The Elbert County tribune., 1909-04-08

this letter-was 1t written by N otu-
Gated or an uneducated personr
why. uneducated. of course" r..
turned Birsch. See the spelling, and
the language. Or else It was an edu-
Gated person trying to seem unedu-
Gated"
Il fancy It was one or the other"
he said, but which,"
How do know?" responded Birsch,
fatuously. The doctor smoothed his
features and answered. mildly:
That is where. psychology-yes.
psychology-gives me the advantage
OF you Would an uneducated Italian,
such as apparently wrote this letter.
spell Wednesday with a d invari-
ably in the first syllable, once with q
y. as II to let the reader know that
he really knew how to spell It, and
then write 1t twice without the " as
well as to leave the same letter out
OF 'Thursday? Would an unedu-
Gated Italian spell thousand with a
dash. thous-a,' would he write MEDIA
FOR need or 'kll-a' for kill. and SO
on? He would speak this way, but
he would require some education in
order to write this way. Moreover.
the punctuation and use of capitals
| are perfect-two positive proofs of a
certain degree of education. And to
clinch the evidence. look at the hand
writing. 1t is disguised, but irregu-
larly, as II done by an immature mind.
and the vertical penmanship taught q
little while ago in our public schools
sticks out all through the letter. The
character and attainments OF the
writer of this letter. taken together
with the injured boys testimony,
points with finality to certain one of
the persons known to be concerned.
In short, whatever his motive may
be. and impossible as the known facts
alone seem to render it."
The doctor paused as footsteps
sounded without. and then went on
the person who threw that bomb
was"
Master Frank Macalusco,' an
nounced the maid, opening the door.
And forward stepped the son of Teny,
his face bandaged. but wearing a
smile of deprecating good humor.
Detective Birsch stared at the boy
and then looked at the doctor.
You don't mean" he began, and
paused. DIR. Furnivall smiled some
what grimly.
Take seat, Master Frank" he
said And when the grinning youth
had taken a tentative position on the
| edge of the couch. hat in hand, the
doctor continued: Shall I be COM
PEELED to hypnotize you, or will you
tell your story freely?"
"Oh ff'e nj oY pau anI xs,fUhf
as well talk" the boy answered. Far
from feeling embarrassed, he seemed
to enjoy the situation, grinning i'm
partially at each of his hearers as
he proceeded with his confession.
You can take it straight" he said.
In schoolboy slang, that y wasn't me
for the priesthood. 1t WIS my folks
that put up that job for me. 1t is
me for the stage-Im going to be an
actor. 1t wouldn't do to let my father
know that. though-he'd go nutty. He
thought 1t was all settled long ago.
and let him think SO because 1t
would be no good to start In fighting
him before I had to. OF course !
/ knew he had the money saved up.
How could l help getting wise to it,
when they're always whispering about
1t to each other, looking mysterious
and acting funny. me right there with
EN- so much? So fixed up this deal
J to lift the money from father.
wouldn't use it--all I wanted was to.
make sure he wouldn't send me to.
college. / could not do that this way,
without making him mad at me for
not doing as he wished, and could
give the stuff back to him later.
knew he was easily frightened. and
thought he would give up right on
as soon as was threatened, without
going to the police, but when I heard
him In the other room talking with
mother about the letter and the trap
the police had set I didn't know what
to do. At first thought I'd cali 1t
all on. 1t was too risky. But the
excitement sort Of appealed to me.
and thought that as was bound to
be an actor. this was as good time
as any to begin. SO finally hit on
the thing / did. Last night / got an
old piece of lead pipe and split IT, to
make 1t look like an exploded bomb,
and put 1t on the rug, which /
scorched with match, cut my face
little with my razor, and then
touched on cannon frecracker.
had no gun, you know, and these
things wouldn't tell any tales--i had
my door already unlocked, and ran
and opened It, and slammed it back
without latching it. Jumped a few
steps downstairs, and then ran back
again. closing the door softly. / had
meant to unlock my window, to make
believe the Black Hand got in that
way, but / guess was a little nervous,