Tales of Terror and Mystery
The Lost Special
Amongstthemanysuggestionsputforwardbyvariousnewspapersorprivateindividuals,therewereoneortwowhichwerefeasibleenoughtoattracttheattentionofthepublic.OnewhichappearedinTheTimes,overthesignatureofanamateurreasonerofsomecelebrityatthatdate,attemptedtodealwiththematterinacriticalandsemi-scientificmanner.Anextractmustsuffice,althoughthecuriouscanseethewholeletterintheissueofthe3rdofJuly.
"Itisoneoftheelementaryprinciplesofpracticalreasoning,"heremarked,"thatwhentheimpossiblehasbeeneliminatedtheresiduum,HOWEVERIMPROBABLE,mustcontainthetruth.ItiscertainthatthetrainleftKenyonJunction.ItiscertainthatitdidnotreachBartonMoss.Itisinthehighestdegreeunlikely,butstillpossible,thatitmayhavetakenoneofthesevenavailablesidelines.Itisobviouslyimpossibleforatraintorunwheretherearenorails,and,therefore,wemayreduceourimprobablestothethreeopenlines,namelytheCarnstockIronWorks,theBigBen,andthePerseverance.Isthereasecretsocietyofcolliers,anEnglishCamorra,whichiscapableofdestroyingbothtrainandpassengers?Itisimprobable,butitisnotimpossible.IconfessthatIamunabletosuggestanyothersolution.Ishouldcertainlyadvisethecompanytodirectalltheirenergiestowardstheobservationofthosethreelines,andoftheworkmenattheendofthem.Acarefulsupervisionofthepawnbrokers’shopsofthedistrictmightpossiblybringsomesuggestivefactstolight.
