The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1916-03-30
TheWhiteArm
By Horatio Winslow


of Anie lies out of our province; we
deal only with things observed and
noted down and approved. So if tell
the events as | saw them that is all
that can be expected, for | am neither !
theory spinner nor a student of psy-
! chical research.
1t began in the laboratories when
Thompson called me in to the end
room which we used for Typographical
anatomy and where sometimes the
cadavers lie for a day or so before
they are disturbed.
Il have an idea" said Thompson,
for a practical joke on Anje You
know how Anje has always set him.
self up as heartbreaker among the
! LADIES'"
Yes"
And how he has told Of his conquests
until everyone of us is sick of them
and him? Well, this is the joke"
He threw back a cloth from the
bench at his knees. For good min
ute stared at the body as il l had
never seen a corpse beforehand for
that matter had never seen one like
this.
In our dissecting rooms we get the
bodies black with preserving fluids
and looking less like modern beings
than Egyptian mummies. But this
was as white as living body; whittier.
for it was rather like marble 1t was
girl. not such bad looking girl
| in hnr fip,n with
lures and neither fat nor thin. And
she lay on that bench as if she were
a piece of statuary fresh from the
sculptor's hands.
Suicide" Thompson said but they
took her out of the river soon after
she jumped in. What do you think
of this new preserving process?"
Lord" l said. 1T makes you
think you are looking at piece of
statuary and that right arm is espe-
cially perfect
He broke in on my speech.
II knew you would notice that right
arm. Isn't it beautifully turned and
chiseed? 1t is masterpiece and
with it we shall play a joke on Anje
| tHttt Will Ut a lldStti Dittt. IOu huOW
Anje has always been so Internally
conceited about his love affairs and
his strong stomach. Now this is my
idea. We will take the white arm and
put it in Anje's bed with the hand
sticking out from the bed clothes.
We will get Anje drunk and then
we will let him go to bed and wake
| ~ and find hp fhnro and than
while he is still dizzy reason things
out for himself Won't that hit him."
There was no opposition from me,
for, like the rest. was rather sick
of Anje's love tales. Moreover
thought since he had been SO melan-
choly and depressed for the past week
, or two an uncanny shock like this
t might wake him out of his brooding
and make him cheerful again. mer'
3 ry cad is very much more enjoyable
than a sad one. And then the idea
&, of Anje waking up in bed with the
! arm appealed to me.
So the practical joke gathered head
way and in due course OF time it be
, came known to everyone at the
) boarding house-that is, to everyone
|
except Anje.
, On the night on which it was to be
1 perpetrated | took Anje up into my
room and talked to him till eight
3 o'clock. when Thompson came up and
/ winked signifying that the arm was
t in place. Whereupon the three OF
us sailed forth into the night.
AS the liquor rose in Anje he be
came communicative but he remained
unutterably sad and dreary. He was
no longer boasting of his conquests
, instead he was reproaching himself
) because he had played too fast and
{ loose with some woman.
Now it's no use" he kept repeat
, ing Its too late. It's no use. She
I might have given me a chance"
And then as he got drunken: "She
didn't have any reason to do what
{ she did treated her right. I never
| was any worse than anybody else"
And when he was still farther gone
, he repeated: ELLEN, Ellen, Ellen" as
though il were charm.
Thompson became very much dis
> gusted with him.
whats the use?" he said. drawing
me aside We can't get him decent
ly under Let's take him home the
way he is"
So we shifted Anje into cab and
: once more back at the house, we
/ watched outside his door while he I'M
J dressed. But there came no cry nor
word nor movement of surprise from
Anjes room
, After his light went out we heard
: him creeping into bed.
-. We waited a little longer but since
Anie made no sound we climbed away
to our bedrooms.
AS to AnJe's death, no doubt you
. | have read in the papers the details
: of that very unsatisfactory affair;
I how he was found the next morning;
r how the detectives and the police
rummaged about the house and the
neighborhood looking for clews; how
all the suspects arrested proved their
innocence completely.
But only two of us know what 1t
: was that really killed Anje.
When Thompson and on that Sun
day morning first knocked on his
door and then broke our way in, we
saw him still lying in the bed, his
face black from suffocation, his fea-
lures twisted in agony and about
his neck. clenching the throat With a
! grip that seemed to personify hatred
: implacable. stretched the thumb and
fingers of the white arm