Show A A A A acab A A A AB chow how the inspector lost aw aw aw VW I 1 I 1 I 1 0 O I 1 inspector had seivel his twenty five years in the detective force and his colleagues were entertaining him at a little farewell dinner in anticipation of his forthcoming retirement the chairman having eulogized the guest of the evening to an extent that brought a blush to the face of the cage cae hardened official the inspector rose to reply and at the finish anish he said the chairman has said that I 1 never let a man slip through my fingers after I 1 had once got on his track but bat I 1 am sorry sony to say he is wrong I 1 am bound to acknowledge that once an offender was too clever for me tell us about it arose spontaneously from almost every throat threat and inspector in response to the request gave the story it was a good many years ego now when I 1 had in trusted to me a case of a young woman named ellza eliza who had been found dead evidently murdered by having hr hir throat zut ut in some fields adjoining i he canal rk near a town in lancashire she had been a domestic servant and was 0 of f a very retiring staid disposition and bore bare an irreproachable character her friends fiends lived in quite another part of the country and her mist mistress resti had no knowledge of her keeping company or anything of that kind for some time 1 1 I had considerable difficulty in fixing the crime or any reason for it upon any ane ai but at last after a lot of inquiry I 1 ascertained that she hai haa ben bein be in n arg out with a man named lamprey who lived near stockport in Ohe cheshire gheshire shire ome thirty miles from where ellza eliza resided it seemed that the girl had been in tho the habit of spending her holiday when she bhe had a day off in going to Stack stockport port where Tarn lamprey prey met her and that she had become engaged to him but that hearing something some thing to hla his discredit she had refused to have anything more to do with him and so tar far nothing further was known to implicate lamprey in the crime but I 1 of course at once took the train to stockport and proceeded to bunt up lamprey and to make inquiries in the LO towi wr where he resided 1 I knew nothing about him except tits his name but from the local police and cautious questions of one and another b I 1 ascertained that he had been a m sailor alor and was then a steeple jack and one ut of the best beat climbers known jack lamprey cried one man to wham whom I 1 had bad spoken ah he can an climb for sure can jack why he climbed up to the very top of yon steeple pointing to the church hard by which had a spire remarkably kit ly tall tali and slender nd and very hard to mount after the adorm had delmn damaged ed the weathercock jack climbed up and fixed it all alone lor for the parson and we he refused to be paid tor for it I 1 the rho man seemed to look upon lampreys refusing payment as aa more diore won deew than his climb climbing I 1 ing the steeple and perhaps he was right well bit by bit I 1 found little things which when pieced together pointed unmistakably to jack lamprey as the murderer he had una antu recently been seen frequent i ly in im and about stockport with the girl but for or the last two or three months she had bad not bee been u observed lu la Ws company jele fie had bad been a jolly sort of ci fellow bat b since the girl had ceased her visits it had bad been noticed that he had A be some oe moody aud and silent hueu and he had bad taken to drink a good deal although he had previously been a most oat ab fim I 1 I 1 se jae was aw wim ayrom X r to ids lodgings on m the 8 night jd t of the murder murdee and d em on hw his return c ea ii 4 the next day he was VW travel I 1 st stained as 22 11 he had h walked a 41 long way irma sis landlady remembered he told bad had tallen I 1 down in nozae z chem A 11 vh bild b e off cw A 1 1 I 1 WW W W a I 1 I 1 I 1 that I 1 immediately R wi 0 J after hla bli arrival hom bome he 4 biad r biais p W hai g and 4 8 0 0 O i 1 9 in 91 1 a xvi eisaw 4 1 q 1161 1111 zi 7 0 I 1 1 el t I 1 f Z j r k e 11 k AJa kawi V T 0 i vid 1 aa I 1 t W 2 k abu t 1 JAW Z iz I 1 i job 0 i I 1 I 1 4 I 1 0 t abe 1 I 1 11 1 1 I 1 11 ll 1 19 ali ily att 1 a V ier g 11 I 1 V 1 t setly except that it was somewhere near liverpool and itous it was useless for me to leave stockport where I 1 had the best chance of catching him on a wild goose chase to liverpool without better information my only course was to wait and keep quiet till he came back which he be was expected to do the following day 1 I took every pres precaution aution to prevent any one knowing that he was wanted 1 but bu t some pal must have got to suspect it and given him warning W ruing the police in liverpool had been wired to and had kept watch of all trains in the direction of stockport and toward evening of the second day I 1 received the intimation that a man resembling his description had taken the train and was on his way assisted by a local detective who knew the man bogn I 1 watched every passenger out of the train on its arrival at stockport but no jack jac lamprey alighted and on inquiring ot of the guard it seemed pretty certain that he had got out at cheadle a station a few miles outside of stockport it was the beginning of winter and night had set it so that it was extremely doubtful if we could follow the man but we took a train which was just going out or of the station and in a few minutes were at cheadle I 1 there made certain that my man had got gotaut out ile he had booked for stockport and had given up his ticket but do all we could we could get no trace of him he had left the station immediately on leaving the train no one knew him and we could find no one to tell us anything more moli so hoping perhaps to pick up a clew on the road we walked back to stockport and on to the town where he lived which was a few miles the other side but our tramp was in vain we had left instructions at stockport for lampreys lodgings to be watched but by some blunder a man had not been sent there tor for some time ind and much to my anger and disgust ahen I 1 arrived at his house I 1 found that he had been there just for five jai minutes his landlady said and had bad left wain again with a bag of clothes 1 I was mighty savage you may guess both with myself and with the police of the place for not keeli keeping ng a better lookout but it was no use losing my head over it and I 1 at once set to work dodging his footsteps after he had left his lodgings in the public house bouse which he be frequented I 1 came across a man to whom I 1 had previously spoken who seemed to know lamprey in a very distant sort of way and I 1 turned the conversation on the man I 1 wanted ah ive just seen him said the fellow about an hour ago or mayhap a little more he was going to macclesfield Mac clesfield he said to catch the early train in the morning into staffordshire where hes got another job he seemed in a mighty hurry too 1 I had reason afterward to think that this man was the one who had given lamprey warning but whether that was so or not his information that night appeared to be correct tor for I 1 met several people who had bad seen jack going across the fields toward marple which was his best way of getting to macales field from the place he lived in but when I 1 arrived at marple station I 1 was at fault again for no train had been out for quite two hours and although I 1 waited till the last train to macales field had left lamprey did not show up tired and vexed beyond description I 1 tramped back and got what rest I 1 could hoping that something might turn up in the morning to assist me in recovering the ground I 1 had lost but afraid that tor for once I 1 had let my quarry quam slip and that I 1 might never catch him now that he was aware he was being tracked sure enough the something did turn up in the morning and something which confirmed my tears fears though I 1 felt that I 1 had bad got my man dead it if I 1 had missed him alive the postman came round soon after 7 before etwas quite light and I 1 had only just got up when a boy came running with a letter which had been delivered at the police station it bore the marple postmark and was ILd addressed dressed to the detective from london tearing it open I 1 read so something bething like this john lamprey I 1 know you are after me and I 1 know what tor for I 1 managed to keep out of your way tonight and I 1 meant to try and get down south but you are sure to nave have me sooner or later so ive determined to make an end of it look at the church steeple when you get this tomorrow to morrow morning the church steeple was a tall and prominent feature whichever way you turned and I 1 had only to go to the end of 0 the street to get a full view of it when I 1 got there and looked up I 1 saw something that gave me a start starl in the uncertain light of the early morning I 1 could discern against the gray sky hanging by the neck to one of the iron loops which served for or a ladder orl on the side of the spire the figure of gl a man so much tor for jack lamprey I 1 I 1 I 1 said to myself as I 1 hurried to the police station he has saved me any more trouble lel by the time I 1 had been to the station and back to the church it w was broad daylight and of course the body banging aloft had been seen aud and a ero crowd wd had already collected every C one recognizing it as that of jack lamprey I 1 M A strange freak 71 I 1 remarked to the th sergeant who was with me a a idoft think thi so ke replied zack jade had made ado hl f a sort of hero vw over going up the spire to repair the vane and nd there was nothing more ime Ul 4 ral occur ue to td JAs his mind th than 16 to agnaw ids hla career tt at c 1 ali r y i e vt v t k w 4 1 12 1 2 1 ith mire I 1 ere I 1 ia sabe M who 11 would I 1 viren venture ture I 1 up IP the 8 spire P 1 I iid aad I 1 a 7 ir 61 6 1 1 MA A ia M 4 ia 1 1 e 1 Z I 1 I 1 t 13 t for a man to come and get the body I 1 down it was past midday before the steeple jack arrived and by that time half stockport had heard of the affair work was discarded and an immense crowd collected to witness the sight every foot of the mans mani way up the steeple was watched by thousands of eyan and when at last he approached pro ached the swaying body of jack lamprey the tongues which had been loudly wagging were hushed as by common consent 1 I shall never forget the few minutes that followed whilst the steeple jack now looking the size of a little child made his way very cautiously close cloge up to the body and fixing a rope to it made preparations tor for lowering it to his assistant who was waiting on the top of the square tower to receive it there was something awfully sad and solemn about it all in due course the assistant received the corpse which he be let down to the ground and every one around me remarked that he swung it roughly to the earth without showing the respect i which might have been looked for in fact some actually called out shar I 1 but all at once the hush which had bad t t fallen upon the crowd was broken by a storm of jeers and laughter the thing which had given us all this trouble was nothing but a guy and I 1 never felt such a fool in all my life 1 so that he might get nearly a days start lamprey had cleverly misled me the night before while I 1 had been i wasting my time at marple he had been I 1 employed stuffing the suit of clothes i which he had taken from his lodgings lodging I 1 with straw making a very passable i representation of himself and in the middle of the night he had climbed the steeple which was childs play to him and left his effigy there to deceive me ma and lull me into inaction I 1 1 I need not dwell upon the chaff I 1 received it is too painful even een now for me to recall without annoyance I 1 I 1 but you may be sure that I 1 quickly I 1 made myself scarce I 1 I 1 did the fellow get clear away I 1 asked some one yes he took the train to the east I 1 I 1 coast and succeeded in getting to hol holi I 1 land unnoticed replied inspector I 1 I 1 Hoo kyer but he hanged himself in 1 real earnest some considerable time 1 afterward leaving a letter behind admitting i his guilt and stating that his I 1 I 1 conscience troubled him so that lis hi could not bear to live P tit bits I 1 |