Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-10-06
TH[EvEN|NG STORY.
An Expert in Murder.
BY GUY THoRNE.

often used to wonder who ana wnaa
my neighbor was. His name, OF course.
knew-Mr. Edwards. MT. John Ddwards-
but that was all the information I had.
Our villas In the quiet suburb ad5oined
each other and often saw Mr.. Edwards
in his garden attending to his rose trees
One afternoon. however. my neighbor
got into the same first-class railway
compartment as that in which was
| travelling down from London and OF
| which we were the only occupants. Mr.
Edwards bowed and smiled. remarked
1 that he knew me well by sight ana we
Immediately became friendly. We walked
home together. and at his gate MI. Ed
wards asked me to come in and smoke
cigar with him after dinner.
81 can give you cigar" he said. "such
as / dare swear you have seldom smoked
never, perhaps-because such weeds
cannot possibly be purchased through the
ordinary channels
| l accepted the invitation with pleasure.
thinking in my own mind that the pleas
| ant-faced man was probably q shipper
or importer Of cigars. I am great
smoker, and promised myself m anus
ing evening and an interesting tobacco
talk"
About $50 I rang the front dooreeil
Of Mr.. Edwards house ana was ct onoe
admitted by trim housemaid. MY host
was waiting for me In his study, and IN
q few minutes / was enjoying an excel
| lent cup of coffee and cigar which waS
| the finest / had ever smoked.
| I remarked upon the remarkable bou-
quet and flavor Mr. Edwards smiled.
| II thought You would say So, he safo,
land you would realize why IL / were at
| liberty to say from what iilustrious hand
| they came to mine That, however. Is not
possible. But in my profession. II may
| call it so, occasionally receive valuable
presents.
Mr. Edwards saw the question IN my
| into words. :.
He smiled. "Since we are neighbors.
he said, land are to be friends also. l
| hope must let you into a little secret
1 follow no ordinary avocation, nor 90
suppose there is any one else In England
who occupies my exact position. am
to put 1t in four words, an expert In
murder!''
I started violently. Any one will easily
| imagine my feelings at these strange ana
yet deliberate words.
do not mistake me-" said Mr.. Ed
ward. 81 neither commit crimes nor do
detect them in the ordinary sense or the
word. I have no official connection itn
Scotland Yard, but occupy the position,
as it were, of final court OF appeal.
No one ever hears my name. ! nave
never given evidence in a court of law
in my life. But when everything else
fails, when murder case OF more than
| usual mystery occurs. then am con-
suited by the police or by private per-
sons who are interested. Ny interest Is
purely intellectual. / have means or my
own, but the crime Of murder-the study
Of it, I nean-has been my main interest
throughout life"
I sat in the comfortable book-lined ROOM
smoking and slipping my coffee-made IN
the Turkish fashion in long-handled
brass pot The freight played upon all
the gold and crimson Of the shelves. the
lamplight filled the cozy room with It's
mellow radiance, and sat entranced till
far into the night, hearing tales Of
strange and secret crime
- 'Yes!' said my host, 1T fs IN
deed true the world hears only OF the
more ordinary and less subtle murders
The real artist IN murder Is rarely found
out; It Is the amateur on whose behalf
we hear the rattle OF the permanent
drop"
shudder, ''if wanted to commit muir
der, should most certainly be found out
A doctor, Of course, might kill any one
easily enough, but even in his case there
would be risks"
| Mr.. Edwards nodded. And yet" he
replied, s.you have no idea Of the truly
I1endish cunning of some murderers. Take
1 a case In point-that OF young Miss Pick.
tering. She was never tried for her crime.
for reasons immaterial to you. She was
pretty girl Of Twenty-Five, Of consider
able intellectual power. and lived alone
with wealthy and irritable old aunt.
whom she hated. The girl fell in love
| with a young fellow in q neighboring
town, a bad lot who courted her for the
money he expected that she would Inc
herit upon the death Of the aunt The
old lady would not hear Of the match:
there was a great scene, which ended in
the girl outwardly giving UP her lover,
and by the aunt making q will In her
niece's favor in return for her docility."
Mr.. Edwards slipped his liqueur glass
Of kummel and continued: quite calmly
and deliberately. pretty Miss Pickering
then sat down to think out way Of KILL
ing her relative. And this is how she
did 1t: She bought an ordinary tin OF
opened 1t and kept it in her bedroom until
| 1t was putrid. Old Miss Pickering was
a rose fancier, and was always pottering
| about among her trees. clipping, gather
ing and pruning. Her hands were very
shaky. however. and she was always
pricking herself with thorns, though this
did not deter her.
'The girl, to cut long story short,
anointed all the top thorns OF several
| trees with the poisonous salmon. The
tracted blood poisoning In what appeared
to be quite an ordinary fashion, and was
dead in ten days!'
| I shuddered. What dreadful cunning. -
I said. land in q young girl, tool How
carefully thought out--0h, lee horrdbIe!''
Extremely Ingenious" said Mr.. Ed
wards, .and. as you will observe, almost
impossible of detection. But / could tell
you Of even stranger cases. and some In
which the possibilities of discovery were
reduced almost to minimum. Il Is at
such times that people come to me. But
bore you, ! fear?' he continued, with
the question in his voice.
Not In the very least" I answered,
eagerly. ut Is most fascinating. IL you
are not too tired by all means continual ),
| For answer my host arose from his
chair, unlocked a drawer and after a
short search handed mo the somewhat
faded cabinet Photograph OF q man.
| What do you make OF thai?'' he aske,i
me.
/ looked at the picture. s"rhe face Of as
crafty scoundrel as / ever saw" I an
| swered.
He nodded. You are right" he replied.
| That Is Mr. Fred Lawson, for whom I
| was instrumental in obtaining twenty
years penal servttude just fifteen Years
ago. 1t prison has not killed him he
should now be on the point Of release.
/ Note the fox-like face, the low forehead.
murder / have ever known, and II was
only coincidence that enabled me to bring
him 70 Justice"
''Tell me the story begged, gazing
at the SNUG, well dressed Villain WIN
stared out OF the picture.
Lawson was the son Of q Well-to-do
gentleman who lived in q quiet BAYS
water street in which also resided at the
time. He was the second son and a greas
IL Ii - Il u