The Ordway new era., 1912-06-28

plantations OF tnlS ODD Dut most TN
vial occurrence. ! mention It merely
to show how many OF us are much
more curious than We will admit.
Next morning. at Rand's suggestion
I telephoned the jobbing house down.
town and soon found that the few that
handled paper napkins had received
no unusual orders: in fact. no orders
from dealers or individuals not known
| to them. In a word. before we left
| the house. We were sure that our mys-
terious young buyer OF paper napkins
had confined his efforts to the retail
field.
We went first to Langstadter's and
then the neighboring stores. This was
Wednesday morning the eighteenth Of
May. and by Thursday evening. when
we sat down to dinner ut the club.
tho field had been swept clean and
tho facts before us were these:
The buyer OF the napkins was a
handsome fellow OF about thirty
years. dressed In n dark sack suit with
pin stripe. a black derby and pat
cnt leather button-shoes. His eye
brows were black and heavy. Tho
there was a white triangular scar on
one ear.top. His ears were the dark
red of a healthy vigorous man OF his
type. This description was carefully
pieced out of more than one hundred
versions Of his appearance.
We soon found that he had bought
out the paper napkin stock OF every
store in n circle the approximate CEN
ter OF which was about Madison
Square when We checked 1t Off on the
map. The total Of his purchases was
about one hundred thousand napkins.
In each case he had carried away the
packets himself or when they were
very large had called for them later
in the day and piled them in a. cab.
He had done that at a store on Four
teenth street and also at one In Thir.
ty-fourth street where they had
large stock. His cheerful. nonchalant
manners were those Of a westerner
and nothing about him suggested the
lunatic or crank. His funds were
mostly in fresh twenty and fifty-dollar
bills. That was all that We could rake
or scrape and Rand went carefully
over every detail with Broderick. Har-
greaves and every club-member who
could get within hearing distance that
night.
But" said Broderick, cant you
give us guess as to what he wanted
with hundred thousand paper nap
kins, purchased at the retail stores.
which he could have bought at RI
diculously lower cost Wholesale? Isn't
there anything on which to hang n
conjecture?"
Frankly. old man, I am more puz-
zled than l was in the beginning. for
I have satisfied myself that out of my
two hundred barely possible explana-
tions not one fits the facts. I have
not the faintest glimmer Of light on
the real why"
There was long pause. then some
one ventured a remark and soon the
whole place was a-hum with the talk
of the bewildered club-members.
"Mr. Rand, just a moment" said
Reynolds. coming up to us about an
hour later. This is DR.. Reiter, an
eye and ear specialist. who dined with
me tonight. He and l agree that on
last Tuesday evening about seven
o'clock we saw young man In even
ing dress in the Waldorf-Astoria who
answers your description. particularly
the white scar on the red ear. DR..
Reiter noticed it, being interested in
such things. and mentioned it to me-"
Come on, Dunk. 1 think We have
hit the trail" cried Rand.
"Why so?"
Nhdnrvnd
definitely and carefully by special
list like DR.. Reiter is a clincher on
identity. He, doubtless, was living at
the Waldorf. Let us go and see."
In half an hour we knew from
dozen porters and clerks that there
was such a guest He had not been
there long. None knew his name or
room number. but all had seen him.
But, see here" said Rand to the
head bell-boy, when we were about at
the end Of our string, ito what room
in this hotel did several hundred pack
ages go on Monday, Tuesday and
Wednesday,"
Suite SOL, sir" the man answered
instantly.
"How do you know?"
There was more small square stuff
went into that place them days than
ever see before in any job 1 ever
been in. Everybody knows it. Just
ask the floor staff up there"
Rand now stated his full case to the
management. In two minutes we knew
that Suite SOL had harbored "Mr. Will
liam Walling, Chicago" who had ar
rived Sunday night, with a suitcase
II hoJ ho ob1 but