The Washington times., 1922-12-17
Photograph Of q
Scotland Yard
Detective Hold ding

"HE whole civilized world has been
i taught to look upon Scotland Yard,
the detective department of the
London police, as mankind's supreme
triumph in detective science. The French
police might blunder, the Berlin de-
tectives might go astray and the de-
tective, brains of America might prove
unequal to the task--but the unerring
genius of Scotland Yard was infallible.
.2On the stage .and in the detective
novels the Scotland Yard detective has
fired the Imagination with tie penetra-
ton and resourceful skill of super-man.
Conan Doyle, it is true, in his famous
"Sherlock Holmes" stories was ac-
customed to present the Inspector from
Scotland Yard as good deal of a bone
head and never match for criminals Of
brains. ~.
But recent astonishing revelations have
made the British public doubtful about the
boasted brains of Scotland Yard. Things
have happened in the secret confines Of
the great detective bureau which makes
England uneasy and raises the suspicion
that Conan Doyle's protrayal Of the child
Ike simple-mindedness of tLose detective
srpermcn, may, after all, be unpleasantly
true to life, .i
If there is any one thing which a,
person Of even high school intelligence
ought to know, it is that anybody con-
spicuous in public life and who has many
desperate enemies ought not to eat from .
box, of candy sent him anonymously.
T. q /. - s~S~ - 4
the guiding head Of all the detectives, did
that very thing himself and was poisoned.
He narrowly escaped with his life. III
But that Is not all.
: Poisoned cake was sent to two in
spectors of Scotland Yard, but they had
sense enough to send the package to be
analyzed before they ale any.
And that is not all.
A package of poisoned sweets was also
recently sent to one of the detectives of
Scotland Yard, to a secret address which
was only known to very few people, be-
cause at the time this detective was n
was a particularly disturbing thing.
And even this is not all.
Scotland Yard is q solemn and
mysterious place and it was considered
that inside its guarded gates, in its secret
vault. was the safest spot in all England
to store the priceless Cullinan diamond
which holds the place of honor in the
roynl crown And yet the fact leaked
out recently that the crown jewels had
almost hcen stolen--an attack had been
made on the vaults in the guarded con-
fines Of Scotland Yard!
I.,.' what happened or who It was who
ha,, che consummate audacity to attempt
to burglarizc the secret safe OF the
grtstcst detective organization on earth
has not been revealed.
BIT one thing is certain. Scotland
Yar5' now has on its hands very real
tet;.aof merit. The British public waits
ar watches to see If the super-detectives
viii ii,l the hand that sent those poisoned
chocolates which nearly destroyed their
chief as he sat at his desk in the fancied
security of Scotland Yard itself.
~ The chocolates were mailed to Sir
William Norwood, the chief, in Q d.
lait,,ated cardboard soap box, wrapped in
ccfon batten, and outwardly bore every
Indication of their suspicious character.
Tha writing on the plain white paper
wfppper, to an observant eye, would
CLEARLY, indicate that the sender was con-
ceuling his true handwriting. The pen
marks were partially printed, and
partially written out.
Only two days previously another box
C0nLatniug pOiSVuCu SilVCOh0sC CohC uou
been received by two Tother Scotland
Yard officials, but not eaten because the
irss ription on the box was not identified
Later a comparison Of the handwriting
on the poisoned cake box wrapper with
that Of the wrapper containing the
poisoned chocolates showed that they had
both been scrawled by. the same hand.
Notwithstanding all this, the poisoned
ch6colates safely got by the diligent
guards whose duty It is to protect their
chief from all such anonymous parcels,
and were laid on his desk. When he
started to eat them he gave one
chocolate to his secretary, who on biting
Il, told Sir William that II tasted very
bitter, and warned him against eating
more. Yet he persisted in consuming
several and % much poison was taken into
IA, stomach that he vomited and threw
off' enough to save his life. ~
To-day the secret assassin IL still at
large. after one Of the most extraordinary
murder attempts Of modern times
sWill the Scotland Yard detectives
fsthom this mystery within the walls Of
their own once? II