The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1886-11-02

| you 10 come with u.s." Then s'crackl
crackm sounded two pistol shots in
quick succession, and the ward detect
i've staggered back into the hall.
/ jumped to the door. Rice had
! closed with the man and held his pis-
toll arm. at once seized him also;
but he fought like a mailman, and it
was not until after a hard struggle that
he was disarmed and handcuffed.
Then, quick as a flash, my friend
! plucked from the fellows head a wig
and from his chin the great beard which
bald as a billiard ball and his face
smooth. Rice cast a meaning look at
me and / nodded. began to under
stand. Meanwhile the ward detective,
nursing his wounded shoulder, had
sidled into the room and Rice had
stepped back.
Look here, DOCTOR" he said, you'd
better come quickly, now. You are
wanted in Cleveland. Just take that
package out of your pillow and come
along, or shall L" and with that he
ripped open one of the pillows on the
bed and drew out a package covered
with brown paper.
The prisoners face worked, but he
didn't utter a word. Then Rice moved
close TO him and held before his eyes
| the photograph which had seen.
You are wanted for that, too" he
said.
The man tainted and fell flat upon
the floor.
have now told you all the circum-
stances of nv own connection with this
West Side affair. All but the fact that
the story wrote of it gave me not
little glory and gold; and you have yet
To hear the part that Rice played-a
part that brought him great prestige
ana ave thousand dollars. | can tell
il To yuu briefly, for. after all, when the
denoueL.-nt Of story Is reached. ret
respect ; 4 bore-at least it is to me.
The facts are simply these:
A man named George Brand entered
the office of Rice's employers about a
month before the wOman's death and
asked for the services of a skillful de-
tective. His case was this: A wealthy
aunt living in Cleveland, from whom
Brand had great expectations, died
suddenly, without leaving him penny;
died, indeed, leayingnO tangible prop
erty whatever. All he could learn
was that she had been actively engaged
for months previous to her death in
converting all her wealth into coupon
bonds. When he reached Cleveland
he found her handsome residence
mortgaged and snly a few hundred
dollars deposited in the local banks in
her name. Brand suspected evil and
wanted detective to work out the
case. He offered five per cent. of the
would undertake it.
Rice eagerly seized the opportunity
and went to Cleveland. He was not
long in ferretiug out the truth. A DIR.
Raymond had been the old lady's ply
stefan, and with her maid, Ella Jones,
young girl of prepOssessing appear
ance, virtually the only persons with
whom she had recently come in con-
tact. Raymond bore the reputation of
a gambler and a rake. People had
talked of the intimacy that seemed to
exist between him and the maid. This
was enough for Rice. He had the body
of Mrs. Brand disinterrsd, and an
autopsy showed that she had died,
not from heart disease as Raymond had
certified, but from arsenical poisoning.
The rest is plain. The girl and the
arch-fiend lied to New York, intending
to sail to some foreign country and en-
JOY their spoils together. But Ray
mond grew sired of his mate. He
fingered in Gotham long enough to see
if any suspicion of the crime would
arise in Cleveland, and whether il was
that he had heard of Rice's activity,
or completely wearied of his compan-
ion and fearful of the possibility of her
tongue, he finally decided to divorce
himself from her society. And he
savagely did it on that murky night,
pitilessly hurting her from the window
just a. our elevated train rushed around
the corner and the murderer's face
stood revealed in that fash of light
ming. He was never hanged. He went
mad after his conviction and now raves