This information he had been able to gain by a
resort to his old method of visiting the houses of ill-fame, and then
carelessly exposing Duncan's photograph to the various inmates, in such
a manner as to excite no suspicion of his real errand. His experience
thus far had been that Duncan, either to evade pursuit, to gratify
bestial passion, or to endeavor by such excitements to drive away the
haunting fear that oppressed him, had invariably sought the
companionship of the harlot and the profligate. Being possessed of
plenty of money, it may be imagined that he experienced no difficulty in
finding associates willing to minister to his appetites, and to assist
him in forgetting the dangers that threatened him, by dissipation and
debauchery. All along his path were strewn these evidences of reckless
abandonment, which, while they temporarily enabled him to drown the
remembrances of his crime, yet, at the same time, they served most
powerfully to point out to his pursuer the road he was traveling.
It appeared, therefore, that my first theories were correct, and that
Thomas Duncan was making his way to the far western country, where,
beyond the easy and expeditious mode of communication by railroad and
telegraph, he would be safe from pursuit.
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