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 3 co.

ER MAVERICK NARKoM. superin-
MI tendent at Scotland Yard, flung
4NA aside the paper he was reading
and wheeled round in his revolving chair
all alert on the instant, like terrier that
scents a 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 at the facts
Of the matter and be relieved from the
sneers of carping critics and the pin prick
Of ovsrzealous reporters, who seeme~ to
think that the Yard was TO blame for all
the forces connected with 1t to be scream
ed at as incompetents II 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 IL
they thought the thing easy. lie,
them have a go al this business Of stop
ping at ones post until o'clock in the
morning trying TO patch up the jumbled
fragments Of a puzzle Of this sort II they
regarded II as such child's play hnding
as assassin whom nobody had seen and
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 Petr1e stepped into the
room. removing his hat and standing at
attention.
''wen?" raped out the superintendent,
in the sharp staceato OF nervous impa-
tience Speak up! It was a false alarm.
was it not?'
NO. sir It's worse even than reported, |
Mr. Narkom. Quicker and sharper than
any OF the others. He's gone sir
Gomez 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. as ] 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 |
a ghost of a clue yet The papers will be
ringing with IT tomorrow"
Ringing with f.? Can they ring any !,
more than they are doing Already |
Narkom threw up both arms and laughed |
the thin, mirthless laughter Of utter de-
SPAR.
Can they say anything worse Than
they have said-blsme any more I'M
reasonably than they have blamed II |
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 mel
dear met OF utter bewilderment,' and 10
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 il l had done nothing but pile up |
failure of this kind since came into Of
fee. No heed of the past six years bril-
liant success! No thought for the manner
i'm which the police departments of other |
countries were made TO sit up and to
marvel at 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
CAD, yes!'
Cleek Was Responsible.
There's no use blinking the fact Mr..
Narkom; II was none Of us-none OF the
regular force, | mean-that made the rec
ord OF those years what IL was. That
chap Cleek was the man that did It, sir.
You know that as well as /. don't know
whether you've fallen out with him or
not; or if he's off on some secret mis-
sion that keeps him from handling Yard
matters these days. But II he isn't take
my advice, sir, and put him on this case
at once.
"Dou't talk bally rot!' flung out Mar
kou. Immediately. do you think I'd |
have waited until now to do it If II could |
be done? Put him on the case indeed, |
How the devil am | TO do il when 1
don't know where on earth TO find HIM
lie cleared out directly after that Pan
Tiers Paw case two months ago. Gave
up his lodgings, sacked his housekeeper.
laid or his assistant. Dollops, and went,
the Lord knows where and why"
MY hat, Then that's the reason we
never hear any more of him in Yard mat.
ters.is IL? ] wondered, Diss ppeared. eh?
Wen, well! You don't think he can have
gone back 10 his old lay-back 10 the