The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1927-02-04

We were leaning forward in the jury
box, while Mr.. Fellowes, having com
pleted his preparations, took One
Lamps thumb, stuck it to the pad and
pressed it down hard on the paper.
"N0w," he said to the court, 81
claim to show that the last witness
was mistaken, or else that here we
have the two men in a hundred mil
lions with similar thumb-prints. l sub
init this evidence to the court" And
he handed it up, together with the re.
production of Richards thumb-print
and the magnifying glass.
The court looked at it for full five
minutes, turning the glass this way
and that. Then he had it submitted
to the jurors. We scanned it. There
was no possibility of installing that
the two prints were identical.
Il propose, your honor" said Eel
loves, "that the. thumb-print of the
prisoner be taken again and superim.
posed photographically upon this"
The court adjourned In the greatest
excitement. Next day, when it recon
vened, the two prints were found to
coincide exactly. They had been mag.
nitied dozen times; the great web of
tracings upon the paper, looking like
maze, was perfectly distinct. There
was the one and only pattern. And,
examined separately, not the smallest
divergence could be found between the
thumb-prints Of Richard Halstein and
those of One-Lamp Ike
There was only one thing to do.
Here were two men, one of whom
must have committed the murder.
There was no possibility of collision.
There was no further evidence: We
acquitted the prisoner by direction of
the court, and he left the courtroom
free man.
He married Mildred James the next
day, and they went West, where they
are reported to be doing well. One
Lamp Ike came into lot of money in
some mysterious fashion little while
later, and was found drowned in a
| horse-trough, into which he had fallen
while intoxicated
was frankly puzzled by the co.
incidence. That some trick had been
played seemed more probable to me
than that the two men in a hundred
million had really been found in the
same town. 1t was about FIVE years
after that, being then a resident in a
southern town, met Fellowes, who
was practicing in some other place.
We. became. intimate, and In "a burst
of confidence he told me the facts.
Richard Halstein did kill his uncle, -
he said; but it was only homicide.
Murder Is what you would have found
in your verdict. The appearances
were so much against him that il
would not have been safe for him to
have told the truth.
Lewis Halstein had sent for him,
in the hope of inducing him to give up
Mildred James. The uncle had be.
come almost insane over the matter
his quarrel with James had been a bit.
ter one, and his mind was probably
weakening from old age. He drew q
revolver and threatened to kill his
nephew.
Richard grasped it, and the men
fought in silence for several seconds.
Then his uncle, who was strong old
man, got his finger upon the trigger.
Richard swung the revolver llnd
just in the nick Of time. Lew Hal.
stein pressed the trigger, but the bull.
let went into his own brain.
Mortified at his action, Richard
went away hurriedly. He wavered be.
tween confession and denial. That
was fatal policy, for it brought the
| rope within an inch of his neck
'And the thumb-print?" I asked.
He shot aiken look at me. "Quite
simple" he replied. 81 don't mind
telling you now. One-Lamp Ike wasn't
such fool as he looked and he was
quite willing to risk his neck for TWEEN.
| ty thousand dollars. You know, used
to study medicine? Well, all that was
necessary was to remove the outer
cuticle from Richards thumb, remove
the same thing from likes, and graft
the cuticle from Richards thumb upon
| that Of Ike. OF course, in time the
pattern would reassert itself, but not
till the cuticle had become connected
with the flesh beneath. Meanwhile
Richards had grown again. That's
| all-but if ever such trick was justi
fed, / think it was to save an limo
/ cont man