrests"
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 until he had been
right on top of it and then it was too
late to stop the machine. But the fact
that he had driven on, without stop