Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-11-18

q Grady, the house detective Of the
Prince Edward Charles Hotel. had routed
us out Of bed in tho middle Of the night
with . hurried call for help. and now met
u in the lobby Of the fashionable hosiery
All that he had said over the wire waa
that there had BEEN q murder-"an Eng
lishu,an. . Captain Shirley"
why" exclaimed Grady, lowering his
voice as he led up through the lobby. 1t
the most mysterious thing. think. that
I've ever SEEM
TN what wayr' prompted Kennedy.
swell" continued Grady. 'it must have
been Jus. q bit after midnight that one OF
the elevator boys hoard what sounded Ike
n nufasd report In q room on tho tenth
floor. There wers other employees and
some quests about at the time. and 1t was
only a matter Of seconds before they were
on the spot. Finally. the sound was To-
Gated n having come probably from Capt
ehirisys room. But the door was locked
ON the inside. There was no response
although some one had seen him ride up
In the elevator scarcely i've minutes BE-
fore BY that time they had sent for me.
We broke In. There was Shirley. alone
fully dressed. lying on the floor before a
writing table His face was horribly SGT.
as though he had perhaps seen something ns
/ suppose 1t might have been the PAIN
that did it I think he must have hearo
something. jumped from the chair. perhaps
in fear and then have fallen down on inc
floor almost Immediately. ,,,
We hurried over to him. He was stili
alive, but could not speak. turned MN
over. tried to rouse him and make MN
comfortable It was only then that l
saw that he was really conscious But Il
seemed as II his tongue and most OF MS
muscles were paralyxed. Somehow ne
managed to convey to US that IT was MS
heart that troubled him most.
Really. At first I thought 1t was case
Of suicide But there was no sign Of
weapon about and not q trace OF poison
on him, eIthsr-except q few slight cuts
and scratches on his face and hands But
none Of them looked to be serious. And
yet. before we could get the house physi-
clan up to him he was dead
And with not word?' queried Ken
That's the strangest part of it. No!
not word spoken. But as he lay there,
even in spite of his paraly1ed muscles.
he WIS Just able ito motion with his
hands. / thought he wanted to write.
and gave him q pencil and piece OF
paper. He clutched at them. but here
II all he was able to do"
Grady drew from his pocket a piece
Of paper and handed 1t to us. On 1t were
printed In trembling. irregular char
acters, 'G A D." the ID" scarcely nm
What did 1t all mean? How had shir-
ley met his death. and why?
Tell me something about him." said
Kennedy, studying the paper with a
frown- Grady shrugged his shoulders.
know. Looked like one Of the younger
sons who so frequently go out to seek
their fortunes in the colonies. BY his
appearance. I should say he had been
in the far east-India, no doubt. And I
imagine he had made good. He seemed
to have plenty of money. That's all
know about him."
''Is anything missing from his room, -
I asked. Gould 1t have been robbery? 7"
Grady. Apparently not q thing had
been touched don't think it was rob-
BY this time We had made our way
through the lobby and were in the ele-
vator.
1--WE kept the room Just AZ it WAS"
went on Grady to Kennedy. lowering
his voice. I've even delayed = bit noti-
fyinE the police SO that you could get
A moment later we entered the rooms,
fairly expensive suite, consisting Of q
sitting room. bedroom and bath. Every
that Shirley had just come in when the
shot. II shot 1t had been. was fred.
There. on the floor, lay his body. still
IN the same attitude in which he had
him g.sping:; Grady's description Of the
horrible look on his face was, IL any.
thing. an understatemsnt.
As stood with my eyes riveted on the
horror-stricken face on the floor Ken
nedy had been quietly going over the
furniture and carpet about the body.
Look he exclaimed at last. scarce
~ turning to us. On the chair. the writ
Ing table and even on the walls were
little pitted marks and scratches He
decting the electric light. scattered all
about. were little fine pieces Of some-
thing that glittersd.
4 You have q vacuum cleaner. I sup
poser inquired Craig, rising quickly.
Certainly-a plant In the cellar"
NO. mean one that In portable"
Yes. We have that. too" answered
Grady. hurrying to the room telephone
Kennedy now began to look through
ShiS1eys baggage. There was, how.
ever ever: nothing to indicate that It had
noted, among other things. j. photo.
graph Of . woman in oriental dress.
dueky. languorous, Of more than ordi-
nary beauty ana intelligence. On il
soHaething was written In native char
Just then q boy wheeled the cleaner
down the hall. and Kennedy quickly
showed the photograph into his pocket.
Fifet. Kennedy removed the dust that
was already In the machine. Then he
ran the cleaner carefully over the car.
pet the upholstery. everything about
mat corner OF the room where the body
lay. When he had finished he smptisd
H IN hin da' n asss into paper and placed i
when there came a knock at the door
and u was opened.
M. Grady?" said . young man, en-
tering hurriedly.
oh. hello. Glenn! One of the night
clerks in the ONCE. Kennedy" Intro
duced the house detective.
I've Just heard of the-murder. !"
Glenn began. Il was in the dinins
room. being relieved for my little mid
night luncheon. as usual, when heard
OF u. and thought that perhaps YOU
might want to know something that
happened Just before I went off duty"
1T was early in the evening"" re-
turned the clerk. slowly. when a mes-
sanger left q little package FOR Cant.
Shdr1ey-said that Capt. Shirley had had
II sent himself and asked that IL be
placed In his room. It was a little At.
1aar In plain, paper-wrapped parcel.
! sent one Of the boys up with 1t and q
Key. and told him to put the package on
the writing desk up here"
Kennedy looked at me. That. than.
WAS the way something. Whatever II
might De. was introduced into that
room.
when the captain came in" resumed
the night clerk. II saw there was q let
ter for him IN the mail bog and handed
1t to him. He stood before the desk
while he opened 1t. thought he look A