The Yale expositor., 1911-11-30
THE WHIRL OF DEATH
AN ADVENTURE OF PETER CREWE -"THE MAN
WITH THE CAMERA EYES"
BY H A ROLD C RTER

sides of the water hushed up the af-
fair to the best of their ability, a few
persons are cogniZant of the facts re-
lating to Benedict Shay, the celebra-
ted inventor. He was brought to trial
in England under the name he had as
sumed-which is immaterial here
and, being found insane by the jury,
was sentenced to Broadmoor pend
ing his majesty's pleasure" which
means that he will spend the remain
der of his life in that excellent asylum
which England maintains for her in
sane criminals. That the prisoner
was Shay was known to less than a
dozen persons, of whom Crewe and
myself were two, the judge and the
public prosecutor two more, and the
administrators of Shay's estate in
America the remainder.
When Shay disappeared from Balti-
more, after betraying signs of COM
plete mental breakdown, my services
were requisitioned by his friends, who
were DESTROYS of having him brought
best physicians. 1t was known that
Shay had sailed for England, but
there all trace of him had been lost.
Shay's career had been a romantic
one. Beginning as a newsboy, he had
made discovery after discovery in en-
gineering and the kindred sciences,
whose patents had brought him fame
and wealth. 1t was after his improve
ment of the turbine, task at which
he labored necessarily for months,
that the mental collapse occurred. He
went crazy over perpetual motion, pro-
duced the most bizarre-and, of
course, entirely worthless-machines
declared that his failure to have these
taken up was due to plot, developed
homicidal tendencies and, the day be-
fore his intended apprehension, sailed
for London upon a British ship, thus
removing himself from American jul
risdiction. Although his whereabouts
were unknown, it was obvious that he
would be found in close touch with en-
gineering men across the Atlantic, and
| had little doubt that l should read
fly locate him, after which the real
task of inducing him to sail for Ameri-
ca would begin.
In spite of the facility of my task,
] thought it wise to consult Peter
Crewe as soon as l reached England.
Crewe had assisted me in solving
many strange problems such as befell
me in my capacity of a hard-worked
lawyer. He had the remarkable OPP
tical power of permanently remember
ing every person or thing that he had
once seen, so that he was able at
moments notice to call 1t to memory
exact to the last detail. He claimed to
know half the population of New York
and London by sight. A stranger seen
for moment on passing omnibus,
the passengers on ship, those on the
platform of a railroad station-he
could remember ell with exactitude.
He had been in London for several
weeks when I arrived, and my first
task was to call on him and ask his
assistance IN locating the object of
my search.
shay" queried Crewe thoughtfully.
ct must have seen his photograph.
Oldish man, clean shaven, clear eyes,
iron-gray hair?"
NO." replied, laughing. you're
thinking of Edison. Shay is a short,
stout man, about five-and-forty, with a
straight nose, eyes wrinkled at the
corners, a trick Of screwing up his
forehead when he speaks to you"
'T have seen him twice during the
last week." Crewe answered. Il no.
ticed him particularly, because / rec
ognized him as man whom / once
saw entering the engineering exhibit
ton at Madison Square Garden in
New York, and wearing his hat awry.
I have seen him twice and, curiously
enough, each time in the same place
and at the same time. 1t was in the
Earl's Court road at eight in the
morning, and he was walking briskly
in the direction of Kensington. / have
been in the habit of passing through
that region at an early hour on my
way to my brothers office, and the
coincidence of this double meeting
impressed me greatly"
Then how can we find him?"
why, let us be in the same spot
tomorrow at the same hour, and
should say that we should run an ex-
cellent chance" Crewe answered with
his brusque common sense.
We followed Crewe's suggestion, but,
though we perambulated the Earls
Court road for several mornings In
succession, we did not encounter Shay.
Have you been to the engineering
papers and the big firms?" Crewe
asked.
NO. I want to avoid doing so IL
possible" said II do not want the
facts of my mission to become
known"
Unless we meet the man face to
face / hardly think we are likely to
find him." Crewe replied. There are
seven million people in the metropolis
tan district of London, Langton."
1t did, indeed, seem to be case IN
which Crewe's optical powers would
prove unavailable. We walked Slowly
back past the entrance to EarTs Court