The Caldwell watchman. (Columbia, La.) 1885-1946, 1911-05-19

lheiS was no apparent cause for death
save the Incl cment OF years; the sus.
plcious circumstances were, first. that,
as IN the Liveridge case, the mans
companion had disappeared; secondly,
the apparent absence OF motive, sup.
posing something sinister had been a
factor IN the case. Yet, to the initiate
this very lack of surface enmity was
really the crux of the whole situation.
But the public mind, already ex-
cited by two deaths of prominent citi-
zens who in life had been closely al
lied IN various enterprises vulgarly
known as honest graft was not al
lowed to rest, for less than fort
night later third tax;cao tragedy oc-
Cured.
This time the scene was shifted to
Philadelphia. The victim was Orrin
K. Vandal, one of those traction mag.
mates concerned in the dual lootings
of the City Of Brotherly Love and the
Empire City.
The circumstances were almost
identical with the tragic taking off Of
Zenas Roker. A public taxi had been
hired in front of the Midvale- Hartford
hotel with instructions-again given
by the last man to enter the con-
veyance-to drive out to Paramount
Park.
The cabman testified that he knew
Orrin K. Vandal very well by sight
as did thousands of other Philadel-
phians; for some distance he could
hear his fares talking loudly; that he
was ordered to stop at the Hermitage,
roadhouse frequen,ec by the elite,
where one of the men-the smaller
and lighter-got out. After waiting
for some time, the man who had
alighted falling to return, and all be.
ing quiet within the cab, the driver
got down to investigate.
Like his fellow Jehus in New York,
he found dead man left on his hands.
Orrin X. Vandal had engineered his
last crooked zeal.
If it had not been ror the two sim
liar preceding occurrences in New
York it is doubtful if the police of the
city by the SchuylkilI would have
turned hair. OF course, the disap-
pearance of the dead mans companion
looked somewhat "fishy," but there
were no signs of violence or of rob-
berry. Apparently the great Vandal
had died natural death from causes
unknown" which was the routine yer.
dict rendered by Pennsylvania cor.
oner's jury.
But by this time the group of rich
men of which Liveridge, Roker and
Vandal had been prominent members,
began to be alarmed. The dead finan-
ciers had been engaged in so many
Observation-Disclosures entirely legal
deals, In which they had ruthlessiy
ruined innumerable lambs and Gin.
nocent investors" that their surviving
confreres. who were no less guilty,
began to be afraid to 60 home in the
dark"
Consequently these associates, now
that Number Three had fallen victim
to an unknown Nemesis, began to
tremble in their collective shoes, to
wonder who Of their guilty number
might be next marked down by the
ruthless avenger, and to Historically
invoke the aid of the municipal po-
lice of both cities. ALSO 1t should be
noted that by this time the opinions
Of press and public had become crys.
talized around the belief that the
three taxi murders were the result of
private vengeance on the part of some
one who had been wronged in real
or fancied way by the interests rep
resented by the three men thus mys.
teriously taken of.
But the regular police were ap-
parently powerless to solve the mys.
terry, and that they were held in
sovereign contempt by the perpetrator
IMAM Or woman-was proved by the
commission Of fourth crime in the
series, the scene shifting to Chicago
and claiming it's victim from among
the same group Of allied traction
financiers.
This fourth victim was Marvin D.
Mark, multimillionaire. Again the
same stage setting, taxicab, and two
men entering it from great hotel on
Michigan boulevard. The assassin,
apparently growing holder, had re.
verted to daylight methods as in deal.
ing with Philo B. Liveridge in New
York. But seeing that Chicago's "mile
square" affords lesser distance than
New York or Philadelphia, the time
at his disposal was proportionately
less.
Board Of Trade" was the direction
the Chicago cabby received-a matter
of only few squares. But upon ar
irving at the destination named the
former sequence Of events was repeat
ed: One of the pair alighted and dis.
appeared within the portals. Again,
after waiting reasonable time for
the remaining fare" within to make
some sign or sound, the jehu opened
the trap only to see his passenger col
lapsed in one corner OF the cab. When
help and medical assistance had been
summoned 1t was patent to all that
Marvin d. Mark had joined the great
majority.
No longer could natural causes"
or "the act Of God'' be accepted as
adequate explanations. Some maleiic
human agency was clearly the moving
force. The Chicago police were no