The Springfield herald., 1912-03-29
Bv ROBERT NAUGHTON

the inevitable cigarette smoke curling
about him, and he. too, was watching
the Italian knife grinder with great
interest. Several minutes went by and
now and then the fellow glanced at
me and then at the windows of the
sculptor's studio. l heard a whistle
and looked in time to see the blonde
man beckon to the swarthy one In the
street below. The Italian nodded. and
when he had finished picked up his
grindstone and frame. gave his bell
one or two advertising jingles, crossed
the street and went up the stairway
by the cigar store.
NEEDED help. and stepping in to the
telephone got Tom Railway. He
said Mr.. Rand had just phoned him
not ten minutes before and said that
he would join me, SO I waited. Half
an hour went by and no sign of Rand.
and as I could see nothing of Muller
or the Italian through the windows
went along the little shops re-verify-
ing the evidence as to Muller's having
been at his windows during that 20
minutes that meant SO much to our
case
Stp' there was no sign of Rand and
det mined to take the bull by the
the stairs and, pausing, heard the two
men within chatting pleasantly in
German.
The door was ajar and opening 1t I
stepped in and stood behind some
draperies. 1t was the typical barren
studio. The Italian. bent over his
grindstone, was posing for Muller, who
was working in clay, rapidly shaping
a striking model. 1t did not clear mat
tiers in my mind any to note that as
he talked the poser was watching the
sculptor very closely and surveying
every corner of the room with n
critical scrutiny. To my amazement,
when the sculptor's back was turned,
he swung his face in my direction and
winked eloquently.
"Ah, that will do, Felicio." exclaim-
ed Muller at last, throwing down the
unused clay with thump on the
board.
A marvellous change went over the
model His Latinism slipped from
him like cloak. He Strengthened up
and even through the marvellous dis
guise l recognized my own working
mate-Lawrence Rand.
"Mr. Muller" he said quietly. when
you were sitting by the window last
evening, who was In the room to
reach up over your head to pull down
the shade for few minutes?"
The sculptor reeled. caught at the
nearest support and stared open
mouthed, speechless. for the first time
thoroughly unnerved.
"Also, are those fresh ashes in the
fireplace in the heat of summer. all
that is left of the clothes you wore to
visit Mr.. Mcleod last evening, and the
clothes your double wore while you
were gomez"
The big man went to his knees as II
struck with an ak.
Listen. and tell me If I have made
a mistake.
More than forty years ago, Mac
Leod, when in Bahia, had some trouble
with some native servants"
"He beat my mother while she held
me in her arms, and crippled her for
life"
"Yes, and he mentioned just a word
of it in letter to his wife. You
swore to kill him when you grew up
You found him one day at Frebault
Brothers, in Broad street, and after
tracking him home, took this studio
lot ~, ha
hour when he was nearly always alone
Making a model of yourself in clay,
coloring it and dressing 1t. you put It
in the window with lighted cigarette
in its mouth. stepped around the cor
ner, drank cup of mate with him and
poisoned him"
"No-No-No. l took a whip of
iguana hide and told him who l was.
and that l meant to beat him to a
worse than my mother, who still drags
herself over the floor.
Give me one minute, said he, and
opened his watch as If to time that
minute. l had just given him my
spoon to try the flavor of lemon in the
mate, and he thrust 1t in his mouth
and died. The watch must have held
poison"
"Stop!" exclaimed Rand your
friend, the butcher, was so eager in
behalf of your alibi that he described
seeing someone else pull down the
shade and hoped the detectives would
find out who did it for conclusive
proof. You dropped the shade to de-
stroy your dummy and burn the
clothes.
why did you place the dummy;
why did you destroy the clothes?"
81 wanted the alibi in case forgot
myself and killed him. carried 1t
out because no one would believe he
killed himself"
Listen, Muller; 1t all depends on
the watch"
take pleasure In saying in conclu-
sion that we found in the back of the
watch enough cyanide to kill forty
men, and the address of fortune tell
er who told us that she had gone to
Mr.. Macleod after a clairvoyant Wis
ion and told him the fate that was i'm
pending. He had prepared to end his
life and avoid 1t.