Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1908-05-16

conceal from the world the evidence
of crime?
!. For a moment both men stood in
that bare, uncarpeted room, rooted to
I the spot.
The secret of Sam Statham stood
| revealed.
Il Then with sudden effort Charlie
crept forward, nearer the coffin, and
read upon it's plate the words, plainly
engraved:
JEAN ADAMS. AGED 40.
Then Adams had been entrapped
there-and had lost his life!
Both men started as the tragic
truth dawned upon them. Adam was
old Sans most bitter enemy. He
was dead-in his coftin-yet the mil
lionaire had, up to the present been
unable to dispose of the remains.
There was no medical certificate,
therefore burial was impossible.
! The weird stories which both men
had heard of nocturnal visitors to that
house who had never been seen to
emerge, and Of long boxes like collins
which more than one person said they
had, seen being brought out and load
ed upon four wheeled cabs all now
flashed across their minds.
OF verify that house was house
of grim shadows for murder was COM
mitted there. Men entered alive, and
left it dead
Max stood by the coffin of the man
who had so cleverly sought to entice
him away to Constantinople with
stories Of easily obtained wealth, and
remained there GREATNESS in wonder.
He recollected Sans words, and saw
in them bitter hatred of the Franco
English adventurer. Had he carried
this hatred to the extreme limit
that of secret assassination.
Charlie, on his part, stood silent
also. He knew we'll that upon the
death of Adam depended the future
prosperity of his master He was
we'll aware, alas! that Adam. having
suddenly reappeared, had vowed ter
rible and crushing vengeance upon
the head of the great firm of Stat
ham Brothers.
But old Sam. with his usual crafty
forethought and innate cunning, had
forestalled him. The adventurer had
been done to death, and was already
in his coffin.
In his cool audacity old Sam had
actually prepared the leaden-lined COT
fin with its place ready inscribed!
It's secret arrival at night had evil
IDENTITY been witnessed, and had given
rise to strange and embellished
stories.
The last occasion Max had seen
Adam was one night three weeks be-
fore when. dining with two other men
in the gallery at the Trocadero restau-
rant, he had seen him below seated
with rather young and good looking
lady in an evening dress of black net.
The pair were laughing together, and
it struck him that the companion of
the adventurer might be French. He
had afterwards discovered that she
was Lorena Lyle, daughter of the old
hunchback engineer who was his
partner in certain ventures
''The girl who met me in Paris and
gave me warning!" Rolfe exclaimed.
yes, the same. They dined to-
gether that night and hurried out to
get to the theatre"
"And you've never seen him
since?"
"No. Ten days ago, I wrote to the
National Liberal club giving him an
appointment, but he never kept it."
Because he was lying here, sup
pose," remarked Charlie with bated
breath, adding. "This, Max is all ut
terly incomprehensible. How dare the
old man do such thing?"
"He's been driven into corner, and
as long as he preserves his secret he
will still remain power in the land.
But his secret is out-we have
laid it bare"
Eat risk Of our lives-eh?" remark
ed Max, shuddering again as he recol-
lected his own narrow escape of q
few minutes before
They stood before the mortal re-
mains of the man who had sworn ven
geance upon Statham, neither of them
speaking Presently, however, Char
lie proposed that they should make
further investigation on the floor
above.
Closing the door of the death cham
Der, they stole noiselessly up the
wide, photographed staircase to the
next landing, where four white doors
opened. Which they should enter
first they were undecided. They were
faced by serious problem In eth
er of those four chambers the old
millionaire might be asleep. To en-
ter might awaken him.
This they had no desire to do. They
expected to be able to open the iron
door from within and pass down the
stairs into the hall, and so into the
street without detection. That was
their intention. To return by the way
they had come would be impossible.
Together they consulted in low
whispers, and, both agreed, Charlie
very carefully turned the handle OF
the door nearest them. 1t yielded, and
they crept forward and within. At
first Max feared to show his light, yet
as they found no carpet beneath their
feet, and as they felt a vague sense
of space in the darkness, he became
holder. and pressed the button of his
little lamp.
! NAInoE 4 .AAAo d.