Newspapers / Watauga Democrat (Boone, N.C.) / Aug. 9, 1928, edition 1 / Page 3
Part of Watauga Democrat (Boone, N.C.) / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
AUGUST y, 1928 SEES " 1JtfECBm "I'll tell you Ahmad," he cried, i "I'll tell you all. I'm Strumburg. just as you said, and a fugitive from justice, too. And 1 haven't anything against Snuthley. Even my father couldn't have proved his claim in a test, and he's dead. I.et m?j ov. Ahmad! Don't raise your talons! 1 .against me.'' | i This wild flow of words died . away, and for an instant the form ; in the shadow halted. Then it i moved slowly forward again. "I tell you I'll go away, and never return again. We never had any ! real proofs. Ahmad! Let me go!", i And at that instant I felt Alexan- i der's breath against my ear. "You ! heard, didn't you, Long?" he whis- i pered. "Yes?" | i "Then the work's done." i I felt the stir as his arm reached ; uj> to an electric switch on the wall. He pressed it. Unknown to mc, the ; wrecked lighting plant had been re- ] paired. All the great chandeliers of \ the library flashed on at once. The first impression was blindness. > But as my eyes became adjusted to 1 the sudden glare. I knew at least : part ??f the truth at last. The form 1 of the tiger had been most real and i convincing at the edge of the dim; 1 and ineffective candlelight. But it . was no more terrible than the coun- i terfeil giraffes that the clowns pa- ; rade in a circus ring, when the glare from the chandeliers came down. Before us, stripped of all delusion, m Ahmn*i lij?? rocfod r?r> He .....I : feet on the floor. He held his body \ low, his legs almost straight, to give , , the effect of length. Over him, i?i j a rather ingenious way, was thrown! , a great, tawny tiger skin. The four legs were fastened with some sim-. ( pie device to his ankles and wrists, < and the great head, filled out with! . some light substance, rested \>n his. i t 1 leaped and seized Alexander's . shoulders. j "Good heavens!" I yelled in hisl \ ea r. , ^That's only part of it. That in- , sane hoax couldn't have broken < Hay war d's neck !" 1 Hut Alexander wriggled cut of my grasp. "Ol* course it didn't break Hay-^ ward's neck," he said. * The real iiu iderev of Hayward 'slipped cnej . oyer on us?improvised some busi- j , ness that wasn't written in tlie play. I've got the reai murderer of Hay- ) ward, dead, down in the boat." h Alexander Pierce spent most of * the rest of the eve nihg answering . qpestipns. There were more things ; to find out than ever I thought I i could possibly learn. i First he took us <iov.ii lo the boat i hostile the water. an<! lifted the tarpaulin that covefeti the thins ir.j i the bottom. A dead animal lay i therein -a creature 'arjafe us the ' largest hound, yellow, with spots of j black. It was a powerful omnia!, 'i long-clawed ami white-fitted; and c my hreath stopped at the sight of it. s "A tiger?" 1 demanded. ; < "Tiger, nothing;" Alexander an- : sweied. "You Ought to lie enough , of a naturalist lo know that a tiger i has stripes, "is This beast has spots, bs He weighs two hundred pounds, and! s a tiger twice as niuch. Besides, you . don't find tigers- in southern Florida, i It's plain to me, old Doe Long, that j you ilon't know the history ox , Florida very v. ell." "Kvidepth. 1 don't. 1 don't re- t member reading about such a creature, as this-?" ' x "Please speak ic-speetfully of hint, t I'd have mtioh preferred to have left , him alive, but we'!', need him for ? proof of that wild story we have to. t tell the coroner's jury tomorrow: { afternoon.' If you temembar, there | was a time ivh'er, southern Florida wan still the home of the jaguars? s the greatest of American felines." ' t I remembered that I had hoard, f something about it. 1 "Most of them were exterminated a good many years ago. You can s still find 'em in a few remote re-; gior.s in southern Texas. 1 suppose' t myself that they were il gone here j ?even in such a wild part ni the ; state as this, l.ong, you see here' t what is probably the last of the c Florida jaguars?a creature as j heavy as a leopard, and one of the J strongest jawed and shouldered to- i lines in the world. ' j "And since vou won't rest till i j tell you the rest of it. I might as well say that this big cat was the base on which Ahmad and South! ey . worked out their plot. They knew | about this jaguar-. . When Hnywai-d and his son bore j, down upon them here?after tracing, f them all the way from England y Southley and Ahmad saw a chance ( to take advantage of this big, tawny t creature in the swamp. I suppose ^ you know by now what the Hay- j wards were." ., "Blackmailers, of course." I answered. ! Alexander gritted his teeth. 1 "You've taken plenty long to guess it, but you're right at last. "Their real name is Strumburg., They are crooks themselves. The elder Strumburg was a confederate in crime in Southley's own youth. I j use the words guardedly. Hong, and I think it is true. T haven't anyj doubt that Southley's early life . wouldn't bear investigation. But , that doesn't matter now. It's a joy.. x rny boy, to come to the aid of one; who has come to his own aid. South- , ley rose above that other life. ' ' i "I think that he escaped after aj , particularl.. reckless crime. It wasn't a crime that benefitted him financi- < ally, he says; but yet the hue and, l I m i Marshall^ cry that was raised scared him from i his criminal ways. A man was shot, and though there were extenuating:' circumstances, he certainly would; lave jjone to prison for twenty years j nt least, according: to the way men) tvere sentenced in those days. First; he went to India and Africa, and made his fortune. Then he came to America, as Andrew Lasson. Ar.d ill the time he lived in d?nnU- fe?.?r :hat the long arm of the British law' would reach out for him. ''Then the cider Strumhurg found; lirn out. He adopted the name of; Roderick, and sent out inquiries for! his Andrew Lasson. He offered a! iuge reward to be paid a year after! ve found him, and of course Lasson ?or Southiey as we call him now?i .va? to pay the reward. He came | iiere at last, with his vicious son, | ind the work of blackmail began. They told old Southiey?in the gray | twilight of his clay?what to ex-; iect in case he didn't come through .vith their demands. "They said they had proofs that; would put him hack in prison. The .error of his long years came back is never before, and he didn't have the strength and judgment to fight it any longer. Old age was upon aim. He gave way. again and again. And even today he wouldn't be free T it hadn't been for the real hero >f Southiey Downs?his servant Ahmad Das. "Ahmad Das is a mystic. Long, ou're a doctor, and you don't brieve in prenatal influence. You say! t's all bunk. Yet it is true that j Ahmad Das' mother was attacked by i i tiger, that the creature died when j Ahmad was h : ?and it is true that Ahmad k. th most remarkable, .atlii:. y.-ace of any man I ever saw. 3f course he just pretended the rest ?his propensities toward creeping ivounri oh his hands and knees. It ill lent toward the effect. He's a mystic, I tell you?perhaps a beievcr in the theory of reincarnation if so,tite; and that dark, oriental nmd of his conceived an idea that 1 lon't thin': most Anglo-Saxons would lave cvei thought of. "He knew he couldn't kill the mywarus. i n<u was muracr, ana; yc'uld defeat their own ends hi that I might draw attention b-jjftW past! ife pi Southlyy. He knew that Southley ceuldn t satiate their raKibions appetites. They would cling i ind suck till the hist cent was gone. Souvhley but ghlB those clothes?] laid for their cars. Other things! ,vere planned for this winter. So Vmmul Das conceived of the ties-i jerate scheme of scoring the Strum-1 urgs?or the Haywards as they call-' :-d themselves?from the estate l>y neans of the tiger legend. "Ahmad Das had ail the material i n the world to work with. He knew ! t when he thought out the plan, rhis jaguar?a tawny streak in the ungle and leaving its tracks in the nud?-was of course his greatest aid. His own natural feline gracej !iul Hayward's naturally sunersiti-i -us nature were cards too. Wicked Ifn usually are sUperstiuou-- Of uvso Ahmad couldn't get the agunr into the house; but it was a inr,.!e matte! to rig u|> that tiger kin. Every day he put a piece of neat out on a certain fiat rock or. lie hillside; 11 wasn't human blood j tncl flesh you saw there. It was odd red beef; and Ahmad Das go ilood stains on his shirt carrying it; lo vn there. And it wasn't any tin;e: it nil until they got that big cat so: hat he stayed around the jungle at! he base of the hi1.!. The inside work ...u.. .i sv... i 0 it was necessary to pretend that he lighting plant was broken. The aint light of candles gave just the woper atmosphere. "I'm crazy about the whole! eheme, Long. It worked oat p.wvection except for one thing. Nobody tad counted 0:1 the jaguar killing i.-iywaiii." "What were you doing with that; l-.irt?and the beef blood?" "Simply making the titcessary ests?=0 to prove my story to the! ury tomorrow. If 1 hadn't Krhenati would have had poor Alnnad ? he most faithful soul in the world ?! :onvlcte<l and hung for murder ry iow?mentally, at least." "And, iastlv how did you com. to >0 involved in this affair at all? Did or. come iust because I sent for ou?" "I'm a private detective. Long." vas his quiet answer. "1 don't work 01 the state, although the state emI'nv.n nit- sniiif-timP'; Smithlm- V?it?. elf wrote for me to come?to help lim out. I told him 1 couldn't at irst?that was some weeks ajro? iut I knew a young man that would j >e the greatest assistance to him in he hour of need. That young man iad been in two or three ban messes lefore?the affair at Wildmarsh. md the story of the cobra curse, and he Jloie. Southley had met the oung man in a visit in Tampa, and j te liked him. So the next day this: .oung chappie?and what a bono-1 toad he has been?got a letter from' Southiev asking him down for a reek's shooting, fishing and rest. He : vas a doctor, and his name was; ..ong." Vilas left on the night train. He jacked his bag in silence, and was -owed over to the railroad track vhence he could go to the station. When midnight hung still and; nysterious over the water world. Fosephino and I found ourselves! done on the great veranda "Lot s walk down to the water's! uftte." she suggested. "It's drying j ip so quickly. It will be gone ill a, THE WATAUGA DEMOCRAT?EVE ?f 1 I 1 aLIIV TUustrations by FtZEHtti few days more." "And I will be gone, too." 1 told i k her. | _ She walked in front of me. down' the narrow path. And I was strugr gling for words that wouldn't come. "Did you know, Miss Southley. that Alexander was responsible for my invitation here?" I asked her at last. i She did not even turn her head. *4I found it out tonight." 44Do you see what that means'? ! That I was sent here to serve. Anu ..ii i 1 ciii i uiu was maiie mistajgfes. "They started on the day we met; -?when I let you go without providing means of ever seeing you again," I went on. "Fate protected me I then. I wonder if I car. ask it to protect me now?after all the other mistakes I've made. And the worst j of them all?the ones that hurt most ?are the things that I said and thought of you." Her voice was scarcely more than a whisper when she answered me. "They hurt me. too." "They showed me up as the poor er clay," I told her sadly. "They ex! posed me? a doubting and suspici ; ous man. and a blind man, too. One ' ! who is unable to believe in his finer 1 instincts. Of course, I see now why | you brought the pistol in your vanity. ' bag. Tell me, Josephine! It was for no other reason than to protect your | self from Vilas Hayward, if worse | came to worst?" "I don't believe you are done; doubting yet. or you wouldn't ask," j she said. "That was just part of the i reason. Dr. Long. The other was, that I was so afraid?so afraid, all j the time." "Von were with Vilas always as part of the blackmail your fathet j paid. You were part of the price of silence, and you submitted because j you realized something of the power that the Hay wards held over your father. What your father told the detective?that you were to >> Vilas' wife? was from compulsion not from choice." She nodded. "And for the same reason you couldn't come to my defense that night in the den?when I had struck Vilas. And the reason that you told the detective of my quarrel with Hayward that day as I was leaving was not that you were afraid Vilas would be implicated, but why was it. Josephine?" "I don't think you should ask me that. You've thought ill of me?so manv times. The reason was?" Yes." "Thai I wanted you to stay, Dr. Long!" We were silent a long time. And all the while I was searching about in a mind suddenly' gone empty for the words I wanted to say. They j simply wouldn't come. And then 1 became aware of something rapturous past words to tell. Something was stealing along mv arm, so light that I could hardly feel it through my coat sieevc, and Little Things? but Important Casual spending', fot little; things, can consume u surprising amount of cash. And you revel realize it's V going?until it's spent! S When you're saving money, you. J get the best idea of how important j] these little items really are. For',1 small deposits here have enabled!? J many Blowing Rock families and.J? business people to get a reserve- ? fund that opened new futures of, , comfort, convenience and happi-jj? ness. |?J OXE DOLT.AR will start an *\ account. And our generous 1 ij? per cent interest will add to !?J your savings. jji MAKE THIS BANK YOUR BANK Bank of Blowing Rock ! BLOWING ROCK N. C. J; mMBBammsMSMi jj Every day '% * in the year ,/zrf 5 School days or vacation days, a J r drink of Coca-Cola provides ?J one little minute that's always 11 long enough for a big rest. Jj > Every bottle sterilized. J Over 8 million a day ;j IT HAD TO BE GOOD ^ TO GET WHERE iT IS ij Coca-Cola Bottlling Co. ;! BOONE, N. C. ? A !RY THURSDAY?BOONE, N. C. mally it nestled at the hollow of thing that her ha ny elbow. And then I found my-l What happens iOjf whirling, and speaking breath-! between us and ess words. ' the marshes are "You'U forgive me, Josephine? i:vjc their secrets. ill those things I said?and did*." Il a rWS ?4' . . . ttiJr .. s , ? { Josephine: and it deadvd. "Oh, sweetheart? their bottom tod And no mortal eye? could believe a great owl hoot he change in her that came when1, the island, ho pin spoke these words. It was one of! umph of a few he miracle? of those latter days. At Josephine turned rst she simply waited?as if for me| enough to laugh <i continue. And then. after a THI \ hile. she made me an answer. Part if it was iust words PnH- xvf& tlw - " ' ' * v..v oriel A' ook that the moonlight showed on: Professor: "Th itr face. But v.hat was by a thou- , . , and times the biggest part, the part ' ? 10 human being could have been months, lopefu! enough to believe, was a, .Student: "I'll ^SNrill I MU! GREATEST JUST The big forward Following the gret 20-year history. ? output, came July vious July. 100% n i cars were purcht i. This success is r and Sixes and th Sixes offer a degr safety and ecoi available at sucl Orders now i delivery. lljl 71 ." c"l"d" k f 4 Teurtne$4S5t HvJetr O/aaX&t&S; kvJiu r-umhu .*-/) ,v>v>\ C uftSijT; Cjlris.'rt Csuf nlLifni!t <.,) *S'7J: C: ;<h &S3J .1Upric*. ;.t.l Ctki>. and iptnpcau.., t; ik-nct p?Hj? /hi., TcIiJt. Ohu. MILLER-MORETZ BOOP Hay Tim< See us for Deering Mowei Rakes. Also a complete lin hand?Scythes and Snaths. Look over your Mowers an your repairs and he ready fo McCormick and Dee If VOll ?ri m^ v - ? - - - ?-? -?x x ILIl C 1 W i vantage to see us now for sp we take pleasure in stating t: for the price ever offered in tional demonstrations or sp straight from the shoulder a your dollar in our store. Yc looking over our line. BOONE HAI EVERYTHING Slogan: "Plant More, G V/AVAW\WA,AW.V.'AVl.\S\W.V.VAW ? . " ' . ?;<- .- .-.y.-v. THREE rm did. And then?: word for it?I've never been in 03ti then iis ."i secret sociation with a paper dollar that the marshes; ami- :?r.sr." famous for not teli-j ?? On? of their se-' Normal human blood is too thick hat Viiar- had given to be brawn through the mosquito's . lies in the mud of small piercing tube. They must first av. After a while inject a thinning fluid. In that way ed and called from disease germs aiv set afloat in the g to repeat bis tri- liiood stmear?bacteria of burning nights before. Ifcit' fever and evlnpling disease. There is her face just long; also the danger of streptococcic inat him. fertini: (blood poisoning' from C END scratching the bite. -- IIIUOV be killed. Health authorities advorquaintance cate FLY-TOfC. Simpi'i ir.structions if, life of a paper) each bottle (blue label) for killbout SIX O! right : inK.^yV?VSe,li'II,ViT?vlit: ,XSIS4T on IrLVTOX. I LV-TOX is easy to i use. Safe, stainless, fragrant, sure. bare to take your ?adv. SREJkKING ( RECORDS! f 2N SVIELYS-OYERLAWD JK8STOR.Y march of Willys-Overland continues! itest.six months in Wiliys-Overland's rith sales exceeding the entire 1927 v.ith far more sales than any preaore Whippet and Willys-Knight ised than during Juiy last year. lot surprising. Whippet Fours ie three great Willys-Knight J ee of comfort, performance, M unriy never previously h extremely low prices. iccepted for prompt ?S^ \ '"' (fc?? J'l; sfrj ^ r^'c'"" ' L.m^'%*'**^. b^ / F $5 \ v^c* </ i ^c/ <fc?K "*ir Come in. Let us arrange for an early demonstration so that you ' < ;? may judge for yourself the peri ormanee ability of any of these inodernly engineered cars. MOTOR COMPANY JE, N. C. .'.V.V.V.V.-/AW.V.V, W.V.V.V.'.V.W.V.'.W I 5 is Here j | rs. Rakes, Tedders, Sweep jjj e of tools for making hay by ji Pitchforks. Stacking Forks. ! d Rakes now and come buy I; r work when the season is on. ;j ring Repairs in Stock jj ^ i an Oii Stove, it is to your acl- S Ijj >ecial prices. If it is a Range 5 hat we have the BE1ST Range > j! . Boone, \V'e have no sensa- 5 \ ecial salesmen but offer you 5 dollar's worth of service for ? Ml VJlll rlr. trnnvo/a]!- 1 - li iDWARE CO. I IN HARDWARE i| irow More, Have More." 5 WVWWWWWWWW VASWWWAVWWS I
Watauga Democrat (Boone, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Aug. 9, 1928, edition 1
3
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75