Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1912-11-27
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crimes as burglary. highway robbery
blackmail, you will find two persons
equally guilty, always the pair. Some
times 1t Is the man and the woman
sometimes the strong man and the
weak man, sometimes two women
though seldom, for women have little
Of the inventive or creative faculty
even in crime. Notorious women Grim
inals, just like all other feminine ce
lebrities in literature or art, have
much of the masculine In their make
up. Ias s ~
"The third kind of evil idea, that OF
the group. is responsible for the
strike, the mob, the conspiracy. 1t is
the contagion Of crime. The Black
Hand Is typical example. The mem
bers Of this notorious organization
while they profit financially by their
misdeeds, care little about that end
Of it. I Their greatest pleasure Is in
the torture OF their victims, In the
agony they suffer from the time the
nameless dread Of the Black Hand
first seizes them until finally they are
put to death for refusing the society
exactions. It is this evil spirit that
kills kings, burns witches, destroys
property and lynches. negroes. The
Parrish mystery however, is Of the
second class-the crime of the pair
| am certain Of It," 81
The important thing then for us
to do" said I, trying to bring him
from the abstract to the concrete, lis
to find Hugh Crandall and also to dis
cover who was his closest associate
man or woman"
do you think so?" he asked enig
matically, adding second later
Cant you take me to see Miss Far
rish?" s.s
Hardly another word passed be
tween us as the taxicab whirled us UP
Madison avenue to the generals home
l was thinking about Davis strange
theories Of crime and his opinion that
this was crime Of the pair. felt
sure that he, as well as I, must be
convinced Of Crandall's connection
with the matter and surely his flight
did not argue innocence. But II this
was crime Of the pair, who was the
other guilty person? Whom did Davis
suspect? He had said that it might be
either two men or man and WON
an. A woman? Could it be that he
suspected Katharine Parrish of shar
ing Crandall's guilt? XXI
No, no it was impossible, too abb
surd. Yet certainly the yellow letter
seemed a link between her and Elser
It was she. who for long time had
been Crandall's closest associate. That
association apparently had been re
Gently renewed in secret. Was it pos
sible that, back Of the mystery there
was some crime and that Katharine
was guilty?
For a moment / was tempted to or
der the chauffeur to stop. 1t seemed
almost Dissertation to take this heart
less analyzer of crime into the home
where death stalked so close. Sup
post Katharine was-No, l had pledged
my word to Louise that I would
solve the mystery and would keeI
my promise, no matter where it led
me-. After all, the important thing
was my beloved ones peace OF mind
AS long as the shadow hung over he1
father and sister, her happiness must
be marred. Better the knowledge Of
evil than the terror Of mystery.
Davis wasted little time in cere
mony. AS soon as l had introduced
him to Louise, he said abruptly:
I'D like to see the room where II
happened-alone."
AS Louise called one of the serv
ants to escort him upstairs I was re-
joicing at the opportunity to be alone
with her. The cold formality Of her
greeting would have troubled me had
I not attributed it to the inspectors
presence. AS soon as he had left us
with the memories of the evening be
fore glowing in my mind, tui ned to
embrace her.
Don't, please don't!" she said cold
ly. 5E
"Why. dearest!" I stammered. in
amazement.
She offered no explanation but said
in the most matter of-fact tones-too
matter-of-fact to be natural, thought
Tell me, Mr.. Kent, what you
learned at the place where Mr., Else1
lived"
was dumfounded. What had
come over her? What could have
happened to make this sudden change
In her attitude toward me? Gould
this cool, distant young woman be the
same girl who only few hours before
had chung SO desperately to me and
had wept out her sorrows in my arms
Had she overnight forgotten the kiss
with which we pledged our joint eff
forts to solve the mystery? 81.
Tell me, Mr.. Kent" she persisted
quietly, rs there yellow letter In
that case. too? Do you believe there
can be any connection between Mr.
Elser and-and what Katharine did?'
Greatly perturbed, yet trying to con
vince myself that her attitude waa
only girls natural reaction as she
recollected the events Of the evening
before, I was just beginning to rehears<
what little we had learned in the
boarding house when Davis came run
ming down the stairs.
Tell me-" he said abruptly to Lou