The Washington times., 1912-05-06
THE TINES DAILY SERIAL STORY
Behind the Curtain"
- = By
ia CHARLES STEPHENS
The Fra A. Munssy Co.
CHARLES STEPHENS
Copyright, The Frank A. Munsey Col
All Rights Reserved


push. through the Chesterfield bill,
I which had to do with a franchise. OF
course, that didn't have anything to do
with the police department, but-search
| mel
| Another time this Mr. Bellair went to
| the morgue and asked Jimmy for the
loan OF dead one, think, maybe, he
bought one, for they sell them to the
| students and the bone shops after a
| while II they aren't identified and mo-
| body's looking. Anyhow, Mr. Bellair
| got one and ordered 1t to be sent c. o.
| d. to his house.
Now, Jimmy tells me that that dead
one had been In the ice box long time,
and 1t was frozen when he sent It away
know; neither do i but he sent II back
to the morgue three days afterward.
and that body looked as II 1t hadn't
been dead three hours. I know, be-
| cause l seen It when 1t came, In, and it
was warm.
never really had any personal
dealings with the man, except once,
and that was six months ago, and the
have forgot II. long ago II It hadn't
been for what's happened since.
About this time I was working
down at Cherry Hill on a Mafia case
one on me. He looked young and he
looked old at the same time He was
shabby yet his rags had been pretty
good stun, maybe, six month before
He was an American; at least. not an
Italian; maybe an Englishman or a
German. He had u light, fluffy beard
on him-the kind that comes on a
young. fellow who hasn't the price
of shave.
While was looking at the man,
taking in his points for future refer
ence, saw a tall, thin man coming
up Cherry street. 1t was this man
Bellair. 1 was surprised to see him
there until | remembered that the
Gouverneur Hospital was Just around
the corner. That's sure where he had
Se shabby he yoSnp up he ssed by
ped and looked back at him.
This was my chance, l thought, to
find out what Marcus Bellair did for
living. We live and we learn. and
yourself nobody's going to shove you.
So / retired gracefully. keeping an
eve on the pair.
The, young, fellow with the ladylikc
beard saw that he was being watch
ed. He fidgeted a bit, then walked
away. I got square look at his face
as he passed me. and # ever I saw
phiz that had looked at the garbage
heap. he had It, IT was a good face,
kind of gentleman's face squeezed
out and bleached, and the ewes were
bright without being bright about
anything; as you sometimes see them
In the dippy-house.
He walked away toward the East
river, and Mr.. Bellair went sleuthins
after So did I. after both OF them
The shabby one hadn't far to go. The
river was about three blocks east. He
went out to the string piece of a wharf
and stood there looking down at the
water. Mr.. Bellair went on after him,
without hurrying. There wasn't any
Iear that the fellow would jump while
| a funny thing about them. They sell
dom do, unless they want to make q
splurge Of 1t. Them that just want to
slip out quietly because they are tired
other peoples feelings: Maybe they
| don't think Of 1t, but they always pick
out quiet place and do the thing with
| out any advertising.
The fellow was still standing on the
| string piece when Mr.. Bellair spoke to
| him. I didn't hear what he said, but
| the two of them turned and come up
the pier as thick as pies. That man
Bellair had way with him. I went
| after them.
Bellair took his man to Gouverneur
| Hospital After talking to the clerk for
| a minute or two, he left the shabby one
there and went away over to Madison
ttreet and caught a crosstown car. That
| meant he was going back to civiliza-
| ton.
let him go at that and took a peak
| in at Gouverneur. The entry on the
slips was Arthur Tremlett." None of
white" for his color and "exhaustion''
| as the trouble That didn't help me.
| and as I reckoned Mr.. Bellair had been
doing Just what he considered his duty.
chucked up the game and went after
| the Mafia bunch again.
Next day who should blow into the
| bureau but Mr.. Marcus Belair himself
| He told the chief he'd found a man try
| ing suicide and had took him to Gou-
veneur Hospital for treatment. Through
some blunder they sent the man to
| Bellevue Hospital. He wanted the chief
| to send a man to get him out.
The chief. of course, was willing to
oblige Mr.. Bellair. but suggested that
| II he was interested in the man and
| knew who his friends were he would
stand a better chance of getting him
| out than the police would. We often
have a run-in with the little boys at
Bellevue who call themselves doctors.
Anyway. the chief sent me up to Belle
vue to help find the shabby man In the
| wards. That was how I got to know
Mr.. Bellar. He went with me. Well it
turned out that the little boys had got
the shabby one with a batch of wearies
and broken heads from Gouverneur and
to save time they had shunted him into
ward 80. where they give you a bath
and put you to bed to fight 1t out with
the menagerie as best you can.
When Mr.. Bellair found they'd got
Mr.. Arthur Tremlett in for an alcoholic
he was wild and went straight to the
superintendent a nice man, who has
troubles of his own.
A Continuation of This Story VIII
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