The Ordway new era., 1922-03-10

VIXEN sergt. John F; Brennan of
" New York's police force reached
Siyty-ninth street and Park ave-
Que 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 driv-
ing along in 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 spokes OF the
buggy wheel. where 1t 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. n. T." That.
and 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 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
1t 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 OF
the man who was driving 1t, 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 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. l never
did take much stock in the Sherlock
Holmes stories-it'S 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 smudge?" 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 l 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
examined II more carefully and
found that 1t was bit of gray paint,
scratched off the body of the death
ear itself
"Take that lamp rim, now. There
are fourteen cars on the market that
are equipped with lamps made by that
company. So shat REDUCES the NUMBER
of suspects that much more. we've
got to look for gray car of one or
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.
"Thers are three kinds of glass there
-one plain glass, one mirror lens and
one concave.convex lens. II you'h nj
'em together you'll see that the car
carried sisht.inch gas headlights ana