Show TRUE S DETECTIVE IVE STORIES I Given a a. mans man's skull from which all aU the fles flesh h had d long since decomposed a small of brownish hair and anda a rotted half necktie which It is Impossible impOssible im- im pOssible to trace trace and and how many detectives detectives de de- de- de could discover the tho Identity of the original possessor of the skull and bring to justice the men inca who were guilty of his death The problem sounds like one which would have staggered Sherlock Holmes for even that king of deductive reason reason- ers would probably have bave been supplied with a few more essential details while Cap Captain Captin ln Grant Williams of the Bureau of Persons In New York City accomplished the feat teat with nothing more than the properties mentioned an and a very vivid v imagination n rl 1 f The skull In question was discovered by workmen who were excavating a a. cellar on the outskirts of New York and the fact that it was part of ot the body of a man who had been murdered was plain from the gash in the skull evidently made with some kind of a sharp thin bladed instrument The necktie was all that remained of the dead mans man's clothing all the rest havIng baying hav bay Ing rotted away so that it was Impossible impossible im Im- Impossible Im- Im possible to discover oven even Its texture Merely as a matter of record the tho skull was sent to the Bureau of Missing Miss Miss- ing In- Persons more Persons more generally known as The Port of Missing Men Men and and in the ordinary course of events would woula have havo found its way into the morgue of the unidentified later to be interred by the state But there was something about the sightless eyes and the ghastly smile of the fleshless mouth that appealed to Captain Grant Williams something that made him determine to trace the murdered man It if It web wele humanly possible pos pos- sible The tough part of it all is he ex explained explained explained ex- ex to one of his subordinates that we have the name of his man manon manon manon on file right here In the office but that doesn't help us a particle But chief if it you know his name why cant can't a you work C forward W d from that X protested t t d Wf the mi man to whom Williams was wall speaking speaking- I 1 didn't say that I 1 knew v his name corrected the captain I 1 said that it is on file fHe here somewhere here somewhere in those de descriptions descriptions descriptions de- de of hundreds of persons persona who disappear in New York every year and many of whom are never heard of thereafter They're all on tile file and Its It's practically certain that our friend the skull is among them But Dut how to lo locate locate lo- lo cate his particular name name- presents a a. rather difficult problem pro So difficult that I dont don't think anyone anyone anyone any any- one could solve it commented the other Maybe laybe Sherlock Holmes could or Craig Crater Kennedy ennedy or some of those ath other r sleuths of fiction but but but- and here Jere he made a gesture indicative of his lack of faith in amateur methods No said the captain the name atthe of at the man who solves this caso is Grant Williams Williams' At any rate Im I'm going to devote to it every minute I can spare for the next few months and maybe maybe- mind you I say maybe maybe Ill Ill I'll get some some- where If It not it wont won't hurt to try Williams Williams' first step toward the Identification Iden iden- of the skull was to go eo over very carefully with a an I operation which brought nothing to light which he did not previously know the the nature of the wound on top of tho the head and the fact that the tho dead deadman deadman deadman man had possessed a single gold tooth in the precise center of his mouth The false tooth however was of a avery very ordinary ordinary or or- variety and could not by any chance be traced back to the dentist who Installed it After a session with a number or of books on and tho racial characteristics of th the human skull Williams came to the conclusions that tho the dead man was almost certainly an Italian There were certain traits of the cheek bones and the section of tho the head Just above the tho eyes which Indicated indicated indi Indi- this while the red necktie andr and the gold tooth while tooth t while far from conclusive con con- elusive bore r sl b bore out this ne dea Idea The next step was to reconstruct the head as it had hod appeared in life Ilfe and for this purpose Captain Williams laid hia in hi ina a no supply of Df modeling wax first log ling photographs of a score or more typical Italians lI s a as they appeared re on aW ee the streets of d downtown in New York Ono One of the cx experts erts whom ho he ie called In Inon Inon Inon on the case caso informed him that it was wast broken evident t nd that leaned the mans man's slightly nose sro to had one bs been sido which helped amazingly in producing the final lifelike effect When the face was built up and an olive tint applied to the skin with a blue-black blue region to indicate the heavy Italian beard the question of hair and eyes sI I immediately lieg presented he Itself Williams Wil Wil- a lEarns liams s felt certain from the small quantity quantity quan quan- of had been bean found beside be beside beside be- be side the skull that the man was partially partially partially par par- bald So with the assistance of ofa a II wig-maker wig he ha placed the fringe of brownish hair around the lower ver portion of the back of tho the skull and then so- so cured a a. pair Dalr of ot artificial brown eyes ayes to match it the It-the the assumption being that both on an account of the color of af his hair and because of his hs I J Latin the themi theman theman man very verv e probably o a had brown eyes ll ade mi cf euCh The addition d of ot a a. peaked cap a such as is worn warn b by b the majority of the denIzens denIzens denizens den den- of Italy and the tho draping of ot the red neck necktie Ie beneath the collar of ofa ofa ofa a dingy flannel nel s shirt completed the i amazingly lifelike reproduction Photographs Photographs Photo Photo- graphs of the head then were distributed broadcast throughout the police stations of tho the city and Captain I Williams Wil Wil- liams hams sat back to await avalt results re cults They came sooner than the master of at the Port of Missing Men had dared hope for Less than three days aft after r he had finished his work the photograph photograph photo photo- graph was identified by no less than six persons as being that of Emman Dele Dela Venturo Venture who had disappeared some two years before A search of the files at the bureau brought to light Ventures Venture's history to together together together to- to gether with the fact that two other Italians had been suspected of having a hand in his death but that the case against them had been dropped for lack of evidence Williams at once got on the trail of the these e m men n and had them brought to his office there to be bo confronted confronted con con- fronted with the reconstructed head of t the e dead man Before Detore they had recovered from their amazement Williams forced from them admissions which with the addition of ot other evidence later uncovered sufficed suf suf- sufficed to send the pair to Sing Sing ona on ona ona a charge of manslaughter an achievement achievement achievement achieve achieve- ment hardily less drastic than of Mace lace in the famous case Copyright 1921 by The Wheeler Newspaper Syndicate |