The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1895-11-16

mouse was dead, and as that was the
only urgent business he mad on hand
Just then Henford suspended his eX-
Deriments for the day. His silver-
mounted cane and immaculate Lincoln
and-Bennett We're handed to him by
his Hindoo servant, Chundra-Dass, and
Hanford left the house. He sauntered
leisurely Ito the county club. After
skimming over a few of that mornings $
London dailies. he went to the offices
OF the Royal Standard, where he ar
rived with military punctuallty on the
stroke of noon.
Hedford was received by the Secre-
tary, Mr.. Morton. and introduced to
Mr.. Montagu Scott. the London man
ager, who had been in Salchester for
the past two days. After paying a
weil-mer9ted compliment to the special
1st on his reputation as @ toXicologist,
Mr.. Scott got to business at once, and
said abruptly:
II am going to put 4 case into your
hands which cost this and two other
companies, the 'Tresham' and the 'Mu-
tual,' one hundred and fifty thousand
pounds sterling. and (which may cost
r's half a million unless the riddle can
be read"
The specials. was re.icent.
A'tioiC iidHuilS you IilpSN uOtu-
ment," Mr.. Scott went on, indicating a
tightly strapped bundle of papers on
;he table, "I anust ask your earnest as
surance tiSet you will maintain abso-
lutte secrecy on the subject until your
yourself. or some other man, has solved
the mystery"
The essuihnce given Mr.. Scott stated
briefly that for the past two years pur-
canase5 OF life policies had been made
by, or for, Sir William Huntingdon, VI.
r.. a SalcheSteI' magnate Of high repu-
ta'tion who aved prlncipally'in London:
that most of the PERSONS assured had
c1ed since the Date of the transfer of
the policies; that in only one case had
chere been an inquest for the sufficient
reason that the assured had all died
arom weli-known diseases, and had
been ATTENDED by physicians who were
beyond SUSPICION: and that the three
companies had paid CLAIMS amounting
IN all to one hundred and fifty thous-
and pounds estller to Sir William Hunt
anscon OF 20 persons who were sus-
pected OF being In collusion with him.
This ooincdorpce OF early death from
"nasnIral causes" occurring to nearly
all the unfortunate transformers of the
po<icies was, at present. inexplicab!e.
Mr. Scott had no special hypothesis.
but. on behalf OF the three life" of.
ncea ne tntr'rsted Surgeon Colonel He'd
iSrd win the CASE Informing him that
Or necessary ne could call I'm the SER
vaces of an experienced detective from
Scotland Yard. This Hedsord declined
20 do, preferrlng 10 work for a time
single-handed In the matter. Mr. Scott
tnIimated that sum of five hundred
pCands would be placed 10 the credit
OF Colonel IIedford's account in tho
Great Northern Banking company. and
snst he was to spare neither pains nor
money in the endeaVor to clear up the
mystery.
AS the specialist left the RovaI
standard Office he butoned his coat
win determination and strobe hastily
nuIneWard. he was well aware of the
intricate nature Of the task before hin,
and fully realized the difficulties in his
path: on the other hand, the fact that
tne nve hundred pounds would convert
tne small debit balance of his banking
account into handsome credit one was
a matter for satisfaction. Anglo-Ir-
dian hapits are expensive and difficult
TO break off. Besides the work before
MIN was purely humanitarian. 1t is
pleasant to be q philanthropist VIXEN
one Is we'll paid for 1t.
On arriving at the Films" Hedford
W HiS SLuuy, anu 1gDJlE&
a strong Indian cherOot he undid the
straps which bound together the bum
Ole of documents handed to him by the
manager OF the insurance company.
They were records of the dates and
causes Of death of the persons whose
policies had been purchased by Sir
william Huntingdon. AS the causes OF
death ranged from Smallpox" to "old
age" and as the melancholy, list in
cluded two railway accidents, very lit
tie was gained from the study of the pa
pers. However, the specialist made a
table OF their contents, which, when
carefully completed. seemed to sug-
gest something more than the in
dividual documents read consecutively.
On the impression thus formed he re-
served judgment
Surgeon-C Colonel Hedford spent the
next three weeks in journeying north,
south. east and west to the different
parts OF the kingdom where the de-
ceased p0licy-holdcrs had resided. He
interviewed doctors and relatives with
much, tact and circumspection. without
arousing the slightset suspicion sas to
his object, but failed to elicit anything
material Death in each case had been
caused by one or other OF the Ills to
which the flesh Ii heir. The mystery
was AZ far from solution as ever One
terrible fact however, stood out /. ia,