Salt Lake Tribune | 1915-03-28 | Page 60 | doc Horne (of the Alfalfa Hotel) and his Friends

DOC HORNE (of the Alfalfa Hotel) AND HIS FRIENDS suma IX Doc Home as a Detective It came out one evening that Doc Home had been a detect ve n Bolivar He was talk ng w th the marr ed n an and had g ven h a theory as to that week s myster ous d sappearance oa would have made a good de tect ve Doc sa d the roan1 ed man I don t know that I have any par t cular ab 1 ty n that line 6a d Doc p ck ng at the charred end of h s c ga I never was a profess onal de tective but I cleared up one mjBtery after the police had g ven it up Cer ta nly I gave a few po nts to the cross roads oracles ovej- my way The town of Boh tfr was about forty miles from our home For over a year there had been a series of myster ous robber es at Bol ar at least th rty pr vate houses and stores had been en tered The locks had been p cl ed n most cases although occas onally the robbers would get In by cutt ng glass with a diamond They took only jewels and money never anyth ng bulky The went to the best houses m town and seemed to know the prem es for they never spent any time in rummaging They went direct to the place where the valuables were concealed The robbers had never been caught at work except once A n ght watchman saw a door ajar and went into the house to invest gate Someone stepped up to him and clapped a handl erch ef to his face and that was the last he remembered until daylight The po 1 ce put on extra men at n ght after that b t it d dn t seem to make any d fference The robber es went ahead just the same two or three a month At last a f r end of m ne sa d to me Home, whv don t you go o er to Bol var and find out who is com m tt ng all those robbenesl I didn t care much for the reward but the mys tery of the thing; attracted me and so I went over to Bol var Whenever I undertake anyth ng I begin at the beginning I didn t go off on any wild goose chase When I reached Bol var 1 went to the chief of pol ce and got a list of robber es for a j ear past the date of each one the value of goods stolen and the locat on of each house entered Then I went to my room aud sat down w th a map of Bol ar n front of n e. and I n arked with lots the houses wh ch had been, robbed When I f n shed I found that I had dotted out a sort of broad ath connect ng the extrerrfe northeast of town w tn the southwest lou must understand that Bol ar was bu It along the river wh ch runs south at that part of ts course My d scovery relat ng to the path of the robberies was nterest ng o t t didn t prove anyth ng ' Then I stud ed the dates and u two m nutes I made another d scovery I found that all the robber es had been coram tted during the first half of each month that is between the 1st and 15th Strangely enough no one had e er called attent on to that fact be fore I sa d to myself These rob ber es are comn ltted by someone who s e ther o t of town dur ng the last half of each month or who has some part c lar reason for keep ng qu et It s evident that he knows all about the nter or arrangements of the res dences n th s town He s a clever man also or he would not have escaped bus pic on Well I sat around and thought it over and I 11 confess I was puzzled to know how to begn Then a ery curious th ng happened I p eked up a morning paper and glanced, at t and there on the first page was a b g ad vert sement of Dr James Brascall, special st in electrical treatment will be in Bol var from Hay 1 to May 15 I jumped up and sa d That s my man! I d never heard of h m before, but I felt instinctively that I had struck a tra 1 I began mak ng nquiries I learned that Dr Brascall had been v s t ng Bolivar in a profess onal wa two weeks out of each month for a year or more He had an office on the ma n street but he also gay e treatn ents in his room at Mrs Allen s house wh ch was n the northwest part of town He was well 1 ked in Bolivar espec ally by the men, and had been aim tted to membership in the club there Much to my surpr se I learned that he was not a soc ety man So far as I could aseerta n he had vis ted but two or three of the houses wh ch had been robbed H s reputat on in the town was above reproach He attended church regularly and had no bad hab ts The doctors of the town called h m a quack and an impostor naturall be cause he advert sed but on the other hand most of h s pat ents stood up for h m I o Id learn noth ng vh ch would show that he had been mpl cited n the robber es ind yet I felt n mj bones that he was the n an I vent to Mrs Allen s house where he roon ed and unde pretense ot w sh ng to engage a room I got into con er sat on w th tho woman bho sa d she co Id give me a roon on the second floor that Dr Brascall had taken the only first floor room I asked her f I could have the doctor s roon wh le he was in Pittsburg bhe sa d the doctor pa d for the room even while he was out of town and had g en particular orders that no one sho Id be alio ved in his room wh le he was away In further conversat on she sa d that the doctor ne er went out at n ght but this d d not spo 1 m theor as I sur msed that he m ght ha e taken a first floor room so as to be able to get out through a w ndo v without d sturb ng anyone The case presented d fficult es and yet I was more than e er keen to fix the robber es on th s doctor I went to"the ch ef of pol ce and 1 ad another long talk I asked h m f he had e er suspected aujone He sa d that at one t me B 1 Gregory was under susp c on I asked about Gregory and learned that he was a man of all work en ployed by Mrs Walton a widow whvj 1 ved in the southeast part of town She had come to Bol ver about a year before and had brought Gregory, w th her He d d all the work aro nd the place and dro e her phaeton when she went call ng She was someth ng of an in alid subiect to nervous attacks and th s Cregory had to help her in and out of the nouses where she called It seems that One n ght Cregory was seen coning out of an alle and a policeman stopped h m and found a revolver on hin Gregory cla med that he was on h s way to summon Dr Bras call to attend Mrs Walton who was s ffenng from one of her attacks and that he had come through the allev for a short cut The pol cen an doubted h m so he went w th Gregory to Mrs 411en s house After so ne delay Dr Brascall came to tl a door The pol ce man followed the doctor to Mrs Wal ton s house Ho fo nd 1 er n great pa n ''he sa d she had sent Gregory for the doctor and of course that sat sfled the pol ceman and rel eved Gregory from susp c on Well s r that set me to th nk ng I asl ed the ch ef to indicate to me on tl e map where Mri Walton 1 ved He d d so and I saw at once that this 1 ouse and the house in wh ch the doctor 1 ved marked the d strict w th n wh ch the robber es ha 1 been coram tted In other words anyone proceed ng fron the doctor s ho se to Mrs Walton s ho se could pass bj anj house or store that had been robbed and st 11 not go out of the way I sum sed at once tl at Mrs Walto was n the plot that she was to be ready to test fy n case tl e doctor tell un ler susj c on because of h s appearance, on the streets at n ght, that she had sent for 1 un and tl dt he was on h s way to attend her I bel eved then that Gregory came to h s window and tapjed and that the loctor crawled out of the w ndow At anv rate I felt sure that bptl Gregory and the charm ng widow were n the game I qu red regarding Mrs Walton and learned that she was very popular w th the best people and was a promi nent men ber of the 1 terary club wh ch net at the homes of the uem,ber6 At last I began to understand how the doc tor suppos ng that he was the gu lty r ng leader learned where the jewelry and valuables were kept n each res dence By th s time I had the case fa rlv mapped out n my m nd but I hadn t a part clc of proof I sounded the ch ef of pol ce as to Dr Brascall without h nt ng my sus p c ons It seemed that he and the doc tor were nt mate fr ends In fact the doctor had ass sted In u gett ng up a new schedule for the n ght pol ce nen so that they could cover the town more effect ely Tes s r that doctor had actually ass gned the pol cemen to the r beats so that he would know how to keep out of the r wav Well when my nvest gat ons were about th s far along the doctor whom I had seen only casually went to Pitts burg I followed h m and learned that wh le he was in that c ty he made but little pretense to pract ce and spent most of his t me in garabl ng As soon as he returned to Bol iar aga n I resol ed to br ng matters to a head anl watch the house where he I ed Tor three n ghts I lay crouched beh nd a rose b sh watch ng h s win dows and I could have sworn that no one can e to the house or went away On the th rd morn ng after I got back to the hotel I learned that the Pearson res lenca had been entered and $1000 worth of d amonds taken I could not bel e e that Brascall had left th house that n ght and vet I felt sure that hp had done the job I knew that I had to deal with a mystery sure enough My whole theory was, apparently destroyed I had sur n sed that the widow Mrs W alton would send th s man Gregory to sun mon Dr Brascall The doctor and Gregory would start n the 1 rect on of the w dow s ho se at the other end of the town If seen out at n ght together thev had a plaus b e story to tell and the w dow stood ready to corroborate everyth ng they sa d There would never be any chance to mpl cate them unless they were actually caught n the act of robbery I had watched the house id order to shadow tha doctor There had been an other robbery and yet he hal lot left the ho se so far as I could observe Son e n en would ha e been d scouraged nde the c rcumstances but I was not I s mply concluded that he was cle er enough to get out of the house w thout us ng the front door or the back door or crawl ng through a window How could that be? asked the n arr ed man There was a cellar under the house sa d Doc mpres vely What was to prevent h m loosening the carpet and Saw ng out a trapdoor in the floor so that he could lower h mself nto the cellar and thus get out of the house through a eel ar door at the rearf. A frape arbor extended from th s cellar oor to the barn or shed next to the alley He could come up out of the cellar slip along the grapa arbor go through the Bhed and reach the alley without be ng seen by anyone watch ng the house fron the s de or front Well I 11 be darned I said the bi cycle youth ' I exam ned the cellar the even ng after the Pearson robbery. sa d Doc How did you get in?' asked the marr ed man Doc smacked h s lips dryly and w nked at the dentist Then he sa d I s mply went n Suff ce to say I located the trapdoor and f gured out n my own mind the exact plan of the robbers Brascall and Gregory would plan on a robbery for a certa n n ght Greg orv would leave Mrs Walton s house for the pretended purpose of summon ing the doctor One m ght naturally suppose that he would have goqe to the house where the doctor Toomed and rung him or tapped on h s w ndow But they were too shrewd They f gured that sooner or later some susp cious per son would be wa t ng to shadow them an 1 so they had t arranged that Bras call was to come out through the eel lar and meet Gregory n the alley Then they would start in the general d rec Uon of the w dow s house As I told you before, BraBcall knew exactly what d str cts the police were cover ng at that tune of n ght because he had helped tho ch cf arrange the sched le His aprearance on tho street at any hour of the n ght would aro se no s sp c on and he co Id carry a box supposed to be a batter for 1 s e ec tr cal treatment I II te 1 jou tl at man was clever I saw tbat I would ha e to detect h m n the act before I could br ng any proof wh ch would be conclus e to a jury The only sens bio plan t seemed to me was to hide in tnat shel e -erj n ght unt 1 they went out aga n and then to follow them 1 or f e nights I sat all n ght lo g back n a dark cor ner of th 3 shed wa t ng for someth ng to happen On the s xth n ght t was then along about the middle of Junef and I remember t was a warm n ght but cloudy I heard someone n the al ey In a 1 ttle wh le the door lead ng to the yard opened and n came B ascall w t a b g box wh ch he carr ed b a handle Mj eyes were accustomed to the dark ness and I could see h m d st n tl He passed through the alle and 1 heard the two men walk awa together talk ng n a low tone 1 si pped out and followed at a safp d stance Then, I real zed for the f rst t me that I had no author ty as an off cer that t was one man aga nst two desjerate armed men and that even f I saw them com m t a robberv my word m ght not be accepted aga nst that of Dr Brascall, who was well known n Bol ar wh le J was a comparat ve stranger But it was too late to back out I followed them and, to make a long story short I saw them si p thro gh the back yaVd of Judge W Ik nson s house and start to work at the door They were experts sure enough for they had that door open in two minutes They slipped m and closed the door be hind them and I t ptoed up and tak ing off my shoes I followed nto the house Just inside the door my foot struck someth ng and at the same t me I got an odor of chloroform or ether I p eked up the cloth soaked w th the stuff whatever it was and threw it out of the back door I could hear the two men ahead of me n the house and I guessed that they were planting these soaked cloths around the house so as to beep the inmates asleep 'In a flash I realized what I would have to do I opened the back door and then I felt my way through the sitt ng roon to the front hallwa I' conld hear the two men wh spenng in the parlor It was a b g risk b t I felt my way to the stairway wh ch I could see d mlv and then crawled up stairs There was a big pa r of win lows on the land n u theoldfashn'efve, gently pushed tbe Xt of them squeaked W?' from below so I went ulit. draught bf a r up ftet8?i, tl at most of the other Vi open also aadffi , chloroform keep D fff fc. wh le there was a t llW air n the house movMtV My t me nad corns V bend of thestairwaTaoal.S and Gregory cam, L jai then and the front fiWfc Don t move or 1 11 .1?. 4 blewapolcewhsUeft h mself came ranti nA the whole fam ly half ' call and GregorV stonA? nto mv pstol T fa rlv The women everyone was exc ted of """ A J dee V, Ik nso mb2?, and wanted toknowKlJl ter Gentlemen would t J?!"' Bras all told h m that O saw me enter the bomm? lowed ne The jndee b,lf. butlddatlosenlVTene ,1 to send for the nolVwd pf hs take to the stet on T tested and said he had to Walton at once but he mSuf of us to the stat on WiL1" there I sa d Open tW . opened Brascall , D0X, what seemed to bp a bat J J 1 ce laughed at me n laughed at me Tbev tlnL the th ef and watrSg?S to clear myself K Ue" Well, I was mad I mu. baery' and tore off , ft and nnderneatb. was a k t of b p ck ng locks and a bottle,! form Brascall sm led at Cr said It s all np Then pol ce to go and search b,,rMI1 found air the Pea son dZ of course that settled I But mavbe you tb nl a, wasn t torn up next dav I d get through poW fo chef of pol ce It came out h Mrs Walton was really J, w fe Well what did Brajal asked the married man Ten y ears tbe same ai h replied Doc He alwin that f I had kept away ha he never would ha e been rtp (Copyr ght 191o by the Ife, dicate lie.)