The Elbert County tribune., 1908-12-03

the reason that it marked my first
meeting with Carlton Clarke.
1t was in the summer of 1896 that
the word came to the office of the Chi
cago morning paper with which I was
then connected that the police of the
little city of Aurora were struggling
with a case which seemed destined to
prove one of the greatest mysteries of
the day. AS l had met with considera-
BILE success in criminal cases, the man.
aging editor lost no time in hustling
me off by the first train to the scene
of action.
The brief account in the first paper
/ picked up, stripped Of its glaring
headlines, was as follows:
Early this morning a very mysterious
tragedy occurred in the hall of the An
rient Order of Persian Knights, local
secret society. which resulted in the al
most instant death of DR.. Arthur w. VIII
uams, prominent physician of this city.
The initiation of DIR. Williams was in
progress at the time. In one portion of
the ceremony the candidate, having been
condemned to death for invading the sa-
cred domain of the shah, is ordered to
load an old fashioned dueling pistol with
powder and ball which are furnished him.
He Is then placed against the wall and
the pistol Is fired point blank at him by
member OF the lodge holding the Of
flee of royal executioner. The powder
provided the candidate has always been
clever counterfeit made of palverzed
anthracite coal, and the only climax to
rfhe thrilling ceremony heretofore, has
been the fizzle of the percussion cap and
the shouts of laughter of the lodge MEM
bers. DR.. Williams old hand at
lodge work. As consequence. none of
the efforts of the Persian knights to
hroa Ia ualF ucto ,,
had been successful. When he had load
ed the pistol he faced Dr. Homer Smith,
whose duty 1t was to fire the shot, and
gazed into his eyes without a visible
tremor. Suddenly the members of the
lodge. about 200 of whom were present
were startled by loud explosion. Dr.
Williams fell forward with blood gushing
from a wound in his forehead. Among
the first to reach the stricken man was
DR.. Smith. who had fired the fatal shot.
He tried to stanch the blood, but the bull
let had penetrated the brain and DIR. Will
liams died in his arms without speaking.
Chief OF Police Darling. who Is a prom
inent member of the order. holding the
once OF royal astrologer, at once thought
to secure the cup from which the pow
der had been poured a few grains re-
manned. He tasted therl. 1t was unmis-
takably black ganpcwder. No arrests
have been made and no one seems willing
to take the responsibility OF saying that
the tragedy was anything more than ac-
cident due to the careiessness of some
one in getting the counterfeit powder
mixed with the real article.
"Oh, those country correspondents"
fairly groaned There was SO much
/ wanted to know Who had handled
the supposed counterfeit powder?
What was the customary source from
which the lodge procured 1t? What
were the relations of the two physi-
clans toward each other?
TT all depends upon the history of
the powder" / said to myself as l
stuffed the papers into my pocket.
You are right, sir. 1t all depends
upon the history of the powder"
/ turned around half in anger at
this unlooked-for interruption to my
train of thought. Whatever emotion |
may have felt was instantly lost in
interest in the face before me. 1t was
a face should have singled out among
a thousand. Clean shaven, the firmly
moulded chin showed by its slight
tinge of blue that the beard, had 1t
been allowed to grow. would have been
black The nose was aquiline and of
perfect proportions The intelligent
The complexion was swarthy, but suf-
fused with the glow of health. The
hair was of that distingue combination
of colors, black, shading almost to
white on the temples and over the
forehead An American. evidently but
inheriing through several generations
of New World ancestors the markings
of southern Europe. His height
should have estimated at six feet.
Carlton Clarke really lacks three-quar-
ters of an inch of the mark.
Then you are a sort of Sherlock
HDlmes?" / ventured.
Sherlock Holmes is an impossible
ity," he said
Further conversation was interrupt
ed by ov- arrival before the little arti-