TY  - BOOK
AU  - Beames,John
TI  - The smear
T2  - Produced from the April 15, 1929 issue of Top Notch Magazine
AV  - PS 
PY  - 2025///
CY  - Salt Lake City, UT
PB  - Project Gutenberg
KW  - Short stories
KW  - Murder -- Investigation -- Fiction
KW  - Klondike River Valley (Yukon) -- Gold discoveries -- Fiction
KW  - Royal Canadian Mounted Police -- Fiction
KW  - Dawson (Yukon) -- Fiction
N1  - Release date is 2025-04-15; Roger Frank and Sue Clark; Originally published; New York, NY: Street & Smith Corp., 1929
N2  - "The smear by John Beames" is a short crime fiction story written in the early 20th century. Set in the gold rush town of Dawson, the narrative unfolds within the rowdy yet tense atmosphere of a northern saloon, accompanied by lawmen from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. The likely topic of the book revolves around solving a murder through clever psychological tactics rather than hard evidence.  The story follows Finn Charley, a miner who has recently come into wealth and is attempting to celebrate in the Malamute Saloon. When news of a murder and robbery on the Klondike Trail arrives, the police interrogate the crowd. Though Finn Charley tries to mask his guilt, the corporal cunningly uses a fabricated clue—the mention of a "big black smear on his left cheek"—to provoke a telltale response. Charley's unconscious gesture gives him away, leading to his arrest. The twist is revealed when the corporal admits to his colleague that the dying man never spoke; the story of the smear was a clever ruse to catch the murderer by his own nervous actions. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
UR  - https://archive.org/details/top-notch-magazine-v-077-n-04-1929-04-15
UR  - https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/75855
ER  -