472
THE GREEN BAG
could not possibly see such a thing twentyfour hours after death. "Objection sustained. State facts;" ad monished the court. "What did you see Mr. Holmes?" asked Sharp. "I saw plain evidences that John Gridsly had not been alone." "Object," said Quick. "Sustained," said the judge. "Was the room in the same condition when you saw it as when Mr. Gridsly died?" asked Sharp. "Object," said Quick. "Of course he can't tell but let him answer," replied the court. "It was not. I telegraphed for it to be left exactly as when the tragedy had been discovered, but my order was not followed. I saw at once that two men, a young girl and a cripple had been in the room before I arrived." "How did you discover that?" queried the court. "Very easily, your honor, from the dust in front of the door." "Strike out that answer," snapped the judge. "If your honor please," implored Sharp, "kindly let the witness explain. He is a man gifted with more than ordinary sight." "This court has never held mind-reading, prophesy, or table-rapping as competent testimony, Mr. Sharp, and doesn't intend to begin now." "But your honor, dust will show foot prints." "Perhaps it may, but I do not consider it competent evidence of either health or sex. The witness may try to explain, but I shall rule the testimony out just the same. Have you brought the dust with you, Mr. Holmes?" "No, your honor, but I may state that I found in the dust the plain traces of the shoes of two different men, also the mark of a woman's heel and a cripple's crutch."
"Huh!" said the court. "Further," continued the detective, "I told the housemaid I would not betray her if she would give me the names of the two men and the cripple. She broke down and admitted that they were —" "Object, object," shouted Quick. "Sustained," said the court. "Strike out the testimony of the dust, Mr. Reporter, that's hearsay too." "Mr. Holmes," began Sharp, patiently, "describe the condition of the body as you observed it." "The late John Gridsly was lying stretched at full length on a low couch on the west side of the room, his left arm lay across his chest, his right hanging down by his side. Six inches and a quarter away from this hand a Parkhurst hammerless revolver, one chamber empty, lay where the tall man had placed it." "Tall man?" shouted Quick. "Tall man?" echoed the court. "The one who was with him just before he died," explained Holmes, imperturbably. "Strike it out," ordered the court wearily, "remove all that tall man from the record. Go on with what you saw, Mr. Holmes, leave imagination to the lawyers." "I saw also," continued Holmes, biting his lips, "a round bullet hole behind the right ear. I examined closely the chair at the foot of the couch on which the satchel was placed during the quarrel." "What quarrel," asked the court? "Between Gridsly and the tall man." "Did the satchel belong to the tall man also?" asked the court. "No, your honor, I think it was his uncle's." "Mr. Reporter," said the court, solemnly, "keep that tall man and all his relations out of the record of this case." "Mr. Holmes," said Sharp, "kindly de scribe just what you physically saw in the room at Gridsly Manor the evening of June 1 6th." The witness nodded gravely and drew
