THE OMAHA ILLUSTRATED PEE. ,
Exploits of Sherlock Holmes
(fttobfr 1, 1005.
I
i
(J
2
i!
y , (Continued from rage SI.)
, yJ,f fence of sleeve, the suggestlveneM of
thumb-na.Hn. or th rri iiw ihit mv
i hang from a boot-lace. Now, whaO did
you Rather from that woman' appear
ance? Describe, It."
"Well, she had a slate-colored, broad
brimmed straw hat, with a feather of a
brlcklsh red. rW Jacket was Mark, with
black beads sewn - upon It, and a fringe
of little Mack jet ornament. Her dress
wag brown, rather darker than coffee
polo r, with a little purple plush at the
neck and sleeves. Her gloves were grayish
and were worn through at the right fore
finger. Her boots I didn't observe. She
bad small, round, hanging rold ear-rings.
and a general air of being fairly well-to-do.
In a vulgar, comfortable, easy-going way."
Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly
together and chuckled.
"Pon my word, Watson, you are coming
along wonderfully. Tou have really done
very well Indeed. It Is true that you have
missed everything of Importance, but you
have hit upon the method, and you have
a quick eye for color. Never trust to gen
eral Impressions, my boy, but concentrate
yourself upon details. My first glance Is
always at a woman's sleeve. In a man
It Is perhaps better first to take the knee
of the trouser. As you observe, this woman
had plush upon her sleeves, which la a most
useful material for showing traces. The
double line a little above the wrist, where
the typewrltlst presses against the table,
was beautifully defined. The sewlng-ma-
)mark, but only on the left arm, and on the
side of It farthest from the thumb. Instead
, of being right across the broadest part, as
mis was. A infn gianceu at ucr itn-, uu
observing the dent of a plnce ne at either
side of her nose, I ventured a remark upon
short sight end typewriting, which seemed
to surprise her."
"It surprised me."
"But surely It was very obvious. I was
then much surprised and Interested on
glancing down to observe that, though the
boots which she was wearing were not unlike
each other, they were really odd ones; the
one having a slightly decorated toe-cap,
, and the other a plain one. One was but
toned only In the two lower buttons out of
five, and the other at the first, third, and
fifth. Now, when you see that a young
lady, otherwise neatly dressed, haa, come
away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned.
It Is no great deduction to say that
she came away In a hurry."
' "And what else?" I asked, keenly Inter-
; ested, as, I always was, by my t rlend s In
cisive reasoning.
"I noted. In passing, that she had written
I a note before leaving home, but after being
fully dressed. Tou observed that her right
glove was torn at the forefinger, but you
did not apparently see that both glove and
finger were stained with violet Ink. Bhe
had written In a hurry, and dipped her
. pen too deep. It must have been this
. morning, or the mark would not remain
clear upon the finger. All this is amusing,
though rather elementary; but I must go
back to business, Watson. Would you
mind reading me the advertised description
' of Mr. Hosmer Angel?"
1 held the little printed slip to the light.
"Missing," It said, "on the morning of the
14th. a gentleman named Hosmer Angel.
About t feet 7 Inches In height; strongly
built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little
balo. In the center, bushy, black slde
whlskers and mustache; tinted glasses,
slight Infirmity of speech. Was dressed,
when last seen, In black frock coat faced
with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert
chain and gray Harris tweed trousers, with
' brown goiters over elaatlc-sided shoes.
Known t have been employed In an office:
In Leadenhall street Any body bringing,"
etc., etc.
"That will do," said Holmes. "As to the
letters," he continued, glancing over them,
"they are very commonplace. Absolutely
no clue In them to Mr. Angel, save that he
quotes Balsao once. There Is one remark
able point, however, which will no doubt
strike you."
"They are typewritten," I remarked.
"Not only that, but the signature la type
written. Iook at the neat little 'Hosmer
Angel at the bottom. There Is a date, you
see, but no superscription except Leaden
hall street, which Is rather vague. The point
about the signature la very suggestive In
fact, we may call It conclusive."
"Of what?"
"My dear fellow. Is It possible you do not
see how strongly It bears upon the case?"
"I cannot say that I do, unless It were
that he wished to be able to deny this sig
nature If an action for breach of promise
were Instituted."
"No, that was not the point. However, I
, shall write two letters, which should settle
the matter. One Is to a firm In the city,
the other Is to the young woman's step
father, Mr. Wlndlbank, asking him whether
he could meet us here at 6 o'clock tomorrow
evening. It Is just as well that we ahould
.do business with the male relatives. And
' now, doctor, we can do nothing until the
answers to those letters come, so we may
put our little problem upon the shelf for
the Interim."
I had had so many reasons to believe In
my friend's subtle powers of reasoning and
extraordinary energy In action, that I folt
that he must have some solid grounds for
the assured and easy demeanor with which
he treated the singular mystery which he
had been called upon to fathom. Once only
mate
loi
Oaves the Dee Building Co.
1500 in
And This Is How It Happened:
One year ago three large boilers were removed
from The Bee Building. These" boilers were not old
nor worn out. In fact they were comparatively new
and considered thoroughly up to date. Mr. John R. '
Lowrey, proprietor of The Omaha Boiler Works,
while admitting that they were first-class boilers,
yet had an idea of his own and believed that he could
improve upon them and effect a great saving in fuel.
Th e contract was made and Mr. Lowrey installed
two immense boilers of his own design, each of which
will develop two hundred horse power.
Note the result over $1,500 saved on the coal
bill the first year and in competition with the best
equipment made up to that time.
Mr. Lowrey 's boilers are coal savers. They are
made in larger or smaller units to meet the necessi
ties of any power plant.
OMAHA BOILER WORKS
JOHN R. LOWREY, Proprietor.
Twelfth and Izard Sts.
had I known him to fail, In thf case of the
king of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler
photograph; but whrn I looked bark to
the weird business of the Sign of the Four,
and the extraordinary circumstances con
nected with the Study In Scarlet, I felt
that It would be a strange tangle Indeed
which he could not unravel.
I left him then, still puffing at his black
clay pipe, with the conviction that when
I came again on the next evening I would
find that he held In his hands all the clua
which would lead up to the Identity of the
disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary
Sutherland. ,
A professional case of great gravity was
engaging my own attention at the time,
and the whole of next day I was busy at
the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until
close upon 8 o'clock that I found myself
free, and was able to spring Into a hansom
and drive to Baker street half afraid that
I might be too late to assist at the denoue
ment of the little mystery. I found Sher
lock Holmes alone, however, half asleep,
with his long, thin form curled up In the
recesses of his arm-chair. A formidable
array of bottles and test tubes, with the
pungent cleanly smell of hydrochloric acid,
told me that he had spent his day In the
chemical work which was so deaf to him.
"Well, have you solved It?" I asked, as I
entered.
"Yes. It was the blsulphate of baryta."
"No, no, the mystery!" I cried.
"Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I
have been working upon. There was never
any mystery In the matter, though, as I
said yesterday, some of the details are of
Interest. The only drawback Is that there
Is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoun
drel." "Who was he, then, and what was his
object fn deserting Miss Sutherland?"
Tho question was hardly out of my mouth,
and Holmes had not yet opened his lips to
reply, when we heard a heavy footfall In
the passage, and a tap at the door.
"This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James
Wlndlbank," said Holmes. "He has written
to me to say that he would be here at six.
Comejnl"
The man who entered was a sturdy,
mlddle-slxed fellow, some 30 years of age,
clean shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a
bland. Insinuating manner, and a pair of
wonderfully sharp and penetrating gray
eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each
of us, placed his shiny top hat upon the
side-board, and then with a slight bow
sidled down Into the nearest chair.
"Good evening, Mr. James Wlndlbank,"
raid Holmes. "I think that this type-written
letter is from you. In which you made
an appointment with me for 6 o'clock.''
"Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little
. late, but I am not quite my own master,
you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland
has troubled you about this little matter,
for I think It is ar better not to wash linen
of the sort In public. It was quite against
my wishes that she came, but she is a
very excitable, impulsive girl, as you may
have noticed, and she is not easily con
trolled when she had mnde up her mind on
a point. Of course, I did not mind you so
much, as you are not connected with the
official police, but It Is not pleasant to have
a family misfortune like this noised abroad.
Besides, it is a useless expense, for how
could you possibly find this Hosmer
Ancel?"
"On the contrary," said Holmes, quietly;
"I have every reason to believe that I will
succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel."
Mr. Wlndlbank gave a violent start, and
dropped his gloves. "( am delighted to
hear it," he said.
"It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes,
"that a typwrlter has really quite as much
Individuality as a man's handwriting. Un
less they are quite new, no two of them
write exactly alike. Some letters get more
worn than others, and some wear only on
one side. Now, you remark in this note
of yours, Mr. Wlndlbank, that In every
case there is some little slurring over of
the ',' and a slight defect in the tall of
the 'r.' There are fourteen other charac
teristics, but those are the more obvious."
"We do all our correspondence with this
machine at the office, and no doubt it is
a little worn," our visitor answered,
glancing keenly at Holmes with his bright
little eyes.
"And now I will show you what Is really
a very Interesting study, Mr. Wlndlbank,"
Holmes continued. "I think of writing an
other little monograph some of these days
on the typewriter and Its relation to crime.
It Is a subject to which I have devoted
some little attention. I have here four
letters which purport to come from the
missing man. They are all typewritten.
. In each case, not only are the 'e's' slurred
and the 'r's' tailless, but you will observe,
If you care to use my magnifying lense,
that the fourteen other characteristics to
'which I have alluded are there as well."
Mr. Wlndlbank sprang out of his chair,
and picked up his hat. "I cannot waste
time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr.
Holmes," he said. "If you can catch the
man, catch him, and let me know when
you have done It."
"Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over
and turning the key In the door. "I let
you know, then, that I have caught him!"
"What! where?" shouted Mr. Wlndl
bank, turning white to his Hps, and glan
cing about him like a rat In a trap.
"Oh, It won't do really it won't," said
Holmes Suavely. "There Is no possible get
ting out of It, Mr. Wlndlbank. It Is quite
ne
Year
Omaha, Neb.
r Wsriis
too transparent, and It was a very bad
compliment when you said that It was
Impossible for me to solve so simple a
question. That's right! Sit down and let
us talk It over."
Our visitor collapsed Into a chair, with
a ghastly face, and a glitter of moisture
on his brow. "It It's not actionable," he
stammered.
"I am very much afraid that It Is not.
But between ourselves. Wlndlbank, It was
as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick In a J
petty way as ever came before me. Now, j
let me Jiist run over the course of events,
and you will contradict me if I go wrong." I
The man sat huddled up In his chair, with
his head sunk upon his breast, like one who
Is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet
up on the corner of the mantel-piece, and.
leaning back with his hands In his pockets,
began talking, rather to himself, as It
seemed, than to us.
"The man married a woman very much j
older than himself for her money," said j
he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money
of the daughter as long as she lived with j
them. It was a considerable sum, for J
people In their position, and the loss of It j
would have made a serious difference. It !
was worth an effort to preserve It. The I
daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, j
but affectionate and warm-hearted In her ;
ways, so that It was evident that with her 1
fair personal advantages, and her little In- '
come, she would not be allowed to remain
single long. Now her marriage would
mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a 1
year, so what does her stepfather do to ,
prevent It? He takes the obvious course .
of keeping her at home, and forbidding her
to seek the company of people of her own j
age. But soon he found that that would not 1
answer forever. She became restive, In
sisted upon her rights, and finally an- 1
nounred her positive Intention of going to
a certain ball. What does her clever step
father do then? He conceives an idea more
credible to his head than to his heart. With
the connivance and assistance of his wife
he disguised himself, covering those keen
eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face
with a mustache and a pair of bushy
whiskers, sunk that clear voice into an
Insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on
account of the girl's short sight, he appears
as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps oft other
lovers by making love himself." j
"It was only a Joke at first," groaned
our visitor. "We never thought that she
would have been so carried away."
"Very likely not. However that may be,
the young woman was very decidedly car
. rled away, and having quite made up her
mind that her stepfather was In France,
the suspicion of treachery never for an In
stant entered her mind. She was flattered
by the gentleman'Syattentions, and the ef
fect was increased by the loudly expressed
admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel
began to call, for It was obvious that the
matter should bo pushed as far as It would
go, if a real effect were to be produced.
There were meetings and an engagement,
which would finally secure the girl's at-
fectlons from turning toward any one else.
Hut the deception could not be kept up for- i
ever. These pretended Journeys to France '
were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was ;
clearly to bring the business to an end in
such a dramatic manner that It would leave
a permanent Impression upon tho young
woman's mind and prevent her from looking
upon any other si ltor for some time to
come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted
upon Testament, and hence also the al
lusions to a possibility of something 'hap
pening on the very morning of the wedding.
James Wlndlbank wished Miss Sutherland
to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so un-
certain as to his fate, that for ten years to
come, at any rate, she would not listen to
another man. As far as the church door he
brought her, and then, as he could go no
further, he conveniently vanished away by
the old trick of stepping in at one door of
a four-wheeler and out at the other. I
think that that was the chain of events,
Mr. Wlndlbank!"
Our visitor had recovered something of
his assurance while Holmes had been talk
ing, and he rose from his chair now with a
cold sneer upon his pale face.
"It may be so or It may not, Mr. Holmes,"
said he, "but if you are so very sharp you
ought to be sharp enough to know that it
is you who are breaking the law now and
not me. I have done nothing actionable
from the first, but as long as you keep that
door locked you lay yourself open to an ac
tion for assault and Illegal constraint."
"The law cannot, as you say, touch you,"
said Holmes, unlocking and throwing open
the door, "yet there never was a man who
deserved punlBhment more. If the young
woman has a brother or a friend he ought
to lay a whip across your shoulders. By
Jove!" he continued, flushing up at the
sight of the bitter sneer upon the man's
face, "It is. not part of my duties to my
client, but here's a hunting crop handy and
I think I shall just treat myself to " He
took two swift steps to the whip, but be
fore he could grasp It there was a wild
clatter of steps upon the stairs, the heavy
halldoor banged and from the window we
could see Mr. James Wlndlbank running at
the top of his speed down the road.
"There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said
Holmes laughing, as he threw himself
down Into his chair once more. "That fel
low will rise from crime to crime until
he does somethings cry bad, and ends on
a gallows. THo case has, in some re
spects, been not entirely devoid of Inter
est." "I cannot now entirely see all the steps
of your reasoning," I remarked.
"Well, of course. It was obvious from the
first, that this Mr. Hosmer Angel must
have some strong object for his curious
conduct, and It was equally clear that the
only man who really profited by the In
cident, as far as we could see, was the
stepfather. Then the fact that the two
men were never together, but that the one
always appeared when the other was away,
was suggestive. Bo were the tinted spec
tacles and the curious voice, which both
hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whis
kers. My suspicions were all condrmed by
his peculiar action In typewriting his sig
nature, which, of course, Inferred that his
handwriting was so familiar to her that
she would recognize even the smallest sam
ple of It. Tou see all these Isolated facts,
together with many minor ones, all pointed
in, the same direction."
"And how did you verify them?"
'"Having once spotted my man. It was
easy to get corroboration. I knew the firm
for which this man worked. Having taken
the printed description, I eliminated every
thing from It which could be the result of
a disguise the whiskers, the glasses, the
voice, and I sent It to the firm, with a
request that they would Inform me whether
It answered to the description of any of
their travelers. I had already noticed the
peculiarities of the typewriter, and I wrote
to the man himself at his business address,
asking him If he would come here. As I
expected, his reply was typewritten, r-nd
revealed the same trivial but characteristic
defects. The same post brought me a letter
from Westhouse Marbank of Fenehurch
street, to say thst the description tallied
In every respect wlttv that of their em
ploye, James Wludihank. Voila tout!"
"And Mia Sutherland?"
"If I till her she will not believe me.
Tou may remember the old Persian saying.
There is danger for him that taketh the
tiger cub, and danger aiso for whoso
snatches a delusion from a woman.' There
Is as much sense la Jlatli as In Horace,
and as much knowledge of the world."
... IThe nL
(is
Gs
(is
OS
OS
(is
(is
,
j f
yty
NEW STORE OF BYRNE &
We are making a great effort to close out all lines of Fall
Goods the present season so as to enable us to move into our
new store next season with the largest and newest stock of
Fall Goods ever shown by any
runteam Lamps I
j Nn.-' brightest light least curreht j?
! I SOLD IN OMAHA BY B
V WESTERN ELECTRICAL COMPANY CI
jf TELEPHONE 466. 1212 FAR NAM STREET l
PL DIALERS III KLBCTRIOAL SUPPLIES J'
If JU M S - "k- .
Chases
Dirt
Makes Everything
"Spick and Span"
mm.
""y
Mm
fTxW w a ioc
OMAHA
uteh
sen0
OLD
DUTCH
Is not soap, nor soap
powder. IT IS a molten
stone substance of vol
canic origin In flaky,
crystallne form, with
such fine feather edges as
not to scratch the smooth
est surface.
OLD DUTCH CLEANSER
PlstnC woodwork, windows,
blCail palnlMl walls, Mo.
Scrubs "i.
w wi www floors, ton. e.
PdlkhPS llwwsrw, bran.
And Is the only prepara
tion that removes the
snap scum and grease
from bath-tubs, basins,
sinks and porcelain with
out scratching the enamel.
OLD DUTCH CLEANSER
contains no lyes or caus
tic, so cannot Injure the
human skin, and is of ex
ceptional merit' for re
moving grease, paint. Shel
lac k, etc., from the bands.
rnmsMJ I
LARGE
KII-TINU
TOP
CAS
AT
1n- TvLS!mSS
'GUOCERS
Booklet
HAMMER DRY
Western
House.
1 Kf GOODS 00
Heat electric light janitor service
all night and Sunday elevator ser
vice a fire proof building all cost
the tenant of The Bee Building
nothing extra.
if
t't'j
CLEANSER
Y
f
vv
i
,T.
10o
freo.
GOODS CO.