Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1920-04-21
The
Abandoned
Room
By WADSWORTH CAMP
AUTHOR OF
THE HOUSE OF FEAR"
WARS DARK FRAME" ETC.
CHAPTER III.
Howells Delivers Himself to the
Abandoned Room.


Howells Delivers Himself TO the
Abandoned Room.
For "A long time no one spoke. The
! body of Silas blackburn had been
alone in a locked room, yet before
their eyes IL 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 con-
ccaIed, offered their mute and shast-
I ~ testimony.
Doctor Groom was the first to re-
lax. He raised his great, hairy hand
to the bed-p0st and grasped IT. His
rumbltng voice lacked its usual au-
| thOrity. II vibrated with childish
wonder:
I'm reminded that il isn't the first
time there's been blood from a
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 reaction"
For moment Doctor Groom's
laugh filled the old room. 1t ceased
abruptly. He shook his head.
Don't be a fool, Mr.. Policeman.
At the most conservative estimate
this man has been dead more than
thirteen hours. Even a few instants
after death the human body is in
capable of any such reaction"
What them" the detective asked.
some one of us, or one of the SER
wants, must have overcome the
locks again and deliberately disturb
ed the body. That must be so, but 1
don't set the motive
ut isn't So" Doctor Groom an
swered bluntly.
Already the detective had to ID
large extent controlled his bewilder-
ment.
I'D like your theory them" 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
81 meant" the doctor answered,
only that Mr.. Blackburn's heart
might have failed under the impulse
of a sudden fright in this room. l
also said, you remember, that the
room was nasty and unhealthy.
Plenty of people have remarked it
before me"
Graham touched the detective 8
arm.
"A little while ago you admitted
yourself that the room was uncom-
Portable
Doctor Groom smiled. The detec-
tive faced him with fierce bel
ligerency.
You'll agree he was murdered
Certainly, if you wish to call it
that. But l ask for the sharp instru-
ment that caused the death. l want
to know how, while Blackburn lay on
his back, it was inserted thru the
bed, the springs, the mattress, and
the pillow
What are you driving att"
Doctor Groom pointed to the dead
man.
Il merely repeat that it isn't the
| first time that pillows been stained
from unusual wounds in the head.
Being, as you call it, a trifle super
stitious, / merely ask if the coinci-
dence is significant"
Katherine cried out. Bobby, in
spite of his knowledge that sooner
or later he would be arrested for his
grandfather's murder, stepped for
ward, nodding.
81 know what you mean, doctor"
"Anybody," the doctor said, who 8
ever heard of this house knows what
I mean. We needn't talk OF that"
The detective, however. was insist
ent. Paroles in his Unconditional
way expressed an equal curiosity.
Bobby 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 desolate
room with the dead man, speaking
of the other deaths it had sheltered.
Silas Blackburn's great grandfath-
er, he told the detective, had been
carried to that bed from a revolu-
tonary skirmish with bullet at the
base of his brain. For many hours
ne had raved delriously, fighting I'M
successfully against the final silence.
1T has been a legend in the fam
lily, as these young people will tell
you, that BIackburns die hard. and
there are those who believe that peo-
pie who die hard leave something
behind them-something that clings
to the physical surroundings OF their
suffering. If it was only that one
case. But it goes on and on. Silas
i5iackpurns father, &c: :s:St:;.1cc, XII
ed himself here. He had lost his
money in silly speculations. He
stood where you stand, detective,
and blew his brains out. He fell
over and lay where his son lies, his
head on that pillow. Silas Blackburn
was a money grubber. He started
with nothing but this property, and
he made a fortune, but even he had
enough imagination to lock this room
up after one more death of that kind.
1t was this girls father. You were
| too young, Katherine, to remember
| it, but I took care of him. I saw 1t.
| He was carried here after he had
been struck at the back of the head
in q polo match. He died, too, fight
ing hard. God! How the man suf-
fered. He Ioosened his bandages
! toward the end. When I got here
! the pillow was redder than it Is to-
day. 1t strikes me as curious that
the first time the room has been
slept III since then ii should iiarnoI
death behind locked doors-from
wound in the head"
| Paroles fingers were restless, as
If he missed his customary cigaret