Newspapers / The Alamance Gleaner (Graham, … / Dec. 13, 1945, edition 1 / Page 3
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foKMl yJi pt^l fJL m ?4 ?? jj^Ni ^ 1 H" rl lfci f at .jfat slhJ ! ?=3 THE VTOBT THUS FAB: >!?? Brwee, FBI operator, whUo on a Ttatt to Ui ?A4 bona, raa Into kls prevtoos toss, Inspec tor Tope, and Mrs. Tope. Be seal den ?M to too Dew alt's Mill ante camp, op erated bp Bee Drwala. Later Mat eight Tope phoned Brace and had Mb come 1 ?? with Nod Qvlll, a state trooper. Tope bad boon shewn to a cottage called Far aoaj, bat seeing that limiting was 1 wrong, bo bad a tranaler made to an other cottage. Tope bad boon told Mat no one bad occupied Me Faraway cot- | tage, yet be had seen signs Mat led Mm to bettere something was wrong. Bo i cent Me wlfo oat while he began a search M Me cottage to locate Me mystery. CHAPTER IH "But it a man is doing something in the dark by the light of a match, he will bold it till It burns his fingers. This match would have burned a man's fingers." And he said: "I looked in the frindllng and the paper and behind (he logs, till I found eleven matches, all burned down about the same way. I lighted a match and timed it Handled carefully, it burned over half a minute. So eleven matches would give -some light, In this cabin, for about six minutes. A lot can be done in six minutes." Mrs. Tope suggested: "You can't do much with one hand if you're holding a match in the other!" Tope nodded in quick pride. "That's right ma'am! Adam, this wife of mine is keen. So whatever was done here, there were two peo ple. One of them did it and the other held the matches, made a light" Bruce said: "I. can see that Go on." And Tope explained, apologetical ly: "So it seemed to me sure that some one had done something here. Either they came to get something, or to hide something. I thought they might have hid something; and I wanted to?search the place, see what I could find." He looked at Mrs. Tope. "But?I didn't want to bother you, or worry you," he said to her; and then, to Adam. "So I let her go outside. Then I started to look under the beds. That was the only place where much of anything could be hidden. You see how they're made." Adam felt his pulses pounding heavily. "1 found something under the bed," Tope explained. The young man tried to speak, to ask a ques tion; but his voice died in a husky whisper. Tope said gravely: "It's still there. It's a dead man. I'll show you!" But as he was about to draw the coverlet away, some one knocked, in a soft, furtive fashion, on the door. That quiet knock was terrify ing! These three whirled as one; and then a knock sounded again, and Bruce opened the door. Then he said in a vast relief: "Oh, hullo, Nedl Come in." He drew the other man into the room. "This is Ned Quill, Inspector," he said. "You wanted him, and I told him to meet us here." Tope extended his hand. "I've seen enough of Mr. Quill to know he doesn't like violins!" Quill grinned, and took off his cap, and shook hands with Tope and with Mrs. Tope. "That fiddler makes me tired I" he agreed. He stood looking st them, waiting.' "Well?" he chal lenged. "What's the matter? What's all the shooting for?" Tope, after a moment and with out a word, turned again toward the bed. They came silently behind him. "There's a dead man under here." said Tope. He removed the blankets and the sheets, and he took hold of the mattress at one end, looked at Bruce. "You take the oth er end," he directed. They lifted the mattress, laid it ou the Boor. There was left on the bed a spring, made of a square pat tern of heavy wire. The electric light, a shaded bulb, hung almost directly overhead; and its rays shone down unhindered, so that the wire squares threw a network of shadow on that which lay in the box like soace below. This was. as Tope said, the body of a man. He lay a little on one side; yet not as though his body had been arranged in this position, but in a twisted fashion vaguely disturb ing, suggestive of some spasmodic effort or movement in the moment of his death. He was an old man. his age manifest in thin gray hair, scantily seen under a ragged cap pulled down to his ears. There was h prickling of gray beard on his chin and the upper part of his cheek. But except for brow and cheek and chin, his countenance was con cealed by two strips of black adhe sive tape bound tight over his mouth and over his eyes. Each band was carried clear around his head, dou ble and triple for full security. Also, bis hands were bound behind him, with lengths of insulated wire twist ed around the wrists; and these wires held in place around his hands a thick fold of blanket. His feet in the same way had first been wrspped in a blanket and then bound with wires; his swaddled hands were secured to a rope that circled his body like a belt. As for his garments, he was dressed in a very old sweater, gray, too large tor him, stained and soiled; and a pair of overalls, also too large, ?ad stained with grease and oiL Through the rents in them no hint of underclothing was visible. This was the whole picture. They looked, and Mrs. Tope closed her eyes and clung to her husband's arm, and Tope covered her hand with his. Adam Bruce was pale and shaken, his tace a drawn mask. Save for the cheerful murmur of the brook outside, the night was com pletely still. Tope said gravely: "When I saw the tape, Adam, I thought of you. The gaga and the blindfold looked like kidnaping. This may be in your line." Bruce nodded. "Who is it?" be muttered. Tope shook his head. "I don't know. I haven't touched him, ex cept to make sure he was dead." "There's been no kidnaping re ported," Bruce reflected. "Or we'd have known. The Chief knew where I was." And he exclaimed incredu lously: "I was here last night, Topel Do you suppose he was here then?" "Yes." But Tope spoke, in a tone of final ity. "Well, there it is," he said. "Quill, this is up to you and Adam." Bruce objected: "I've no standing unless this chap was carried across a state line." And he urged: "Be This was, as Tope said, a body el a man. sides, Inspector, you're not going to walk out on us! Mat Cumberland will keep you on the job if he has to handcuff you." "Cumberland?" Tope echoed. "Is he still the D.A. up here? I worked on the Hichens case for him." Quill suggested: "But Joe Dane does all the work in the office. He'll be back here, later, when he brings Bee home." Adam urged: "It's not up to us to call Joe, Ned. We'll get Mat. If he wants to turn it over to Joe, that's up to him." "You ought to get the medical ex aminer too," Tope suggested. "But ?I've a notion it might be a good idea to keep this quiet, just at first. Don't use the telephone. It's a par ty line." "I left my bike up at Amasa's," Ned Quill explained. "I can ride to town and get Cumberland." Tope, when the trooper had gone, laid a sheet over the naked springs of the bed, and he and Adam and Mrs. Tope drew near the fire. Adam stood leaning against the mantel; Tope filled his pipe and lighted it; and Adam said: "Looks like a tough one. Tope." "Well, it may get easier as we go along." He puffed contentedly. "Aft er I found this man, I did a lot of listening. Your friend Miss Dewain, she talks without much prodding; and there's a woman, a Mrs. Mur rell, that likes to ask questions. Maybe you know her?" "Sure." Adam aereed. "I listened to some of her ques tions," Tope explained. "And asked some of my own. They tell me eight cottages were full Saturday night. I figure that was the night ha was put here." He asked: "Adam, how many people were here last night? What time did you get here? You weren't here Saturday night, were you?" Bruce shook his head. "1 was here Tuesday night," he replied. "Left Wednesday, and then came back Sunday. That's yesterday aft ernoon. Bee and I went for a walk after supper last night, upon the ledges bad of Am ass's barn. There's a moon, you know. We got back late. But 1 didn't see anyone, anything." "Who was here? How many?" Tope insisted. "Well. Vade and the Mnrralls." Bruce said. "And a man and his wife?a Maine man, by the way he talked. And two Harvard men in an old flivver, on their way to Chicago or California or somewhere. And a fellow named Bowen, a hardware salesman making this territory. He likes to tell Bee how his wife mis understands him. Harmless, though!" "Some one here wasn't harmless," Tope suggested. "How about this man with the violin! Know any thing about him?" Bruce hesitated. "Why, his par ticular hobby is rivers, and water falls. He's the secretary of an as sociation for the protection of our streams. I don't know whether there is any such association, but he's the secretary of it, anyway!" I Tope looked at the young man thoughtfully. "Your?vacation up here have anything to do with him, Adam? I gathered be didn't like you." Bruce chuckled. "You're cute as a weasel. Tope, for smelling out a trail, but you can cross Vade off." The older man did not press the point. "All right," he said. "We'll cross Vade off. But two men came in tonight after we got here. One of them?called himself Whitlock? was talking to Priddy after supper. I think they're after something; but ? they weren't here Saturday night?" "No," Adam agreed. "Nobody here by those names!" "How about the Uurrells?" Adam chuckled. "Out," he said positively. "And Miss Dewain? She doesn't seem as stubborn and cantankeroua as you said the was. What about her?" "Why, I met her two or three years ago," Adam explained. "While I was working in the bank commis sioner's office. 1 came up here to look over the local bank, and she was secretary to the president A man named Eberly." He spoke rue fully. "I liked her, and she liked me, but the bank was in bad shape. After I made my report, the com missioner closed it and she has held it against me ever since. Or at least she pretends to. She was de voted to Mr. Eberly. . . . But Tope, this doesn't get us anywhere. Not on this business. I don't see that we've got any place to start, on . this." I I "Well, son. we know some things." Tope reminded him: "We know there were two people in it, because one ol them struck matches to make a light, while the other did the Job. And by the way the bed was made, I wouldn't be surprised if one of them was a woman. Not many men can make a bed right. Then there's another thing: That's electricians' tape around this man's mouth and eyes; and the wires he's tied up with are old ignition wires off a car; and the clothes on him are greasy. Maybe whoever tied him up was a mechanic, a chauffeur." "That's just guessing." "Well, I believe in guessing," Tope insisted. "Then those pieces of blanket wrapped around his hands and feet and head?a dog had slept on that blanket. A police dog, I think. You can see the hairs." "Plenty of police dogs around I" Tope considered; and then he asked, in the tone of one who has made a discovery: "Adam, why were his feet and his hands and his head wrapped up in pieces of blank et? Why were his hands tied to his body behind?" Bruce shook his head. "I don't know!" Tope said positively: "Why, to keep him from making a noise, by kicking, or butting with his head, or beating with his hands. A noise that some one might hear." Bruce stared at him. "You mean be wasn't dead when they put him here?" "Well, it's sure he wasn't dead when they tied him up, anyway." Mrs. Tope spoke swiftly. "Inspec tor!" They looked at her. "Inspec tor, no one would kidnap a poor man! This man has on old, shabby clothes." Tope watched her. "Oh, they changed his clothes." nnyi sne cnaiienged, as though ?he knew the answer. "So he couldn't be identified by what he had on." "You mean they changed hia clothes after they killed him?" "Why?yes!" "But you just said," she argued, "that the reason they tied his hands and feet, and muffled them with ' blankets, was because he was alive 1 and might make a noise." "Of course." She cried triumphantly: "But don't you see that won't fit? If be was already tied up, they couldn't change his clothes without untying his hands and feet; and if he were already dead when they changed hia clothes, there wouldn't be any point | to tying him up again afterward." And she urged: "So he was alive when they changed his clothes; and i he was alive when they brought him | here, because otherwise there was no point in muffling his hands and | feet and head to keep him from mak ing a noise." They heard the sound of footsteps on the drive?Ned Quill returning, with Mat Cumberland and Doctor Medford. Cumberland was a large man with an almost bovine calm; ace of those Individuals whom other men trust as they do a stone, or a hill, for their very immobility. Doctor Medford was of a different mold; chunky, some hint of swagger in the set of his shoulders, with a round open countenance. After in- 1 traductions, the Doctor went to , where the dead man lay, and Cum- | berland asked a question, and Tope ( told briefly what there was to tall. 1 (TO as uosrrauED) _ .... i ?? a u^oyjj, mummtw UNIFORM INTERNATIONAL Sunday i chool Lesson Bjr BAROLD L LUKOQUUTT D. D. Of Thm Moody Bftli iMOIuto ?f Cbic*?o. R>WmM tar VmUk Newspaper Ualoo. Lesson for December 16 Usm subjects and Scripture tests se lected and copyrighted by International Council^of Rchftous Kducation: used tar EXALTING CHRIST IN THE LIFE OF THE NATION LESSON TEXT: Isaiah ILtlll Lain IlSt-Sg. GOLDEN TEXT: roc unto us * child M bora, unto us ? no I* given: end the government ehell be upon HU (boulder: end Hit neme shell be celled Wonderful. Counsellor, the Mighty God. the Everlast ing Esther, the Prince at Peace.?Isaiah i ,;*' Christmas is coming I It should b? a blessed end delightful time this year. But do net fail to ask your I self, Whst is its true meaning? Why did Christ come? So that ws could feast and celebrate? Surely not. He came first of all to be a Saviour; but do not forget that the Saviour is also the King of kings. When Jesus came. His people Is rael were practically without a gov ernment.-They were a subject peo ple under the rule of Rome. Their national life was in ruins; dark ness had settled over their land, and there was both national and spiritual darkness. Christ came as their King, as well as the Light of the world. True, they rejected Him, and His kingdom is now in abeyance until He comes again to reign. One of these days He will come! I. Darkness?bat the Light Is Com ing! (Isa. 0:2, 3). on... * ?-? -? nwu iicsus nune mere was aeep darkness in Israel; there was no king. National honor and glory were at low ebb. Religious leaders had lost their spiritual vision and zeal. They were going through the form of godliness but denying its power. Read the book of Malachi for a picture of their desolation. Then Jesus came, and the great est Light of all time shone forth in : the darkness. He was and is "the light of the world" (John 8:12). I They that followed Him did not I stumble in darkness (John 9:5; U: | 9). How sad that they received Him not (John 1:11)! The reason! They loved darkness rather than light (John 3:17-21). There is much darkness in our world today. We need the light of Jesus in national life, as well as in individual life. When will the na tions of the earth recognize Him as the only One who can truly lead them through the darkness? Military leaders, educators, and .scientists are saying in our day that there must be a spiritual rebirth of the peoples of the earth if we . are not to have another war which will destroy everything. No mere re vival of "religion" will do it W# must have Jesus, the Saviour and the Light! H. Chaos?but a King Is Com ing dsa. 9:6, 7). We have already suggested that Isaiah's prophecy came at a time of chaos in the affairs of the nation. Would they ever have the order and dignity of a nation again? Who was to be their king? What kind of lead er would He -be? Our verses, give the answer. Seven hundred years before Christ came, the prophet presented a glor ious, detailed picture of the coming One. He was to be born as a Babe ?a Son?but the "government shall be upon his shoulder." What kind of King U He? His names reveal Him. "Wonderful"?that word has been so misused that it means compara tively little to us. It really fulfills its true meaning in Christ. He is unique, remarkable, yes, truly wonderful. "Counsellor"?in every detail of life, great oj small, an infallible Guide. Migmy uoo ?not Just like God, or representing God; Christ is God. "Everlasting Father"?the tender and loving, unfailing One to whom time brings no change, for He is the "Father of eternity." "Prince of Peace"?He is not yet the Ruler of the nations of the world, hence we hear not only of wart but of rumors j of wars. Mark It well that there will 1 be no enduring peace until He comes to reign whose right it is to reign, the divine Prince of Peace. III. Jesas Christ?the Light aad the King (Luke 1:26-33). If Christ is to be honored in the life of any nation, yes, of our na tion, He must first be recognised as the Son of God, the Lord of glory, the everlasting King of kings. We need to emphasize that fact now when both military and politi cal leaders are talking about the need of spiritual revival to save the world. Let us be sure that they mean mors than just to pay formal recog nition to a great man and a distin guished moral teacher. He is the Saviour, and there is none other (Acts 4:12). Hota the marvelous fulfillment of prophecy which actually took place in the coming of Jesus. Isaiah (T: 14) aaid He was to be born of a virgin. He was (v. 27)1 He was to be the Son of God (Pa. 2:7). He was (v. 32)1 And so on through all the detailed prophecies of His birth. We celebrate the fulfillment of these prophecies at Christmas time. Let us be reminded that there ars ; hundreds of prophecies that He is to come again. Let us believe them, j and look for Him. He is the hops of this poor world! A IktJlome *10401 (lejUViteA, WASHINGTON ? By Waiter Stood WMU W nhnigtoa Buuttu, I* It Kt* It. m. W. FHA Ready to Help Farm Home Builders *"PHE Federal Housing admlniatra *? lion has just announced that it now has a hundred-million dollar bank balance. In addition, for the past five years, this agency of gov ernment has been paying operating coats out of its own income. It has mortgage insurance of $6,100,000,000 on its books plus about $2,000,000, 000 of insured loans on repairs and modernizing programs on existing homes. Your Home Town Reporter can remember back 11 years ago when the FHA entered the field of home j financing. It was attacked by most of the men in private home financ ing as a "ridiculous and hairbrained proposal of long haired theorists," and "was doomed to utter failure." Its activities, however, are now accepted by lending institutions ev erywhere. Banks and other lenders are now making home financing loans, some of them on more gen erous terms than even the FHA will make. Eleven years ago it was impossi ble, or at least very difficult, for a man of moderate means to own his own home. He had to save up enough for at least 50 per cent of its value and had to go on mortgaging and remortgaging for three-year pe riods, at high interest rates. In some instances he paid as high as ? per cent. FHA said to prospective home owners and to private lending insti tutions alike, "you folks can own your own homes by paying only 10 per cent down on new homes cost ing less than $6,000, and Uncfe Sam will guarantee the bank against loss. You can make your payments in equal monthly installments for a period up to 29 years at interest of not more than 4tt per cent. Loam for Farm Hornet After financing many thousands of home purchases, Raymond Fo ley, FHA director, says, "Because of the sound financial principles un derlying the FHA program, its far reaching benefits are proceeding without cost to the government." Of great importance to rural res idents and those living -in rural communities, the FHA has just re cently announced that It is ex tending its guaranteed loan provi sions to the construction of country homes and also the provisions of its Title 1 for the repair and mod ernization of existing homes and farm buildings. It seems to your reporter that in the face of the acute housing short age, the tendency to throw away government restraints, the rapidly increasing prices on speculative housing and other factors, that the safest procedure a prospective home owner could take would be to go to his bank or building and loan association and say ha wanted to buy that home on an FHA in sured mortgage. He weald be protected (1) against any inflated appraisal of the prop erty; (J) against any shoddy con struction; (S) against costly second and third mortgages; (6) against costly mortgage renewals; (I) against lapsing of taxes sad laser aace. And his monthly payments would be la reasonable proportion to his regnlar Income, obviating Insofar as possible, the chance of default, in payments and consequent foreclos ures resulting from over-borrowing. Veterans not only have the advan tage sf this FHA loan, they also can borrow op to (Z,6M under the G.I. bill for new home purchase, which is also guaranteed by the govern ment through the Veterans' admin istration. For the first time since the war, FHA applicationi tor guaranteed home loans are now running at the rate of approximately 1,000 per week. The trend in new house con struction is to get out of the cities and into the country, and this pres ent housing emergency finds mors than a million and a half families living doubled up, according, to the National Housing agency. 'Bach to Land' Movement Those who are watching the acute housing shortage see a definite "back to the land" movement which will mean the construction of thou sands of new small homes in rural areas and in the smaller towns of the nation. One-acre and half-acre plots are the dream of thousands in the massed population centers in the cities. Estimates of housing shortages reach the 13,000,000 mark and of this number approximately five mil i.on art in the small towns and ru ral areas throughout the nation. The 'ear brought about mass migration of workers from the South and East into the West and Midwest and these next several peacetime years will see another mass migration of workers from the slum and crowd ed sections of our great cities into the breathing space of the rural sec tions. So pressure of these events to come will make housing one at the critical issues in the future. ???????^ " Plenty of Fun in Store With Great f And Tent That'll Hold the Lion Tamer By Ruth Wy*th Sprnar* FLEPHANTS, giraffes, lions clowns and trained seals?ai many as you want to cut out ant paint. A circus tent big enougl for little boys and girls to get in side. It all adds up to just abou' the most exciting Christmas yot can imagine, and fun for month! and months to come. The tent fiti over a card table, and may b< folded away in a jiffy. The ani mals and clowns may be put awaj flat or lined up on a shelf to adc a jolly note to the children's room ? ? a All this Is made with a pattern thai fives actual-stze guides tor cutting ths clowns and animals out of plywood 01 heavy cardboard. Complete directions tot making the tent ol unbleached muslin ant actual-size guide tor stitching the *: BIG TOP on In bright Ma* Upe are in cluded. There are detailed direction* Cor painting the life like figures in colors, and for making them stand alone. (VOTE: The BIG TOP Circus Pattern Ho. MB in M cents. Send order direst tec HU. Btm WIHB IPBOf Bedford Hills Hew Tort Drawer M . Enclose IB seats tie Pattern He, - Hams - ? - i Beware Coughs frsn mums mUs | J^at Jiang On 1 eauee It gam riabt to tM aauS tba trouble to help ]oow HDd cipel germ laden Jtifigm. and aid naton to aoociio and heal raw, tends, tn flamed bronchial mucosa mem I branes. Tell your druggist to M& 70S ? bottle el OnomaMan wflb tba un derstanding you must like tiM war M quickly allaya tbe eoncb or ]Ott ?<? ' to baie your money bade. ; CREOMULSION i for Coodn. Oast Colds, BroachHla WONDERFUL X-MAS GIFT | Fascinating, thrilling Toss- <5^2S| game lor unuaren - and Adults. Twelve glittering metal rings mounted on colorful card. Makes wonderful stocking stuffer and extra gift for that extra-special person. Each card only 25c. Get several! I Q-L PRODUCT! CO, Oa* Barker, Okie I Oatlm: in! w carls at Uc each. I I I ua aacloala* ! iar tfcta tkrlllta? |am I ? Nun i J !tract aal Ma I I City tu*? . I -THREE O'CLOCK . . .. AND I HAVEN'T SLEPT A WINK* WAXIXUL NIGHTS ?how the time drags! Minutes nam Ilk* hour* we worry ortr thinp door and left imdoqe. Aftrr each ? night, wo get Up In thr morning mora tirod than whan w* went to bad. Nervous Tension causes many a wakeful night and wakeful nights are likely to causa Iter sous Tension. Next time you feel Nervous and Keyed Up or begin to tore, tumble and worry after you get to bad?try DR. MILES NERVINE (LAeald er HmmeN Tablets) DR. 1QLES N1KVTNI help* to eaie Nenroua Tenaion ?to permit ?? ^S5& Got Dr. IQlae Nervine at your drug >1 ore. Effervescent Tahleta, Lane VatkfmlU. Smell Package XT; Liquid, Ler(e Bottle ItML Smell BotX HO, both equally effective u a eedatlva, both guaranteed to aaiiafy or jour money back. CAUTION?Take only ae directed. For the Last Time, America, Buy Extra Bonds! M..MVAY Ben-Gay ? Get soothing. Messed relief from tormenting neuralcia peins?with fast-acting Ben-Gey 1 Your doctor knows the famous pain-relieving agents-methyl salicylate andmsa ? thoL Well,Ben-Gay contains up to2 '/j timet more of both these wonderfully soothing ingredients than flea other ? widely ottered rub-ins. Get genuine, quick-actiooBea-Qayl
The Alamance Gleaner (Graham, N.C.)
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Dec. 13, 1945, edition 1
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