630 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



prominent, and he has a very mild and quiet look, and he is the last man you 

 would pick out for the scoundrel that he is. Yours very truly, 



R. T. Bush. 

 p. S. riease attend to it, and oblige. 



Shortly after this letter reached its destination, Tecumseh, Mr. 

 Bush received a telegram stating that the man had been found, and 

 asking if they should arrest him. The correspondent had not observed 

 the date of the letter, nor suspected that he was reading a novel ; and 

 in a few days the following letter was received : 



Tecumseh, April 18, 1879. 



Me. R. T. Bush- 

 Dear Sir : Velina read to me a letter Wednesday evening from you, de- 

 scribing a certain man that was wanted in New York, who had recently left 

 Toledo for this village. 



The next morning, after hearing the description, I informed our marshal of 

 tbe fact, and requested him to keep a lookout for such a man. In the course of 

 half an hour he came to me, saying that he had just seen my man with sandy 

 whiskers, rather tall would weigh 170 or 180 pounds wearing- specs, and 

 the front finger of the left hand missing ; and was very anxious that he should 

 be immediately arrested, as he was then at the livery-stable, for a saddle-horse 

 to ride away. I told him we had better wait and be sure that he was the one 

 we wanted, and also find out if we could whether you wanted him arrested, 

 should he prove to be the right man. I saw the man, and he answered the de- 

 scription so well, even to the finger, that I thought best to telegraph you for 

 instructions. The Marshal, in the mean time, was to keep his eye on him (as he 

 failed to get a horse). Seeing him walk down to dinner with one of our towns- 

 men, the first opportunity he made some inquiries of this townsman, and found 

 that he was not the man that he was the cousin of this man that took him to 

 dinner, and was brother to a Mrs. Palmer, whom he was visiting that he lives 

 in South Cleveland, Ohio, and is a lawyer by profession. 



That he answered the description, both in size and the loss of the finger, as 

 well as the color of his whiskers, there could be no doubt. Wearing specs we 

 supposed was to hide the defects of that eye you mentioned, and he looked as 

 though his side-whiskers had recently been cut or shaved ; but if, as we were 

 told, his home is in Cleveland, and his name is Hick, why of course we were 

 deceived in the matter. And, if his friend has not informed him, he is still 

 ignorant of our suspicions. 



Now, as this is my first experience in the detective business, you will pardon 

 the blunder. 



Hoping thai, it has put you to no inconvenience, I remain yours, etc., 



H. Raymond. 



The one striking feature of this coincidence is of course the loss 

 of the forefinger in the left hand. 



Both the imagined and the real case possessed this very exceptional 

 peculiarity. This is a subject on which statistics can not be gained ; 

 but it is certain that in the whole continent not a small roomful could 

 be found possessing precisely this deformity at the age specified ; and 



