Speaker 1: A murderous mistake by h. A. Ripley. Look, professor, that's
how the murderer got in, all right, said Tracy, as
Fordney walked over to the ladder, Standing two feet from
the back of the house. He knelt down and carefully
studied the heavy footprints around it. Whose room is that,
he inquired, pointing to a second story window against which
the top of the thirty foot ladder rested. That's uncle's study,
replied Tracy. Going into the house, Fordiney first questions Withers,
who had discovered the body of Lane Tracy's uncle. I
was reading in my room, he said, about two o'clock.
I heard a noise, so I armed myself and crept
out into the hall. Then I heard it again, apparently
in the study. So I stole down the corridor, opened
the door, and rushed in. I turned on the light,
ran over to the open window, looked out and saw
a man scurry down the ladder, jump off and run.
I fired twice, but evidently missed him. He concluded, were
you home all evening, mister Tracy? No. I had just
put up the car when I heard the shots and
saw a figure dash around the house. I'll take a
look at your car. Later, Tracy Withers, show me exactly
how you found Lane before you lifted him onto the divan.
As Withers righted the overturned chair, fitted its legs carefully
to four impressions in the rug at the right of
a smoking stand, sat down and slumped over to the left.
Fordney said, that's enough. Which one of you killed him?
Solution These murderers, like many others, betrayed themselves by a
simple oversight. One look at the ladder, and Fortney knew
that no man could have climbed up or down it.
A thirty foot ladder was placed two feet from the house.
Any person ascending or descending the ladder in such a
position would have fallen backwards before reaching the top or bottom.
The end of a murderous mistake by H. A. Ripley