The Waterbury Democrat., 1946-08-15
The Firing Line By D. N. T.
Dear Sir:

Though not what you might call an old man, I have been following the daily bladders with a careful eye for many, many years. l am most particularly a follower of mur- ders in the news columns. Give me good murder that battles John Law for a period of several weeks, and l am in ecstasy.
 I imagine the psychiatrists have their own little formula for that sort of thing applying to that sort of person, but since there never was a murder into which the psychiatrist was not introduced, at some time or other, I am given to think that psychiatr-ists also follow murders, for it would be going against hu- man nature not to read story in which your own name appears. have my own little formula apply ing to that sort of psychiatrist- which puts me one up on them since there is no other sort of psy- I chiatriSt, though there are numer- 0us and sundry sorts of person, some of which evince no interest what ever in murder, but turn immediate l ly to the funnies, the racing results l the health hints or the weather for tomorrow, as the case may be.
 Me, like murders. I like murders in the news; I like murders in mys- tery books; I even like murders that people make up to make you feel embarrassed when you're telling about an especially gory murder that actually took place and you knew the cousin of the man whose next-door neighbor found the body The nude body, need l add?
 By and large the bladders or newspapers" do a pretty good jOt on murders. They assign their re- porters most likely to remain sober to them. They doll them IF with art. They get statements from everyone. They even get them from the wife of the cousin of the man whose next door neighbor found the bocy. And there is immense reader interest, if I may coin phrase, in these homilies, delivered in excite ment and customarily clothed ir such fancy English as to cast doubt on the reporters resistance to the Demon Rum, whatever his previous recommendation for the assignment
 The papers, moreover, go into a vast amount of detail. They check here and they check there and they check somewhere else, all to estab- fish that the shot was heard al seven minutes past II, rather thar at six minutes past, as was origin ally thought.
 Bear with me, MT. Editor, an coming to my point.
 As an editor of reputable news. paperpaper, you know, as I know that frequently the only thing th' police know is the site of the mur. der. You might even go so far a. to say that ALL the police know i the site of the murder-and onc' in while they even miss that be cause of evidence that the guy wa done in some miles away from tn place where the body was found, an( maybe even in another jurisdiction they hope. A really mysterious mur der leaves John Law in a quandary his only bit of firm knowledge be ing the sometimes unproductive in formation as to the location of tn crime.
 Now, MT. Editor, took mathe maticS when l was student at goo, old B. H. s. I admit that I got onl c Minus in it, but then, the teach CT had it in for me, the old battl aX. If only unbuttoned my lip abou what I know about her! Let it stanc though, that took mathematics an that from the vast amount of math , ematical knowledge to which I wa exposed, one item remains fixed for ever in my mind.
 That item, sir,-and you, n doubt, retain the identical item fror your own salad days in high schot or college What class? Did yo know Joe Bantalck from Eas ' Orange? Small world, eh?)-i that X. the letter x, stands for tn unknown quantity.
 Gan you tell me, MT. Editor, wh and the hesl the bladders say. ths X mSrks the spot Whsl the q bot l the ONLY known quantity in min 7 murders out of ten?