Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1922-09-16
TODAY'S INSTRUMENT.


Sherlock Holmes was IS good as
ms word, for about one O'Clock he
rcjoined us IN the Colonels smoking
room. lie WAS accompanied by little
elderly gentleman. who was introduced
10 me rs the Mr.. Acton whose house
had been the scene of the original burg
larv.
Il wished MIR. Acton to be present
while demonstrated this small matter
90 YOU, said Holmes, ''for II Is natural
that he should take a keen interest IN
the details. am afraid my dear Colonel,
that YOU must regret the hour that you
took in such a stormy petrol as | am. "
"On the contrary, answered the
Colonel. warmly, Il consider It the
greatest privilege To have been per
united TO study your methods oi work
ing. confess that they quite surpass
my expectations. and that | am utterly
unahle to account for your result.
have not yet seen the vestige OF a
clue.
II am afraid that my explanation
n,av dlsillusion YOU, but II has always
been my habit 10 hide none of my
methods either from my friend Wat
son or from any one who might take
an intelligent interest in them. But,
first. "a | am rather shaken by th,
knocking about which | had IN the
dressing-room, think that ! shall helr
myself 20 dash of your brandy, Colo
nel. My strength has BEEN rather tried
OF late"
Il trust you had no more Of those
nervous attacks
sherlock Holmes laughed heartily
We will come TO that IN its turn.
srid he. II will lay an account OF IN,
case before YOU IN Us due order, show
ing YOU the various points which
guided me in my decision. Pray in
ierrupt me If there Is any inierenc,
which is not perfectly clear 10 YOU.
1T j. Of the highest importance il
the art of detection to be able 10 rec
ognize out of number of facts. which
are incidental and which vital. Other
wise your energy and attention mus
b. disslpated instead OF being concen
trated Now. in this case there wa
not the slightest doubt in my minC
from the first that the KEY OF the who'll
matter mus, he looked for in the scraI
of paper IN the dead mans hand
Before going into thi>. j would draw
your attention 10 the fact that, If Ale'
Cunningham narrative was correct
and IL the assailant. after shooting
William kirwan, had instantly fed
then II obviously could not be be VIII,
tore the paper from the dead man
hand. But II II was not he, II mus
have been Alec Cunningham himself
for by the time that the old man haC
descended several servants were upOl
the scene. The point i a simple one
but the Inspector had overlooked IL
hecause he had started with the sup
position that these county magnate
had had nothing 20 do with the matter
Now, ! make point of never havinl
any prejudices. and Of following docile
~ wherever fact may lead me, and 30
IN the very first stage of the investi
cation, ] found myself looking littl
askance at the part which had beef
played by Mr.. Alec Cunningham
And now ] made very careful ex
animation Of the corner of paper YhicI
the Inspector had submitted TO us.
was at once clear TO me that il forme,
part OF very remarkable document
Here II Is. Do you not now observ
something very suggestive about IL?
1t has very irregular look" sal
the COLONEL.
My dear sir" cried Holmes, 'ther
cannot be the least doubt in the worl
that II has been written by two person
doing alternate words. When / dra,
your attention TO the strong is of "a,
and TO- and ask you TO compare theI
with the weak ones of Quarter am
twelve, you viii instantly recogniz
the fact. A very brief analysis Of thes
-four words would enable YOU to sa
with the utmost confidence that, III
learn and the maybe are written i
the stronger hand. and the what
the weaker"
BY Iove. It's as clear rs dayl" erie
the Colonel. why on earth Shout