Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 19.pdf/506

 SHERLOCK HOLMES, WITNESS from an inside pocket a small silver-mounted hypodermic. Dr. Watson half rose in his chair, but Holmes waved him back to his seat. "Nothing," said the detective, "could be more valueless and unreliable as testimony in the present case than statements as to what I saw." Holmes placed the syringe against his left wrist and passed the plunger home, all in view shuddered and even the judge turned his face away. "There," continued the witness, "what you gentlemen physically saw was that I injected something into my arm. As a matter of fact, there was not a drop of liquid in this instrument. Yet every one of you would have sworn falsely on the stand as to what you saw." Seeing that both court and counsel were about to indignantly deny his assertions, the witness hurriedly added : "As to the present case, let me forget intelligence and be a good witness. I saw three finger prints above the mantel shelf; about an ounce of red soil in front of the long window on the east, and a box of Rio cigars on a table, the ashes of cigars in an ash tray, a little spilt ashes and red soil on the chair at the foot of the couch, some dust on the floor, and a long scratch at one place on the polished surface. There was no towel on a towel rack in a curtained alcove. May I also state what I saw through a miscroscope, your honor?" "Object," said Sharp, "not qualified to testify as to miscroscopic examina tions." After another series of ungrammatical questions the witness was declared quali fied and proceeded. "Through the miscroscope, I saw that the finger prints above the mantel shelf were oily and recent." "Object to conclusions," snarled Quick. "'Oily' is a fact," said the court, "'re cent,' the witness may testify to as an ex pert."

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"Does your honor overrule the objec tion? " inquired Sharp, breathlessly. "I do," said the court. Under stress of joyful surprise Sharp collapsed into the arms of his chief clerk, but soon recovered his poise. "The red soil was not red soil," con tinued the witness, "but rotted leather, the cigar ashes showed a large quantity of the domestic Rio cigar ashes with a small quantity of an imported clear Havana, the dust on the floor showed heel prints of one pair of shoes with whole heels and one pair with one heel torn off, so that the nails scratched the floor. May I state conclusions from these facts, your honor?" "You may state any opinion as an ex pert detective based on the facts before the court." "As a very expert detective I would say that a tall, courageous, blond man, with blue eyes —" "Shall I take that down?" asked the reporter. "Take it all down," said the court, "let counsel object after I hear this through." "That a tall, blond man," repeated Holmes, "carrying a small, worn-out sat chel entered Mr. Gridsly's room at 9:25 p.m. June 1 6th, by the low Window to the east. He talked amiably for about half an hour, smoking a cigar he brought with him. Then he and Gridsly quarreled, and Gridsly was shot as he lay on the couch, the sound of the discharge being muffled in a towel, which the tall man took away in a satchel. He left the house at 10:20 and —" "That's enough," interrupted the court, "I enjoy this little romance immensely, but I can't really listen to it in my official capacity. Strike it all out." "Can you give out any more facts, Mr. Holmes, which will shed light on this subject?" asked Sharp, despairingly. "Yes," said Holmes, smiling quizzically, "there is one more fact — the revolver at Gridsly's side was a 32 caliber, the bullet which passed out through the mouth I