Final Proof or the Value of Evidence   By: Rodrigues Ottolengui (1861-1937)

=An Artist in Crime.= 16^o, $1.00; paper, 50 cts.

=A Conflict of Evidence.= 16^o, $1.00; paper, 50 cts.

=A Modern Wizard.= 16^o, $1.00; paper, 50 cts.

=The Crime of the Century.= 16^o, $1.00; paper, 50 cts.

=Final Proof, or, the Value of Evidence.= 16^o, $1.00; paper, 50 cts.

G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS

NEW YORK & LONDON

FINAL PROOF OR THE VALUE OF EVIDENCE

BY R. OTTOLENGUI

AUTHOR OF "AN ARTIST IN CRIME," "A CONFLICT OF EVIDENCE," "THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY," ETC.

[Illustration]

G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS NEW YORK AND LONDON The Knickerbocker Press 1898

Copyright, 1898 BY G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS Entered at Stationers' Hall, London

The Knickerbocker Press, New York

PREFATORY

The first meeting between Mr. Barnes, the detective, and Robert Leroy Mitchel, the gentleman who imagines himself to be able to outdo detectives in their own line of work, was fully set forth in the narrative entitled An Artist in Crime . Subsequently the two men occupied themselves with the solution of a startling murder mystery, the details of which were recorded in The Crime of the Century . The present volume contains the history of several cases which attracted their attention in the interval between those already given to the world, the first having occured shortly after the termination of the events in An Artist in Crime , and the others in the order here given, so that in a sense these stories are continuous and interdependent.

R. O.

CONTENTS

PAGE

I THE PHOENIX OF CRIME 1

II THE MISSING LINK 132

III THE NAMELESS MAN 151

IV THE MONTEZUMA EMERALD 169

V A SINGULAR ABDUCTION 189

VI THE AZTEC OPAL 210

VII THE DUPLICATE HARLEQUIN 230

VIII THE PEARLS OF ISIS 261

IX A PROMISSORY NOTE 294

X A NOVEL FORGERY 325

XI A FROSTY MORNING 341

XII A SHADOW OF PROOF 365

FINAL PROOF

OR

THE VALUE OF EVIDENCE

FINAL PROOF

I

THE PHOENIX OF CRIME

I

Mr. Mitchel was still at breakfast one morning, when the card of Mr. Barnes was brought to him by his man Williams.

"Show Mr. Barnes in here," said he. "I imagine that he must be in a hurry to see me, else he would not call so early."

A few minutes later the detective entered, saying: