The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1906-10-14
Otherwise secure ?"

OlHerW1Se SCCuroy
For the bare fraction of a second,
Gluck's eyes were significantly raised
to the two men back of Boyd, and the
latter knew that he was to be seized
from behind and secured. Knowing
this scoundrel for what he was, and
taking him a his face value at that mo-
ment, the design was one to which
Boyd could not wisely submit.
With whistle so shrill and sharp
that it fairly pierced the walls of the
dismal room, Boyd instantly threw
himself against the table, thus evading
the hands of the two men, and hurting
Buick backwards in his chair to the
floor. AS the latter fell, his revolver
was discharged, and by a stroke of
fortune that serves such knave but
once in a lifetime, the bullet crashed
through the bracket lamp on the wall,
and the blazing oil poured streaming
to the floor.
Such q scene as that which followed
could not be described I'm detail. With
Boyd's loud whistle there came the
sound Of crashing woodwork and break
ing doors, the shouts of men outside.
and the laundering tread of others in
the near entry.
Amid the dense smoke that filled the
room, lighted only by the swelling
flames, Boyd made one blind, desperate
effort to reach the man he had seen
pitch backward to the floor. But he
caught, instead. the falling section OF a
window, ripped with superhuman
strength from its casing. and beheld
erful figure of the Big Finger, as he
leaped to a roof outside and instantly
vanished in the darkness.
Then amid the clatter of breaking
glass, the door of the room fell with a
crash. and central office men, Coleman
foremost, were graphing with Doyle
and his two remaining confederates.
"a failure, Jimmie. From beginning
TO end, a beastiy, humiliating failure,
From start to finish, an Internally de-
plorable, disgusting fiascow
The above were Felix Boyd's bitter
comments upon the case a few DAYS
later. while seated with Coleman I'm his
Pine street office. But the central Of
flee man, far from sharing Boyd's feel
ings. laughed deeply and shook his
head.
Not half a failure. Felix" he pro-
tested That word covers far too
much ground. The case aside from
the escape of the Big Finger, was a
grand success"
Humph. That one feature is a wet
Uielhel over all the others. 4
NONSENSE declared Coleman .Is
1t nothing to have corralled three of the
gang? Is it nothing to have forced a
squeal from one of them. and to have
fixed this crime upon Doyle and the
others, thus clearing Dobson's injured
name? Is il nothing to have recovered
a part Of the stolen bonds, and to have
solved the entire mystery? Pshaw! you
take it too seriously. Drop it now, and
think no more about It"
:T'll drop it, Jimmie, only when 7
have that one remaining knave under
my heel" said Boyd grimly How
ever. we will let him rest for the mo-
ment'
you have not yet informed me Just
how you got upon the track of these
criminals. Felix"
II have had no heart to tell Won"
"Faugh, Cut that out for the pres
ent, and give me the main points, at
least"
Boyd reached for his only solace-his
pipe. Having filled and lighted it I'm
silence. he relaxed sufficiently to COM
ply with his friends request
IT should have Informed YOU much
earlier in the game. Jimmie. all of
month ago, but for one reason" he be-
gan.
What was that?''
Il foresaw that my own work could
not be accomplished very quickly. and
in order to conceal my hand / was COM
PEELED to let the central office work up
its erroneous theory. Knowing your
obligations at headquarters, naturally
/ could not confide in you until I was
ready to make my final move"
All I see" bowed Coleman. But
what about your own theory"
Boyd smiled family through the cir
cling smoke.
MY theory shaped itself from the
start, Jimmie" he replied. 1T began
with the explosion in front of the Stan
ley building, which, because of the
mystery Involving ii. / suspected TO
have been designed to suddenly draw
all OF the laborers TO the front wall and
windows Of the buildings for some pur-
pose When I learned that a crime
had been committed at the same hour
in the building back OF it, was con-
WINGED that I was right"
Go on" nodded Coleman. IT follow
you
The explosion occurred on Thurs
day night, just as darkness was fall
ing" continued Boyd. ION entering
Getchel's office, Saturday morning, at
once recalled the explosion and the
hour when Getchel habitually was
habitually locked in his office The
central office overlooked the explosion
and the murders, but / did not"
I'll wager you did not" smiled Cole
man.
Tn searching GetchePs office, Jim
mic, l discovered hero and there on
the carpet, with the help Of lens, some
fine white particles of lime, and on the
stone coping Of the window in his main
office few tiny splinters of wood,
hardly discernible with the naked eye
Plainly, Jimmie the lime dust had
come from the soles of mems shoes who
had been walking on the soiled floor of
the unfinished rooms of the Stanley
building. Doubly plain, Jimmie, when
the splinters on the coping Indicated
that plank had been placed from
window to window across the interven-
ing court"
"Ahi L seei'
From a window I'm the Stanley
building to that in GetcheFs office is
about ten feet. To run the plank across
was the work of only moment. That
is precisely What was done. With the |
laborers removed from that side of the !
building, and with dusk to hide them /
from observation from helOw tha |