Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1918-02-28


me without an occupation? / wrote
the first story that any newspaper in
the country-in the wofld-printed Of
the death of the Grand Duke OF 1geria,
the end Of as beautifully sad ro-
nance as history has ever told; and
wrote it for the Sentinel.
But the first message that sparkled
from the foremost of the Sakuntala
was to Holme, and read:
Catch Ignatz Grogr and hold. Ans
wer. Gilmore.
Soon the word came back:
Gregr under arrest. What next.
l.. (5 Holme.
Then only did 1 hand Clifton the
fret sheets of what kept him at the
Key loost of the night.
The1o were three unidentified bod
les lying in San Francisco's morgue,
to which I gave the names: Marnee
Taafe, the Grand Duke of 1geria, and
his misunderstanding, valet and
guard, Franz Pallfys. From the
knowledge gained through Kodani,
from my own observations and a de-
ductive imagination, l portrayed the
happenings of Tuesday afternoon in
the st. Dunstan apartments Numbers
629 and $50, the northwest corner OF
the sixth floor, from the time Marnee
Taafe knocked at it's door at some
thing like four o'clock
Kodani opened for her; the duke, or
James Freel as he was known there,
was not in, but would be back shortly,
hn IN wait Then
he left her alone.
She looked about the room, proba'
bly, Strengthening it up as women will
when opportunity comes to help bet
ter bachelors quarters, and she took
off her hat to be more at ease. Then
she stood at the window, looking out
at the steel frame of the great struc-
ture, twelve stories high, which was
building next door, watching the riv-
eters handle the hot iron rivets, deaf
ened by the sharp staccato of the pneu-
matte hammers; and from above her
through the opened window-left pur-
posely open-came the bullet to her
heart, and the pistols discharge was
soundless in the greater din of the
changing riveters.
Brought to the st. Dunstan by
trick similar to the one which lured
Marnee to her death, the grand duke
met his fate as he stood over the low
ed body, and Captain Belgrag, who
had planned the murder, and lgnatZ
Gregr. who fired the shots, had but to
remove the bodies from the building
to some place remote enough to avoid
suspicion.
had interrupted their endeavor OF
Tuesday night--or Wednesday morn.
ing early-after Gregr had placed
Marnee's corpse in the lift, and Bel
gag, below, had brought it down.
had driven them away by signaling
the elevator before Belgrag could re-
move the body, and there was Of
course no other opportunity.
The fact that Franz Pallfys, the
dukes confidant, was still alive was
a menace to the murderers, so he was
lured there Thursday and was done
away in the same manner which had
proved SO effective before; shot
from the steel skeleton, covered by
the racket of the riveters. And Franz
Pallfys's shadowing of me, the uncle
of the girl he knew the duke was to
wed, was unquestionably with hope
that / would lead him to his missing
master.
When the discovery of Marnees
dead body made certain that suspicion
would be directed to some occupant
of the sixth floor, i was selected to
stand as the murderer, quite natural
ly, because / was Marnees uncle and
might have a motive for the crime;
and Kodani was bribed to build evil
dence against me, discharging one
cylinder of my revolver and placing
the hatpin in my handkerchief box;
then to give Gregr the key to my
room when elgrag took the Jap on
the Sakuntala. 1t was Gregr who re.
stole the hatpin from my trunk and
changed the set of the alarm-clock
Whether Gregr or Belgrag wrote
the purple-ribboned notes to the de-
tectiye department, did not know
but they were TO give impetus to the
suspicion against me. just as the note
to Isabelle was to ward off inquiry
which might lead to discovery: Either
might have typed them; which did SO
was unimportant.
Only the motive for this series ol
crimes was lacking now, and my brain
ached trying to find an explanation
for this conspiracy Of murder. 1t was
planned long in advance, for Gregg
had taken his apartment in the ST
Dunstan month before the murders
almost as soon rs The elopement war
planned in lseria. half across the
world; and. unless was greatly mis-
taken, Gregr had secured cmployme nj
AS a rlyet-drlver on the steel con
structon for the express purpose ol
these crimes.
He must have been a laborer there
to fire the shots; but why this elder