The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, April 9, 1905, Page 1

177 SSTIE CHEEA g s ntion, ranging of the »sca—an- in a arried out by hin his Holiness s rest of Wi which B prepared the form ould ha a hook in 1 his made no pr I must have a look at the heavens that you would, It's' my first big chance, my wits’ end. For good- me down and lend me a ), it just happens that T y read all the available eyi- the report of the in- some care. By the , you make 1 on the scen no clew there? s looked surprised of the crime? was the map’s. own pouch, sir ac I should that the gation. als were inside it. And it was n—and he was an old sealer.” had no’pipe.” r, we could find no pipe. In- smoked very little,.and yet have kept some tobacco for subt. I only mentioned it be- I had been handling the case, have been inclined to make starting-point of my investi- However, my friend, Dr. Wat- T/ SFcone LIS A LoNG ZEUY 7~ CELAT UL LTS LAWK SN SLLOY hing of this matter, and be none the worse for hear- equenge of events once more. Just give us some -short sketches of the essentials.” ley-Hopkins drew a slip of paper his pocket, “l bave a few dates here which will give you the eer Of the dead man, I He was born in 45—fifty. years of age. He was-a most daring @pd. successtul:seal and ;whale fisher. In 1883 he‘commanded the steam ealer Sea Unicorn, of Dundee.” -He hed then had several successful voyages in in ‘the following year, After that he traveled he bought a yoodman's. Lee, ex. ‘There he and -there. he ¥ ) to-day. There Wwere some - most - singular points about the man.. In ordinary life he strict . Puritan silent, His household consist- a femal continual ver a ver times it . becanie man. was.an in- t drunkard, and.when he had as_a perfect -fiend. . He own to drive his wife agd daughter out of doors in, the middle of the night, and flog them through the park until the whole village .outside the gates was . aroused by ; their screams - He as summoned once for a:sav- age t upon the 'old. vicar," who had - called upon him to remonstrate with him upon his conduct. In short, Mr. Holmes, you would go far before ou found a more dangerous man than and I have heard that he character when he gom- ship. He was known in the bore the s manded hi: trade as Black Peter, and .the name was given him, not only on account of his swarthy features and .the color of his huge beard, but for the humors ich, were the terror of all around 1 need not sdy that he was loath- ed and avoided. hy, every onhe of his neighbors and that I have not heard ne single word of sorrow about his terrible end. “You must have read in the account of the inquest about the man’s’ cabin, Holmes, but perhaps your friend has not ‘heard of it He had bufit himself a wooded outhouse—he always calle: it the ‘cabin’—a few hundred yards from his house, and it was here that he slept every night. It was a iit- tle, single-roomed hut, sixteen feet by ten. He bt the key in his pocket, m his own bed, cleaned it himself, and allowed no other foot to cross the threshold. There are small window# on each side, which. were covered by cug- tains and never opened. One of ‘these dows was ‘turned toward the high and when the light burned ‘in it at night the folk used to:point it out h other and wonder what Black was doing in there.: That’s the window, Mr. Holmes, which gave us one of the few bits of positive evidence that came out at the inquest. You remember that a stonemason, ter, walking - from Forest named Row about one o’clock in the morning days before the murder—stopped s he ssed the grounds and looked at the square of light still shining among the trees. He swears that.the shadow of a man's head turned. side- ways was clearly. visible on the blind, and that this shadow was certainly not that of Peter Carey, whom 'he:knew well. It was that of a - bearded man, but the beard was short and. bristled forward in a wa that of the captain. So he says, but he had been two hours in_ the public- house, and it is some distance from the road to the window. ‘Besides, this re- fers to the Monday, and the crime was done upon the Wednesday. “'On the Tuesday, Peter Carey was in one of his blackest moods, flushed. with very different.from drink and as savage'as'a dangerous’ wild beast. He Toamed - about the ' house, and the women ran for-it.when - they ‘heard him coming. - Late “in the eveninig he went down' to his own_hut. About two o'clock the following”morn- ing his daughter, who ‘slept with: her window open, heard a most fearful-yell from that direction, .but " it' was no unusual thing for him to bawl: :and i =~ ~-— ‘shout when . he: was in« drink, so no notice. was .taken. :-On-rising.at seven ane of the maids noticed that the dogr of the hut was open, but so great was the ‘terror which the man"caused that it ‘'was midday before the women would venture down to see what had become 3 of ‘him. Peeping into the- open door, they saw. a-sight which sent them fiying, with.white faces, into .the vil- Jage. ‘Within an hour I was on the spot and had taken over the case. ‘Well, I have rly steady nerves, as _you know, . Holmes, “but I U DT LaRT Ui sive you that I got a shake my head into that It was droning like a harm with the flies and bluebaott loor and walls were like called it a cabi re e ) thought that yc was a maps and cha Unicorn, a line c ¥ all s ne would expect to find it in a captain’s room. And there. in the middle of it, was the man him- self—his face twisted liks a losg soul r house. He had 1l a cabin it was, y would have ip. There sea-chest, of the Sex on a shelf, in torment, and his great brindled beard stuck upward in his amony. Right through his broad breast a steel harpoon had been driven, and it had sunk deep into the woed of the wall be- hind him. He was pinned like a beetle on a card. Of course, he was quite dead, and had been so from the instant that he had uttered that last yell of agony. “I know your methods, sir. and I ap- plied them. Before I permitted any- thing to be moved I examined most carefully the ground outside and also the floor of the room. ere’ were no footmarks."” ‘Meaning that you saw none?’ “® assure you, sir, that there were none.” “My good Hopkins, T have ed many crimes, but I have ¥ seen one which was committed by a flying creature As long as the crim- inal remains upon two legs so long must there be some ind tion. some abrasion, son lacement which can be detect he scientific searcher. It is incredible that this blood-bespattered room contained mo trace which could have aided us. I understand, however, from the inquest that there were some objects which you failed to overlook?” The young inspector winced at my companion’s ironical comments. “I was a feol not to call'you in at the time, Mr. Holmes. However, that's past praying for now. Yes, there were several objects in the room which called for special attention. One was the harpoon with which the deed wa: committed. It had been snatched down from a rack on the wall. Two others remained there, and there was a vacant place for the third. On the stock was engraved ‘SS. Sea Unicorn, Dundee:’ This seemed to establish that the crime :had been donme in a moment of fury. and that the murderer had seized the first ‘weapen which e in his way. The fact that the crime was committed at two in the morning. and yet Peter Carey was fully dressed, suzgested that he had an appointment with the mur- derer, which is borne out by the fact estigat- er vet