The Washington times., 1911-03-26

Try, In the belief Of the Mystery Editor,
mas notning to do with the case. The
solution submitted by Mrs. Logan, while
admitting the genuineness Of young
PelPs parentage. has Forbes kill him.
SELF as the result of fear of the conse-
quences after he finds Norman lying
dead, having been shot in a scuffle, al
most exactly as described in the real
last chapter, but the prize was awarded
to Mrs. Towner because she had the two
events In proper sequence, the real key
TO the mystery having lain in the pur-
suit OF Forbes by young Pell and
Forbes suicide through fear.
A Plausible Solution.
Ethelwyn B. Hall, Fourteenth and
Harvard streets northwest, also sent
in a plausible conclusion of the story
and in the opinion of the editor, al
most as good as the genuine last
chapter. Her story has PelPs son kill
Norman during a struggle, Forbes
comes upon Wilkes Deston by the
side of the body. Seizing the dagger
from the table. he confronts Wilkes
ana accuses him of numbering his
brother Wilkes. knowing the highly
nervous state of Forbes, which was
Wei brought out In the early chapters
or the story, attempted to wrest the
weapon from Forbes. fearing he
would XIII himself, Forbes, thinking
wilkes was struggling to kill him,
ran from the house and when Wilkes
mad almost caught up with him
thrust the dagger through his own
heart
In view of the mental character
| istics Of the persons in the story this
solution would not have been at all
improbable. but Miss Hall then sud
denly transforms the hitherto unim-
reachable Wilkes and permits him to
hnPnrTln %
by throwing the body into the lake
and entering into a compact with
PeI, ST., to conceal the whole truth,
Pell. ST., having witnessed the killing
OF Norman by his son. This Wilkes
| would have been incapable Of doing
unless his whole mental makeup had
been changed.
Amatos Drop Out of Sight.
What became of the ~Amatos, father
and daughter, is a matter that is not
settled by the real story, and IT is a
| question that will interest every one
who read the story. One is forced to be-
lieve they were introduced in the story
only to mislead. and they dropped out
of sight in way that persons have of
| doing in real life.
To find the best solution in the hun
dreds that came to the Mystery Editor
/ "oo l4O Cooy (oSAB lOA IL LhCSAAlL Tic ISdu-
/ ing. in part at least, of hundreds and
' hundreds of letters, showing the keen
/ interest that was taken in the doings of
| the characters in the story. Letters
| came from nearly every State in the
| union as well as from Washington, and
many of them showed that the writers
| were keen analysts, but while they sub
| mitted stories that were-plausible in the
\ extreme, nearly all were thrown off the
| trail by the murder and suicide. Many
4 Of them had Norman commit suicide
| and Forbes murdered, as the result of
i family disclosures or fights with
Pel1, jr.
1 While it was announced plainly that
\ all solutions must be in The Times Of
/ fee before noon on Thursday, there
l were many which came after that, many
| being received as late as this morning.
OF course, no attention could be paid N
those which came too late. as IT would
have been impossible to announce the
winner today.