THE CASE OF THE LAMP THAT WENT OUT
By Augusta Groner
Translated by Grace Isabel Colbron
INTRODUCTION TO JOE MULLER
Joseph Muller, Secret Service detective of the Imperial Austrian police,is one of the great experts in his profession. In personality he differsgreatly from other famous detectives. He has neither the impressiveauthority of Sherlock Holmes, nor the keen brilliancy of Monsieur Lecoq.Muller is a small, slight, plain-looking man, of indefinite age, and ofmuch humbleness of mien. A naturally retiring, modest disposition, andtwo external causes are the reasons for Muller's humbleness of manner,which is his chief characteristic. One cause is the fact that in earlyyouth a miscarriage of justice gave him several years in prison, anexperience which cast a stigma on his name and which made it impossiblefor him, for many years after, to obtain honest employment. But theworld is richer, and safer, by Muller's early misfortune. For it wasthis experience which threw him back on his own peculiar talents fora livelihood, and drove him into the police force. Had he been able toenter any other profession, his genius might have been stunted to a merepastime, instead of being, as now, utilised for the public good.
Then, the red tape and bureaucratic etiquette which attaches to everygovernmental department, puts the secret service men of the Imperialpolice on a par with the lower ranks of the subordinates. Muller'sofficial rank is scarcely much higher than that of a policeman, althoughkings and councillors consult him and the Police Department realises tothe full what a treasure it has in him. But official red tape, and hisearly misfortune... prevent the giving of any higher official standingto even such a genius. Born and bred to such conditions, Mullerunderstands them, and his natural modesty of disposition asks for nooutward honours, asks for nothing but an income sufficient for hissimple needs, and for aid and opportunity to occupy himself in the wayhe most enjoys.
Joseph Muller's character is a strange mixture. The kindest-hearted manin the world, he is a human bloodhound when once the lure of the trailhas caught him. He scarcely eats or sleeps when the chase is on, he doesnot seem to know human weakness nor fatigue, in spite of his frail body.Once put on a case his mind delves and delves until it finds a clue,then something awakes within him, a spirit akin to that which holdsthe bloodhound nose to trail, and he will accomplish the apparentlyimpossible, he will track down his victim when the entire machinery ofa great police department seems helpless to discover anything. The highchiefs and commissioners grant a condescending permission when Mullerasks, "May I do this? ... or may I handle this case this way?"both parties knowing all the while that it is a farce, and that thedepartment waits helpless until this humble little man saves its honourby solving some problem before which its intricate machinery has stooddazed and puzzled.
This call of the trail is something that is stronger than anything elsein Muller's mentality, and now and then it brings him into conflict withthe department,... or with his own better nature. Sometimes his unerringinstinct discovers secrets in high places, secrets which the PoliceDepartment is bidden to hush up and leave untouched. Muller is thentaken off the case, and left idle for a while if he persists in hisopinion as to the true facts. And at other times, Muller's own warmheart gets him into trouble. He will track down his victim, driven bythe power in his soul which is stronger than all volition; but when hehas this victim in the net, he will sometimes discover him to be amuch finer, better man than the other individual, whose wrong at thisparticular criminal's hand set in motion the machinery of justice.Several times that has happened to Muller, and each time his heart gotthe better of his professional instincts, of his practical common-sense,too, perhaps,... at least as far as his own advancement was concerned,and he warned the victim, defeating his own work. This peculiarity ofMuller's character caused his undoing at last, his official undoing thatis, and compelled his retirement from the force. But his advice is oftensought unofficially by the Department, and to those who know, Muller'shand can be seen in the unravelling of many a famous case.
The following stories are but a few of the many interesting cases thathave come within the experience of this great detective. But they givea fair portrayal of Muller's peculiar method of working, his looking onhimself as merely an humble member of the Department, and the comedyof his acting under "official orders" when the Department is in realityfollowing out his directions.
THE CASE OF THE LAMP THAT WENT OUT
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