The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1907-09-21
n Strange 0bsession g n sou :

even to mention poor Shelcrafts ideas to this brawny
matter of fact looking mechanic - !
j What Mr.. Shecraft thought don't know sir; nor
don't exactly know what he doing, for when he
was working at the car the door of the garage
locked and no one was allowed to come in There's
no doubt he'd done something to the to give her
more power; she was doing speeds that she'd never
been able to do when she: was new. But there
was nothing wrong with the car; the car was all
right" said the man in the tone to his kind
when they are defending their charge from blame
suspicion $3.50 II Il T.. - Il ~ . .,
There was nothing more to be learned here, but
one Of shellcrafs few intimate friends, decided to
trace if could, his movements that fatal day
From the direction he had taken leaving the house.
it. seemed that he had by the Bath road instead
Of the more direct route to Exeter. My car
erful and swift would carry IN the track Of his
perfervid wheels, and might be able thus to get
some trace Of him. I therefore made ready for a
long journey and, taking Merton with me-, we'll
my own man, set out early in the afternoon. = -
The first news i had: of Shecraft was just beyond
Reading, where big, powerful car had been seen to
rush through the town in the small hours of the
morning At Marlborough he had taken in petrol
ten gallons, and had gone about the town from one
shop to another in search of particular brand. He
was out again on the road while it yet early
morning. he had knocked bridesmaids hand
cart turning just outside Bath, and had gone
on his way without pausing: There was sum-
out against him at Taunton, where he had been
timed through police trap at the eighty
miles an hour, and had refused to stop when sig !:
nailed At Exeter he again took in petrol at the New
London HOTEL the waiter in the courtyard there re-
membered motorist very dusty and exhausted, who
ordered large glass of brandy and drank it down
neat; T." :, j
M f,,rfb
lonely stretch of the road over Dartmoor between
Launceston and Okehampton. The wide road lies
there for mile or two straight as ribbon over
the moor. There Is dip down for mile, and then
an ascent for mile, small culvert marking the
junction of the two gradients There is hump. in
the road over this cuvert, familiar to by unpleas-
ant experience and I slowed the car down to pass
over 1t instead of taking the road at
full speed Merton's eye attracted to something
lying among the heaths, and stopped to see what
it was. There we found cushion two floor boards
and part of liftingjack which had been slowed in
the tonneau Of shellcrafts car Apparently he had
: taken the bump in the road flying the floor boards
come loose and the contents of the tonneau been
thrown out of the car. - - VI
At Bodmn the town still talking of Shellcraft.s
passage through it, where he had taken the double
turn through the narrow streets shocking speed
had ,skidded round and smashed a saop-window i
grazed lamp-post on the opposite side and rushed
on before anyone had had time to stop him. s$S
At Helston we who were following the path Of
shellcrat got the first sinister breath of the sea
struck ACROSS my senses ominously seemed to see
shellcraft I'm his car breathing blndly the salt air.
IL wondered It he felt the change had any sense of
the near sea. He had stopped here in the GROWING
dusk to fill up with petrol again; don't quite know
why he went by Helston at all unless knowing that
his petrol was running short he thought he would
be more likely to Ibis tanks reflled there Curious
~ enough, as we advanced the vision of Shecraft
became less and less distinct had more and more
the sense of following feverishly in the wake ora
small steel box with lowering patch of radiance
y above it, - = ~,
In "a narrow and winding bit of road near Semen
he had passed and narrowly escaped collision With
the Great Western motor bus the driver said he had
never had such fright in his life The car He said
came round the corner like gray ghost in the dusk
&anda was upon him and past him. scrapng into the
hedge as passed before he had time to draw breath
or do more than pull over to the side of the road
And that all until shellcraf reached the Lands
! End. = .@#z = 6 J. ~ e.
We understood by this time that we were on the
trail of tragedy and when the landlord of the little
hotel stands On the cliffs Lands End told us
Of the final catastrophe listened as men listen ia
q story they have heard before - 5 5$s$s. !
Just as was growing light that morning the land
lord told us, he heard the sound of an approaching
motor car He ran to the door and saw a large and
powerful car advancing at terrific speed along the
road. The carried lights and though the pro-
prietor waved his arms and shouted came on WITH
out slackening speed. When it reached the corner
of the house, instead OF following the road which
turns sharply to- the right it. went straight to tho