Waterbury Democrat., 1900-12-12

clan. They are HOdeSI1y couElnceu l that the world must needs come to a standstill if they cannot accomplish their tiny mite of work" .....
 pr. Thurston, who had assumed his frown of professional severity, pro ceeded to feel the reporters pulse.
 ''Well, you are in luck; better than you deserve. Almost any ether man would have been laid up for a week by the experience you have been through. And here you have the face to recover without the assistance of the medical profession and in spite of your insolent disregard of my express orders to leave work alone for the present. Now, there is Sprague-"
 "Ah, what of Sprague?" asked the reporter, anxiously.
 ''Sprague has had a close call. But he is safe now. If tender and intelli- gent nursing count for anything, he will probably be up in a day or t~o.' Miss Murdock-''
 ''Yes. She has a professional nurse to help her; but she has insisted on taking charge of the case herself. And an excellent nurse she is, too, and charming girl into the bargain-and what is mcre a noble woInan.''
 Does she know of her fathers death?'
 T broke the news as gently as | possible. She took it much more calm ay than I supposed she would. There evidently was but little sympathy be- tween her and her father."
 ''On her side, at any rate"
 'Yes. Her first act on learning of her | fathers crimes was to send for a law yer. She refuses to touch cent of his money, and has instructed her attorney to make such restitutions as may be | possible and to turn the rest to char itable institutions. This leaves her al- most penniless; for the property she ! held in her own right from her moth CTS estate amounts to very little. For tunately. Sprague is rich enough for beth. What age you doing there, if I | may aslt?"
 Dr. Thurston pointed to bundle which lay upon the table.
 That is N[urdocll's autobiography a legacy to me. The package was found near his valise in the death chamber, He had addressed it to me at the last minute.''
 Did it help you in your account of the knickerbocker bank case for the | Tempest?'
 "A little; but naturally, Murdoclks s account of that crime was not com plete. The entire journal. however, is of absorbing interest. It is a pity that it cannot be published"
 ''Why cannot it Ee publshed?"
 Ut would be dangerous to the wei fare of society. Murdock was an cx- traordinary genius in his line; there is marvellous originality and ingenu- ity in his work. His crimes, num- bered by the hundred. were all of capital importance in their results; all deep-laid and skillfully executed It is hardly likely that such another consummate artist in crime will cx- ist once a century. To publish the details of his schemes would be to put formidable weapon in the hands of the vulgar herd of ordinary crim- inals, who lack the imagination of this brilliant villain.
 'I tell you, Thurston,' continued Sturgis, with what seemed very like enthusiastic conviction, ''this man was the originator of almost every unsolved mystery which has non- plussed the police during the last 15 years. He had his agents in every i'm portant center throughout the coun- try; agents working under potent in- centives, and yet working in the dark } for few of them have ever known who held the mysterious power which di- , rected their every move. Murder has
 been done wholesale; and so quietly } and mysteriously has the work been ) accomplished that, in all but this. last case, the detectives have found n1
 clue whatever. which might lead to an explanation of he sudden and un- } accountable disappearance of wealthy l men, whose bodies, shipped to the
 Manhattan Chemical company by = Murdock's agents. ware quietly and l systematically made away with in tue chemists la bora tory"
 He was the fiend incarnate!" ex claimed the physician.
 = 'Well," said Sturgis, after a mo
 ment Of thoughtful silence, "at any 3 rate, he was not wantonly cruel. He !, was heartless; he was pitiless; bu : his cruelty was always a means to ac s end, however selfish and illegitima tt
 that end might be- His cruelty i; 2 that, in a measure, of every E<umar
 being destroying life that he may lve e and trampling upon his fellow mer : that he may be comfortable. Be
 
 - was a difference of degree, certainly
 but was there difference of kind?'' - There is one thing which I can q not yet understand" said Thurston
 land that is. why Murdock shoul, r have pushed his audacity to the poin
 of defying you to ferret out the rays e tery of this crime, when he 1nigh
 perhaps have avoided all risk of da d lection by holding his tongue" :. 'No man, is perfect" answere'
 Sturgis, sententiously, mot even a '- accomplished villain like Murdocl t fortunately for the rest of mankind n Every human being has his wea1 : points. MurdocI had two:-his van = ity and his love for his daughter
 They were the only traits which con e nected him with the human family
 To them he owes his undoing." q THE END.