South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1919-03-12
CHAPTER III.
HOWELLS DELIVERIES HIM
SELF TO THE ABANDONED
ROOM

ROOM.
For a long time no one spoke.
The body of Silas Blackburn had
been alone in a locked room, yet
before their eyes it lay, turned on
its side. as if TO inform them Of the
fashion of this murder. The tiny hole
at the base of the brain, the blood
stain on the pillow. which the head
had concealed, offered their mute
and CHASTITY testimony.
DIR. Groom was the first to relax
He raised his great hairy hand to the
bed-post and. grasped It. His rum
bling voice lacked its usual au-
thority. 1t vibrated with childish
wonder:
Pm reminded that it isn't the first
time there's been blood from mans
head on that pillow"
Katherine nodded
What do you mean?" the detec-
tive snarled There's only one an
swer TO this. There must have been
"a mechanical post-mortem reac-
ton"
For a moment DR. Groom's laugh
filled the oldlroom. 1t ceased abrupt
ly. He shook his head.
Don't be a fool. Mr.. Policeman.
At the most conservative estimate
this man has been dead more than
IL hours. Even a few instants after
death the human body is incapable
of any such reaction"
What then ?" ethe detectiv asked.
Some one Of us, or one of the serv-
ants. must have overcome the locks
again and deliberately disturbed the
body. That must be so, but 1 don't
get the motive"
1T isn't so" DR.. Groom answered
bluntly.
Already the detective had to a
large extent controlled his bewilder-
ment.
I'D like your theory then" he
said dryly You and Mr.. Paroles
have both been gossiping about the
supernatural. When you first came
YOU limited dark things. You said
he'd probably died what the world
would call a natural death"
"I meant" the doctor answered,
only that Mr. Blackburn's heart
might have failed under the impulse
Of a sudden fright in this room. [
also said, YOU remember, that the
room was nasty and unhealthy.
plenty of people have remarked 1t
before me-"
Graham touched the detectives
arm.
"A little while ago you admitted
Yourself that the room was uncom-
Portable"
DIR. Groom smiled. The detective
faced him with a fierce belligerency.
"You'n agree he was murdered"
Certainly, if you wish TO call it
that. But I ask for the sharp instru-
ment that caused death. 1 want to
know how while Blackburn lay on
his back. it was inserted through the
bed the springs. the mattress, and
the pillow"
DR. Groom pointed to the dead
man.
II merely repeat that it isn't the
first tim that pillows been stain
ed from unusual wounds in the head.
Being. as you call it, a trife super
stituous. I merely ask il the coinci-
dence is significant"
I Katherine cried out. Bobby in
spite of his knowledge that sooner
or later he would be arrested for his
prandfather's murder, stepped for
ward. nodding
( Il know what you mean. doctor.
1 ANYBODY" the doctor said, who
ever heard of this house knows what
/ I mean. We needn't talk of that"
The detective. however. was in
! sistent. Paroles in his Unconditional
way expressed an equal curiosity
Robbv and Katherine had been
frightened as children by the stories
clustering about the old wing. They
nodded from time TO time while the
doctor held them in the fdesolate
room with the dead man, speaking
| of the other deaths ii had sheltered
/ Silas Blackburn's great grandfath-
or he told the detective, had been
carried TO that bed from a Revolu-
tionarv-skirmish with a bullet at the
base OF his brain. For many hours
he had raved deliriously. fighting un-
successfully against the final silence
cit has been legend in the fam
nv. as these young people will tel
Won that Blackburns die hard. and
there are those who believe that PEG
ME who die hard leave something
behind them-something that clinss
10 the physical surroundings of their
/ suffering. If it was only that one
case, But it goes on and on. Silas
R1ackburn's father, for instance
il,uled himself here. He had lost III:
money in silly speculations. He stood
where YOU stand. detective, and blew
his brains out. He fell over and las
where his son lies. his head on tina
Inflow Silas Blackburn was a mOnel
vrubber. He started with nothing bu
This property. and he made for
ltune. but even he had enough imag
Ifnation 20 lock this room up afte
one more death of that kind. II wa
this girls father. You We're to-
Young. Katherine. TO remember /;
but T took care Of hira. I saw Il
He was carried here after he ha'
been struck at the back Of the hea'
I'm polo match. He died. too. fight
inc hard. God How the man SUI