Minute Mysteries [Detectograms]
Rocca entered at the moment his sister shot Chase from outside. Grabbing
the gun from her hand, he chivalrously protected her.
But, friend, the thing is clear—speaks for itself.
Aristophanes.
22. _The Jewel Robbery_
The butler said that, as he called for help, Dudley, a stranger, rushed
in.
Owings had locked up before leaving and, therefore, Dudley could not
have rushed in through a locked door. The robbery was obviously framed
by Stuben and Dudley.
Absurdities die of self-strangulation.
Haliburton.
23. _Before the Coroner’s Inquest_
Curry could not possibly have ‘looked up’ while rowing _upstream_ and
seen the action he described which took place fifty yards _behind_ him.
The eyes of other people are the eyes that ruin us.
Franklin.
24. _The Fifth Avenue Hold-Up_
Baldwin said, ‘Mr. Cross tried to call my attention to it [safe] with a
jerk of his thumb’ at a time when Cross was unconscious. Obviously
impossible. Baldwin was lying, which there was no reason for doing had
he been innocent.
When all sins are old in us, and go upon crutches.
Covetousness does but then lie in her cradle.
Decker.
25. _Behind Locked Doors_
Kingston thought his boldness in calling attention to his own footprints
in the carpet would distract Fordney’s attention from their
significance.
The room had been locked for three months. Of the three men, only
Watkins rushed into the room; Fordney and Kingston halting over the
threshold. Therefore, the fact that Kingston’s footprints were found
near the chair in which his uncle sat dead pointed directly to him as
the murderer.
Cunning differs from wisdom
As twilight from open day.
Dr. Johnson.
26. _Lost at Sea_
It would have been impossible for Mrs. Rollins to have seen a man pick
up from the deck the bag of diamonds. On a dark, moonless night at sea
one literally cannot see his hand before his face.
The repose of darkness is deeper on the water than on the land.
Victor Hugo.
27. _A Suave Gunman_
Taylor said the bandit wore a silver belt-buckle. This he could not have
seen, for he stated: ‘As the robber passed through the door, he
unbuttoned his coat and slipped the revolver in his back pocket.’
It would have been impossible for Taylor to have seen the man’s
belt-buckle when his coat was buttoned.
As this statement was false, the rest of his account was disregarded by
the Professor.
He draweth out the thread of his verbosity
Finer than the staple of his argument.
Shakespeare.
28. _Accidental Death_
Had the man’s injuries been caused only by being thrown through the
windshield, there would have been no blood on the front seat of the car.
Therefore, the Professor knew the blood on the seat had been caused by
injuries to the man, with probable murderous intent, before he was
thrown through the windshield.
His assailant had killed him, started the car, and had then hopped off
the running-board, hoping the wreckage would cover the murder.
Forethought we may have, undoubtedly, but not foresight.
Napoleon.
29. _Easy Money_
Wilkins said he saw the burglar pick up a stack of ten- and
twenty-dollar bills from the table in the center of the large library.
Had he not been guilty, he could not have known what the denominations
of the bills were. It would have been impossible to have determined this
from the doorway.
An unconscious slip on his part.
If you are doubtful, just try to determine the denomination of a stack
of bills on a table in the center of a large room, from the doorway.
For any man with half an eye,
What stands before him may espy;
But optics sharp it needs I ween,
To see what is not to be seen.
John Trumbull.
30. _Robbery at High Noon_
He was suspicious of John, the nephew, of course. Upon being asked where
he was at the time of the robbery, he stated he was ‘hauling in a
muskie.’
Unless he had guilty knowledge, he could not possibly have known at what
time the robbery was committed.
He fell neatly into the Professor’s trap, don’t you think?
Let guilty men remember, their black deeds
Do lean on crutches made of slender reeds.
John Webster.
31. _The Wrong Foot Forward_
Paslovsky, the witness, who could not understand or speak enough English
to make a simple statement to the court, yet knew _exactly_ what the
conductor yelled to the motorman.
This was so patently impossible that the Judge was entirely justified in
dismissing the suit.
Liars are verbal forgers.
Chatfield.
32. _Death Attends the Party_
Had Dawes fallen on the table after being shot, the jar would have
knocked over the ‘crazily balanced glasses.’ As the Professor found the
glasses on the table, _balanced_, it was obvious Dawes had been shot,
then carefully placed at the table to give the appearance of suicide. A
bad slip!
There is nothing insignificant, nothing!
Coleridge.
33. _No Way Out_
The note was written with _pencil_, yet there was no pencil found in the
room. Apparently the murderer wrote the note to resemble the dead man’s
handwriting and through force of habit put it in his pocket.
Men are men; the best sometimes forget.
Shakespeare.
34. _Midnight Murder_
Day said he got the blood on his muffler when he bent over Quale’s body.
As blood coagulates and dries in a short time, it would have been
impossible for him to have stained his muffler unless it had touched the
blood of Quale shortly after his death. Therefore, Fordney knew he must
have been with Quale soon after he was stabbed.
Murder, though it have no tongue,
Will speak with most miraculous organ.
Shakespeare.
35. _Speakeasy Stick-Up_
Sullivan, the bartender, said that, as he worked the combination to open
the wall safe, he _heard_ the hold-up man _behind him_. As he was not
permitted to move, he could not have known the gunman was a _big,
tough-looking mug_, as he described him.
As there would be no other motive in telling this impossible story, the
hold-up was faked.
Inspiring, bold John Barleycorn,
What dangers thou canst make us scorn.
Burns.
36. _Behind Time_
The engineer said he had not seen Nelson until he was practically on top
of him. That, of course, is impossible. An engineer of a train running
on a straight-away can see nothing as close as ten yards in front of
him.
You cram these words into mine ears,
Against the stomach of my sense.
Shakespeare.
37. _A Broken Engagement_
Molly said she had retired at ten, after locking her door, and had not
awakened until Fordney had aroused her.
Yet a few minutes after Dot had been murdered, the Professor idly
‘shaped the wax’ of the candle on her desk. This would have been
impossible had not the candle been burning within a few minutes before
he entered.
Her insistence that she had been asleep, together with the strong
motive, convinced Fordney she was involved, as was later proved.
Love can make us fiends as well as angels.
Charles Kingsley.
38. _The Holden Road Murder_
Had the butler dashed in the front door as he said he did, there would
have been foot-tracks in the vestibule.
Remember, the Professor ‘splashed his way through the mud and rain, to
the _door_ of 27 Holden Road,’ and found the vestibule spotless.
Therefore, Wilkins was lying, and as Cannon corroborated his story, he
was also necessarily involved.
Nay, her foot speaks.
Shakespeare.
39. _Fishermen’s Luck_
Holmes could not have seen the bag on the bottom of the lake during a
cloudburst. The agitation of even crystal clear water under such
conditions would have so disturbed the surface that an object on the
bottom could not be seen.
A man so lucky is rarer than a white crow.
Juvenal.
40. _The Unlucky Elephant_
Holman was lying face down with his topcoat buttoned; therefore, if his
watch crystal had been broken by his fall, none of the glass could have
been found on the floor.
For never, never wicked man was wise.
Homer.
41. _The Professor Listens_
The notice of the bank failure, appearing in the _Jacksonville Herald_,
was dated July 5th. This could not have reached Delavin at a remote part
of Cuba, unserviced by planes, in time for him to get back to New York
on the 6th.
His alibi, therefore, was completely broken, as he said the newspaper
clipping brought him back.
Time is the herald of truth.
Cicero.
42. _Ten-Fifteen_
The secretary said he heard Waters talking to Fordney over the
telephone. As Fordney’s name was not mentioned during the conversation,
the secretary could not have known to whom Waters was talking.
It’s the little things that count—in crime detection.
Take care lest your tongue cut off your head.
Persian.
43. _Rapid Transit_
The driver could not possibly have seen from the front seat anyone
standing on the tail-gate of the big van.
If common sense has not the brilliancy of the sun, it has the fixity
of the stars.
Fernan Caballero.
44. _The Professor is Disappointed_
Fordney pointed to the raindrops glistening on a leaf in the shoe
impression.
According to Vi Cargo’s statement, the burglar had jumped from her
window after it had stopped raining.
The shameless have a brow of brass.
Hindu Proverb.
45. _A Dramatic Triumph_
Sibyl Mortimer said Boswell had telephoned her shortly after nine. As he
was on the stage continuously for forty-five minutes after the curtain
rose, he could not have telephoned her.
Obviously she had some reason for stating he did. Fordney was quick to
detect the flaw in her alibi.
It is not wise to be wiser than is necessary.
Quinault.
46. _Murder at the Lake_