Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1922-10-31
The story thus far:


Inspector Stanley Hopkins goes to
Sherlock Holmes for help on his first
lip case. Captain Peter Carey, fifty
wears old, almost daring and successful
seal and whale fisher, has retired and
settled down on small place called
Woodman's Lee. He lives with his wife,
his daughter, and two women servants.
He is gloomy sort of man, fiend when
he is drunk. He was known on shipboard
rs Black Peter.
"You must have read in the account
of the INQUEST about the mans cabin,
. Mr.. Holmes" Hopkins went on, but
pcrhaps YOUR friend here has not heard
! of il. lie had built himself wooden
outhouse-he always called it the cabin
a few hundred yards from his house,
and it was here that he slept every night
II was a little. singlc-roomed hut sixteen
feet by ten. He kept the key in his pocket
made his own bed, cleaned 1t himself
and allowed no other foot to cross the
threshold. There are small windows on
each side, which were covered by curtains
and never opened. One OF these windows
was turned toward the high road, and
when the light burned in it at night
the folk used to point it out to each
other and wonder what Black Peter
was doing in there That's the window,
MIR Holmes, which gave us one OF the
" hits of positive evidence that came
vt { the inquest
,ou remember that q stonemason,
named Slater, walking from Forest Row
about one O'Clock in the morning
two DAYS before the murder-stopped
rs he passed the grounds and looked at
the square of light still shining among the
trees. He swears that the shadows OF q
mans head turned sideways was clearly
visible on the blind, and that this shadow
was certainly not that of Peter Carey,
whom he knew we'll 1t was that of q
bearded man, but the beard was short
and hriStled forward in n way very
different from that Of the captain. SO
he saws, but he had been two hours in
the puhliC-house and 1t is some dis
tance from the road to the window.
BESIDES, this refers to the Monday, and
the crime was done upon the Nednes-
day.
'On the Tuesday, Peter Carey was
in one of his hlackcst moods flushed with
drink and as savage as a dangerous wild
beast He roamcd about the house, and
the women ran for it when they heard
him coming Late in the evening he went
down to his own hut About two o clock
the following morning his daughter,
who slept with her window open, heard
- most fearful yell from that direction,
lut il was no unusual thing for HIM
& hawl and shout when he was in drink,
- no notice was taken. On rising at
seven. one of the maids noticed that the
door Of the hut was open, but so great
was the terror which the man caused
that II was midday before anyone would
venture down to see what had become
of him. Popping into the open door, they
saw a sight which sent them flying. with
white faces, into the village. Within an
hour | was on the spot and had taken
over the case
"Wef. | have fairly steady nerves
~ YOU know, MIR. Holmes, but | give
Nou my word, that | got shake when
| put nv head into that little house
II was droning like n harmonium with
the flies and blucbottles, and the floor
and walls were like a slaughter-hOuse,
lie had called il a cabin, and cabin it
was. sure enough for YOU would have
thought that YOU were in ship. There
was bunk al one end, a sea-Chcst maps
and charts picture of the Sea Unicorn,
line of logboOks on a shelf all exactly as
ono would expect TO find II in captains
room. And there, in the middle of It,
was the man himself-his face twisted like
a lost soul in torment, and his great
hrindlcd beard stuck upwards in his
agony. Right through his broad breast
steel harpoon had been driven, and it
had sunk deep '"tO the wood OF the wall
behind him. He was pinned like a
beetle on card. OF course, he was
quite dead. and had been so from the
instant that he had uttered that last
Veil of agony.
Il know your methods, sir, and ]
applied them. Before ! permitted
anvthing to be moved examined most
carefully the ground outside and also
the door of the room. There were nc
footmarks."
Meaning that you saw none?"
Il assure you, sir, that there were
none"
My good Hopkins, l have investi,
gated many crimes, but ! have never
vet seen one which was committed
10y a flying creature. AS long as The
criminal remains upon two legs so lont
must there be some indentation, some
abrasion, some trifing displacement
which can be detected by the scientifi,
scarchcr. It is incredible that this blood
hesTattered room contained no trace
which could have aided usII understand
however. from the inquest that Their
were some objects which YOU failed Il
overlook" "
The Young inspector WINGED at m.
companions ironical comments.
81 was a fool not TO call YOU in at tn
time, Mr.. Holmes However, that
past praying for now. Yes, there wer
several objects in the room which callet
for special attention. One was the har
poon with which the deed was commit
ted II had been snatched down from
rack on the wall. Two others remained
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