Show aa a A af the black hanat at tonys by GEORGE R BUTLER and HERBERT ILSLEY dr furnivall in the solution of a perplexing case N the lath ot july al two Q in the morning laue italy was startled by a sound that sent its constituent parts turn blag out ot bed and scampering about as if dem anted it was the report 0 an explosion alko that ot a gun discharged sullenly sul denly in the silence of the night while women in ran wildly liere and there equalling squalling squal ling babies in arms and men neary naked vociferated exalt edly and rushed for weapons three things happened in front 0 no with the suddenness of a flash of lightning A first floor window vom cited a policeman to the sidewalk the door flew open disclosing another po in the entry and the nearby alley emitted a breathless third meeting at the foot ot the stairway these three officers regarded each other blank lie took the stairs where is he murphy gasped the one who had come by wa of the window man I 1 tell you I 1 saw him fon finnegan he banged open tony s door and hit the landing in two jumps and down he went I 1 was looking right at him and I 1 heard him on the stairs he was in bis stocking feet by the sound I 1 heard sounds all right and that s why I 1 opened the door to let the light in from the street lamp so I 1 could see but nobody showed up detective barsch said nothing but it the darkness had been less dense they would have seen that his face was set and grim in the hall a thin line ot light ran beneath a door from behind which came sounds of sobbing and moaning and entering without cere they beheld through little wreaths of smoke a woman sitting on a bed holding in her arms a boung fellow down whose face the blood streamed and a man on his knees in the middle of the floor prating vehemently with uplifted hands tony he said then to the pra ing man sharply anybody but him in aured towards tho bed none nonea a bud da boy he answered an in the same breath continued bis screaming good boy he said encouragingly you ve got the right stun in your in side it takes more than a little thing like this to knock you out hey now tell us about it I 1 don t think I 1 know much the bov returned in a weak voice but in good english woke up and baw somebody outside my room on the fire escape and I 1 allied who wai there then something struck me on the head I 1 beard a big roar and I 1 suppose I 1 fell out of bed for when I 1 came to myself my mother was drag gang me across the floor well but say cried the aston dished detective the window was chosid and locked gasn wasn t it as I 1 aund it just now how could any body throw a bomb through it with out breaking the glassb it aint broken and it was fastened when I 1 went to put it up it is strange said the youth be fildes father and mother heard some body hurry across this room open the door and shut it and then run downstairs the detective looked inquiringly a the woman who nodded wo heard a da one she said in the midst of her moaning he make a da foot on da floor on da floor an make a da door go bang we hear for sure detective barsch started suddenly into the next room the steeping quarters of the parents and the living room of the family as well on the way he raised the praying little ital lan by the collar and carrying him along deposited him on a chair then carefully closing the connecting door he gazed sternly at the fright ned countenance of the man who an the neighborhood was known as toni the barber look here he said with all the weight he could put into hla manner I 1 say you let a alv ing soul know you had receded a let ter from the black hand yet here you go and tell it non non I 1 no tal a the italian interrupted you lala me no tal a anybody I 1 tal a noboa for sure da boy he ask for I 1 clos da wind bosh da hot night I 1 no tal a da boy I 1 tal a noboa non non well but its a sure cinch they were on the bookout for us or the thing jiahe been pulled ott 0 o slick they must have been onto the game for fair however they got there why here waa murphy at the too of tho stairs Plo almost right at your keyhole and I 1 myself in the alley under your window yet athla elack scoots in bangs the bomb and slides to cover without any trouble the thing is impossible its impossible any way you look at it mow the detectives puzzled gaze hap pined at this moment to light upon murphy who was poking lacound in a closet with his nightstick night stick aej a gleam of surprised intelligence shot into his face ho paused abruptly in his speech and stood considering then he looked at his watch me able to you murph for the he said finally you know att to do and TU kee you later I 1 AI 1 was am duo somewhere else now and he went out dr furnivall said detected Detec te birach here is something that will interest you or I 1 am mightily mis 4 taken he passed a letter to the celebrated psychologist aa he spoke his thin clein en face flushed with eager ness dr sitting back in his chair glanced at bis visitor and taking tho dirty sheet ot paper read slowly aloud tony you gotta tour chousa dol lar wat wo gotta get from iou wednesday sure we donna wan no we need a da mon bad an gotta get it by this a time wednesday Wed nesda da 10 july or we all a you we all a da boy firs an da worn we all a da boy it we donna getta da mon wednesday Wed nesda you sen in letter to jon general delivery san francisco calif we mean a da biz now an we donna wan no chin about da mat you gen da mon or we all a sure heading the sheet were a rudely drawn black hand and coffin dr furnivall regarded it in silence tor some seconds after finishing the read ing then he examined the detec alve through his colored spectacles belp velp he asked detective barsch leaned forward in bis chair A week ago yesterday he said speaking rapidly and in a low voice as it fearing possible listeners tony macaluso the barber brought this letter to our station he had just receded it by mall it seems he has saved up 4 to put his son who graduated from the latin school last month through a college in rome and make a priest of him now the strange thing la that nobody but tony and his wife knows be has this mone not even the boy for they intended it for a surprise tor him on his birth day which comes next week they have lived so poorly in order to scrape the stuff together that they are supposed to be about down and out so its a puzzle from the start who could write that letter we told tony to hold his grip on the cash and we would see him through first we sent a dummy letter to the san francisco general delivery and then notified the police there to look out for it at this end of the line we could do no more till yesterday thurs day because nothing was threatened against the boy until then we kept the whole family covered all day and last night 1 hid iselt under the fire escape within eight feet of tonys windows another man murphy sneaked around in the lower hall where he could see everybody that went over the stairs and still another man fennegan laid on the landing almost right at tony s door just the same at two 0 clock this morning nobody being seen going in we all heard an explosion which turned out to have been in tonys room finne gan heard a door open and shut right on top of the explosion saw a man jump out of tony 8 rooms and heard him running down the stairs towards the front door where murphy was posted and out goes finnegan from the ball window dropping right in front of the door there stands murphy lubbering rub bering it up the stairs because he heard some noises but when fennegan asks him tor his man be swears he has seen nobody the detective paused and looked suggestively at dr furnivall who smiled delightedly go on ha said e hiked it tor all we were worth for ton s and found him praying on the floor and the boy with a gash a foot long more or less in his face his mother holding him up in bed and scattered fit round were marks of a bomb good and plenty the boy was hurt so that be was only halt taking notice but he was leaking grit just the came and managed to tell roe all he knew which much he gald that be woke up in the night and saw a person on the fire escape outside hta window and when he asked who was there something struck him n be head and he fell out of bed unconscious tony and the old woman heird the sound of feet run nans across the boy s floor heard the door open and shut and the feet go pattering down the stairs just as finnegan says and murphy swears nobody cam down he paused again regarding dr fur earnestly and again his listen r smiled delightedly but said noth ing sow continued the sec ond strange thing or a bunch of strange things Is that the boys win dow was shut and fastened the person he saw was outside of t the bomb that person threw struck the boy without breaking the glass and without the sash being raised and the mother and father heard some body cross the room open the door shut it and skip downstairs fanne gan baw this somebody beard the door open and shut and saw and heard the person going down the stairs but murphy at the foot of these sees nothing of any person of the kind for the third ame the detective paused dr furnivall haughee and stroked ats beard f y t I 1 see he said murph let the bomb man in and out why he see him the detective appeared gratified at Us evidence ot perspicacity on dr furnivall s art but only for a moment then he searched the bearded face with his eyes he did not like the tone ol 01 that laugh there s no other way out of it be began I 1 could give you six different ways out ot it the doctor interrupted but the one in which it really bap bened will do I 1 suppose you have come to ask me to hypnotize murphy and extract aba truth from him Is that it the detective flushed and gnawed his lip yes he answered shortly dr furnivall rang for a maid and scribbling a note passed it to her read that aloud all but the ad dress he said if you will come with the bearer of this note the maid read to my office you may save yourself some trouble and the humiliation of being taken to ahe police station instead of here dr furnivall the doctor looked at the detective whose face was blank and then said to the maid explain that 0 o mike and let him deliver it tell him to hurry I biow he continued briskly to the detective you shall see the culprit and hear bis confession I 1 have no time to waste over this attala and while we are malting we will improve the by indulging in a word or two of psychology in the first place you should know that the proper method of beginning the search tor the perpetrator of a crime Is to learn all the ficai that you possibly can and then understand that you almost certainly hav not learned them all and par the most necessity necess iry ones then making large allowances for what you don t know you should bound up the person concerned whose fits snuggest snug gest into all the circumstances and question him rhe usual method Is to get a few facts and then go at the job without the slight est regard for the character of the in involved neglecting to allow for the facts that are unknown in this way always some innocenc person becomes the first suspect in athla particular case iou say there Is only one way in which this peculiar assault and still more peculiar escape could have happened that Is one of the you don t know and for which you have made no allowance la your s s deductions suppose for example that a criminal alter starting down the stairs and or hearing mur ph there tt the toot hurried bach agda and up the higher flight fin had dropped lo 10 ali nd he could easily have done fco making his escape by way of the roof detective kirech made an tary movement of chagrin you aee smiled dr you had sour idea the first that cama to you so firmly fixed in your mand jumped to the belief in murphy a guilt BO not seeing any other way and were eo incapable of entertaining any other idea that you really could not recognize this other way out though it so openly confront ed you then you never dreamed of considering the characters of the sey bial persons concerned there were three people in that tenement any one of whom could as far as physical pos go have done the act and it seems as it nobody else could not another soul was near the first question you should have put to our self Is which one of these three has the character in which lurks ahe pos of throwing that bomb let us in fact begin the inquiry now you have seen them all while I 1 never even beard of any of them before ow tell me it sou think the boy could be him hardly the detective grunt ed he be likely to bust his own face all up besides the money was for him anyway it would look 0 incredulity and downright ata gust had the mother any reason could she have any reason for doing such a thing and if so has she the qualities necessary to the carrying out of so bold a plana I 1 don t see what youre getting at growled karsch and it dont seem to me there s any sense in this kind of business guessing at all these things and wondering which one of cm done it bisone isone ot em dune it somebody else done it and it you know who it Is which I 1 doubt tell me and go and nab him now the doctor continued as it the other bad remained dumb you have practically eliminated the three who were the only persons in a post alon physically speaking to do this thing and that settles the matter with ou as far as they are con corned you would take your oath you that neither one of these persons la or reasonably could be the culprit yes he replied shortly keep up bouy jollying it it does you any good but I 1 d go my oath on abeso peo pie just the same and I 1 guess you would yourself it aint in any sort of reason that one of them done it it was the man on the fire escape and that skipped downstairs or up and that fennegan and murphy and tony and the old woman heard and that fennegan saw as well as heard then the ramifications of the problem must be to you bow did this be only stealing from himself for he d have it in a day or two and on top of that he dido t even know that his father had the stuff and was all broke up because be go to college and be a priest very good smiled the doctor facts facts facts and never a word of characters I 1 fear you are ancor however so much for tho boy hes obliterated now how about tony did he really wish the boy to have all that money could he afford to let him take it did you inquire into his business in order to find if he happened to be des pera tely pressed for money just now as most men are sometimes barsch appeared uncomfortable hy anyway the detective ex claimed it was tony himself who brought us the black hand letter and told ua about it asking us to send men to protect him he wouldn t do that would he it he had this thing up bis sleeve besides hes scared blue I 1 never saw anybody before frightened clean in to his marrow the way he was last he the brains or the spunk either to fix up such a plant and get up at two 0 clock in the morning and throw a bomb into bla own sons room bosh the notion Is ridiculous the detec alve sniffed in contempt well you are improving the doc tor grinned you do finally glance it ever so slightly at character la this instance and you put tony out it now we have left only the moth er the doctor proceeded imper tur bably in the face of his listener man reach the fire escape without bour knowledge you being right un der it how did he enter the room without raising the window or break ing it how did he escape so bously and what did be enter the room at all or for he could have thrown the bomb through the glass you know and it would have been both safer for him and more within reason barech set his lips and tor a moment said nothing finally be burst forth seems to me you aln t helping any thins great in a minute you II 11 make it out that nobody could do it and that consequently it done I 1 am only showing you so tar m friend what your method amounts to said the doctor by it I 1 can prove or anything under the sun |