VOL XXXI -3»ATRIP*- TO -# PATTERSON'S #- WITH THIS iCotapor^l Will entitle you to a discount of 15 per cent on all Overcoats, Heafy Snits and Underwear, For sixty days from this date, Jan. 22. PATTERSON'S ,4UMl " st BUTLER, PA. THE ONLY SPRICTLY ONK PRICE CLOTHING HOUSE IN BUTLER COUNTY. J. S. YOUNG. VVM. COOPER. VOUNG & COOPER, I MERCHANT TAILORS I Have opened at S. E. corner of Main and Diamond Streets, Butler, with all the latest styles in Spring Suitings. . Eit and Workmanship Guaranted. Prices as low as the lowest. TRY US. Read THis Or\ee. LOOK CAREFULLY AT THE PRIC ES AND YOU WILL, I THINK, BE CONVINf ED THAT IX VI OIS Is the place you will buy your footwear. Ladies fine button shoes, patent tip, opera toe $ 85 " " " squ.ui. toe y " grain " 75 " fine slippers .* 4S " warm, flannel-lined, shoes 75 " •• " slippers " slippers 20 " good, heavy, peged shoes . 75 " " standard shi>cs 8^ " rubbers 25 Misses' fine shoes, button 7° Men's good heavy boots 1 40 «' B& A, calf, congs. and bals tip 90 " extra fine shoes $1 25 and i 50 Boys' good heavy boots, sizes 1-5 1 oc Youths' " " u-13 75 Men's " brogans 70 " " calf boots 19° Rubber boots and shoes, wool lined arctics, felt boots for boys and men, wool stockings at ihe I.west prices. Men's slippers, nicely embroidered, at 50c, 75c, and $1; Women'?, Misses" and Children's slippers at 20c, 50c, 75c ana sl. Are you one *f the few that does not buy of us, 'f so we uri looking for you, roitif in scon and see its b. ION. OPPOSITE HOTEL LOWRY. No. 102 Jf *rth €iia StrjV. - Butler P*. WILL YOU BE ONE TO READ THIS AD. AND ACT PROMPTLY. EVERY ITEM IS A LEADER. MetiV felt lioiifK an J i>ver« f 1.85 B> >y V b>»>r> «iz < 1 t• • 5 95<- Men's pond li.ckel •relit..- 95 1 Men'* ov«.ri tor l«lt ».«rs $1 15 «n.l $1 25. lien's good solid biM><» # 1.50. I Men's working 95. M.fu'n fia«< dre»* shoes l»ee < r <oitjire*s 4 s i 25 THE NEW SHOE STORE LEADING THEM ALL. Ladies' kid button sh<>en tip or pUi-t 95. j L»iii«"'K'wd oil grain button $1 00. Ladies'grain baium shoes heelor *p'i v 95 | Lame*'kip Isce-hoe- 95 Misse»' kid button shoes spring tieei 95: | Ladies' fine rubbers 25. ALL RUBBER GOODS REDUCED AT THE NEW SHOE STORE. 215 S. Main Street, ft D MTT T up Opposite Arlington Hotel, V. L. iuILJLiM. Sweeping Reductions have been Made on all Winter Clothing, Overcoats, Underwear, Cap, etc. Our business has been very successfu' since our opening nine months ago, leaving us a lot of odds and es.ds, which are ALL NEW and which we are willing to sell at a sacrific rather than carry them over. Be sure and see us before you buy if y rj want to save money. Wishing you all a Happy New Year. We are Yours Respectfully, DOUTIIKTT <fe GRAHAM. Cor. Mani & Cunningham Sts. BUTLER, PA. Job Work ol uii kinds done at the "Citizen Oliice." t-r- / BUTLER CITIZEN. oAiiU 1 ) U. ruTalClA> AXD hL'R UKO>, o -'i a A sU*t. iluuef, Fa. Dr. N. M. HOOVEK, '»• rtajliO OV., OlllOe UOUTS, IVI'IU M. a.". «<(i b. 3A iW U Ll. M. oIPPUS. r'tiyaiciau and surgeon. *»j »eat Liniuiinltoiii at. L. iM> »LjxuKuf*, : Sf w TrouUnau boutiiuir. butler, ra. XU. . ia<AALt iU. i/. U. f». AiN A, t>. i# Opevi<uuca. Optcawuco. U«**OIW> A J ALIA OIU- IJIJE, »W#T *LD iiuo^u una. x-£-A*vrL, 6l aa* iivin, buuur, Fa. a. a. jjenusu rrnuer, jrtmii'a. j r , OIC u t ctvJAU r mt.i| a Ayocuuij. UiUv-c'— Ova oc~uu< 9 ttUkUiuk OUJIC. v. iv.e-iii-rii.vc-, JLienual, is uo* lotjieu ill UCW ajiU elen*ul ruouu .*■ vu»uiK Ivi Uier uuc *' AII.KUMS vi UIAO, plates ana wodereii worK. "Gas Administered." Drt. S>. A. jUtiNbTON. jtNTISI, - - bUTLtK, fr-A. Gola t-iuiufc FHU.it-!..- titti.cHOD ot leeti ~u AriLii.mi leen. »Hli»ui i 1a.1t;.-> <. aptciuii. iirvUa uxitie til \ itiMizea Air or .■■esluellea U.MM . uiiiot u.ei Millers urocerj east oi Lowr> .iI.UM.'. UuiCC caweu Jtida tdj3 aud IKA ftuCJUNKIN. , curue> ai iiAW, Oitt'-r a. .No. l«, t.nst Jen*- - uu 31.. Kuun, fA, W. C. FINDi-t-Y, Attorne) at 1--* ain. l>eai Jbsiute AgtUl. ■ ace leaf ol i- AUU-liell'b utlice OL uorti. Bit. >i jjiaiuuiiu, liulier, H. H. GOUC.HEK. ..u-urucj-iit-in*. umce on secunu Limj: ii.utrr»ou Dulldlun. near Court boost, nine J. W HUTCHISON, AITUKM!.* A'A LAW. tB C( ou second noor Jt the clock, i.viuona, Butler, Fa., boom No. 1. S. H. PIER SOL. ATTOKNKK AT LAW. Office at No. 104 West Diamond St. A. T. BLACK. ATTORNEY AT LAW. uom F., Armory Building. Butler, Fa COULTER & BAKER. ATTORNEYS AT LAW. office LA room B /in or> T u'.loiLg, Built-) H. Q. WALKER, Attorney-at-Law— Office In Diamond Bloct uller, Pa. J. M. PAINTER, Atlorney-at-Law. office— BETWEEN Foetoffice and Diamond, «U - r.Pa. A. T. SCOTT, ATTOHNKi-AT-LAW. >rtloe at No. 8. South Diamond, Butler. Fa. A. M. CHRISTLEY, ATIOHNBY AT LAW. dice second floor. Anderson BL K. Main St. ar Court House. Butler. PA NEWTON BLACK. t'y at Law—Office on South side ol Dlamoo tier. Pa. C. F. L. WcQUISTION, ENULVEEK AND BDRVEYOR, OFFICE NBAB DIAMOND BUTLER. P*. Overcoats + AND ALL + Heavy Clothing AT COST AT THE RACKET STORE, 120 South Main Street, Butler, Pa., FOR 45 CENTS. Your choice of any oil clotli window shade in the house Former prices 50 to 90c each. This offer oood only until Feb. 10. Call at DOUGLASS', N- »r P. O. - - 241 S. J/aiu St* ax A; OOMTAJT BOIW FAXI X. Being a reprint from. I'.; reminitcenctt ef JOBS A WATSON, ii D. iate of (he Army iledical Department CHAPTER L MR SHERLOCK HOLMES. . *. v- N the year IS7S I «. J V took my degree of doctor of ""Jr medicine of the <S j lp university of % j London, and It., 1 proceeded to xj r : -'nyyw. Net ley to go jHpSr through the JB course pre \ \y ; ji\ scribed for sur- A (/•L-Bifl * gcons in the f \1 J •<- army. Having .sr- completed my ~ studies there I was duly attached to the Fifth North umberland fusiliers as assistant sur geon. The regiment was stationed in India at the time, and before I could Join it the second Afghan war had broken out. On landing at Bombay I learned that my corps had advanced through the passes and was already deep in the enemy's country. I fol lowed. however, with many other offi cers who were in the same situation as myself, and succeeded in reaching Candahar in safety, where I found my regiment, and at once entered upon my new duties. The campaign brought honors and promotion to many, but for me it had nothing but misfortune and disaster. I was removed from my brigade and attached to the Berkshires, with whom I served at the fatal battle of Maiwand. There I was struck on the shoulder by a .lezail bullet, which shattered the bone and grazed the subclavian artery. I should have fallen into the hands of the murderous Ghazis had it not been for the devotion and courage shown by Murray, my orderly, who threw me across a pack-horse and succeeded In bringing me safely to the British lines. Worn with pain, and weak from the prolonged hardships which I had un dergone, I was removed, with a g'-eat train of wounded sufferers, to the base hospital at Peshawur. Here 1 rallied, and had already improved so far as to be able to walk about the wards, and even to bask a little upon the veranda, •when 1 was struck down by enteric fever, that curse of our Indian posses sions. For months my life was de- FOR MONTHS MV LIFE WAS DE SPAIRED OF. spalrcd of, and when at last I came to myself and became convalescent I was so weak and emaciated that a medical board determined that not a day should be lost in sending me back to England. I was dispatched, accor dingly, in the troop-ship Orontes, and lauded a month later on Portsmouth jetty, with my health irretrievably ruined, but with permission from a pa ternal government to spend the next nine months in attempting to im prove it. 1 had neither kith nor kin in Eng land. and was therefore as free as air —or as free as an income of eleven shillings and sixpence a day will per mit a man to be. Under such circum stances I naturally gravitated to Lon don. that great cesspool into which all the loungers and idlers of the em pire are irresistibly drained. There 1 stayed for some time at a private hotel'in the Strand, leading a com fortless, meaningless existence, and spending such money as I had con siderably more freely than I ought. So alarming did the state of my finances become that I soon realized that I must either leave the metropolis and rusti cate somewhere in the country, or that I must make a complete alteration in my style of living Choosing the lat ter alternative. I began by making up my mind to leave the hotel, and tc take up my quarters in some less pre tentious and less expensive domicile. On the very day that I had come to this conclusion, I was standing at the Criterion bar. when some one tapped me on tbe shoulder, and turning round 1 recognized young Stamford, wfco had been a dresser under mi at Bart's. The sight of a friendly faco j in the great wilderness of London is a ! pleasant thing indeed to a lonely man. j In old days Stamford had never been a particular crony of mine, but now 1 j hailed him with enthusiasm, and he, in turn, appeared to be delighted to see '■ me. In the exuberance of my joy I asked him to lunch with me at tl# Hoi born, and we started off together in j a hansom. "Whatever have you been doing j with yourself. Watson?" he asked, in j undisguised wonder, as we rattled through the crowded London streats. "You are as thin as a lath and as brown as a nut." 1 gave him a short sketch of my ad ventures, and had hardly concluded it by the time that we reached our des- j tination. "Poor devil!" he said, commiserating- j ly, after he had listened to my misfor tunes. "What are you up to now?" "Looking for lodgings," I answered. j "Trying to solve the problem as to whether it is possible to get comforta- i ble rooms at a reasonable price." "That's a strange thing," remarked 1 my companion; "you are the second man to-day that has used that expres sion to ine." "And who was the first?" I asked. "A fellow who is working at tha chemical laboratory up at the hospital. He was bemoaning himself this morn ing because he could not get some one to go halves with him in some nice j rooms which he had found, and which j were too much for his purse." "lly Jove!" I cried; "if he really wants some one to share the rooms and the j expense, 1 am the very man for him. j I should prefer having a partner to be- : ing alone." Young Stanford looked rather i strangely at me over his wineglass. "You don't know Sherlock liolmea yet," he said; "perhaps you would not care for him as a constant companion." "Why, what is there against him?" "Qh, I didn't say there was any thing against him. lie is a little queer in his ideas—an enthusiast in souio . brauclicb trfaaaacc. Aniwaj, taw, j BFTLER. PA..FRIDAY. FEBRUARYS. 181)4. ne is a decent fellow enough." "A medical student, I suppose?" said "Xo—l have no idea what he intends to go in for. I believe he is well up in anatomy, and he is a tirst-elass chemist; but, as far as I know, he has never taken out any systematic medi cal classes, His studies are very desultory and eccentric, but he has amassed a lot of out-of-the-way knowledge which would astonish his professors." "Did you never ask him what he was going in for?" I asked. "No: he is not a man that it is easy to draw out, though he can be com municative enough when the fancy seizes him." "I should like to meet him," I said. "If I am to lodge with anyone, I should prefer a man «ith studious and quiet habits. I am not strong enough yet to stand much noise or excitement. I had enough of both in Afghanistan to last me for the remainder of my natural existence. How could I meet this friend of yours?" "He is sure to be at the laboratory, ne either avoids the place for weeks, or else he works there from morning to night. If you like, wo shall drive round together after luncheon." "Certainly." I answered, and the conversation drifted away into other channels. As we made our way to the hospital after leaving the Holborn. Stamford gave me a few more particulars about the gentleman whom I proposed to take as a fellow lodger. "You mustn't blame me if you don't get on with him," he said; "I know nothing more of him than I have learned from meeting him occasional ly in the laboratory. You proposed this arrangement, so you must not hold me responsible." "If we don't get on it will be easy to part company," I answered. "It seems to me, Stamford," I added, looking hard at my companion, "that you have some reason for washing your hands of the matter. Is this fellow's temper so formidable, or what is it? Don't be mealy-mouthed about it." "It is not easy to express the inex pressible," he answered, with a laujjh. "Holmes is a little too scientific for my tastes —it approaches to cold-blooded ness. I could imagine his giving a friend a little pinch of the latest vege table alkaloid not out of malevolence, yon understand, but simply out of a spirit of inquiry in order to have an accurate idea of the effects. To do him justice, I think that he would take it himself with the same readiness. He appears to have a passion for definite and exact knowledge." "Very right, too." "Yes;*but it may be pushed to ex cess. When it comes to beating the subjects in the dissecting-rooms with a stick it is certainly taking rather a bizarre shape." "Beating the subjects!" "Yes, to verify how far bruises may be produced after death. I saw him at it with my own eyes." "And yet you say he is not a medical student?" "No. Heaven knows what the ob jects of his studies are! But here we are, and you must form your own im pressions about him." As he spoke we turned down a narrow lane and passed through a small side door which opened into a wing of the great hos pital. It was familiar ground to me and I needed no guiding as we as cended the bleak stone staircase and made our way down the long corridor with its vista of whitewashed wall and dun-colored doors. Near the farther end a low, arched passage branched away from it and led to the "hemical laboratory. This was a lofty chamber, lined and littered with countless bottles. Broad, low tables were scattered about, which bristled with retorts, test-tubes and little Bunsen lamps, with their blue flickering flames. There was only one student in the room, who was bending jver a distant table absorbed in his work. At the sound of our steps he glanced round and sprang to his fee! with a cry of pleasure. "I've found it! I've found it!" he shouted to my com panion, running toward us with a test tube in his hand. "I have found a reagent which is precipitated by hcemoglobin. and by nothing else." Had he discovered a gold mine, great er delight could not have shone upon his features. "Dr. Watson —Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said Stamford, introducing us. "How are you?" he said, cordially, griping my hand with a strength for which I should hardly have given him credit. "You have been in Afghanis tan, I perceive." "How on earth did you know that?" I asked, in astonishment. "Never mind," said he. chuckling to himself. "The question now is abort haemoglobin. No doubt you see the significance of this discovery of mine?" "It is interesting, chemically, no doubt," I answered; "but practically "Why, man. it is the most practical medico-legal discovery for years. Don't you see that it gives us an in fallible test for blood-stains? Come THKRE WAS OXLT OSK STUDENT IN TfTK ROOM. over here, now!" He seized me by the coat-sleeve in his eagerness, and drew me over to the table at which he had been working. "Let us have some fresh blood," he said, digging a long bodkin into his Anger, and drawing off the resulting drop of blood in a chem ical pipette. "Now. I add this small quantity of blood to a litre of water. You perceive that the resulting mix ture has the appearance of true water. The proportion of blood cannot be more than one in a million. I have no • doubt, however, that we shall be able to obtain the characteristic reaction." As he spoke, he threw into the vessel a few white crystals, and then added some drop;- of a transparent fluid. Ia an instant the contents assumed a dull mahogany color, and a brownish dust was precipitated to the bottom of the _ ... _ . - i "Ha! ha!" he cried, clapping his hands, and looking as del ; :'lite<l as a child with a new toy. "What do you think of that?" "It seems to be a very delicate test," I remarked. "lleautifnl! beautiful! The old gaaiacum lest was very clumsy and un certain. bo is the microscopic exami nation for blood -corpuscles. The lat ter is valueless if the stains are a few hours old. Now, this appears to act as well whether the blood is old or new. Had this test bc-en invented, there are hundreds of men now walk ing the earth who would long ago have paid the penalty of their crimes.' "Indeed!" I murmured. "Criminal cases are continually hinging upon that one point. A man Is suspected of a crime months per haps after it has been committed. His linen or clothes are examined, and brownish stains discovered upon them. Are they blood-stains, or inud-stains. or rust-stains, or fruit-stains, or what are they? That is a question which has puzzled many an expert, and why? Because there was no reliable test. Now we have the Sherlock Holmes test, and there will no longer be any difficulty." His eyes fairly glittered as he spoke, and he put his hand over his heart and bowed as if to some applauding crowd conjured up by his imagination. "You are to be congratulated," 1 re marked, considerably surprised at his enthusiasm. "There was the case of Von llischoff at Frankfort last year. He would cer tainly have been hung had this test been in existence. Then there was Mason, of Bradford, and the notorious Muiler and Lefevre, of Montpelitr. and Samson, of New Orleans. 1 could name a score of cases in which it would have been decisive." "You seem to be a walking calendar of crime." said Stamford, with a laugh. "You might start a paper on those lines. Call it the Police News of the Past." "Very interesting reading it might be made, too," remarked Sherlock Holmes, sticking a small piece of plas ter over the prick on his fiuger. "1 have to be careful," he continued, turn ing to me with a smile, "for 1 dabble with poisons a good deal." He held out his hand as he spoke, and I noticed that it was all mottled over with simi lar pieces of plaster and discolored with strong acids. "We came here on business," said Stamford, sitting down on a three legged stool and pushing another one in my direction with his foot. "My friend here wants to take diggings, and as you were complaining that you could get no one to go halves with you, I thought that I had better bring you together." Sherlock Holmes seemed delighted at the idea of sharing his rooms with me. "I have my eye on a suite in Baker street," he said, "which would suit us down to the ground. You don't mind the smell of strong tobacco, I hope?" "1 always smoke 'ship's' myself," I answered. "That's good enough. I generally have chemicals about, and occasional ly do experiments. Would that annoy you?" "By no means." "Let me see—what are my other 'shortcomings? I get in the dumps at times and don't open my mouth for day 6on end. You must not think I am sulky when Ido that. Just let me alone and I'll soon be all right. What have yon to confess, now? It's just as well for two fellows to know the worst of one another before they be gin to live together." I laughed at this cross-examination. "I keep a bull-pup," I said, "and ob ject to rows, because my nerves are shaken, and I get up at all sorts of un godly hours, and I am extremely lazy. I have another set of vices when I'm well, but those are the principal ones at present." "Do you include violin-playing in your category of rows?" he asked, anxiously. "It depends on the player," I an swered. "A well-played violin is a treat for the gods; a badly played one—" "Oh, that's all right," he cried, with a merry laugh. "I think we may con sider the thing as settled —that i 6, if the rooms are agreeable to you." "When shall we see them?" "Call for me here at noon to-morrow, and we'll go together and settle every thing," he answered. "All right—noon exactly," said I, shaking his hand. We left him working among his chemicals, and we walked together to ward my hotel. "By the way." I asked suddenly, stopping and turning upon Stamford, "how the deuce did he know that I had come from Afghanistan?" My companion smiled an enigmatical smile. "That's just his little pecul iarity," he said. "A good many peo ple have wanted to know how he tindg things out." "Oh! a mystery, is it?" I cried, rub bing my hands. "This is very piquant. I am much obliged to you for bringing ns together. 'The proper study of mankind is man,' you know." "You must study him. then," Stam ford said, as he bade me good-by. "You'll find him a knotty prob'em, though. I'll wager he learns more about you than you about him. Good by." "Good-by," I answered, and strolled on to my hotel, considerably inter ested in my new acquaintance. CHAPTER IL THE SCntNCE OF DEDUCTION. We met next day as he had ar ranged, and inspected the rooms at No. 2218 Baker street, of which he had spoken at our meeting. They con sisted of a couple of comfortable bed rooms and a single large, airy sitting room, cheerfully furnished, and il luminated by two broad windows. So desirable in every way were the apart ments. and so moderate did the terms seem when divided between us, that the bargain was concluded upon the spot, and we at once entered into pos session. That very evening I moved my things round from the hotel, and on the following morning Sherlock Holmes followed me with several boxes and portmanteaus. For a day or two we were busily employed in un packing and laying out our property to the best advantage. That done, we gradually began to settle down and to accommodate ourselves to our new sur roundings. Holmes was certainly not a difficult man to live with. He was quiet in his ways and his habits were regular. It was rare for him to be up after ten at night, and he had invariably break fasted and gone out before I rose in the morning. Sometimes he spent his day at the chemical laborstory. some times in the dissecting-rooms and oc casionally in long walks, uhieh ap peared to take him into the lowest por tions of the city. Nothing could ex ceed his energy when the working fit wa> upon him. but now and -igain a re sv:lion would seize him and for days 0:1 end he would lie upon '.he sofa in the sittinj'-room. hardly uttering a word or moving a muscle from morn ing to night. On these occasions I have noticed such a 4iva tny, vacant expression in his eyes thrtt 1 might have suspected him of being a ldictcd to the use of some narcotic had not the temperance and cleanliness of his whole life forbidden such a notion. As the weeks went by. my interest in him and my curiosity a;, to '"is aims in life gradually deepened and iu greased. it it* vyyy and poarance were as to stride the at tention of the most casual ob>,-rver. In height he was rather over six feet, and so excessively lean that he seemed to be considerably taller Il ! *< eyes were sharp and piercing, save during those int'. rvals of torpor to which I have alluded: and his thin, hawk-like nose gave his whole expression an air of alertness and decision. Uis chin, too, had tbe prominence and square ness which mark the man of determina tion His hands were invariably blotted with ink and stained with chemicals. yet he was possessed of extraordinary delicacy of touch, as I frequently had occasion to observe when I watched him manipulating his fragile philo sophical instruments. The reader may set me down as a hopeless busybody, when I confess how much this man stimulated ray curiosity and how often I endeavored to break through the reticence which he showed on all that concerned him self. Before pronouncing judgment, however, be it remembered how object less was my life and how little there was to engage my attention. My health forbade me from venturing out unless the weather was exceptionally genial, and 1 had no friends who would call upon me and break the monotony of my daily existence. Under these circumstances I eagerly hailed the lit tle mystery which hung around my companion, and spent much of my time in endeavoring to unravel it. He was not studying medicine. He had himself, in reply to a question, confirmed Stamford's opinion upon that point. Neither did he appear to have pursued any course of reading which might fit him for a degree in science or any other recognized portal which would give him an en trance into the learned world Yet his zeal for certain studies was re- markable. and within eccentric limits his knowledge was so extraordinarily ample and minute that his observa tions have fairly astounded me Sure ly no man would work so hard to at tain such precise information unless he had some definite end in view Desultory readers are seldom remark able for the exactness of their learn ing. No man burdens bis mind with small matters unless he has some very good reason for doing so His ignorance was as remarkable as his knowledge. Of contemporary lit erature. philosophy and politics he appeared to know next to nothing Upon my quoting Thomas Carlyle. he inquired in the naivest way who he might be and what he had done. My surprise reached a climax, however, when I found incidentally that he was ignorant of the Copernican theory and of the composition of the solar sys tem. That any civilised human bei"g in this nineteenth century should not be aware that the earth traveled round the sun appeared to be to me such an extraordinary fact that I could hardly realize it. "You appear to be astonished," he said, smiling at my expression of sur prise "Now that Ido know it I do my best to forget it." "To forget it!" "You see." he explained, "I consider that a man's brain originally is like a little empty attic, and you have to stock it with such furniture as you choose. A fool takes in all the lumber of every sort that he comes aeross. so that the knowledge which might be useful to him gets crowded out. or at best is jumbled up with a lot of other things, so that he has a difficulty in laying his hands upon it. Now the skillful workman is very careful indeed as to what be takes into his brain attic. He will have nothing but the tools which may help him in doing his work, but of these he has a large assortment, and all in the most perfect order. It is a mistake to think that that little room has elastic walls and can distend to any extent. Depend upon it, there comes a time when for every addition of knowledge you for get something that you knew before. It is of the highest importance, there fore, not to have useless facts elbowing out the useful ones." "But the solar svstem!" I protested. "What the deuce is it to me?" he in terrupted impatiently; "you say that we go round the sun. If we went round the moon it would not make a pennyworth of difference to me or to my work." I was on the point of asking him what that work might be, but same thing in his manner showed me that the question would be an unwelcome one. 1 pondered over our short con versation, however, and endeavored to draw my deductions from it. He said that he would acquire no knowledge which did not bear upon his object. Therefore all the knowledge which he possessed was such as would be useful to him. I enumerated in my own mind all the various points upon which he had shown me that he was exception ally well informed. I even took a pencil and jotted them down. I could not help smiling at the document when I had completed it. It ran in this way: SHERI.OCK HOLMES —his Hmlta. 1. Know! of Literature.—Nil. £ Knowledge of Philosophy.—NiL a Knowl ds-e of Astronomy —NIL 4. Kuuwle Ijre of Politics.—Fe Die. 5. Knowledge of Botany—Variable. Well up in belladonnii, opium and poi-tc .s generally. Knows nothing of practical rardening. 6 Knowledge of Geology. Practical, but limited. Tells at a glance difT rent soils from caili other After walks has shown me splashes upon tils trousers, and toid me by t"eir color and consistence in what par*, of London ho bad received t:iem. 7 Knowledge of Cb» mlstry Profound. 8. Knowledge of Anatomy.—Accurate, but un systematic. y. Knowledge of Sensational Literature.— Immense. He appe vrs to know every detail of every horror perpetrated ia the century. 10 Plays the violin well. II Is an expert a.ngle-stlck player, boxer and swordsman. 12 Has a good practical knowledge of British law. When I had got so far in my list I threw it into the tire in despair. "If I ca.n only find what the fellow is driv ing at by reconciling all these accom plishments. and discovering a calling HE WOULD CLOSE HI9 EYEB AND SCRAPS CARELESSLY AT THE FIDDLE. which needs them all," I said to my self. "I may as well give up the at tempt at once." I see that I have alluded above to his powers on the violin. These were very remarkable, but as eccentric as all his other accomplishments That he could play pieces, and difficult pieces, I knew well, because at my request he has played me some of Mendelssohn's Lieder and other favorites. When left to himself, however, he would seldom produce any music or attempt any rec ognized air Leaning back in his arm chair of an evening he would close his eyes and scrape carelessly at the fiddle which was throwu across his knee. Sometimes the chords were sonor ous and melancholy Occasionally they were fantastic and cheerful. Clearly they reflected the thoughts which possessed him. but whether the music tlioso visiter playing was simply the result of a whim or fancy was more than I could determine. I might have rebelled against these exasperating solos had It not been that he usually terminated them by playing in quick succession a whole series of my favorite airs as a Might compensation for tho trial upon my patience During the first week or so in had no callers, and I had begun to think that my companion was as friendless a man as I was myself. Presently, however. I found that he had many acquaint aneos, and those In most different classes of society. There wu. one lit tle. sallow, rat-faced, dark-eyed fellow who was Introduced to me as Mr Le> trade. and who came three or four times in a single week. One morning a young girl called, fashionably dressed, and stayed for half an hour ot more. The same afternoon brought • gray-headed, seedy visitor, looking lika a Jew peddler, whoeppeared to roe to b« much excited, and who was closely fol lowed by a slip-shod elderly woman. On another occasion an old white haired gentleman bad an interview with my companion; and on another a railway porter in his velveteen uni form. When any of these nondescript individuals put in an appearance. Sher lock Holmes used to beg for the use of the sitting-room, and I would retire to my bedroom. He always apologized to me for putting me to this inconven ience "I have to use this room as % place of business," he said, "and these OK* MORNING A TOCJfO OrKL CALL KB j fashionably pressed. people are my clients." Again I had an opportunity of asking him a point* blank question, and again my delicacy , prevented me from forcing another man to confide in me. I imagined at the time that he had some strong rea- j son for not alluding to it. but he soon dispelled the idea by coming round to ! the subject of his own accord. It was upon the 4th of March, as I • have good reason to remember, that I j rose somewhat earlier than usual, and found that Sherlock Holmes had not yet finished his breakfast. The landlady had become so accustomed to my late habits that my place had not been laid nor my coffee prepared. With the un reasonable petulance of mankind I rang the bell and gave a curt intima tion that I was ready Then I picked up a magazine from the table and at tempted to while away the time with it, while my companion munched si lently at his toast. One of the articles had a pencil mark at the heading, and I naturally began to run my eye through it. Its somewhat ambitious title was "The Hook of Life." and it attempted to show how much an observant man might learn by an accurate and syv tematic examination of all that came in his way. It struck me as being a re markable mixture of shrewdness and absurdity. The reasoning was close and intense, but the deductions ap peared to be far-fetched and exagger ated. The writer claimed by a mo mentary expression, a twitch of a muscle or a glance of an eye, to fathom a man's inmost thoughts. Deceit, ac cording to him. was an impossibility in the case of one trained to observa tion and analysis. His conclusions were as infallible as so many propo sitions of Euclid. So startling would his results appear to the uninitiated that, until they learned the processes by which he had arrived at them, they might well consider him a necromancer. "From a drop of water," said the writer, "a logician could infer the pos sibility of an Atlantic or a Niagara without having seen or heard of one or the other. So all life is a great chain, the nature of which Is known whenever we are shown a single link of it. Like all other arts, the science of deduction and analysis is one which can only be I acquired by long and patient study, nor is life long enough to allow any mortal to attain tho highest possible perfection in it. Before turning to those moral and mental aspects of the matter which present the greatest dif ficulties. let the inquirer begin by mas tering more elementary problems. Let him, on meeting a fellow-mortal, learn at a glance to distinguish the history of the man. and the trade or profession to which he belongs. Puerile as such an exercise may seem. It sharpens the faculties of observation and teaches one where to look and what to look for. By a man's finger-nails, by his coat-sleeve, by his boot, by his trouser knees, by the callosities of his fore finger and thumb, by his expression, by his shirt-cuffs—by each of these things a man's calling Is plainly re vealed. That all united should fail to enlighten the competent inquirer in any case is almost inconceivable." I "What ineffable twaddle!" I cried, ' slapping the magazine down on the table; "I never read such rubbish in Imy life." "What is It?" asked Sherlock Holmea "What is It?" asked Bherloc* uoim«. - sherlock Holmes ,.. he said, "A\ hy, this article. I said, poi g stepping into the room and handing at it with my egg spoon « , P £i e * d the letter . to my breakfast. laee Here was an opportunity of taking read It, since you have marked It I conceH out of hlm . H e little don't deny that it is smartly writ, M of this when he made thai ten. It irritate? me though. It is » ««*»„,. ■ u lad» evidently the theory ofsome armchalj "what your 'trado may lounger tvho evolves all these neat lit- ~ J tie paradox ta jta hc all his fellow travelers. 1 would lay a nt , hir , Royal Marine lighl thousand to one against him. infantry? sir. No answer? Right, "You would lose your money.' Sher- inianiry, lock Holmes remarked, calmljr "As 6 cHcked his heels together, raised for the article. I wrote it myself. h{g hwjd . n # and was gonCt "You!" "Yes. I have » 'isirn both for observa- [TO BS CONTIKCED.) tlon and for dea'wsijon. The theories which I have expressed there, and He ffu Not to U i»me. . . . He—You must think lama blamed which appeax to you t* toe so chimerv cal, are really extremely practical—so • (kind i vl _x o , i don't think any practical that 1 depend upot *hem foi ever blamed you.— Detroit Frea my bread and choese." "And how?" I asked, involmrtawly. "Well. I have » trade of my own. ) Th® Farmer'. Itevcnc*. suppose lam the only one in the world. -Don't Blow the Gas Out" was the SWa. >. »*• j i 74 vnii <*in Quoth Farmer Jones. Ail rlgnw I'm a consuitiiig detective. J? jou can tucked himself In bed understand what that is. ilerfc in ix>n- tourn ntgbt don we have lots of government detee- -Life. tives and lots of private ones. When U toeonra«tac. these fellows are at fault they COLM tc O*rtiv— Ah, Miss Dewnose! we me. aud I manage to put them on t c ' nnnelrinr r~- at our Cvo o'clock right scent. They lay all the evidence | were speakingo» jo before me. and lam generally able, y Miwi jx-wnose—Oh. dear!—and I've the help of my knowledge of the his- ■ be respecta ble!— Puck. Tory of crime, to set them straight. 80 - There is a strong family resemblance Experience about misdeeds, and if you have all the . ISo you invested in a silver mine out details of a thousand at yo*r finger- west> e h? What did you realize from ends, it is odd if you caD't unravel the Jt? .. thousand and first. Lcstra'le >s a well-; "Justhow big a fool I can be. known detective. He got himself into ipmth. a fog recently over » and co D .i<ier.t«o o . "They are mostly sent out by private engaged to your cousin Jim. inquiry' agencies. They are all Trivia * UYUWJ INN RNIITN-I . ****** "Why, this article," I said, pointing at it with iny egg spoon as 1 sat down to my breakfast. "I see that you havy read it, since you have marked it. I don't deny that it is smartly writ ten. It irritate? me though. It is evidently the theory of some arm-chair lounger tvho evolves all these neat lit tle paradoxes in the seclusion of his own study. It is not practical. I should like to see him clapped down in a third-class carriage on the Under ground, and asked to give the trades of all his fellow travelers. 1 would lay a thousand to one against him. "You would lose your money." Sher lock Holmes remarked, "As for the article. I wrote it myself. "You!" "Yes. I have » 'utsrn both for observa tion and for dcd'wstjon. The theories which I have expressed there, and ISO 5 And want a little enlightening. 1 listen to their story, they listen to mj cornin-cts. and then I pocket ray fee." "But do you mean to say," I said, "that without lea ring- your room yoq can unravel some knot which other men can make nothing of. although they have seen every detail for them selves?" "Quite so. I have a kind of intnl tion that way. Now and again a cast turn* up which is a little more com plex. Then I hare to bristle about and see thin its with my own eyes. Too sea, 1 have a lot of special knowledge which I apply to the problem, and which facilitates matters wonderfully. Those rules of deduction laid down is th-.t article which aroused your scorn are invaluable to me in practical work. Observation with me is second nature. You appeared to be surprised when I told yon, on our first meeting, that yon had come from Afghanistan." "You were told, no doubt." "Nothing of the sort. I knew yon came from Afghanistan. From long habit the train of thought ran so swift* ly through my mind that I arrived at the conclusion without being conscious of intermediate steps. There were auch steps, however. The train «f reasoning ran: 'Here is a gentleman of a medical type, but with the air of a military man. Clearly an army doc tor, then. He has just come from the tropics, for his face is dark, and that is not the natural tint of hU skin, for his wrists are fair. He has undergone hardship and sickness, as his haggard face says clearly. His left arm has been injured. He holds it in a stiff and unnatural manner. Where in the tropics could an English army doctor have seen much hardship and got his arm wounded? Clearly in Afghanis tan.' The whole train of thought did not occupy a second. I then remarked that you came from Afghanistan, and you were astonished." "It is simple enough as you explain it," I said, smiling. "You remind me of Edgar Allan Poe's 'Dupin.' I had no idea that such individuals did exist outside of stories." Sherlock Holmes rose and lit hla pipe. "No doubt you think that you are complimenting me in comparing me to Dupin," he observed. "Now, in my opinion, Dupin was a very inferior fellow. That trick of his of breaking in on his friends' thoughts with an apropos remark after a quarter of an hour's silence is really very showy and ■uperficlal. He had some analytical genius, no doubt; but he was by no means such a phenomenon as Poe ap peared to imagine." "Have you read Uaboriau's works?" I asked. "Does Lecoq come up to your idea of a detective?" Sherlock llolmes sniffed sardonically. "Lecoq was a miserable bungler," he ■aid, in an angry voice; "he had only one thing to recommend him, and that was his energy. That book made me positively ill. The question was how to identify an unknown prisoner. I could have done it in twenty-four hour*. Lecoq took six months or so. It might be made a text-book for de tectives to teach them what to avoid." I felt rather indignant at having two characters whom I had admired treat ed in this cavalier style. I walked over rn am A LABQI BLCK ENVELOP* IW nil HAHD. ' to the window, and stood looking out into the busy street. "This fellow may be very clever," 1 said to myself, •'but he is certainly very conceited." "There are no crimes and no crim inals in these days," ho said, querul ously. "What is the use of having brains in our profession? I know well that I have it in me to make my name famous. No man lives or has ever lived who has brought the same amount of study and of natural talent to the detection of crime which I have done. And what is the result? There is no crime to detect, or, at most, some bungling villainy with a motive so transparent that even a Scotland Yard official can see through it." I was still annoyed at his bumptious style of conversation. I thought it best to change the topic. •'I wonder what that fellow is look ing for?" I asked, pointing to a atal wart, plainly-dressed individual who was walking slowly down the othet •ide of the street, looking anxiously at the numbers. He had a large blue en velope in his hand, and was evidently the bearer of a message. "You mean the retired sergeant of marines," said Sherlock Holmes. "Brag and bounce!" thought I to my self. "He knows that I cannot verify his guess." The thought had hardly passed through my mind when the man whom we were watching caught sight of the number on our door, and ran rapidly across the roadway. We heard a loud knock, a deep voice be low, and heavy steps ascending the stair.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers