THE INK STAINED THUMB.

Te Aroha News, Volume III, Issue 142, 20 February 1886, Page 3

THE INK STAINED THUMB.

The Peculiar Method by Which a Detective Verified the Adago ttat Murder Will Out— The Cashier's Fate. A few evenings since a "Pioneer Press" reporter stepped into a small retail establishment on a sidestreet of St. Paul to make the purchase of a cigar, and after securing the weed, was turning to leave, when the proprietor remarked : "Some time ago I noticed an item in your paper which said that in San Francisco they photographed the thumbs of Chinese, and that there seemed to be a greater difference in their thumb nails than in their faces. Now, that is a wrong impression of the matter. It is the under part, or sole of tho thumb, which is photographed, as the lines and circles in the skin are not the same on any two people in the universe. This fact is not generally known ; but, if I am not mistaken, is taken as a subject of illustration in Mark Twain's 'Life on the Mississippi,' in which a murderer is ferreted out, but at the end the wrong man pays the penalty of the crimes, j For many years I was in the detective business, and in one case the only clue I had was theimprint of a man's thumb. Itisnotavery long story, and if you are not in a hurry I will tell you about it." Boing requested to relate the incident, he resumed : "At the outbreak of the war I enlisted from Illinois ; and, after receiving my discharge at Memphis, I made my way up the Mississippi to I a city situated on the river — the name of ! the place I will omit for various reasons — for the purpose of visiting relatives before returning to New York, my native State where I had been offered the position as head of a detective agency. The city where I was visiting them had a population of perhaps eight or ten thousand inhabitants, and by the time sot for my departure I had cultivated quite an extensive acquaintance, among whom was a very eccentric old man living alone with his granddaughter, a young lady just verging into womanhood, and between whom there was a strong attachment. Very little was known concerning them, but from the young lady herself I afterwards heard a very remarkable history concerning her parents and grandfather. They had formerly lived in Virginia, where the old man had been highly connected. His only child, a daughter, married against his wishes a shiftless, lazy fellow, and was disowned by her father, her mother having died several

years before. This man, finding that ha would get none of the fortune which rightfully belonged to his wife, soon tired of he r , and before they had been married a year, he kicked her out of the house on a winter nigbt. She returned to her father's house and asked forgiveness but he was relentless, and in a week's time she died in an almshouse after giving birth to a daughter. When|it was too late the old man repented of the manner in which he had treated her, and took his little grandchild and left for the west, hiding from the disgrace to which he had subjected himeelf. Buying a home, he devoted his life to the education of hia grandchild. The house in which they lived was situated on a high bluff overlooking the river, and was gained only by a narrow path running up the side of the bluff.

It Was Not tho Scenery. "This path, I must confess, I had traversed almost daily for some time previous to my intended departure — not for the purpose o£ viewing the scenery after reaching the summit, but for the pleasure of an hour's chat with the old man's granddaughter. On one of these occasions the young lady told me that one of the peculiarities "of her grandfather was that he had for years kept quite a large sum of mpney in the house, nofe trusting the bank for its safe keeping, and that she was always in, fear of her life in consequence. This story I had heard from my own relatives, and was riot greatly surprised when, on my w,ay to the steamboat landing one morning to secure passage to Bt. Louis, I heard'that during the night some one had broken into the old man's house, murdered him as he lay in bed, and made his escape with., the money. This news banished all intention" of leaving-, and I at once hastened to the scene of the tragedy and" prevailed upon the young woman to accept the- hospitality of my relatives until the matter could be straightened up, which she thankfully did. I then set to work to .ferret out the murderer. The entrance and exit had been made through a window in the rear of the building, and, while looking for tracks under the window, I noticed a black ~rnark on the sill which had been painted white, Upon close examination it proved to be the imprint of a man's thumb. The manner in which it came there was easily explained. The money which had been stolen was hidden in a common writing desk, in the old man's bedroom, and in the hurried search for the treasure the assasain had overturned a bottle of ink, getting some of it on his hands, and thus left the mark. This I soon discovered was the only clue I had ; but poor as it seemed at first, it afterwards proved to be a good one. I immediately sent word to the agency in New York, asking to be released from the engagement, and then settled down to work on the case. The first thing I did was to saw out the piece of the window sill on which was the stain, arid I kept the piece of wood secreted in my trunk. The only chance for me to ever find the murderer lay in the hope that he would not leave the city ; but if he had gone the probability was that he would never be apprehended. Picking out those whom I suspectod, I gained their friendship, and in time would show them the peculiarity of a thumb, after gaining possession of it, and would compare it with the one on the block of wood. Things went on in this manner for several months, and I began to get discouraged ; and, as winter came on, I partially lost interest in the work, devoting my time to social enjoyments. While at a social gathering one evening, I became acquainted with the cashier of one of the leading banks in the city, and as he was a bachelor like myself, a warm friendship soon existed between us. As we were parting for the night ho invited me to call at his room in the rear of the bank the next evening,and we would visit the opera-house. I was on hand at the appointed hour, but, as he had a little writing to do, he handed me a cigar, with the request that 1 should make myself at home for a few minutes While thua waiting I allowed my mind to wander back over the past few months, and wasthinking of the murder when my companion announced that he was through with his writing.

The Secret Comes Out at Last. " For want of anything else, I made the remark that it was rather strange that no trace had ever been found of the murderer of the old man on the hill. As I said this, a deathly pallor came over his face and he shook from head to foot as if with the chill. He arose and commenced to arrange the papers on the desk, vainly trying to conceal his agitation, but in doing so partly upsefc a bottle of ink. Not pretending to notice his discomfiture, 1 made some jovial remark, and when he brought the cloth to wipe up the ink, 1 asked him if he had ever noticed the peculiarity of the under part of a person's thumb. He had never heard of it, and entered heartily into the experiment, soon regaining his self-composure. With little trouble I secured one of the pieces of paper on which ho had placed his thumb, and we were soon on our way to the theatre. I paid little attention to the play, and when it waa over rushed home to compare the mark on the piece of paper with that on the block. They were identical; every line and curve was the same. I knew that was proof enough to convict him ; and the next day a warrant was sworn out for his arrest. I accompanied an officer to the bank, and the warrant was read to him. He seemed cool and collected now, and requested to be allowed to enter an adjoining room for hia hat. He had hardly disappeared before a shot was hoard, and, rushing into the ropm in which he had gone, We found him lying on the floor with a revolver in hia hand, and the blood streaming from hia head, He waa conscious, but lived only long enough to make a confession of the crime. He said that gambling was the cause of it all. He had lost heavily of the bank's fund 3, and, knowing that detection was imminent, he resolved to replace it by robbing the old man, having heard that he kept quite a sum of money in the house. The old man had awakened while he waa searching for the money and recoenised him, and he was forced to commit murder. The real cause of the suicide was never generally known, the affair having been hushed up as much as possible by his relatives. I waa remorseful that I was the cause of his death— although it waa far better than for him to have spent the remainder of his life in the penitentiary. I resolved to give up the profession, and marry the old man's granddaughter. I moved to Minnesota. This may seem a very improbable story, but it is nevertheless true, 1

An individual, sailing under the name of " Baron " Friinkel, has just been sentenced in Berlin to eighteen months' imprisonment for swindling. He is well-known in London. Like some other Hebrew barons of finance, Friinkel, a converted Jew, developed it wonderful genius for the derising of bubble companies, and it was mainly in connection with one of these airy nothings— "The British and Foreign Land Credit Company (Limited)"— that he got himself entangled in a net of lines and attempts to procure money on false pretences, which have now resulted in his being sent oakum, pinking for eighteen months. — " Modern Society,'*