The Adventure of the Empty-Handed Thief

Yesterday evening, the high spending owner of the Theatre, Jerome Galton, was found murdered in his study.

Beatrice Galton, the deceased's rather plain wife, stated she left the upstairs room hurriedly around 5.30 p.m. to pay an overdue grocer's bill. After dining with her father Lord Renshaw at the Hotel, Mrs. Galton returned at 8 p.m. to find her husband lying on the floor amid scattered papers, broken glass, and several overturned chairs. He had been stabbed in the heart.

The door of Galton's wall safe was open, and a box containing the Renshaw diamonds, bequeathed to Beatrice by her late mother, Lady Renshaw, was missing.

Miss Cynthia Dale, the comely ticket office girl, remembered Galton had seemed fretful earlier that afternoon when he had received in the mail an inordinate amount of correspondence and grumbling, retired to his study to open the letters.

The Police have learned tobacconist Zachary Burke had engaged Galton in a heated quarrel on the day of the murder. But both Burke and Lord Renshaw proved most un-co-operative under questioning.

However, the most startling development of the case occurred this morning, when an eminent banker informed authorities that he had secretly purchased the Renshaw diamonds from Galton two years ago.