Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1912-09-24
Initials Only By ANA katherine Green
A Thrilling Mystery Story Of Modern Times

worldly advantages of Miss Chanoner.
allude to"
wait! the washerwoman in Hicks
street! Sweetwater, what have you got
up your sleeve? You do mean that Brook
Ign washerwoman, don't you?"
The same. The department may have
forgotten it, but ! haven't. Mr.. Gryce,
there's startling similarity in the two
cases If you study the essential features
only. Startling. ! assure you"
Yes, you are right there. But what II
there is? We were no more successful
in solving that case than we have been
in solving this. Yet you look and act like
hound which has struck a hot scent"
The young man smoothed his features
with an embarrassed laugh.
Il shall never learn" said he, mot to
give tongue till the hunt is fairly started
If you will excuse me, well first make
sure of the similarity | have mentioned
Then I'll explain myself ] have some
notes here, made at the time II was de-
cided to drop the Hicks street case as
wholly inexplicable one. AS you know, I
never can bear to say die and / some
times keep such notes as a possible help
come up again. Shall ! read them p
DO. Twenty years ago IT would not
have been necessary. ] should have re-
membered every detail Of an affair so
puzzling. But my memory Is no longer
entirely reliable. SO fire away. my boy
though | hardly see your purpose or what
real bearing the affair in Hicks street
has upon the Clermont one. A poor
| washerwoman and the wealthy Miss Chal-
| loner! True, they were not unlike in
their end"
"The connection will come later"
smiled the young detective, with that
strange softeninR Of his features which
/ made one a times forget his extreme
plalnness. I'm sure you win not con-
slider the time lost if ask you to con-
slider the comparison | am about to
make, If only as a curiosity in criminal
annals"
And he read:
ON the afternoon of December 4,
1910, the strong and persistent screaming
of young child in one of the rooms Of
a rear tenement in Hicks street, Brook
Ign, drew the attention of some OF the
inmates and led them. after several in
effectual efforts to gain an entrance, to
the breaking in OF the door which had
been fastened on the inside by an old
fashioned door button
1.-The tenant whom all knew for an
honest, hard working woman. had not
infrequently fastened her door in this
manner, in order to safeguard her child
who was abnormally active and had a
way of rafting the door open when it
was not thus secured. But she had
never refused to open before. and the
rhild's cries were pitiful
" This was no longer matter OF won
der, when, the door having been wrenched
from it's hinges, they all rushed in. Across
a tub Of steaming clothes lifted upon a
! bench in the open window, they saw the
body of this good woman. lying inert and
seemingly dead; the frightened child tug
ging a her skirts. She was of a robust
make, tieshy and fair. and had always
been considered a model of health and
energy but at the sight of her helpless
figure, thus stricken while at work. the
one cry was a stroke" till she had been
lifted off and laid upon the floor Then
some discoIoration In the water at the
bottom of the tub led to closer exami-
nation of her body and the discovery Of
bullet hole in her breast directly over
the heart
AS she had been standing with face
towards the window, all crowded that
way To see where the shot had come from
AS they were on the fourth story il could
not have come from the court upon which
the room looked II could only have come
from the front tenement, towering up be-
fore them some twenty feet away. A sin
gle window OF the innumerab BILE ones con
fronting them stood open, and this was
the one directly opposite
Nobody was TO he seen there or in
the room beyond. but during the excite
ment one man ran off to can the police
and another to hunt up the jenitor and
ask who occupied this room
" His reply threw them all into con-
fusion. The tenant of that room was the
best, the Quietest ana most respectable
man in either building
' Then he must be simply careless and
the shot an accidental one \ rush was
made for the stairs and soon the whole
building was in an uproar But when this
especial room was reached. it was found
locked and on the door a paper pinned
up. on which these words were written,
Gone 70 New York. viii be back at 6:3ol
Words that recalled a circumstance to the
lanitor lie had seen the gentleman go
out an hour before. This terminated all
inquiry In this direction, though some few
OF the excited throng were for hattArinR
down this door Just as they had the other
one But they were overruled by the
lanltor, who saw no use In such wholesale
destruction. and presently the arrival of
the police restored order and limited the
inquiry to the rear building, where il un-
doubtedly belonged
MIR. Gryce" there Sweetwater laid by
his notes that he might address the old
gentleman more Directly. Il was with
the boys when they made their first Of
fetal investigation. This Is why you can
rely upon the facts as here given.
followed the investigation closely and
missed nothing which could in any way
throw light on the case. It was mys-
terious one from the first, and lost moth
ing by further inquiry into the details
To Be Continued in Next Issue.