The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1920-02-12

their parlance as "the needle"
/ Burnett summons Sharpe, explains
the situation and appeals to hicl to
take up the job of bringing Iron Hand
and his criminal pest to justice. mo
matter who. they get them-dead or
alive, nobody will care, just get them,
is all I ask" says Burnett. Sharpe
is finally prevailed upon to take
Of the government crusade
agaisnt Iron Hand and his gang.
Before leaving Burnett's office his
keen perception and power asserts
itself when he notes the suspicious
appearance and attitude of Burnett's
clerk, "Red" Black. Black, to
all appearances, is a trusted employee.
Knowing that Burnett will hardly be-
lieve that treachery and treason exist
in his own office, Sharpe starts his
sleuthing right there. Noticing a patch
of fresh white paint on the clerks
trousers he waits until the latter and
Burnett have left the building. He
links up the paint with a freshly
painted balustratde in the corridor Of
the building, which is, however, one
floor above Burnetts' office. Putting
his famous deduction powers to play,
Sharpe works out the theory that
Black had jumped or crawled over
the ba'ustrade following a summons
from Burnett.
Questioning such haste and the a
son for the clerks presence on the
floor above, Sharpe begins his hunt
for a further clue and the trail grows
hot. Trying the doors of the offices
on the upper floor he finds one of
them open. Entering he discovers a
desk pushed out of it's place and the
rug on the floor rumpled. Pulling up
the rug he finds two small t~rap-doors
in the floor at a position that brings
them right over the top of Burnett's
desk in the office below.
Sharpe pulls open the trapdoors.
One of them reveals an ingenious peri
scope device through the floor to Bur
nett's office below. The mirrors on the
periscope are so arranged that they
sweep the whole office and to q spy
on the floor above give him a view
of anybody or any action in the Sc
cret Service chiefs room. The other
trap-door reveals a dictaphone appar-
atus. This has been arranged SO that
the wires are masked by the chande-
lier where they enter and, the trans
hitting discs, powerful one too,
Sharpe finds behind a picture on the
wall in Burnett's office.
Sharpe, after this revelation, is con-
WINGED that Burnett's assistant is a
traitor. He realizes that Black must
have heard all the arrangements he
made with Burnett to take up the
chase Of the Iron Hand and his gang.
Anticipating Blacks attempt to warn
Iron Hand, Sharpe goes to the office
Of the telegraph company and there in
the disguise Of a clerk takes the mes
sage Of warning from Black. !
Burnett, in the meantime, has been
making arrangements to give Sharpe
some silent help. He goes to the apart
ment Of Anne Crawford, n Of the
most famous women agents in the Sc
.cret Service, and arranges with her to
help Sharpe by passing herself off as
a crook and joining the band. When
Sharp discloses to Burnett the treach-
cry of Blank, Burnett and his men
shadow the traitorous clerk. They fol-
low him into an apartment and find
him making arrangements with q IA
nous women crook. Violet Ray, known
in the underworld as tx" Ray, to Join
Iron Hands Crime Trust. Black gives
her Identification papers and q letter
to Iron Hand when the Secret Service
men break into the room. Black es-
.capes but Violet Ray is captured. Her
Identification papers and the letter
to Iron Hand are confiscated. Burnett
is struck by the remarkable resem-
Eblance Of the wona crook to Anne
Crawford, his trusted oma agent.
He Immediately formu'ates q plan to
have Anne take the Identification pa
pers and pass herself off to the crooks
a. Violet Ray.
With these paners and instructions
Anne starts on her perilous. mission.
Sharpe also takes a trainfor the West
sometime later. The telegram from
the t~raitorous clerk arrives at Iron
Hands headquarters and he imsnedi-
ateiy concocts a scheme to vanguish;
the great detective. He summons mem
bers Of his band ard orders that no
quarter Be shown the detective and
rat he. be killed on the sight if possi..
BE.
He dispatches several members of
fhe gang To meet the train On which
Sharpe Is riding. They board IL ont
side 81 Frisco and take sleeping
compartment next tos the detective.
They try to kill him offa At The start
|by dtoppifng globes 81 poison !
through NM transornsof the detectiv4,s
COMMENCEMENT ~hilehe II supposed
fEEAu1 SRNtE~NS EE lRAWF62f& M