The Idaho Springs siftings-news., 1908-10-24

dead in his apartments near the hos
pital early this morning. A knife of
oriental design, imbedded by the force
of a terrific blow in his breast, was
| plainly the cause of his death. AS the
doors were all locked from within, the
| first theory of the police was suicide.
but the angle at which the blow was
struck and the force with which it was
delivered seem to suggest murder. pr.
Ranthan was said to be quiet and un-
| assuming and without known enemies" :"
That's enough" said Clarke IF
you read the whole story, it will leave
nothing for me to tell Here is the
case as l saw it.
Ten years ago l was serving as an
inferno in Bellevue. In this capacity l
met DIR. John r. Ranthan. He inter
ested me at once: first because of his
immense stature-he was six feet five
and modelled in proportion-and next,
for the reason that he was pursuing
special work along lines that interested
me-phenomena of the mind and
senses.
We could not agree. however. He
was a theorist, while he called me a
gross materialist."
when you have seen the things
that l have SEEN he often roared out
to me in his thunderous voice, you
will believe. have seen an Indian
yogi take tibia and materialize the
complete body, raiment and all. What
| ;.~1. ~.S L,,i., t,;-
ponderous fist down on the table until
the windows ratified.
What would you say If you saw
me materialize from this skull the body
of her whose face forms the handle
what would you say to that? Hal"
81 should like to see that l an
swered.
"'Ah, but you should have seen her
in the flesh, he resumed meditative-
ly. God! but she was beautiful!
| found her in the mission at Mus
soorie. but she was not born for the
hymn-singing trade. Her father was
French. her mother a mountain maid
of Gurhwal. and she had been up to
Simla once and seen life. When l told
her of the great world beyond, where
the shadows of the Himalayas fell not,
her bosom heaved and her eyes
flashed like those of the she-tiger
that had taken that year a toll of a
hundred lives in the foothills. She
left the mission and the half-caste
Hindu who had dared lift his eyes
toward her glorious self and came
with me-"
"'And them l asked" continued
Clarke.
"'And then she died. For two short
months l showed her in the Calcutta
| bazaars. Paris, London, New York,
were denied the light"
"a few days later I bolted into Ran
than's apartments after book he had
promised me. / had not been accus-
toned to knock, and as I opened the
door I heard the unmistakable swish
of skirts, and Ranthan stood before
me confused and sheepish. 1 missed
the silver skull from the table.
Pardon me, you are not alone
said.
'No-yes-that is, l am alone, of
course. The book is in that room
Just step right in"
''The next night l was calling on
DR.. Cartwright, whose rooms were di-
rectly below Ranthan's. l had seen
Ranthan go up alone; in fact l had
walked over from the hospital with
him. Soon we heard footsteps over
head, the heavy elephantine tread of
Ranthan. and then the light patter of
d gentler foot. Through faulty regis
ter we heard, also, Ranthan's stem
torious voice alternated with a sweet
contralto. The conversation was In an
unfamiliar tongue, but one abounding
in beautiful intonations.
"'Come over at once he said.
Something's wrong with Ranthan. 1
heard the crash of a falling body
overhead. l can't raise him. Both
his doors are locked
Suicide was the verdict Of the
police.
But Cartwright and I both knew
that Ranthan's hand never struck the