Mountain Home Republican. [volume] (Mountain Home, Idaho) 1915-1946, 1922-02-11
True
Detective Stories
THE RED HAND
by The whss.sr syadicafs. Inc.
A IL aboard All aboard I"

~ n LII aOOdru All hpoHiui
~ Jhe guards who had charge
of the London local which was
due to stop at Hackney shortly after
Xix o's.ock In the evening, were even
more insistent than usual In their de-
mands ono night In the summer, for the
train was already late and trying to
make up time. But cry OF conster-
nation from one of the men who was
boarding the train brought the at
PENDANTS flocking around him.
"Look!" he cried. pointing through
the glass of the compartment toward
'he cushions Of the seat on the far
dde. My God. man! Don't you
seef They are soaked with blood
And there's a mans walking stick and
black leather bagl Where's the oc-
cupant of this COMPARTMENT
That was the question which puz-
xled every member of the London POI
| lice force, and especially COL James
| Fraser, head Of the department
Where was the man who had very
evidently been murdered III the, coach?
| Who was hef
| The black bag contained no inf0rma-
| ton whatever, and the walking SICK
| was merely an ordinary pne, lacking
even initials. The guard who had
charge of that car said that he
seemed to recall two men getting into
that compartment at Fenchurst street,
| in London" but he wasn't sure.
When Colonel Fraser examined the
car carefully, however, he found the
print Of a bloody hand--a hand with
short, squat fingers-on the wall of
the COACH evidently where the MUIR
derer had steadied himself after COM
hitting the crime. But where was
the body?
This angle Of the case was soon
cleared up by the discovery of the
body of a man near the railroad
tracks In Victoria park. The head
and face had been so disfgured that
identification would have been almost
impossible, had 1t not been for the
card which was found in his vest
pocket. BY means of this 1t was
found that the dead man was GER
tain Thomas Briggs, chief clerk of
London banking house. who had been
on his way to visit his daughter in
PeckEam. According to his asso-
ciates, he was in the habit Of carrying
a considerable sum of money with
him, and also wore very handsome
watch and chain. When the body
was discovered however. the watch,
chain and the money were missing.
Immediately after the body was dis.
covered Colonel Fraser measured the
fingers Of the left hand. but found that
they were entirely too long and well
shaped to fit the bloody imprint on
the wall of the coach.
Pinning his faith to t1e fact that
the murderer would probably iry to
sell Briggs watch and chain, the po-
pawn brokers in and around London,
but days passed without any develop
meats from this end Of the case
Finally, just as Fraser was neafing
the end of his patience secondhand
dealer in Cheapside reported that a
chain, similar to the ore worn by
the dead man, had been Brought into
his establishment on the day after the
urder. The chain. ne said, had teen
placed in with some others, and had
slipped his mind, until he CONNIE lcea
to go over his stock. The only de-
scription he could give Of the man
who sold 1t was that he was foreign
looking" In fact he felt certain he
was German.
More In order to quiei the press
tnan because he attached any real Ina.
portance to the discovery. Colonel
Fraser made public the details Of the
dealers story. and the following morn
Ing q man called at police headquar-
ters, bringing with him a card which
he said his daughter had found on the
ncor Of the room recently occupied by
Franz Muller. The cnrd bore the
name Of the secondhand deuIer who
had purchased the chain!
Muller, stated Fraser's informant,
was German who had boarded In his
house for some time past, but who
had suddenly disappeared. leaving
most of his effects behind him.
'Didn't happen to leave photo
graph. did he?"
Eyes, sir, he did Here Il Isl" and
the man produced picture which the
secondhand dealer Immediately iden.
tilted as the man who had sold him
the chain.
1t was matter of only a few hours
to trace the German to steamship
office and to find that he had ga led,
Is hours before, for America. Wish
ing his own men to have credit for
the capture. Fraser dispatched two OF
them to New York on a fast boat,
and when Muller stepped Off the
gangplank he was arrested for the
murder Of Thomas Briggs, although he
vigorously protested his innocence,
and stated That he had bought the
chain from n mns on the street. AS
further proof Of his assertion. he pro-
duced Briggs watch, which he said
he had bought Mt the same time as the
chain.
Inasmuch as the guard who had
seen the men enter the coach et Jren.