ON THE UNCERTAINTY OF CONCLUSIONS. 
BY 
T. C. Mendenhall. 
ADDRESS AS RETIRING PRESIDENT. 
Delivered January 20, 1892. 
About seven years ago, on the morning of a cold day in 
winter, a rough-looking, scantily dressed man was observed 
to leave a freight car, which was standing upon a side-track 
near a small country town, and make his way rapidly into 
the fields and woods beyond. 
From his appearance it was evident that he belonged to 
that vast army of tramps which is never in need of mobiliza¬ 
tion and which carries upon its muster-rolls many who pos¬ 
sess most of the virtues of the good and none of the vices of 
the bad, having lost only the power of further resistance 
against continued antagonism and unfriendly environment. 
The behavior of this man excited no comment, and his 
existence was remembered a few hours later only because of 
the discovery of the body of a stranger, who had evidently 
been murdered, on the floor of the car which he had been 
seen to leave. Pursuit followed immediately, and capture 
within a day or two. One or two clever detectives interested 
themselves in finding evidence of his guilt, and within a few 
days had prepared a case which lacked little in the detail of 
its elaboration or in its artistic finish. 
It was proved that two strangers were seen in the suburbs 
of the town at a late hour on the previous night, although , 
they were not together. The prisoner was identified beyond 
doubt as the man who hastily left the car in the morning. 
1—Bull. Phil. Soc., Wash., Vol. 12. 
(1) 
