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.


ER MAVERICK NARkoM, superm-
MI tendent al Scotland Yard, flung
4'A aside the paper he was reading
and wheeled round in his revolving chair,
all alert on the instant. like a 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 the facts
Of the matter and he relieved from the
sneers Of osrpins critics and the pin prick
Of overzeaIous reporters. who scenes 10
think that the Yard was to blame for all
the forces connected with IL TO be scream
ed At as incompetents 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, if
they thought The thing SO easy. lie,
them have go at this business Of stop
ming AZ ones post until o'clock in the
morning trying 30 patch up the jumbled
fragments Of a puzzle Of this sort II they
regarded 10 as such Child's play-tnding
as assassin whom nobody had seen and
who struck with method which neither
medical science nor legal acumen could
trace or name. Then, boy 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.
"wen7" raped out the superintendent,
in the sharp stsccato Of nervous impa
thence Speak up, II was a false alarm,
was il not"
NO. sir It's worse even than reported,
M Narkom. Quicker and sharper than
any Of the others. He's gone, sir"
Gone Good Cod you don't mean
dead"
Yes. sir Dead as Julius Caesar. To-
tai collapse about twenty minutes after
my arrival and went OF like that'-snap-
ping his fingers and giving his hand an
outward fling. Same way as the others,
only. as I 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 Ave In the same
mysterious way, superintendent, and not
a ghost OF q clue yet 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 said-blame any more un-
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 me!
dear me" Of utter bewiderment, 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 II | had done nothing but pile up
failure Of this kind since I came into Of
fee. No heed OF the past six years bril-
liant success! No thought for the manner
in 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 TO make
those newspaper fellows cat their words