Project Gutenberg 2025-04-15 Public domain in the USA. 161 Beames, John The smear $aNew York, NY :$bStreet & Smith Corp., $c1929. Produced from the April 15, 1929 issue of Top Notch Magazine. Roger Frank and Sue Clark "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.) https://archive.org/details/top-notch-magazine-v-077-n-04-1929-04-15 20250405164811beames 1929 US Reading ease score: 84.3 (6th grade). Easy to read. en Short stories Murder -- Investigation -- Fiction Klondike River Valley (Yukon) -- Gold discoveries -- Fiction Royal Canadian Mounted Police -- Fiction Dawson (Yukon) -- Fiction PS Text Category: Short Stories Category: Crime, Thrillers and Mystery 29765 2025-06-30T05:20:25.980811 text/html 5215 2025-04-26T10:35:04 text/html 377757 2025-06-30T05:20:28.436843 application/epub+zip 376542 2025-06-30T05:20:26.916816 application/epub+zip 133747 2025-06-30T05:20:26.306824 application/epub+zip 812924 2025-06-30T05:20:29.557803 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 807254 2025-06-30T05:20:27.989850 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 23601 2025-06-30T05:20:25.888815 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 3815 2025-04-26T10:35:04 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 16098 2025-06-30T05:20:29.683799 application/rdf+xml 26464 2025-06-30T05:20:26.522806 image/jpeg 4205 2025-06-30T05:20:26.414818 image/jpeg 525833 2025-06-30T05:20:25.991816 application/octet-stream application/zip Archives containing the RDF files for *all* our books can be downloaded at https://book.klll.cc/wiki/Gutenberg:Feeds#The_Complete_Project_Gutenberg_Catalog