Newspapers / The Roanoke Beacon and … / April 25, 1913, edition 1 / Page 2
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i V Eml till' it N U BUM XK'fcsw ? Ztjr oca COPYRIGHT 1912 . ' . u vajiauiwii. -c Illustrations by YlBwnes SYNOPSIS. TTa'-ding Kent calls on Louise Farrlsh to propose marriage and finds the house in froat excitement over the attempted sui cide of her sister Katharine. Kent starts in Investigation and finds that Hugh Crandall, suitor for Katharine, who had been forbidden the house by General Far rlsh, had talked with Katharine over the telephone Just before she shot herself. A torn piece of yellow paper Is found, at slRht of which General Farrlsh Is frtcken with paralvsis. Kent .discovers that Crandall has left town hurriedly. Andrew Elser. an aged banker, commits lulcide about the same time as Katharine attempted her life. A yellow envelope is found in Elser's room. Post Office In spector Davis. Kent's friend, takes up the case. Kent Is convinced that Cran flnl) is at the bottom of the mystery. Katharine's strange outcry puzzles the Infectives. Kent and Davis search Cran flall's room and find an address, Lock Box IT. Ardway. N- J. Kent goes to Ard way to Investigate and becomes suspi cious of a "Henry Cook." A woman commits suicide at the Ardway Hotel. A vellow letter also figures in this case. Kent calls Louise on the long distance telephone and finds that she had Just been called by Crandall from the same booth "Cook" disappears. The Ardway post master is missing. Inspector Davis ar rives at Ardwav and takes tip inves tigation. He discovers that the dead woman Is Sarah Saeket of Bridgeport, rxntise telephones Kent imploring him to drop the investigation. Kent returns to New Tork to get an explanation from Louise. He finds the body of a woman In Central Park and more yellow letters. He sees Crandall, whom he recognizes as "Cook," enter the Farrlsh home. Louise uratn implores Kent to drop the lnvesti pntlon and refuses to give any explana tion. Later Kent sees Crandall and Louise In an automobile. Kent returns to Ard way. Davis announces that he has planned to arreet the missing postmaster and also the master criminal. W hile seek ing the criminals. Kent comes across I)uise and Crandall. Pursued by Davis the postmaster Jumps off a precipice and Is killed. Aleck Young, the master crim inal. Is found in a hut in a morphine, stupor. Louise tells Kent that she and Crandall had come to get papers from Young which gave Mm a strange hold over General Farrlsh. It Is shown that Crandall's only interest in the case was to help Katharine recover her father s papers. Young i shackled and bound, with morphine Just out of his reach, in an attempt to make him confess and give up the papers. After 4S hours of torture from morphine hunger Young gives up and reveals the blackma.l plot. CHAPTER XVI. (Continued.) As Davis finished reading the let ter I took it from his hand and care fully re-read it. There could be no doubt that it was the Game in form as the scrap Louise and I had found. As I scanned the lines, the words at the beginning of each, from the seventh on to the thirteenth, were the same as those over which we had racked our brains. The context now made them plain enough, but still I failed to" see what deadly import the letter had or what sinister meaning in it should drive its recipients to desperation and suicide. Siirely .on its -face it appeared to present the harmless whim of an old .man's slight ly unbalanced brain. I turned to Davis for an explanation. "An ingenious letter," Davis was saying. "And they fell for it?" A look of pride came into, the pris oner's face. "Wasn't it great," he exclaimed. "Why, they ate it up like hot cakes!" "Just plain blackmail," said the in spector. "No, indeed fancy blackmail," aid Young indignantly. "They never had it dished up to them quite in this way before. I insist, if I've got to go to jail for It, on at least receiving credit for a new criminal Invention." "I fail to see," I interrupted, "just how the letter was a criminal one or why it should have bothered any one." i "I'm afraid you will never make a good detective," said the inspector pityingly. "Don't you see how it worked? Young devised this letter. Ho needed the co-operation of some one in the post office to send it out without arousing suspicion. He tried yellow letters first on General Far rish to test the terrifying effects. Sati c:ed that his yellow letter plan would bring results, he recalled his acquaintance with Rouser, whom he knew to be weak and easily led. He returned to Ardway his old home and found it child's play to enlist Ttouser's services. It was part of his general scheme for Rouser to send end receive all the mail through a lock box with a false name. His ob ject in this was to enable hira, in cape the postal or police authorities got on his trail, to have all' the docu mentary evidence point to Rouser alone. Before his connection with the etters could be established he could ke his escape with the money the -s brought in." ill don't see." I protested, "h Niters could bring in money. exactly tne opposite. They ive away money. j cleverest thine: nhmit k " or said, and Young's glistened at this i see how it work- ouser, from ,tax from telephone of sources tifl employed "gan send s broad ' J reach shier, ould "p- of a man. who was guilty of pecu lations of some sort. Suppose, for in stance, old Andrew Elser, when his law business had failed him, had be gun to speculate with the fkmds be longing. to the boy for whom he was guardian. His speculations are un fortunate; He plunges and loses still more. He becomes desperate. He sees no way of replacing the money he has stolen. It seems certain that his crime will be discovered arid that ho will be disgraced. He can not sleep nights. His brain, constantly agitated by fear and worry, will not permit him to rest. His Judgment, never acute, or he would not have be come a thief, becomes more and more unbalanced. Then one day this yel low letter comes. It reads convinc ingly. It. promises immediate aid. It pledges secrecy. At last he sees an honorable way out. He hastens to send a reply to Lock Box No. ,17, Ardway, N. J., as directed. Can't you Imagine what happens then? Young communicates with him at once. You used the telephone, didn't you?" "Sure," he said, "the telephone ev ery time. It leaves no records behind it and the Bertillon system can't Identify a voice." ! "Now," the inspector went on, "what does Young say over the tele phone to Elser? Something like this 'You're an eld thief. I've got the proof. You are stealing somebody's money. Steal some more and give it to me or I'll tell. Unfortunately, in old Elser's case there was ip more money left to steal, so he killed him self. Am I right, Young?" Again the prisoner nodded, and again he demanded another dose of morphine. His muscle's were again getting beyond his control. As Davis fixed the hypodermic, I asked: "But where does the old maid from Con necticut come In? Surely she wasn't a defaulter." "I suspect it was the -brother with whom she made her home," said the Inspector. , : '. "Damn her," said Young bitterly, "it was she who queered the whole game. We tackled her brother for five hun dred and it came so easily we de cided to make another try. 4 The weak kneed old thief, in his terror of us, told his sister all about it. She in sisted on coming down here. She saw Rouser and tried to find the sign er of the letter. Rouser denied know ing him. She was a wise old creature and pointed out that as postmaster he must know who got the mail. Her suspicion of Rouser scared him stiff. He wanted to give her the money back, but at first I wouldn't hear to it. She was threatening to commit suicide if we didn't. lie was so scared that I finally consented to let him square her. I wanted to use him still further and wasn't ready to have him get cold feet. I gave him the money, and he went to the hotel late in the afternoon to see the old girl. He slipped up to her room and found her hanging there. It gave him such a shock that he dashed back tOfthe post office, grabbed his bicycle and hustled out here as fast as he could come, where I was waiting to meet Katharine Farrish." With difficulty I suppressed an ex clamation of astonishment. I could not doubt that he was telling the truth, for his story dovetailed so well with what Louise had told me. Yet it seemed impossible to believe, it surely was preposterous to Imagine that General Farrish, wealthy and honorable as he was, could have been a thief. I refused to believe it. I decided to demand an explanation from Young of why he had sought a meeting with Katharine. "It's too bad Rouser was so easily frightened," Davis was saying sar castically. "He was so scared that he left behind in the cash drawer five thousand he had just received from Henry Eberle." "The accursed fool!" m screamed Young in a frenzy of rage that he had failed to get his hands on this bit of plunder. "The sneak didn't tell me that. All he said was that Dora Hast ing who was a restaurant cashier, had "insisted that it was utterly Im possible for her to pay up. The dirty, damned sneak!" In a fit of madness he cursed and cursed .again his dead associate, foul, oaths rolling in streams from his parched lips. Anxiously I waited for his fury to subside to ask him about Katharine and Hugh Crandall. II seemed a desecration of her woman hood to mention Katharine's name in the presence of such a man, so as he subsided I merely asked: "But what about Hugh Crandall?" "Damn him," he cried, "that was another of my mistakes! I knew Crandall in college. When I got the goods on old Farrish I thought I could rely on Crandall to help me to turn the trick. I didn't know he was in love with the daughter. When I told him about it he refused to have any thing to do with it and rushed off and squealed to the peneral. Much thanks t got for it! The hauihty old cen- eral ordered him out 4of the hous and wouldn't let the daughter have anything more to do with him. I tried then to get him in on the echeme, but it was no go. For weeks he kept trying to worm my secret from me. I fired yellow letter after yellow letter at the general, but he kept defying me, and all the while Crandall kept after me to make me give up the papers. 1 was afraid I'd weaken. There are times the dope gets me and I hardly know what I'm doing, so I vanished. It struck me that if the general wouldn't come across maybe the daughter would. I put it up to Crandall and we arranged a meeting. I was to put the papers in her hands and she was to pay over the money. I slipped Up on the first appointment and I guess you must have spoiled the second." I still was puzzled. What could be the terrible mystery in proud old General Farrlsh's life that gave this miscreant such a hoM on him? It was beyond my imagination to con jecture, so I put the question bluntly to the prisoner. "Why ask me?" he snarled. "You've got the whole thing every' paper bearing on it in your pocket there." Quickly I snatched the envelope .from my pocket and was about to rip it open. .At last I was to know the secret that had brought such unhap piness into the life of Louise. At last the mystery was to be cleared up. But just " as my thumb went rudely under the flap, Davis laid a restrain ing hand on my arm. . "Wait," he said gently. "Would It not be just as well to deliver that envelope to Katharine just as it is? The fewer people know, its contents the less unhappiness there will need to be." Davis was right. I was beginning to think he was al ways right. CHAPTER XVII. The End of the Mystery. With one of tbe conspirators lying In the undertaking shop of Miller vale and the other safe behind the prison bars in Ardway, the docu mentary evidence against him in our possession reinforced by his full con fession signed and witnessed, Inspec tor Davis and I that same afternoon hastened back to New York, where, it can be Imagined, I lost no time in reaching the Farrish home. As we waited for the train I had telephoned Louise and she was ex pecting me. She met me in the lower hall. One glance at my radiant face told her that 1 ouf mission had been successful and she flung herself into my arms while Trained happy kisses on her lips, her cheeks, her glorious hair. But thoughtful ever of others, even in such a moment of ecstasy, she gently unclasped my arms and whispered: "The papers did you get them?" , . ' ' ' A little cry of joy came from her Hps as I handed her the envelope. "Burn Them, Hugh; "Come," she cried Jubilantly, "let's take it to Katharine at once! The sight of it will' do more to cure her than all the doctors In the world." Together we hastened to Kath arine's room, where we found her sit ting up in bed, much stronger than when I had last seen her, though , a nurse was still in attendance. Hugh, Crandall was seated in a chair beside the bed. Tbe joy I read in the(faces of Katharine and Crandall as Louise handed her Bister the envelope was reward enough for all I had gone through since I had set out to 'solve the mystery. Frantically KathaFine tore open the envelope and Inspected three docu ments it contained. nil 1 -' ' They are 'all here" she exclatm with a sigh of relief as, the passed them to Crandall. "Yes,"' echoed Crandall happily, "they are all here." " "Burn thfcm, Hugh; burn them at once," she demanded. Crandall, gathering them up with the envelope in which they had been encased, crossed to the grate where a cheerful fire was burning and one by one fed the documents to the flames. That was three months ago. Louise and I are married now andKatharlne and Hugh are on their honeymoon, too, taking a six months' European trip. Though we never mention the mystery of the yellow letters ir. the presence of our wives, for it rccallB too many sad memories unnecessarily, my -new brother-in-law and I had a good laugh the night before I mar ried Louise. As I at first suspected him of being one of the conspirators, so it seems he had suspected me. It was he who peered into the post of' flee that night as I was examining the books by the light of my electric lantern. He knew that Young had an associate and was trying to find him. The mystery of the disappearance of the yellow, fragments that' had' giv en us the first clew is a mystery no longer. It merely had slipped behind the drawer in which Louise had put it. Aleck Young is serving a well desered sentence of fourteen years, as nonchalantly, I presume, as he un derwent his trial. So long as prison keepers can be 'bribed to keep" him supplied with his beloved drug, I doubt if he bothers ovf-r his lack of freedom. Sometimes I think his pun ishment falls far short hen I recall all the misery and suffering he caused, yet my. new-fouad happiness has softened my view of life. As for General Farrfsh, he died three weeks after - Young's arrest Before the end he regained his facul ties sufficiently to under; ftand that the papers that had menaced his peace and reputation had be tn destroyed. In his last hour he put Katharine's hand into Hugh Cranda'l's. What was in the documents that Katharine and Hugh Crendall burned? What was the secret with which Young threatened him fcr months and months? I do not know. ' Louise does not, know. We never discuss it even among ourselves. It is better so. Only Katharine and Hugh - Crandall and a poor drug sot in a distant cell know what those papers were. . I might conjecture if I cared, and what would be the use? After General Farrlsh's death it came out that bis vast estate had shrunk to almost nothing. Un fortunate Investments in his old age had swept away his fortune. lie was the custodian of various trust funds. It may be that in a senile effort to recoup his losses he had misused some one else's money and Young Burn Them at with his devilish IiEenuity, hac found It out. Certain ii is that whll the papers commented ideiy o:a th j small estate he left, in none of thert i was there the slightest hint of scan- dal. Equally certain am t that nithei his daughters nor his sns-in-laM' be moan the lack of in inheritance Louise and I, I know, have le:irnJ that happiness lies not in wealtfr and luxury, but in loving sr'lce ea:h tc the other. And one thing more. Both Davis and myse'f have juiet ly withdrawn our accot nils from tht Million bank. The cashier's name V e a ii Hrc Eberle. . THE ' Oncer ;H llfx lobbies jQl rf mth m I ware II this paper among the rich, in which mystery is blended with the love affairs of sev- raly oungpe rag Ent erf af eiaig Just the kind of a story you've been looking for. ! U Yoa Can't Afford to Miss the Very Firsl Installment 00OOCKJC50OOOC0000C3OO0O00O0O WANTED Companion. Wealthy woman recovering from nervous prostration, wants young, good-looking,- well-br.d, well-educated, well-read, tactful girl for companion. Must speak French, bridge, football, baseball, automobile and golf. Prefer a musician who sings. Name your own salary. o TO be sure, you , may. not be wealthy, or fem inine, or recover ing from nervous prostration, but , we're certain you like that kind of a girl. And that's the sort of a, girl the plot of our new serial Secretary of Frivolous Affairs weaves about and makes in the un folding one of the most interesting "girl" stories you have ever read. Watch This Paper for the First Installment pleasing ro mance of society life pple 8 i n 1 i Are you bored with your business? J Are you bored with ' your dinner? 1 Are you bored with your wife ? Then Read Secretary sT Frivolous Affairs and get right zvith the world Our New Serial Story Be Sure to Get the Issue with the First Installment
The Roanoke Beacon and Washington County News (Plymouth, N.C.)
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April 25, 1913, edition 1
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