Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1913-03-24
The Affair of the Man Who Van
ished-Being the further adven-
lures of the reformed Grim
inal once known to the po-
lice of the world as The
Vanishing Cracks
man.
BY T. w. HANsHAW.
Copyright by Doubleday. Page & GO.

ER. MAVERICK NARKOM, superin-
MI tendent al Scotland Yard, flung
4NA aside the per he was reading
and wheeled round in hts revolving chair
all alert on the instant. like terrier that
scents rat.
He knew well what the coming Of the
footsteps toward his private office por-
tended: his messenger was returning at
last.
GOOD, Now he would get a the facts
Of the matter and be relieved from the
sneers OF carping critics and the pin prick
Of ovsrzeaIous reporters, who scenes to
think that the Yard was TO blame for all
the forces connected with it 10 be scream
ed at as incompeteuts If every evil-doer
in London was not instantly brought To
book and his craftiest secrets promptly
revealed.
Cad, let them take on his job, then II
they thought the thing so easy. lie,
them have q go al this business Of stop
ping - ones post until o'clock IN the
morning trying 10 patch No the iumbled
fragments Of a puzzle Of this sort II they
regarded 70 as such chld's play finding
as assassin whom nobody had seen and
who struck with a method which neither
medical science nor legal acumen could
trace or name. Then, by James.
Dead as Julius Caesar.
The door opened and closed and Detec-
tive Sergeant Petrie stepped into the
room. removing his hat and standing at
attention.
"well?" raped out the superintendent,
IN the sharp staccato Of nervous impa-
thence Speak up! It was false alarm,
was it mott
NO sir. It's worse even than reported,
Mr. Narkom. Quicker and sharper than
any Of the others He's gone, sir
Gone? Good God, YOU don't mean
dead"
Yes. sir. Dead as julius Caesar. To-
tai collapse about twenty minutes after
my arrival and went off like that'-snap-
ping his fingers and giving his hand an
outward fling Same way as the others,
only. az / say, quicker. sir, and with no
more trace OF what caused it than the
doctors were able to discover in the be-
ginning That makes five in the same
mysterious way superintendent and not
ghost OF clue vet. The papers will be
ringing with it tomorrow
Ringing with il? Can they ring any
more than they are doing already"
Narkom threw up both arms and laughed
the thin. mirthless laughter OF utter de-
spair.
Can they say anything worse Than
they have sad--blame any more UNI
reasonably than they have blamed? 1t
is small solace for the overburdened tax
payer to reflect that he may be done to
death at any hour Of the night and that
the heads of the institution he has so
long and so consistently supported are
capable Of giving his stricken family
nothing more in return than the dear me!
dear me- Of utter bewilderment, and TO
prove anew that the efficiency Of our
boosted police-detective system may be
classed under the head of Brilliant Fic
ton
That sort Of thing day after day
AS II l had done nothing but pile up
failure of this kind since | came into Of
fee. No heed OF the past six years brill
liant success! No thought for the manner,
in which the police departments OF other
countries were made To sit up and TO
marvel al our methods Two months
failure and that doesn't count BY the
Lord Harry, I'd give my head 10 make
those newspaper fellows eat their words