The evening world. Newspaper, February 18, 1905, Page 14

De 86 what time we have,” said Holmes, “Watson, would you kindmess to take the papers and to read the paragraph in ques- ath the vigorous head-lines which our client had quoted, I read Suggestive narrative: last night, or early this morning, an Incident occurred at Lower @ whilch points, it is feared, to a serious crime, Mr. Jonas Qldacre own resident of that suburb, where he has carried on his busi- 84 8 builder for many years, Mr, Oldacre is a bachelor filty-two years 5 ~ lives in Deep Dene House, it the Sydenham end of the rcad of He has had the reputation of being a man of eccentric habits, a Fetiring. For some years he has practically withdrawn from ) In which he is sald to have amassed considerable wealth. A still, existe, however, at the back of the house, and Jast ut twelve o'clock, an alarm tas given that one. of fe stacks was ‘Were goon upon the spot, but the dry wood burne! tun. ‘And it was impossible to arrest the conflagration until the, bean entirely consumed, Up to this point the incident bore the Of aR ordinary accident, but fresh indications seam to point to @pime, Surprise was expressed at the absence of the master of the emt from, the scene of the fire. and an inquiry followed, which hat he had disappeared from the house, An examination of his ‘Pevenled that the bed had not boon slept in, that a safe'which stood reds Gee 4 number of important papers were scattered about the , |, that there were signs of a murderous struggle, slight 00d being found within the room, and an oaken walking-stick, o showed stains of blood upon the handle. It is known that Mr. cre had received a late visitor in his bedroom upon that night, stick found has been {dentified as the progerty of this person, M8 & young London solicitor named John Hector McFarlane, junior tngr of & McFarlane, of No. 426 Gresham Buildings, F.C. The blice ‘belle they have evidence in their possession which supplies Convinging motive for the crime, and altogther it cannot be doubted teen developments will follow. —It tid Fumored as we go to press that Mr. John Hector, McFar- tually been arrested on the charge of the murder of Mr. Jonas Wast certain that a warrant has beef issued. There have Gnd shulater developments in the investigation at Norwood. ateuggle {nthe room of the unfortunate builder it is Wrench windows. of his bedroom (which is on the ‘were found to be open, that there were marks as if some bilky ragged across tp the wood-plle, and, finally, {t 1s asserted been found among the charcoal ashes of the fire. 8 trent to death ‘in his own pedroom, his papers rified, Goroas to the wood-stack. which was then {g- ‘ Bide all traces of the crime. The conduct of the criminal Hon has be®n feft in the experienced hands of Inspector Lestrade. Yard, who Js following up the clues with fits accustomed energy ok Holmes listened with clored eyes and finger-tips together to larkable account. ‘ ‘ we case has certainly some points of Interest,” sald he in his lan- Hon. “May Y ask, in the first place, Mr. McFarlane, how it is ire still at liberty, since there appears to be enough evidence to it arrest?” ~ fp at Torrington Lodge, Blackheath, with my parents, Mr. Holmes; it, having to Mo business very late with Mr, Jonas Oldacre, I & hotel In Norwood, ahd came to thy business from there. I ing of this affair until 1 was dn the train, when T read what you yheand. I at once saw the horrible danger of my position, and I Dut the case into your hands, Ishave no doubt that I should ‘arrested elther at my city office or at my home, A man fol- from London Bridge Station, and I tiave no doubt—— Great & clang of the bell, followed instantly by Leavy steps wpon the ent later our old friend Lestrade appeared in the doorway. oulder | caught a glimpse of one or two uniformed policemen lohn Hector McFarlane?” said Lestrade. ortumate client rose with a ghastly face, t you forithe wilful murder of Mr, Jonas Oldacre, of Lower flane turned to us with a despair, and sank into his’ @ more like one who {a ent, Lestrade,” Halt an houy more or leas no difference to you, and\ was about to give us \ it of this very interesting h might aid us in clearing Kr there will be no dift- ring it up,” paid Les- p less, with your permis. 14 be much interested to unt,” Mr. Holmes, it ts dificult refuse you anything; for ie been of use to the fore» ¢ in the past, and we owe | turn at Scotland "Yard," + A Mass of Documents, bade, “At the same time I an with my prisoner, and Toget Mid to warn him thot anything he may say will appear in evidence Mothing better,” said our client, | recognize the absolute truth,” ¢ looked at His watch, “I'll give you half an hour,” sald he, # explain first,” said McFarlane, ‘that 1 knew nothing of Mr. ‘ cre, His name was familiar td me, ior many years ago my acquainted with him, but they drifted apart. 1 was very ‘ised, therefore, when yesterday, about » o'clock in the after- walked into my office in the city, But I was still more aston- he told me,the object of iis visit. He had in his hatid several a notebook doreted with scribbled writing--lere they are--and em on my table, ‘ 4s my will,’ said he, ‘I want you, Mr. McFarlane, to < | shape, I will sit here while you do so.’ * | myself to copy it, and you can imagine my astonishment when | with some reservations, he had left all his pror 3, He ge little ferret-like man, with white eyelashes, and when | at him I found his keen gray eyes fixed upon me with an amused I could hardly’ believe my own senses as I read the terms of wit; but he explained that he was a bachelor with hardly any living lations, that he had known my parents in his youth, and that he heard of me as a very deserving young man, and was assured that his Would be in worthy hands. Of course, 1 could only stammer out ly thanks. ‘The will was duly finished, signed, and witnessed by my clerk {ek on the blue paper, and these slips, as f have explained, are the @ratt. Mr. Jonas Oldacre then informed me that there were a num- Of doguments—building leases, title deeds, mortgages, scrip and so forth which it was necessary that J should see and understand, He said that im Would not be easy until the whole thing was settled, and he begged ‘Pome out to his house atNorwood that night, bringing the will with t arrange matters, ‘Remember, my boy, not one word to your ‘@bout the affair until everything is settled, We will keep ib as ao ise for them.’ He was very insistent upon this point, and made it faithfully, m can Imagine, Mr. Holmes, that | was not in a humor to refuse ‘What he might ask, He was my venefactor, and all my desire “All Task is that you should vast it into rel eh onal crime has been committed, . was cas nk Ws Sete 0 oll Dela 1 cent, vlograma, Nome, in. Sp soleude of the therefore, to say that I had Important business on hand and that it Was im- woodplle and departs to a ne RIG man sm he murders him, burg hie bp boring hotel. The Blood stains in the Toom possible for me to say how Into I might be, Mr, Oldaére had told me that and also on the stick are very alight, It {s probable that he imagined his he would Hike me to have supper with him at 9, as he might not be home crime to be a bloodless one, and hoped that if the body were consumed it vefore that Hour, I bad some difficulty in finding the house, however, and would hide all traces of the method of his death—traces which for some “1 Arrest You for the Witul Murder of Mr. James Oldacre,” ‘ it was nearly, Malf-past before I reached it, § found him'”—— “Onc moment!” said Holmes. “Wie oponsd the door!” “A middle-aged woman, who was, P his housekeeper.” "And it was she. T presume, who your name?” “Exactly,” sant MeFarlany, ‘ “Pray proceed.’ McPavlane wiped itis dumy brow and then comtinued his ‘narrative: “1 was shown by’ this ~e into; esau where a frugal supper wos laid out. Afterward Mr. Jonas bags tthod te Into, his bedroom, in which there stood a heavy safe ‘This he ph and: took\ont a mass of doruments which we went over together. It waa between 11 and 12 when we finished. He remarked that we must not pe the housekeeper. He showed me out through his own French window, which had been, open aii thic time.’ “Was the blind dow?” asked Holines. ‘ “T will not be sure, bit 1 believe that it was oply half'down. Yes, I remember how he pulled it up o onder to. swing open the window. I couid not find my stick, and he sald: ‘Newer mind, oiy boy: 1 shall see a good deal of you now, f hope, 1 will keap your atick until you come back to claim it.’ I left him thera, tho aafe open and the papers made up in packets upon the table, It was ag late that I could not get back to Blackheath, so I spent the night at the Anerley Arms, and I knew nohing more unt!l I read’ are other theories possible. of this horrible affair in the morning,” “Anything more that you wonld like to ask, Mr. Holmes?” sald Les- trade, whose eyebrows had gone up one or twice during this.remarkabif courae of the day I ghall drop In at explanation, “Not until I have been to: Black- heath.” “You mean to. Norwood,” Lestrade. “@b, yes; mo doubt that is what I must Rave meant,” said Holmes, with Dis: omigmatical smile, Lestrade had learned by more exyeriences' than he ‘would care to acknowledge that that rexor-like bpain cowjd cyt through that which was impenetrable to’ him. Taaw him: look curiously at my com~- panion. “L think I should like to have a word with you presently, Mr. Sher- lock Holmes,” said he. ‘Now. Mr. McFarlane, two of my constables are at the dow and there is a four- wheeler waiting.” The wretched young man arose, and with a last beseeching glance at us he walked Wey 0 Over from the room.+ The, officers con- ducted Sim to the cab, but Lestrade remained, Holmes had picked yp the pages which formed the rough draft of tie will and was looking at them with the kgnest interest on his face. “There are some points about that document, Lestrade, are there not?” sald he, pushing them over, The offictal looked at them with a puggled’ expression. “T can read the first few lines, and thoge in the middle of the page, and» one or two at the end. Those are as clear as print,” said he; ‘but the writ- Hy Me yet is very bad, and there gre three places where I cannot read at all,” “What do you make of that?” sald Holmes, “Well, what do you make of it?” “That it was written in a train; the good writing represents stations, the bad writing movement, and the very bad writing passing over points, A selentific expert would pronounce at once that this was drawn up on a suburban line, since nowhere gave in the immediate vicinity of a great city could there le 50 quick a succession of points, Granting that his whole vourney was occupied in drawing up the will, then the train was an express, only stopping once between Norword and London Bridge.” Lestrade began to laugh, “You are too many for me when you begin to get on your theories, Mr, Holmes,” said he, “How does this bear on the case?” “Well, it corroborates the young man's story to the extent that the will was drawn up by Jonas Oldacre in nis journey yesterday, it not?—that a man should draw up so important a flocupent in so haphag- urd a fashion, It suggests that he did not think it was going to be of much practicul Importance. If @ man drew up a will which he did not intend ever to be effective he might do it.so."" Well, he dréw ny hig own death warrant at the trade Oh, you think so?” “Don't you?” “Well, it is quite possible; sald Which We her.” It is curlous—ts ame time,” said Las but the case is not clear to me yet," “Not clear? Well, if that Isn't clear, ong min who learns suddenly that if a certain older man dies he wl What does he do? He says nothing to any one, but he arranges that he shall go out on some pretext to see his client that night; he waits until the only other poraon jn the house ja in bed, and then what could be clear? Here is a succeed to a fortune, reason must have pointed to him, is all this not obvious?” “Tt strikes me, my good Lestrade, as being just a trifle too obvious,” sald Holmes. “You do not add im- agination to your other great quall- ties; but if you could for one mo- ment put yourself in the place of this young man, would you choose the very night after the will had been made to commit your crime? Woauld it not agem dangerous to you to make 80 very close a relation be- tween the two incidents? Again, would you choose an occasion when you are known, to be in the house, when a servant has let you in? And, finally, would you take the great pains to conceal the body and yet leave your own stick as g sign ‘ that you ‘were the criminal? Con- teas, Tedtrade, that all this is very unlikely.” ' “As to, the stick, Mr, Holmes, you know as wall as I do that a criminal is. often flurried and does such things which a cool man woul@’avoid, He was very likely afraid to. go back to the room, Give me anothar theory that would fit tife facts.” , “I could very easily give you halt @ dozen,” said Holmes, “Hege, for example, is a very possible and even probable one. I ae youa free present of it. The older man is showing documents which are of evi- dent value. "h passing tramp sees them through the window, the blind of whith ia only half down, Exit the solicitor. Enter the tramp! He) seizes a stick, which he obseryes there, kills Oldacre and departs after burning the body.” “Why should the. tramp burn the body?” “Top the matter of that, why should McFariane?” “To hide some evidence.” “Possibly the damp wanted to hide that avy murder at all had been committed,” “And why did the tramp take nothing?” “Because they were papers that he could not negotiate.” Lestrade shook his head, though it seemed to me that his manner was leas absolutely assured than, before. “Well, Mr, Sherlock Holmes, you may look!for your tramp, and while you are finding him we will hold on to our man, The future will show which is right. Just notice this point, Mr. Holmes: that, so far as we know, none of the papers were removed, and that the prisoner is the one man in the world who had no reason for removing them, since he was helr-at-law, ald would come into’ them in any case.” \ My fiend seemed struck by this remark, , “T don't mean to deny that the evi- dence is in some ways very strongly in favor of your theory,” said he. “I only wish to point out that there As you say, the future will decide; Good morning! I daro say that in the Norwood and see how you are get- ting on.” When the détective departed, my friend, rose apd, made his prepara- tions Yor the Way's work with the alert air of a man who has a con- genial task before’ him. “My first movement, Watson,” said he, as he bustled into his frock cont, “must, as,I said, be jn the direction of Blackheath.” “And why not Norwood?” “Because we have in this case one singular incident coming close to the heels of another singular incident. The police aré making the mistake of concentrating their attention upon the second. becayse it happens to be the one pwhich is actually, criminal. But it is evident to me that the log- feal’ way to approach the case is to begin by trying to throw some light upon the first incident—the curious will, so suddenly made, and to so un- expected an heir. It may do some- thing to simplify what followed. No, my dear fellow, I don’t think you can help me. There is no prospect of danger, or I should not dream of “ stirring out without you. I trust that ~ when 4 see you in the evening I will be able to report that I have been able to do something for this unfor- tunate youngster who has thrown himself upon my protection.” It was late when my friend re- turned, and T could see by a glance at his haggard and anxious face that the high hopes with which he had started hod not, been fulfilled, For an hour he droned away upon his violin, endeavoring to soothe his own ruffled spirits. At last he flung down the instrument and plunged into a de- tailed necount of his misadventures, “Tt's all going wrong, Watson all as wrong as it can go. T kept a bold face before Lestrade, but, pon my |soul, I believe that for once the fellow is on the right track and we are on the wrong There Was a Sort of Sulk All my instincts are one way, and all the facts are the other, and I feay (hat British juries haye not yet attained that pitch of intelligence when they will give the preference to sei my theories over Lestrade's facts,” “Did you go to Blackheath?” “Yes, Watson, | went there, and [ found very quickly that the late lamented Oldagre was a pretty considerable blackguard, The father was away in search of } i} a little, fluffy, eyed person, in a tremor of fear and indignation, Of course, she would not admit even the possibility of kis guilt, But she would not express surprise or regret over the fate of Oldacre, On the contrary, she spoke ot him with such bitiernoss that she was upconsciously considerably strength- fhe mother was at home: blue efiher the ening the cave ton, ot of the man In it would predispose him toward hatred ‘and vio~ , lénce. ‘He was more like a malignant and cunning ape than a human being,’ sa{ she, ‘and he always was, ever since he was a young man,’ “*You knew bim at that time?’ sald I. “Yes, I knew him well; in fact, he was an old suitor of mine, Thank Heaven that I had the sense to turn away from him and to marry a better, {f poorer, man! I was engaged to him, Mr. Holmes, when I heard 4 shock- ing story of how he had turned a cat loose in an aviary, and I was go horrl- fied at his brutal cruelty that I would have nothing more to do with him,’ She rummaged in a bureau, and presently she produced a photograph of a woman, shamefully defaced and mutilated with a knife. “ihat is my own photograph,’ she said. ‘He sent it to me in tlfat state, with his curse, upon my wending morning,’ ~ “‘woll? said I, ‘at least he has forgiven yon now, since he has left alt his property to your son,’ ‘Neither my son nor I want anything from Jonas Oldacre, dead or plive!’ she cried, with a proper spirit. ‘Phere {s a God in Heaven, Mr. Holmes, and that same God Who has punish’d that wicked man will show in His own good time that my aon’s hands are guiltlesa of his blood,’ “Well, { tried one or two ieads, but could get at nothing which would help our hypothesis, and several points which would make against it. 1 Bave it up at last, and off I went to Norwood, “This place, Deep Done House, is a big modern villa of staring, brick, standing back in its own grounds, with a laurel-clumped lawn in front of it. To the right and some distance back from the road was the timber- yard which had been. the spene of the firo. Here's a rough plan on a leat of my notebook. This window on the left Js the one which opens into Old- acre's roonf. You can ‘ook into it from the road, you see, That ts about the only bit of consolation I have had to-day. Lestrade was not there, but his head. constable did tho honors, They had jugt made a great treasure- trove, They had spent the morning raking among the ashes of the burned wobddpile, and, besides the charred organic remains, they had secured several discolored metal disks, 1 examined them with care, and there was no doubt that they were trouser biittons. 1 even distingwished that one of them was marked with the name of ‘Hyams,’ who was Oldacre’s tailor. I then worked. the lawn very carefully for signs and traces, but this drought has made everything as hard as iron, Nothing was to be seen save that some body or bundle had been dragged through a low privet hedge which is in a line with the ‘woopile, All that, of course, fits.in with the official theory, | crawled about the lawn with an August sun on my back, but I got up at the end of an hour no’ wiser than before. ~ “Well, after this flasco 1 went into the bedroom and examined that also. The blood stains were very light, mere smears and discolorations, but undoubtedly fresii. The stick had been removed, but there also the marke were slight. Thore {s no doubt about the stick belonging to our client. He admits it. Fooumarks of both men could be made out ofi the carpet, but ‘none of any third person, whith again is a trick for the other bide, They were piling up the! score all the time, and we were at a stand- till, “Only one little gleam of hope did I get—and yet It amounted to nothing, I examined the contents of the safe, most of which had been taken out and left on the table, The papers had been made up into sealed envelopes one or two of which had been opened by the police, They were not, so far as I could judge, of any great value; nor did the bankbook show that Mr, Oldacre was in such very affluent circumstances. But it seemed to me that allthé papers were not there. There were allusions to some deeds —possibly the more valuable-—which I could not find, This, of course, if we could definitely prove it, would turn Leetrade’s argument against him- self; for who would steal a thing !f he knew that he would shortly in- herit it? “Finally, having drawn every other cover and picked up no scent, I tried my Tuck with the housekeeper, Mrs. Lexington 1s her name—a little, dark, silent person,with suspicious and side- Jong eyes. She could tell us something if she would—I am convinced of it. But she was as close as wax. Yes, she had let Mr. McFarlane in at, half- past 9. She wished her hand had withered before she had done go, She had gone to bed at half-past 10. Her room was at the other end of the house, and she could'hear nothing of what passed. Mr, McFarlane had left his hat and, to the best of her belief, his stick, in the hall. She had been awakened by the alarm of fire, Her poor, dear master had certainly. been murdered. Had he any enemies? Well, every man had enemies, but Mr, Oldacre kept himself very much to himself, and only met people in the way of business. She had seen the buttons, and was sure that they belonged to the clothes which he had worn last night. The wood-pile was very dry, for it had not rained for a month, It burned like tinder, and by the time she reached the spot nothing coyld be seen but flames, She and all the firemen smelled the burned fleeh from inside it, She knew nothing of the papers, nor of Mr. Oldacre's private affairs, “So, my dear Watson, there's my report of a failure. And yet—and yet"—— he clinched his thin hands in a paroxysm of conviction—"I know it’s all wrong. I feel it in my bones, There is something that has not come out, and that housekeeper knows It. There was a sort of sulky defiance in her eyes which only goes with guilty knowledge. However, there's no good talking any more about it, Watson; but unless some lucky chance comes our way I fear that the Norwood Dis- appearance Case will not figure in that chronicle of our successes which I foresee that a patient public will sooner or later have to endure, “Surely, said I, “the man’s ap- pearance Would go far with any jury?” / “That is a dangerous argument, my dear Watson, You remember that terrible murderer, Bert Stevens, who wanted us to get him off in '87? Was there ever a milder Sunday-school young man?” “It is true,” “Unless we succeed in establish- ing an alternative theory, this man is lost. You can hardly find a flaw tn the ease which can now be presented against him, and all further investi- gation has served to strengthen it, By y, there Is one curious little point about those papers which may s the starting-point for an inquiry. On looking over the bank- book I found that the low state of the balance was principally due to large cheeks which have been made ‘out during the last year to Mr, Cornelius, T confess that I should be interested to know who this Mr, Cornelius may be with whom a retired builder has such very large transactions, It {8 possible that he has had a hand in the affair? Cornelius might be a broker, hut we have found no scrip to correspond with these large payments, Wail- iny indications my researches B must now take the direction of an in- quiry at the bank for the gentleman who has cashed these checks. But I fear, my dear fellow, that our case will end ingloriously by Lestrade a | *