Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1912-09-25
Initials Only" y By Anna katherine Green
4 Thrilling Mystery Story of Modern Time,

anude to-"
Waltz the washerwoman in Hicks
street! sweetwater, what have you got
up your sleeve? You do mean that Brook.
lyn washerwoman, don't your
The same. The department may have
forgotten it, but I haven't Mr.. Gryoe,
there's startling similarity In the two
cases If you study the essential features
only, Startling I assure you"
Yes, you are right there. But what il
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 hot scent"
The young man smoothed his features
| with an embarrassed laugh
| / shall never learn" said he, mot to
give tongue till the hunt is fairly started.
II you Will excuse me, wen first make
sure OF the similarity I have mentioned.
| Then I'll explain myself have some
notes here, made at the time 1t was de-
cided to drop the Hicks street case as a
wholly inexplicable one. AS you know, l
never can bear to say die and some
times keep such notes as possible help
in case any such unfinished matter should
| come UP again. Shall read them?"
DO Twenty years ago 1t 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 l 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-
Toner! True, they were not unlike in
their end"
THE connection will come later"
/ smiled the young detective, with that
strange softenng of his features which
made one at times forget his extreme
| plainness. I'm sure you will not con-
! slider the time lost If l ask you to con-
slider the comparison l 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
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, 10
the breaking in OF the door which had
! been fastened on the inside by an old
| fashioned door button.
| Inc tenant NnOm all knew IOT 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
child's cries were pitiful.
! This was no longer a matter of won
" I'm n o. Il
! from it's hinges, they all rushed in. Across
4 a tub of steaming clothes lifted upon q
! bench in the open window, they saw the
! body of this good woman, lying inert and
seemingly dead; the frightened child tug
! ging at her skirts She was of robust
! make, ieshy 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 strolxer till she had been
lifted off and laid upon the floor Then
some discolOration in the water at the
bottom of the tub led to a closer examl-
nation OF her body, and the discovery OF
a 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 1t could
not have come from the court upon which
| the room looked 1t could only have come
from the front tenement towering up be-
fore them sone twenty feet away. A sin
gle window of the innumerable ones con-
fronting them stood open, and this was
the one directly opposite.
Nobody was to be seen there or in
the room beyond, but during the excite
mcnt, one man ran off to call the police
and another to hunt up the janitor and
ask who occupied this room.
His reply threw them all into con-
fusion. The tenant of that room was the
best, the quetest and most respectable
man in either building
"'Then he must be simply careless and
the shot an accidental one A rush was
made for the stairs and soon the whole
building was in an upruar But when this
especial room was reached, 1t was found
locked and on the door a paper pinned
up, on which these words were written.
Gone to New York. VIII be back at e:3el
Words that recalled a circumstance TO the
ianitor. He 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 battering
down this door just as they had the other
one. But they were overruled by the
janitor, 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 1t un-
doubtedly belonged.
Mr.. Gryce" (here Sweetwater laid by
his notes that he might address the old
gentleman more Directly, II 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. 1t was a mys-
terious one from the first, and lost moth
ing by further inquiry into the details.
To Be Continued in Next issue.