John Thorndykes Cases

John Thorndyke's Cases

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Title: John Thorndyke's Cases
Author: R. Austin Freeman
Release Date: October 27, 2004 [EBook #13882]
Language: English
Character set encoding: UTF-8
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JOHN THORNDYKE'S CASES
RELATED BY CHRISTOPHER JERVIS, M.D.
AND EDITED BY R. AUSTIN FREEMAN AUTHOR OF "THE
GOLDEN POOL," ETC.

WITH SIX ILLUSTRATIONS BY H. M. BROCK, AND NINE
FROM PHOTOGRAPHS, ETC.
[Illustration: PROFESSOR POPPELBAUM IS ENLIGHTENED.]
TO MY FRIEND
FRANK STANDFIELD
IN MEMORY OF MANY A PLEASANT EVENING SPENT WITH
MICROSCOPE AND CAMERA THIS VOLUME IS DEDICATED

PREFACE
The stories in this collection, inasmuch as they constitute a somewhat
new departure in this class of literature, require a few words of
introduction. The primary function of all fiction is to furnish
entertainment to the reader, and this fact has not been lost sight of. But
the interest of so-called "detective" fiction is, I believe, greatly
enhanced by a careful adherence to the probable, and a strict avoidance
of physical impossibilities; and, in accordance with this belief, I have
been scrupulous in confining myself to authentic facts and practicable
methods. The stories have, for the most part, a medico-legal motive,
and the methods of solution described in them are similar to those
employed in actual practice by medical jurists. The stories illustrate, in
fact, the application to the detection of crime of the ordinary methods
of scientific research. I may add that the experiments described have in
all cases been performed by me, and that the micro-photographs are, of
course, from the actual specimens.
I take this opportunity of thanking those of my friends who have in
various ways assisted me, and especially the friend to whom I have
dedicated this book; by whom I have been relieved of the very
considerable labour of making the micro-photographs, and greatly
assisted in procuring and preparing specimens. I must also thank
Messrs. Pearson for kindly allowing me the use of Mr. H. M. Brock's
admirable and sympathetic drawings, and the artist himself for the care

with which he has maintained strict fidelity to the text.
R. A. F.
Gravesend, _September 21, 1909_.

CONTENTS
I. THE MAN WITH THE NAILED SHOES II. THE STRANGER'S
LATCHKEY III. THE ANTHROPOLOGIST AT LARGE IV. THE
BLUE SEQUIN V. THE MOABITE CIPHER VI. THE MANDARIN'S
PEARL VII. THE ALUMINIUM DAGGER VIII. A MESSAGE
FROM THE DEEP SEA

ILLUSTRATIONS
PROFESSOR POPPLEBAUM IS ENLIGHTENED, Frontispiece
PLAN OF ST. BRIDGET'S BAY THE SERGEANT'S SKETCH
FLUFF FROM KEY-BARREL THE STRANGER IS RUN TO
EARTH TRANSVERSE SECTIONS OF HUMAN HAIR
THORNDYKE'S STRATEGY THE DISCOVERY THE MOABITE
CIPHRE THE PROFESSOR'S ANALYSIS THE APPARITION IN
THE MIRROR THE ALUMINUM DAGGER THE SAND FROM
THE MURDERED WOMAN'S PILLOW HUMAN HAIR, SHOWING
ROOTS SUPERINTENDENT MILLER RISES TO THE OCCASION

JOHN THORNDYKE'S CASES
I
THE MAN WITH THE NAILED SHOES
There are, I suppose, few places even on the East Coast of England
more lonely and remote than the village of Little Sundersley and the

country that surrounds it. Far from any railway, and some miles distant
from any considerable town, it remains an outpost of civilization, in
which primitive manners and customs and old-world tradition linger on
into an age that has elsewhere forgotten them. In the summer, it is true,
a small contingent of visitors, adventurous in spirit, though mostly of
sedate and solitary habits, make their appearance to swell its meagre
population, and impart to the wide stretches of smooth sand that fringe
its shores a fleeting air of life and sober gaiety; but in late
September--the season of the year in which I made its acquaintance--its
pasture-lands lie desolate, the rugged paths along the cliffs are seldom
trodden by human foot, and the sands are a desert waste on which, for
days together, no footprint appears save that left by some passing
sea-bird.
I had been assured by my medical agent, Mr. Turcival, that I should
find the practice of which I was now taking charge "an exceedingly soft
billet, and suitable for a studious man;" and certainly he had not misled
me, for the patients were, in fact, so few that I was quite concerned for
my principal, and rather dull for want of work. Hence, when my friend
John Thorndyke, the well-known medico-legal expert, proposed to
come down and stay with me for a weekend and perhaps a few days
beyond, I hailed the proposal with delight, and