Here is another Seven Minute Mystery. These are quick mystery scenarios designed to exercise your cranium juices. No Google. No Internet search. No Wikipedia. Just you and your cranium. Give yourself only seven minutes to read each one and solve it. The answer will be in a future post.
The clock’s ticking . . .
On the night of July 15, the engineer of a westbound local missed a signal and crashed head-on into the Rocket, a high-speed express out of Chicago.
The result – one of the bloodiest disasters in railroad history.
“It strikes me odd that all the serious casualties were in the first seven cars of both trains,” said Dr. Wells. “All except one.”
“Jess Fromm, you mean?” asked Inspector Neidermeyer. What makes you question his death?”
“Partly because Fromm’s niece asked to investigate,” replied Wells.
The inspector went to his files. “Fromm was on his way to a hardware convention with his business partner, Wendel Smith,” said the inspector. “Here’s Smith’s statement:
“According to Smith, he and Fromm shared compartment C in the last car of the local. Seconds before the crash, Fromm got up and walked forward to the compartment’s toilet. At the impact, Fromm was standing. He was thrown back and struck his head against the ridge of the card table set between the facing seats.”
“Smith now owns the whole business,” said Inspector Neidermeyer. “There’s your motive. Method? He could have struck Fromm in the back of the neck with the table AFTER the crash. But how are you going to prove it?”
“I should start,” replied Wells,” with the obvious lie in Smith’s statement.”
QUESTION: What lie was Wells referring to?
