Tombstone epitaph., 1916-01-23

again on the evening of the 2Sth of May. On the occasion of the last visit Sam Webb says he heard them quarreling about money.
 Now the murder occurred some time during the night of the 30th. Decoration day. Nobody heard the shot. and the tragedy was not dis covered until seven o'clock next morning"
 Why" Hazard queried. "are you so positive it was murder?"
 There are several reasons why l can't accept the police theory" Miss Bertel replied.
 First, it Is asking a good deal of one to believe that anybody can be | killed by a revolver catching in a drawer in such a way that merely | opening the drawer should explode it; then. that the weapon should be aimed so unerringly at the victims heart simply knocks the law of prob abilities to smithereens. It's impos- sible.
 But I got most of my ideas from Sam Webb-those two card corners. for instance. He slipped them to me and told me he had found them tight, ly clenched in the dead mans right hand. Now there wasn't a deck of cards in the house from which the jack of diamonds and the queen Of spades were missing.
 Here are several curious facts ir this connection. Mrs. Pell tells me that in his younger days Henry Para dis was a gambler. but that years ago he foreswore cards and all games ot chance. Now then. according to San Webb. early in March the old man. interest in cards all at once revived
 and he became a pinochle fiend. And too, early in March is the time wher
 young Curtis Paradis. the nephew
 first appeared on the scene. Also a
 about this time Henry Paradis tool
 up with a disreputable indiyidua
 named Blackburn, a tinhorn gamble
 who hangs out at a neighborhood sa
 loon. Sam gays there used to b'
 some notable games at the house
 marked by constant quarrels an.
 bickerines-either between Curtis ar'
 his uncle. or between Blackburn ant
 the uncle; never between Curtis an,
 Blackburn, nor, to Sam's knowledge
 was there ever . game when the thre'
 played all together.
 I'm simply giving you these fact
 for what they might be worth: the.
 tell me next to nothing.
 Finally, on the afternoon of Ma
 twenty-ninth Henry Paradis drey
 from his bank s2,sO0 in currency
 which SO far is missing"
 Felix Hazard spent the better par
 of the afternoon nosing about tn
 North Halsted street neighborhood
 He gathered a lot of information o
 one sort and another. the net r
 suit of which he summed up in tn
 reflection: If Helen wanted to hel
 her friend. she'd better have let tn coroner's verdict stand" Fer, among other things. he learne that Mrs. Pell had called at the Par; dis house early on the evening C May 30th-the evening of the traged and that Curtis Paradis also ha been seen whereabouts by at least tw persons One individual asserted ths about nine o'clock cf the same nigt he had seen Curtis hurrying ava from his uncle's residence and in th direction of the car barns at Dewe | place; that he appeared nervous an agitated, and that he was tearing 1 pieces as he went along and scatte ing broadcast what looked like q couple of postcards" but which, th spectator having been made inquis | tive. on examination proved to be tw playing cards.
 | These circumstances, in connectio | with the fact that Henry Parad l must have been slain some time du | ing the night of May goth. and tn: | the $2,s00 was nowhere to be foun | indeed looked bad for Mrs. Pell ar
 her brother.
 It was at a nearby corner saloc
 however. that Hazard obtained dc
 mite knowledge of Blackburn, u "tinhCrn," and in addition some ge e eral knowledge of Henry Paradi 1T character that was in no way a cred y thereto.
 e Speaking ef Curtis Paradis. the ba C keeper told Hazard that the you,
 man was an automobile mechanical q who had come to Chicago from Ka y. sas City about March 1st in search d employment.
 n He sure was some pinochle felt IT, averre! the informant, "a reglar br
 Only one ether gink around here n fella named Nick Blackturn-tha' e. as bad. Blackburn. he's a shark, s. for the coin there is in it. and bcol is like this young Paradis. are pickil n. for him" sThe speaker abrupt
 asked:
 to Have you any idea why old Hen re Paradis warmed up to Blackbur [; Nc? I'll tell you. The old man V of learning to play pinochle. Yes, [ e he was! He paid Blackburn to tea te him: not just the rules of the gan
 y'understand. but the fine points ti 1t win games. For two. hours. thI as times . week, he gave old Paradis ] or sons on inside pinochle. at two bus 1s pr night.
 ve Tn less'n two weeks the old 10 nd wins back not only all he'd D