The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1908-08-23
VIll-KISMET AND
THE BABY ORCHID
BY FRANK LOWELL NELSON.

among the countless cases i'm which |
nave been associated with Carlton
Clarke the one that will best make a
story. At the time of which this story
oedls ms fame as an untangler of mys-
eeries mad gone far and wide and our
Yak street quarters often presented a
regular procession of clients as early
ana as late as Clarke was willing 10
receive them. Sometimes il was some
single note of tragedy, some heart
story laid bare, a missing son or
daughter to be found. a business con-
splracS TO untangle and thwart, a con-
iession TO be wrung from some sus-
pect. More often ii was the subtle
Ieadlng OF human character and the
human mind which showed Clarke in
what direction to point the police. At
tiines 1t was a thrilling dash into the
crime-infested districts of the great
city where human life is held at a dis
count compared to secrecy and safety
from the law
But in all this phantasmagoria of
mystery and crime | CONFESS my sur
prise al the comparative few that pos
sess all the elements of a good plot.
j believe the reader will sanction nay
verdict in numbering among this few
the tale of the baby orchid and the
dance that it led us.
Many of my readers doubtless will
AtNdti Witch the CITY was SIOCkGd DN
the mysterious murder of the Honor
able Algernon Sydney HOppinSton.
Such was the sensat ton at the time
that IL seems almost unnecessary now
10 go into the details. The crime, FOR
crime 1t was upon the face, was dis
covered about 4 O'Clock in the morning.
and so great was the figure that the
Honorable Alsernon Sydney had cut
during his three years residence in
Chicago. where he had come from Eng
land to claim the fortune running well
into the millions graciouSly founded
there by a great-uncle, that the news
papers held on their entire mechanical
force for a double-column extra. 1t
was a fitting tribute To the Honorable
Algernon Sydney, for his eccentricities.
had furnished the papers with many
a column of news and feature matter;
and now that he lay dead i'm his pa
latial Prairie avenue home, stabbed to
The heart, his butler and his second
man drugged and lying in the dining
room, and the maids, fainting and hys-
terical, locked fast in the buffers pam
try-well, the newspapers could do no
less than give him a Sood send-off, and
they certainly did.
At first glance il looked like an alb
surdly simple case. AS Clarke read
the meager array of actual facts pre-
scented in the extras he gave his UNI
qualified opinion that the papers had
overplayed the mystery end and be-
fore night either the slayer would be
In custody or a good working deScrip-
ton of him in the hands of the police.
by this time the men servants have
told their stories and the maids have
added their evidence" he suggested.
Either they know who did it, in which
case an arrest ought TO follow within:
a few hours. or else the crime was
committed by stranger, burglar
perhaps i'm which case the servants
should be able to describe him so ac-
curately that il will be up TO the po-
lice"
II always affords me a little inward
satisfaction when Clarke's premises
prove wrong. \ think we all feel II
when some mind whose superiority
ordinarily we acknowledge for once de-
scends to the level of our own.
l did not have long to wait. Clarke
had hardly finished speaking when
there was a sharp and authoritative
tug OF our DELL and l opened the door
10 admit our old friend. late inspector.
now chief, Ship. II was not his first
call at our humble quarters. for he had
long since discovered where to come
for quiet tip that demanded none of
the official credit in return. and many
a stubborn case had he laid before
Clarke.
We had him back into the dining
room. Clarke merely nodded and con-
tnued TO sip his coffee and puff at his
cigarette. while he watched the chief
and waited for him 10 speak.
We'll. Mr.. Wizard, ] suppose you
know what I'm here for before / tell
you" began the chief.
Yes. / should say ii is the Hop
pington case. i am afraid ] will have
TO revise the estimate of the affair ]
was just delivering to Mr.. Sexton.
here. Not so simple as it looked then.
Tell us about il. Haven't the servants
put you on the right track
Not within a thousand miles of the
track. They don't know anything.
Hoppington was writing in his library
at II o'clock. He called the butler.
Biffin. TO get him a bottle of wine.
Half an hour later ne came out to the
dining room. where Biffin was with
BrySon, the other man servant. anc
handed them the bottle one-fourth full
and told them to finish ii. They did
and that is the last they remember.
Dragged, | suppose. | have the bottle
with the few drops that were left and
will have them analysed. The three
maids had been entertaining company,
some of my men. il appears, in the
kitchen. They had just let them ouf
the back way and had gone into the
fore going up TO bed when the door
slammed and they heard the bolt shot
and they were locked in. About an
hour afterward, as near as l can
gather from their hysterical memory
of what happened. they heard pierre
ing female scream ring through the
house.
And look here. Found it on the
lower step of the stoop." and the chief
drew from his pocket bundle and on
unrolling il displayed tiny white satin
slipper, a No. Ia. 1t was literally
soaked in blood.
"A woman's work, you Think"
queried Clarke.
What thought for a minute, but
there's the knife. l can't show you
that. and you couldn't guess where l
found II with all your black art. tie
an eight-inch bowie or hunting knife
and it's stuck clear TO the hilt through
the three-quarter-inch top of a walnut
table twelve feet from where the body
lay. That smashes the woman theory
and the suicide theory at one lick.
No woman ever struck that blow No
man ever stabbed himself. walked ten
feet. smashed that knife through a