Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-05-04

quarter with few Inhabitants, being
chiefly street OF warehouses.
ut is not yet known how the prls-
oner whose body when discovered was
still shacked TO the officer. met hi4
death, but II Is expected that the fun
details will be furnished in the course
Of the day"
! relit my pipe. That would be what
the ordinary newspaper man woula
make or the affair. No need 10 scon
az him The chances were a hundred
TO one that It was an attempt at a
rescue. Yet I wondered what the au-
thorities would make OF II when the
doctors told them that the bullet was
not in the officer. but in his prisoner
The dew and his companion. the fat
man, had been got away. with the as
sistance I had seen arriving, and which,
i pleased me to think, they would need.
Why the Mystery?
But what lay behind it all? Like
every other reader of newspapers
knew. Of course. that crime had come
to share In the modern passion for or
ganization and amalgamation. Bur
glary as "a one-man business was, like
grocery as one-man business, obso-
lete Indeed, Of the two, crime alone
had attained to ramifcations that were
International Undoubtedly some form
Of crime lay behind the events of last
night--they all bore the atmosphere OF
it-but merely natural and human
curiosity demanded to know what tina
specific crime in this case was. Specu-
lation Is often fascinating mental ex-
ercise but when carried on without data
is usually barren in concrete results.
II is, perhaps, strange that among
the various theories | formulated to ac~
count for the few facts in my posses
sion the view that this crime might have
political bmotives behind II did not then
enter my mind. The one great motive
for murder that at once enters the Brit
ish mind is robbery That is because
of the intense veneration the British
mind has for property; as a racee we
are indisposed to admit that there Is
any other adequate motive; it must be
the desire to acquire property of some
kind. | admit that DE Quincey with
his famous Murder as Fine Art"
essay. may be quoted against me- Bus
that essay | am convinced was written
by the Opium Eater. and not by the
Englishman, De Quincy. 1t is not
therefore, really strange that | did NOT
/ suspect this crime to have a political
origin. In England politics have been
for so long mere game that we can
not conceive of a rational mind that
would risk its supporting neck on behalf
OF any politician. Indeed. that is put
| ting the situation in an exaggerated
form, for, outside Ireland. the excep-
tional country here as everywhere. we
take our games much more seriously
than our politics.
Whatever the impelling cause. Il waH
very ugly business. and | was well
out of ii with only the loss of a pair OF
. hnnfg .fV.gVt t.lI "a
true / was not yet quite out of the af-
fair. There was that American cloth
packet with which the dead man had
intrusted me. II he was dead-and on
that | must satisfy myself-the right
thing would be to hand II over TO the
/ police. Unopened? That was the point
| toward which my thoughts converged.
/ The man TO whom 1t belonged might
be a criminal, traitor; and the men
/ responsible for his death might be but
. the instruments Of that vengeance which
Bacon calls a rude kind of Justice
. Even so, the man had trusted me. ]
I had liked him, too. That attack Of his
on the policeman, in its execution so
/ like schoolgirl in its spirit gallant
enough for "A paladin, a thing for both
/ laughter and tears--it was that that
hNed my sympathies.
On the whole, / decided that I could
open and examine the contents. In a
way, I was the mans trustee NV f,l-
ture course OF action must be decided
by what it contained
! was looking for my scissors to slit
the silk threads with which the packet
was sewn, when the door opened gently
and the voice Of Trudchen, the maid
startled me:
Herr Wohlenhaupt."
Looking round "a gtfI,. I gou,
ing short man, spare of figure. whose
/ bIunt' heavy features and large iovl
MADE the head seem disproportionate 10
the body.
without suggesting actual deformitv
Herr Wohlenhaupt seemed to have been
| iurnlshed with the head OF a much bi1-
ger man. Though one might have 10
wait TO see what effect such an arranve-
ment had on his temper there was no
ue'ay IN recognizing the effect it had on
ms circulation his unhealthy paTlor
s,ussest'hs tnat the small heart. under
'lt neat trock coat. could not supnlw
color TO that vast expanse of connte.
nance ~''-
A Caller
He bowed to me with some urbanitv
OF manner holding his hat to his small
antly Ueiieu p'e@s-
And on my asserting he tool. nos-
session OF chair with another how. =
II to tell me that /, too, might ~
seated ~
"A very fine morning sir" he rs-
marked. crossing his legs.
very pleasant" | answered
You have a nice outlook on the
square; the trees. so fresh. and ne
Hover beds make beautiful circles ~
color" teiSS ~
Al that | thought could place him
oook canvasser I had suffered thr.
| before they were irritating when fhev
ionoiy imagined they were ingratiatlne.
SIR answered, 1T is an unus,,.
any early hour for callers. ana 81
90 not suppose you merely called "a
cnat on flowers and foliage | shouls 81
siaG 10 Know the purpose OF your visif~
lie scrutinized me in silence for =
moment and then nodded
"Ach' ] understand" he said. ssw.
Germans are too full OF words Ii q
national weakness. | myself have off4n
said IT, The English say deeds not
words and they are silent. Yes. fha
English silence is over half the world
while the Germans are talking together.
in Germany"
Not quite understanding him. raid
nothing to this huf Nvaffad u