Putnam patriot., 1915-07-23
CHAPTER l..
The M aster Mind.

THERE was sudden. tense si-
 lence in the courtroom as the
 judge on the bench lifted his
 head and stared steadfastly at the prisoner in the dock. All had eyes only for the man who stood motion jess, awaiting under mask of pal Id indifference the words of doom that must now be spoken And as they looked. thrilled hy tie awfulness of this moment the watchers felt their hearts stirred to profound pity, for this victim If the law was young slender and strong of bedy. wholesome of face. In his expression there was no tain of tie bestial. uo hint of the lustfuI the cruel His whole appear anee cried out that he was never one to prey oh his fellows to plGnder them. to say them Merely he show ed himself uiusome lad surely light hearted in happier case. though now his face was set in the bIeakness of q still despair But the jury of twelve good men and true had named him murderer.
 At last the voice of the judge sound ed Henry Allen, the jury. after careful consideration of all the evi- dence presented in your trial, has found you galty of murder in the first degree This is the capital offense against the law and for fl the law demands the capital punishment The defense has urged that your action in slaying man within his own house
 -t.s4 ltNz since the one thus done to death had by the arts of seduction alienated the affections of q wife, and therefore tue penalty exacted by the written law should be abrogated in behalf of one who has thus punished the violation of the sanetity of the home. Net, though the guilt of the murdered man in this regard has been fully eStab- lished. this plea as to tine potence of the unwritten law in such instance has not prevailed The jury has seen 1t to disregard it completely and has rcn- dered an unqualified verdict of guilty against you. It only remains then. for the court to pronounce upon you. Henry Allen, the extreme penalty com manded by the law for the crime or which you have been found guilty. Then followed short interval Of dreadful silence. through which. as al- ways. the prisoner maintained his des perate calm of despair. His demeanor abode immobile even while the judge spoke the few words that decreed shameful death Perhaps the pallld face grayed to ghastlier hue. but there was no other sign. nor was there ps he went shambling hstlessly from the dock ohedient to the leading of his warders-
 The husL that was still over the courtroom was broken by gasplng cry from somewhere in the crowd few close bv him were aware that the sound had iSsued suddenly from the lips of an old man on one of the rear benches For few seconds it seemed that be was about to swoon. When. almost at once. the crowd began to press itS way out, the old man went with the others. moving. indeed with a briskness and nervous energy that seemed surprising in one of his years and doubly so in view of the emotion al strain through which he had just passed He pursued his way rapid ly. Tint way took the old man north ward by the subway to Twenty eighth street and afterward eastward to a house near Third avenue. which retain ed still traces of a genuiity almost wholly unalfered by the years Here fha man anfarad with a latchkey and passed through the bare hall and up the stairs and so came into what had aforetime been the drawing room or the mansion. which now patently sery- ed as the living room for bachelor of varied and curious tastes Thus ar