The Bismarck tribune., 1927-10-05

said it best: Patience and snullNa
Sound advice, Markham-anS
: advice expressed rakishly, as ali
good advice should be. (. To be
sure, patience is sort Of last retis
sort-a practice to adopt wher,s
there's nothing else to do. Still, !,
like virtue, it occasionally rewards
the practitioner; although I'll adj.
nit that, as q rule, it is-again like
virtue-bootless. That is to say, it,
is it's own reward. It has, however,
been swathed in many verbal robes
1t is sorrows slave end tht
sovereign DER transmitted ills, as,
we'll as 'all the passion of great
hearts. Rousseau wrote, La pa
tiencc est anne: e mais son fruit est
doux. But perhaps your legal taste
runs to Latin. Superanda omnis
fortuna ferendo est. quoth Vergil
And Horace also spoke on the sub.
ject-.'
"Why the hell doesn't Snitkin
Gomez" growled Markham.
Almost as he spoke the door
opened, and the detective handed
Vance the tape-measure and string.
"And now, Markham, for your re-
ward!"
Bending over the rug, Vance
moved the large wicker chair into
the exact position it had occupied
when Benson had been shot. The
position was easily determined, for
the impressions Of the Chairs cas-
tors on the deep nap of the rug
were plainly visible.
He then ran the string through
the bullet-hole in the back of the
chair, and directed me to hold one
end of it against the place where
the bullet had struck the wainscOt.
Next he took up the tape measure
and, extending the string through
the hole. measured a distance of
five feet and six inches along it,
starting at the point which corre-
sponded to the location of Benson's
forehead as he sat in the chair.
! Trying knot in the string to ir- L,
dicate the measurement, he drew
the string tau+. so that it extended 8
in a straight line from the mark "
on the wainscot, through the hole =!
in the back of the chair, to a point $,
five feet and six inches in front $,
Of where Bensen's head had rested.
| Aiiio hiiOC Ill WIG olIAlks liz CA
planned, NOW represents the exact
location of the muzzle of the gun !.
that ended Benson's career. You 6
ing two points in the bullets course q
namely. the hole in the chair and v
the mark on the wainscot--, and
also knowing the approximate vcr-
tical line Of explosion, which was
/ hnfNN s-,L
gentleman's skull, it was merely y
necessity to extend the straight line },
of the bullets course to the vertical !,
line Of explosion in order to ascer- I,
tain the exact point at which the il
shot was fired" S
Theoretically very pretty" COM /
mented Markham; though why you
should go to SO much trouble to
ascertain this point in spa c can't \
imagine. -. Not that it matters,
Tor you have overlooked the possi-
bility Of the bullets DETECTION"
Forgive me for contradicting e
you," smiled Vance; "but yesterday :
morning l questioned Captain Hagc-
dorm at some length, and learned
that there had been no DETECTION
Of the bullet Hagedorn had in I
spected the wound before we ar :
rived; and he was really positive
on that point. In the first place,
the bullet struck the frontal bone
at such an anplc as to make deflcc- 4
tion practically impossible even had
the pistol being Of small calibrc. (.
And in The second place, the pistol
with which Benson was shot was
Of large bore-a olnt-forty-five-
and the muzzlc velocity was so
great, that the bullet would have
taken a straight course even had
it been held at greater distance
from the gentleman's brow" d
"And how" asked Markham, \
"did Hagedorn know what the muz-
zle velocity was?"
Il was inquis tive on that point
myself" answered Vance; land he 4
explained that the size and char
acter of the bullet and the expelled
she'll told him the whole tale. That's
how he knew the gun was an army
Colt automatic--I believe he called 4
it U. S. Government Colt-and
not the ordinary Colt automatic.
The weight Of the bullets of these :.
two pistols is slightly different: the
ordinary Colt bullet weighs 200 y.
grains, whereas the army Colt bull
let weighs 230 grains.
"Hagedorn, having hypersensi-
tive tactile sense, was able, l pre-
sumo, to distinguish ;.le difference
at once, though / didn't 60 into his \!
physiological gifts wi L hm,-my =
reticent nature, you understand.
:. However, he could tell it was
forty-five army Colt automatic
bullet; and knowing this, he knew y
that the muzzle velocity was 500
feet, and that the striking energy =
was 329-which gives a six-inch
penetration in white pine at dis
tancc Of 25 yards.
AN amazin' creature, this Hage- z
dorm. Imagine having ones head :
full of such entrancin., informa-
ton! The old mysteries Of why 4
man should take up the bass-fiddle
as life work and whe. all the
pins go, afe babes conundrums com.
pared with the one of why a hu- 4
man being should devote his years
to the idiosyncrasies Of bullets"
ITO be Continuedl