Little Falls herald. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1889-1950, 1913-07-25

!; !: !: + !! !
al
no tragedy deep. compiler
and mysterious. could pos
5 sibly 30 based ON anythin6
70 simple 40 = pinch Of
damp. stepped mats ground
drying In the sunshine OF
4. tho window Of dead mans
room. Behind tho hand
~ go. that dumped Thorn there
from the tea cup was the unknown
personality in which lay the secret
force that had wrought the horrible
deed. and only such rare MIND 90
that OF Lawrence Rand could have
followed tho long. faint. brokon. do:
ductive trail. That no did Sol have
always held to DO one Of tho marvels
oven Of his strange and spectacular
career. LII .,: +. IS ri IT,,
:. I remember very distinctly that Va
had left the apartment one summer
evening. having run In. from tho bunger.
low We had that year on tho Rockland
county shore. and after attending ia
such few details ~ awaited us We had
gone to tho club and spent leisurely
two hours over q most excellent din
ner. There were one or two mon
there from tho west who had been
''put up for fortnights. and ono Of
them had Interested Rand with his
metallurgical experiments and gradu
ally drawn Rand into talking Of the
methods which he had employed with
such astounding success In his 1nves
legations of mysterious cases.
ut Is simply thls.' said Rand. "The
course of every man alive. is one
string OF friction. He comes In con:
tact with other men, with animals,
plants aud inanimate things as he sits
walks. rides. sleeps; in fact in every
thing he does. His radio activity is
constantly destroying contiguous
cells. He leaves a track that tells the
story of his acts. thoughts. motives.
all Of him, In fact, more plainly than
If the angels read them out. If our per
captions were only trained to decipher
each little sign correctly. No man
leaves the same sort of track. Nor
do the signs ever lie. The observer
may mialead himself, but the truth is
there il he has the eyes, the mind and
the patience. In the tombstone mir
ror poisoning case, for instance. 1t
seemed that we we're pursuing an I'M
possible theory The facts seemed to
be lying to US, but we persisted In the
logical course, and we won. When aft
er surrounding the girl with every pos
sible guard, screens, imported nurses,
and testing every drop OF food she
tasted and foot Of air she breathed we
found that poison was still being IN
troduced into her system we accepted
the impossible as possible and found
that the pores of the palm of her hand
were absorbing the deadly stun from
the mirror she used to watch the VI
sion CT death creeping into her face"
A tall man of aristocratic bearing,
his face white, his hands trembling,
came suddenly out Of the library Into
the garden dining room in which our
group sat and at the sight OF Rand
sitting there the tension Of his face
relaxed q trifle. He hurried over and
bent down from behind Rand to wills
per something hurriedly. l saw Rand
gather himself together at once as
dangerous tiger suddenly reused to
action. Then he beckoned to me. and
rising, said: "Pray. excuse us. gentle
men," and led the way inside.
j "Mr. Duncan, this IL Or. Lloyd NC
Leod. 4 member of the club who haa
not favored US with his presence In
resent years, which accounts for your
not having met. He tolls me his IL
Their has Just met his death under cir
cumstauces which are very strange
and asks us to take care Of the case
Although he believes It to have been
murder he will prepare certificate o.
death from natural causes, and II Il
proves to have been suicide or W
fall to md tho murderer We are not t.
divulge tho circumstances. I am Will
inr to 10 ahead on that basis II yor
are.
~ asreed. and Rand asked DR.. Mao
Leod to detail the case ~ hs knew 1t
This 10 his statement:
my father was sixty-eight his Las
birthday and had been retired IRON
bis former business OF importinl
South American wares IL years. IN
the only son, but 4 sister who diet
four years ago left two children. . DO.
now twelve and . girl now ten. Tn.
two children lived with their GRANDPA
ther ut No. 242 Gramercy Park. thu
only other occupants Of the old hous'
being Dickinson, the butler, and bill
wife Margaret. the cook and genera
servant, who have beensin the famtl!
20 years and completely administers
the household. The two childre'
we're shut all this afternoon In Gram
lkrcy Park, which you know Is private
1br the families that live about II
9hst at dusk Dickinson left the hous
= unlock the gate and bring tnen