Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-09-19
CHAPTER XIII-Continued.

tHlnk not. IL tHls tHl1lH runs
through the regular channels. what will
happen? You know how hard it is to
convict those people. We must fight fire
with fire
Personally, I agree with a good deal
YOU say: officially. OF course, I can't go
so far You say you want to help VIII
you assume a large responsibility VIII
you take the lead in q popular movement
to help the enforcement of the law-or-
ganize committee?"
III YOU think I'm the right man.?
Good. Understand" the mayor spoke
with rather more force than conviction.
I'VE must have no lynchings: but I be-
lieve the police will need help In the
search. and 1 think you are the man to
stir up the public conscience and secure
that aid II you can help in apprehend-
ing the criminals. we shall see that the
courts do their part. / can trust you In
so delicate a matter where i couldn't
trust-some others"
ONeil appeared at that moment with
two strange objects in his hands.
See what We've just found on the
Basin street banquette?'
He displayed q pair of sawed-off shot
guns, the stocks OF which were hinged in
such a manner that the weapons could
be doubled into a length of perhaps
eighteen 1nCneS ana tnuS De SOiiIedicu
upon the person. Blake examined them
with mingled feelings Having seen the
body of the chief rippeu and torn I'm
twenty places by buckshot, slugs and
scraps of iron, he had tried to imagine
what sort Of firearms had been used
Now he knew, and he began to wonder
whether death would come to him In the
same ugly form.
Have you sent for Larubio?" he asked.
1.-The men are just leaving
''Ill go with them
ONeil intercepted the officers at the
door. and a moment later Norvin was
hurrying with them toward Grod street
Mechanically his mind began to review
the events leading up to the murder
dwelling on each detail with painful and
fruitless persistence. He repictured the
scene that his eye had SO swiftly and so
carelessly recorded; he saw again the
dark shed. the dumb group OF figures
idling beneath it. the open door and the
flood Of yellow light behind. But when
he strove to recall single face or form.
or even the precise number of persons.
he was at loss. Nothing stood out dis
tinctly but the bearded face OF Larubio
the silhouette of a man In q cleaning
rubber coat, and, moment later, SLIM
stripping boy, crouched in the shadows
near the corner
AS the party turned into Girod street
he saw by the first streaks of dawn that
the curious had already begun to assem-
examining the scene, re-enacting the as
sassination and tracing the course of bull
lets by the holes in wall and fence-no
difficult matter since the ground where
Donnelly had given battle had been
swept by fusillade.
Larubio's shop was dark.
The officers tried the door quietly, then,
at signal from Norvin they rushed IT.
The next instan. the three men found
themselves in an evil-smelling room, fur
oh NIT chairs
litter of tools and shoes and leather
findings. 1t was untenanted, but seeing
another door ahead of him, Blake stum-
bled toward 1t over the debris. Like the
outer door it was barred. but yielded to
his shoulder.
1t was we'll that the policemen were
close upon his heels, for they found him
locked in desperate Conflict with huge.
half-naked Siciian. who fought with the
silent wickedness OF wolf at bay.
The chamber was squalid and odorous;
tumbled couch from which the occu-
pant had leaped showed that he had
been calmly sleeping upon the scene OF
his crime. Through the dim-lit filth OF
the place the cobbler whirled them,
struggling like a man insane. A table
fell with a crash Of dishes. stove was
wrecked. a chair smashed: then he was
pinned. writing. to the bed from which
he had just arisen.
"Close the front door-quick!" Norvin
painted. Keep out the crowd"
One of the policemen dashed to the
front of the howell, barely in time to bar
the way.
Larubio. as he crouched there in the
half light. manacled but defiant. made a
striking figure. He was a patriarchal
man. His hairy, naked chest rose and
fell as he fought for his breath. thick
beard grew high upon his cheeks. lend
ing dignity to his fierce. aquiline fea-
lures, q tangled mass Of iron-gray hair
hung low above his eyes. He looked
more like an Arab sheik than a beggarly
Sicilian shoemaker.
why are you here?' he questioned
Blake answered him in his own Ian
guage:
You killed the chief of police"
mo. 1 had no part"
Don't lie!''
"As God is my judge. 1 am innocent. I
heard the shooting. 1 looked out into the
night and saw men running about.
was frightened. so 1 went to bed. That
is ALL
Norvin undertook to stare him down.
you will hang for this, Larubio. he
said. The fierce gray eyes met his UNI
flinchingly "You had a hand in the kill
ing, for l saw YOU But you acted
against your will Am ] right?' Still
the patriarch flung back his glance de-
family. You were ordered to kill and
you dared not disobey. Where is Bell
sario Cardi?''
The old man started. Into his eyes
for the briefest instant there leaped
look Of terror. then it was gone.
II do not know what you are talking
about" he answered.
Come! The man with the rubber coat
has confessed"
Larubio's gaze roved uncertainty about
his sQlalid quarters, but he shook his
head, numbling:
God will protect the innocent. 1 know
nothing your excellency.
They dragged him. still protesting. from
his den as dogs drag an animal from its
burrow. But Norvin had learned some
thing. That momentary wavering glance.
that fitting light Of doubt and fear. had
told him that to the cobbler the name of
Cardi meant something real and ter
rible.
Back at headquarters O'Neil had fur
Their information for him.
We've got Larubio's brother-in-law.
Gaspardo Cressi. 1t was his son, no
doubt whom you saw waiting at the
corner"
Have you found the boy?''
mo, he's gone"
''Then make haste before they have
time to spirit him away. These men
won't talk. but We might squeeze some
thing out of the boy. He's the weakest
link in the chain, so you must find him"
The morning papers were on the street
when Norvin went home. New Orleans
had awakened to the outrage against her
good name. Men were grouped upon cor
ners. women were gossiping from house
to house, the air was surcharged with
great excitement. 1t was as II public
enemy had been discovered at the gates.
as II an alien foe had struck while the
city slept That uniformed foreign preju-
dice which had been slowly growing had
cr CT a lliZp6 in a single night.