Described at the Sherlock Holmes of Paris, a chemist studies clues left on a headless body to help determine facts about the murder.
There were numerous torsos and headless bodies found in the Seine River, and trying to find the heads appeared to have been a full time job.
Chemist Detective Finds Many Clues on Headless Body
PARIS, December 27, 1924. — The chemist Bayle, who is the Paris Sherlock Holmes, has labored over a headless, dismembered body found 10 days ago at La Villette, and has decided that an American is involved, either as the victim or as the murderer.
On the margin of the newspaper in which the body was wrapped, Bayle has found a few words scribbled in green ink such as is used in fountain pens. The words begin: “Find by —” and trail off into a third undeciphered word that resembles “police.”
By the detailed microscopic examinations which have made the French police methods famous, Bayle says he has established that the body was cut up in a comfortable apartment with a wooden floor, a green and pink carpet, and that a black and yellow cat lived in the apartment.
The police are looking for such an apartment and are likewise dragging the canals for the missing head of the victim.
Source: Evening star. (Washington, D.C.), 28 Dec. 1924.
