"Now take this deep and sharp
indentation. Well, there's a corresponding one in the photograph.
So you can pick them out one for another. Now here's one missing
altogether on the paper. So it is in the photograph."
Almost like a schoolboy in his glee, he was comparing the little
round circles made by the metal insertions in an "anti-skid"
automobile tire. Time and again I had seen imprints like that
left in the dust and grease of an asphalted street or the mud of
a road. It had never occurred to me that they might be used in
any way. Yet here Craig was, calmly tracing out the similarity
before my very eyes, identifying the marks made in the photograph
with the prints left on the bits of paper.
As I followed him, I had a most curious feeling of admiration for
his genius. "Craig," I cried, "that's the thumb-print of an
automobile."
"There speaks the yellow journalist," he answered merrily.
"'Thumb Print System Applied to Motor Cars'--I can see the Sunday
feature story you have in your mind with that headline already.
Yes, Walter, that's precisely what this is. The Berlin police
have used it a number of times with the most startling results."
"But, Craig," I exclaimed suddenly, "the paper prints, where did
you get them? What machine is it?"
"It's one not very far from here," he answered sententiously, and
I saw he would say nothing more that might fix a false suspicion
on anyone.
Pages:
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66