The Washington times., 1910-12-23

1
tUally thwarted It; for the chief regard
| ed II merely as a confirmation of his
| RIDICULOUS views Not single reporter
| had displayed sufficient astuteness 20
! analyze The case correctly and TO crit
| iclZe the conclusion Of the police.
he wondered where the real muir
/ oerers were and what their emotions
! must be No doubt they had disposed
4 OF their loot and were living a life or
drunken or Sayety, reeling from one dive
+ ten pride themselves on their deeds Of
/ violence Sometimes they are con-
/ sumea with such inordinate vanity
| mat they Joast openly of their crimes
| : or augit he knew, the two men and
the women might betray themselves
/ oefore ne succeeded in Turing the po-
1 ice on his trail There was not
He wolfed down his luncheon. 1t
was l o'clock He could do NOTHING
| until 4 Not until then would the
oallies begin TO make up tomorrow's
paper Svyot would not reach The
I FlaneI offices until about 3.
Never in his life had ne found Il so
/ difficult to Kill time He dropped in
! 70 a cafe, ordered an absinthe, which
| again. contemplated the wares IN ev-
| cry shop window and did his best TO
! while away the time. At last dusk
| came. one by one lights fiared up in
He. had reached the EcoIe MintaIre
IN his aimless wanderings. Here at
| least ne was sure Of not meeting an
| acquaintance- He felt as II he were
! In another city Five o'clock struck
Now he could begin. Henceforth he
would act In accordance with a we'll
oehnsd plan the ultimate purpose Of
which was his apprehension. He had
not the slightest intention Of giving
himself I'D His object was to expose
! the police, 10 lash the whole system
IoT It's C-ass ignorance The police
must act Of their own accord Then
ne would be In position TO prove
now easily the Wanted Partisan detec-
tive leaped at the first clue, how per-
sistently he pursued ii, despite all
contrary evidence.
At the first public pay station he
called I'D the Planet on the telephone
Folio -ng the course he had pursued
on the night Of the murder he dis
guised his voice and asked for the
night editor When Avyot at last an
svyered he began TO speak immediate
" waiting for no questions as to his
identity
81 am the man who called you I'D
and ted you about the Boulevard
time l spoke the truth I'm going TO
give you further details"
Ihank YOU. very much. But should
IKE 10 Know 10 whom
You are sDeaking2 It's useless 20 ask
Nv Information IS correct I give II 10
YOU Tor nothing What more can YOU
eCpeCtZ II YOU don't care about pub
4 fishing what ] have to tell YOU are other
papers that WILL
Go ahead I'm listening"
Il want YOU 10 know that the police
are OF the scent entirely. There's not
a word Of truth IN what the ps-,ers
have been printing. There is no hidden
motive behind tbe crime. It's siulplI
an ordinary murder committed bv burg
lars The theories Of tho chief OF police
are foolish and are based entirely on
his imagination WHY don't YOU do
some detective work on your own &C
count? You simply can't miss the
truth Don't believe all that the police
tell YOU
NY dear sir
Don't Interrupt I have very good
reasons Tor speaking to you as do.
they are nav following. Insist that in
spite q all that thev say to the CON
trary that the murderers''-
That what2'
said Ask the police in your article
whether there were no footprints IN the
garden hat VIII be enough for to-
day. I VIII ring you ID again and tell
you more al some other time One
word more: Don't say q word to any
Goodbye
Parton hung I'D the receiver and hur-
When the chief OF police read the
Planet On the following morning hs
s1Ti.iigd at 1rst. But when he reached
the last paragraph OF the article he
aDgT1ly- In spite Of his promise the re-
porter had mentioned the footprint To
be sure, II was only casually referred
to, but ne suspected that IL was only
the preamble to a scafbiny olItDgIrst
on the Planets part Because Barton
had pledged himself not to mention the
footprint h had treated him almost
ike q friend He had allowed him TO
see what no other reporter had seen,
and this WAS his reward. It was bad
enough that the Planet should have dis
covered the crime before the police IT
vas still worse to accuse them Of neg
nEence- Perhaps no one would nav
much attention TO the article, filed as
It was with what he regarded as impos-
sihle views he was sure OF his clue
and he would follow II until he had his
man behind bars That would be the
most effective answer to this newspaper
prsttIe-
stiIL Il. was strange that the very
paper which first published news Of the
murder and to which he had extended
unusual privileges should also be the
fiTst to discredft him and almost ridicuIe
his course He dismissed the doubt i'm
mediately- Because by some chance the
paper had heard of the crime before the
police. its reporter felt himself called
upon 70 instruct the police how they
Quiry Of his own After all, the article
might AID him Perhaps IL would give
the murderer a sense of security and
lead him 20 betray himself BY some i'm
prudence He picked I'D the pRDer
again. rose from his chair and walked
over 20 his secretary, saying:
Did you read this?"
Yes"
What DO you think OF it,
1T night be well 20 have this man
Bartoa come here and stop his mouth
PERHAPS 4 biz Of exclusive news tossed |
to hiIa now and then might smut him |
up2"
but what do you think OF his opin-
ion OF the case? It's just the opposite !
OF mine
81 suppose it's nothing more than the
usual newspaper howl Of course. We
haven't discovered anything IN the last
two days TO bear out our views. Neither
have we found anything to make US be-
neye that he knows more than we do -
The chief was silent for q moment
Then he spoke-
There's not the shadow of q. doubt
I'm right and he's wrong, That's an
there's to It Call up the Planet and
ask Barton 20 step over here. I'm
going back to Boulevard Lannes to look
the room over again"
Everything in the room was exactly
as the chief had left II with the eT
CeptiOn that the body Of the victim had
been taken to the morgue. II anything
the room vas more terrifying than h. /
fore The empty bed and the bedrag- !
Elec curtains made IL seem more desc /