The Chesterfield advertiser. [volume] (Chesterfield C.H., S.C.) 1884-1978, 1922-02-02
I True
Detective Stories
BROKEN GLASS

**:<%>*Sro>e@*$**e$<*%*%<*
Copyright by The wheeler syndicats. Inc
VVIHEN Sergt John r. Brennan OF
w New York's police force reached
Sixty-ninth street and Park ave-
nue. shortly after the accident which
caused the death Of John McHtgh, he
found practically nothing which could
come under the head of evidence.
McHugh, 1t appeared, had been drty-
ing along in a 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 tho
horse, but, as Brennan said, there's
no way of maxim a 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 1.-The col
lision, was a nickel-plated lamp rim
bearing the name Of the "Ham Lamp
Company. Rochester. N. T." That.
and a small fragment Of automobile
tire about three inches In length. ap-
peared to be the only results Of the
damage which the automobile had suf-
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
i'll x,ytth
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 iunk7" 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 a book, what good are.
they?"
Maybe none at ALL" admitted,
BrenSan "but II you'll use some brains,
when you look at 'em you'll nose sew.
eral things that may be of help. in To-.
catin' the ear that killed McHugh and,
then drove Off into the night.hI never
did take much stock In the Sherlock;
Holmes stories-it's easy ehoVEh to-
fix 1t so that your hero can solve a.
problem that you know the answer Of
but here's one case in which think
that his deducfn' 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 q worn
place on the wood toward the end
which had been nearest the. wheel.
"At first / thought 1t was Eierely
where the paint had worn off and the
wood showed through. But the rest
of the buggy was spick and span.
Only a few days out OF the shop. So
I examined 1t more carefully and
found that 1t was bit of gray paint,
scratched Off the body of the death
car itsHlf! ...-.,.
"Take that lamp rim. now. There
are fourteen cars on the market that
are equipped with lamps made by that
company. So that reduces the number
Of suspects that much more. We've
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.
"There are three kinds OF glass there,
one plain glass, one mirror lens and
one concave-convex lens. II you'n At
'em together you'll see that the car
carried eight-inch gas headlights and
six-inch oil sidelights Therefore Il
was an old model. The bit of rubber
wns very evidently ripped off four
inch tire. Now, you members Of tho
traffic squad. what kind Of car an
swers those spccifications7"
"A 1909 Packard, model 49," came
In chorus from several Of the men
who had been trained to recognize
the make and model of an automo-
bile from the appearance Of its head
lights.
Right" snapped Brennan. "Old
Sherlock Holmes wasn't so far out Of
the way after all. Now all we have
to look for Is 1909 model Packard,
painted gray, with at least one cash
along the paint on the right side and
badly In need Of repairs. The head
lights are gone. so the car couldn't
have travelled very far. Get after the
garages around Sixty-ninth street and
we ought to have our man before
morning. I've done enough work FOR
one night and I'm perfectly wllIin'
that one of you boys should have the
credit for the arrest!"
1t Was less than an hour later that
the headquarters phone rang and
Brennan was notified that the owner
and driver Of the car had been ar.
rested and had confessed, giving as