The Washington herald., 1920-06-28
ElweH Slain by Gambling Friend
While Inamorata Crouched u pstairs,
Declares Creator OF Craig Kennedy

| Ding by cards, but gambling con-
| nected with the race track.
Elwell, We know, returned home
after having been at the Midnight
Frolic in evening clothes. But the
negro chauffeur, Edgar A. Walters,
asserts that he drove a man in a
| business suit to Elwell's home at
2:30 a. m. Who was this man?
Was it ElweIl? Might 1t not have
been Elwelrs fatal visitor? Would
a nighthawk cabby make a mistake
in the attire of his fare? How GER
tain can he be in his Identification
of his passenger?
! Let me picture in brief a story.
| Elwell has left his theater party.
Perhaps Woman Had Keys.
Let US suppose that it was
woman that had the third set of
keys which were found on the
mantel piece. and which is by far
the most interesting of recent dis
-coyeries in this perplexing enigma.
! The idea was that the woman was
to precede him to the Elwell house
of mystery while he, perhaps, drop
ped in somewhere for an hour or so.
Upon Elwelrs return to his house
he finds a visitor-an old race track
friend, who has come to put over
some deal with him, or to force or
argue him into doing something.
That something is not clear yet. but
let us pass that over. Or the visitor
MAJ have come later.
| When Elwell was discovered
| dying he had removed his toupe and
! his false teeth. The Chester
I falHfo, have
done such a thing unless in the
Ipresence of one of his intimates.
Inamornta Upstairs.
Remember, too. there is his in
amorata upstairs. Certainly a
strange situation, but one that Ell
well. with his warped aspect of life,
probably revelled in.
So the night passes away. Ell
we'll cold. calm and collected. His
visitor eager and heated.
Morning comes.
Still Elwell has not agreed.
The bell rings.
1t is the postman.
To show his absolute unconcern
| Elwell answers the bell, picks up
| his mail in the yestibule and non
chalantIy seats himself again. toy
| ing with the mail and opening the
letter from the Kentucky trainer.
In it is some good racing news.
CaImness Enrages Visitor.
Could anything be better calcu-
lated than this sang froid to anger
the visitor to the firing point?
Then the shot from the race track
gambler
And the drama of the lingerie
woman.
The woman leaps from bed-per-
haps not before the murderer has
let himself out of the house. carry
ing the gun but leaving behind the
| Remington U. NJ. c. shell, of which
little has been said.
She is in a quandary.
Shall she take her keys? No. She
dresses quickly and leaves them on
the mantel, letting herself out in
| the wake of the murderer. Elwell
has paid the price-and the friends"
have fed into the closemouthed soli-
tude of their fraternity.
Housekeeper Arrives.
Then came the housekeepeI.
Again she covers up this young
woman by removing the lingerie -
perhaps under instructions.
So the drama of Elwelrs death
was played, in a manner that with
out a doubt will suggest score OF
| movie" plots to anyone who, like
myself, has been bitten by the
cinema bug.
Why have we not learned more?
! I think 1 have limited at it. This
was a close -mouthed fraternity to
which Elwell belonged.
Get the racetrack men who were
his intimates to talk. Break down
the reserve of women of the half
world which now overlaps into the
upper world, and we will learn the
truth OF what happened to ElweH
on that fateful morning. Once trace
the gun and learn the secret of that
third bunch of keys and the Efwell
mystery will go down in the annals
of crime as one of the most cele-
brated cases solved.