The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1900-09-21

unhampered by pity, gratitude or fear,
determined to destroy the accountant,
whose discovery might have imperiled
his own welfare. What mattered a
human life or two, when weighed
against the possible loss Of his own
life or liberty, or of his high social
standing and his enormous wealth; for
this man is both renowned and rich,
and he appears to have brought whole
sale murder to n science"
"Do you mean to say that wholesale
murder can he INDUCED in with i'm
punity in a city like New York, at the
end of the nineteenth century," asked
! Sprague, aghast.
Yes; when IL is done in the system
attic and scientific manner that has been
employed here. For this murderer is
the most remarkable criminal of mod
ern times. He has not been satisfied
with killing his victims; he has sue
ceeded in completely wiping them out
of existence. Criminals have often at
tempted to destroy the bodies of their
victims, but they have never before sue
ceeded as this man has. He is chem
list of remarkable talent, and he has
discovered n compound in which bone
as well as human tissue is rapidly and
| totally dissolved There it is in yon-
der tank. See how completely the
liquid has destroyed the bone handle
of this knife"
Sturgis, after showing the damaged
knife to his companion. resumed his
whiting upon the cover of the box
on which the artist was seated.
"Chatham's body has been dissolved
In that tank within a very short time.
1t has entirely disappeared; this fat
tened bullet alone is left, lead being
one of the few substances which are
not soluble in the contents of the
tank. Fortunately he overlooked that
fact Genius has its lapses."
Presently Sprague ventured TO say;
"If numerous crimes have been com
mitted here. as you intimate, | do not
understand how it is that suspicion
has never rested on this house be-
fore"
"rhe author of these crimes has
taken every precaution to render the
chance of discovery quite remote, His
dwelling-house on one street and the
bogus Chemical company on the other,
are in communication through this
underground passage, while appar-
emily having no connection with each
other. Moreover, he is too shrewd to
make frequent use of this death cham
Der. That does well enough as last
resort, when he is obliged to commit
the murders with his own hands; but
| suspect that this man has other
agents like Chathpm. who do the
dirty work for him and then quietly
ship the bodies here for humiliation,
as it was intended should be done
with Arbogast's All! yes; | thought
so. You are sitting upon one of these
bodies now"
Sprague started TO his feet; and,
following the direction in which Stur-
gis was pointing with his open knife,
he vaguely disccrred. through the
opening which the reporter had whit
tied, a small surface of what had
once been the features of n human
being.
After gazing for some minutes in
horrOr-stricken silence at the distort-
ed face, the artist asked in low
voice:
How did Chatham meet his death 2"
81 don't know yet" answered Stur-
gs gravely; this man is no ordinary
criminal His work is clean and
leaves no blood-stains and no disorder
to tell of its accomplishment. lie
takes life with his own hands only
when he is forced to do so; but when
he does. his method is mastery. 1t
was easier to make away with Chat
ham than to pay him the price agreed
upon for his completely in the knck-
erboclcr bank cmbezllement; and so
his life was taken, l hope TO discover
how before | leave here"
Sprnguc started as the reporter
ceased speaking.
"The price of his complicity?" he
claimed, laying his hand upon Sturgis'
arm and looking earnestly into his
eyes
Yes" replied the reporter, steadi-
ly meeting his friends gaze, "his
daughters hand "
Sprague looked away from the hon
eSl W VI thc INpplNSI, as hS
dreaded to read IN them the answer
TO his next question.
who is this fend iucarnate. who
is willing to traffic in his own flesh
and blood, and with whom murder is
a science?"
The man who IL capable OF these
crimes, and of any others which
might serve to remove an obstacle
from his way is"
The reporter did not finish his SEN
tence. He suddenly grasped his COM
panion by the arm and stood trans
fixed, his eyes dilated, his neck craned
in n listening attitude, every muscle
tense like those of wild animal in
ambush about to spring upon its APP
preaching prey.
| L.. LII l.