River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1908-12-03

BlOU suited in the solution Of
E-E7z one Of the most mysteri-
WEN q GUS cases that ever arose
azkknNA4B in Illinois, but rather for
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 | 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 | 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 it's glazing
headlines, was as follows:
Early this morning very mysterious
tragedy occurred in the hall of the An
Client Order of Persian knights, a local
secret society. which resulted in the al
most instant death of DR.. Arthur w. VIII
liams, a 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
q clever counterfeit made of pulverized
anthracite coal and the only climax to
the thrilling ceremony, heretofore, has
been the fzzle of the percussion cap and
the shouts of laughter of the lodge mem
bers. Dr. Williams was an old hand at
lodge work. AS q consequence, none of
the efforts of the Persian Knights to
break down his nerve or self-possession
had been successful When he had load
ed the pistol he faced DR.. Homer Smith,
whose duty it was to fire the shot, and
gazed into his eyes without q 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. VIII
liams died in his arms without speaking.
Chief &c Police Darling, who is prom
inent member of the order, holding the
office of royal astrolOger, at once thought
to secure the cup from which the pow
der had been poured. A few grains re-
NAMED He tasted them. 1t was uumis-
takably black gunpowder. 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 carelessness of ecT"e-
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 it? What
were the relations of the two physi-
clans toward each other?
1T all depends upon the history of
the powder" said to myself as
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
face l should have singled out among
a thousand. Clean shaven, the firmly
moulded chin showed by it's slight
tinge of blue that the beard had it
been allowed to grow, would have been
black The nose was aquiline and of
perfect proportions. The intelligent
eyes were dark almost to blackness.
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
inheriting through several generations
of New World ancestors the markings
of southern Europe. His height I
should have estimated at six feet.
Carlton Clarke really lacks three-quar-
tiers of an inch of the mark.
You were saying that it all depends
upon the history of the powder and
agreed that you had estimated the case
correctly, repeated my neighbor.
Il have no recollection of saying
anything of the kind, although / admit
/ was thinking it," l replied. May
ask how you defined my thoughts so
readily?"
"Oh, I noticed that you were study
ing the case from the papers. 1t took
no second sight to see that you were
not satisfied with the information you
gained. l am going down on the case
myself and doubtless 1 followed your
hot IF soh T
to the only logical conclusion. trust
there is nothing uncanny about it. But
permit me to share your seat with you
1t is hard to converse over one OF
these high backs"
''yhom do you represent at Auro