The Murderers Pipe

by The Irish Emerald, Saturday, 29th July, 1905

There are many stupid policemen; it would be strange to find a poorly paid squalid
class of men working long hours in all weathers without & considerable proportion of dullards. There is not, however,an intelligent constable in the force who is not taught that when a serious crime has been committed it is imperatively necessary to leave untouched everything in its place until a capable investigator has been despatched to the scene!

When newspaper reporters, doctors, neighbours, and a host of other busybodies har crowded to the spot, and clumsy efforts have been made to "make things tidy," the despair of the detective when he arrives is well painted by Sherlock Holmes and finds a replica on many an occasion in real life, as all of us know to our disgust.

On the other hand, if a constable of intelligence (and there are many such) is the first on the scene, he understands exactly his earliest duties. He must summon help from his headquarters, he must in a few quick glances and a few rapid inquiries take in the whole situation, and by the time his superior officer arrives he will be in a posítion to give a hasty verbal report and an assurance that be has not permitted the slightest unnecessary disturbance of anything in or adjacent to the scene of action.


A ludicrous example of the difficulties awaiting Sherlock Holmes occurs to my recollection. It happened one of those occasions when a careful constable had kept ererything carefully untouched until the arrival of our nearest approximation to the hero of Conan Doyle's narratives.

The detective brought his well-trained judgment to bear on the case.
Innumerable were the objects he took under his notice.
He learnt the history of everything in the room, but one item alone seemed of prime importance. The murderer appeared to have left behind him his clay pipe still half filled with tobacco. Here was indeed a clue.
Every investigation pointed to the same conclusion. The wife of the murdered man was with him until within half an hour of the tragedy, and she declared that the pipe was not there then, and that her husband had never smoked a clay pipe in his life.

The pipe seemed to hold a solution to the whole mystery.I should like to have have mister Sherlock Holmes opinion on the subject, just to see where such a clue would have led him.
As a matter of fact, the pipe belonged to the police constable. He thought he had a quiet half hour after barricading himself in agains unauthorized visitors, and he awaited the arrival of his superior officer while solacing himself with a pipeful of tobacco.
Afterwards he did not dare to admit that he had been smoking while on duty.

And thus are clues found, for our undoing.