Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1900-11-01
CHAPTER XX.-CoNTINUED.


There was brief silence, broken at
last by Sprague, who asked:
HAS he escaped?
Sturgis hesitated.
"That depends upon how we look at
it," he said, gravely, at length; 'he has
paid the penalty of his crimes"
"Whdt do you mean?"
"He is dead" answered the reporter.
-Dead? But l tell you l saw him"
81 know; but he has died since"
"Suicide?"
mo-" the reporters voice sank to a
whisper; murder"
MURDER" repeated the artist, star
tied. But how do you know that?"
''This lump of lead tells the story"
said Sturgis, holding up the shapeless
piece of metal which he had taken out
of the vat.
"What is it? A bullet?"
eyes; the bullet which Chatham car
ried in his arm from the time that he
was wounded by Arbogast, the bullet
which has enabled me to trace him step
by step, from his fight from the over
turned cab to DR.. Thurston's S and finally
to his death in this very room; the
bullet whose peculiar shape is record
ed in this shadow picture taken by
Thurston by means of the Roentgen
rays"
So saying, he handed Sprague the
photograph. But the artist had ceased
to listen.
"In this very room?" he unused aloud,
looking about him with awe.
Eyes. The story is simple enough.
The man whose instrument Chatham
was is not one who would care to be
Numbered up with tools, which become
positively dangerous as soon as they
cease to be useful. This man, totally
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 a science"
''Do you mean to say that wholesale
murder can be INDUCED in with i'm
punity in a city like New York, at the
end of the nineteenth century?' asked
Sprague, aghast.
ayes; when it 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 a chem
list of remarkable talent, and he has
discovered a 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 very short time
1t has entirely disappeared; this fiat.
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 it's 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"
"The 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 eacl
other. Moreover, he is too shrewd tt
make frequent use of this death cham
ber. That does well enough as las
the murders with his own hands; bu
j suspect that this man has othe1
agents like Chatham. who do the
dirty work for him and then quietl,
as it vas intended should be don,