Fulton County tribune. (Wauseon, Ohio) 1883-1925, 1920-07-16
The House
of Whispers
By
WILLIAM
JOHNSTON
Copyright BY Little, Brown s Co.
CHAPTER xIV-continued.
Illustrations by
IRWIN MYERS

with a slight tremor in her tones. /
wondered to what it might be due.
Was it because she feared the conse-
quences of the revelation as to her
identity, or was it that she feared she
might be trapped by his questions?
"Now tell me, Mrs. Moore" he shot
at her explosively, "who really MUIR
dered Daisy Lutan?"
Henry Kent" she answered quick
ly, before the district attorney had
time to stop her
whats this?" exclaimed the Judge.
what did you say?"
"Object! objectr vociferated the
district attorney, striving in vain to
catch the attention of the judge pre-
siding. McGregor, apparently well
satisfied with the results of his Ques-
tion, stood there, smiling assurance
at me-
Young woman" directed the judge,
twill you kindly repeat your last
statement-louder. Who did you say
killed Daisy Lutan?"
The girl turned to face the Judge.
mined to carry out some fixed plan,
cost what it might
Daisy Lutan," she repeated, twas
murdered by Henry Kent, Who owns
the Granddeck. He's really Orville
Granders, the bank president who got
away with eight hundred thousand
dollars and was sent up for seventeen
years."
There was a commotion in the rear
of the courtroom. A dapper little old
gentleman with neatly trimmed white
whiskers rose hastily and made a
dash for the door. German, who had
been sitting behind him, sprang after
him and pinioned him by the arms:
Nothing doing, Granders. I've got
you."
Wick, sitting up near the counsel
table, at the same time showed evil
dence that he, too, was contemplating
hasty flight, but a husky chap whom
l suspected of being one of Gorman's
aides, seized him, too.
"Your honor" cried my counsel, 81
demand the issuance of warrants at
once for Orville Granders, alias Henry
Kent, and his confederate, James VIII
son, alias James Wick and 'Stuffy
Jim,' on the charge of having mur-
dered Daisy Lutan and Rufus CASTOR,
further urge the immediate release
of my client, Mr.. Spa,ding Nelson, in
my custody. Testimony that we al.
ready have obtained will establish
| that he was an innocent victim of the
dastardly plots of these two ex-con.
victs."
The reaction that came from this
sudden clearing of my name left me
in puzzled daze from which l hard
ly recovered until late that evening
when, once more free, I found myself
in the Castor apartment. Granders
his tool. Wick. and practically every
i employee of the Granddeck were un
der arrest, and warrants were out fol
other members of the band whose
identity had been revealed by the for
mer telephone girl.
And there in the apartment with MI
were my mother, German, McGregor-
and to my surprise and delight. Bar
bara Bradford. After her sister,
wedding, it appeared, Barbara's moth
er had gone away for a brief rest
leaving her alone in the apartmen
with the servants. She had welcome,
the opportunity to work undisturbe,
on the mystery that had landed me be
hind the bars. Thinking that at Ruff
Gaston's funeral she might pick u
some clue that would be of service ii
unraveling the tangled skein that he'll
her and me together, she had gon
thither, and seeing my mother there
and suspecting at once who she Nigh
be- had introduced herself. Quickl
they had become good friends and sh
i: was who had Informed my mothe
Of my plight.
: Present also with us, despite tn
iateness of the hour, was the distric
attorney and two of his aides, an
Nellie Kelly, or as she much preferre
to be called, Mrs. Moore. The girl wa
technically prisoner, but her service
in bringing the real criminals to boo
t had been so exceptional that she ha
t been released on her own recogni,
D ance Hither she had been brougf
that the district attorney might chez
y up with her the marvellous tale {
e criminal conspiracy that she had III
folded to my counsel in the brief r,
cess of the court that day.
Orville Granders, it appeared, ha
been the master-mind that had direc
ed all the plotting. A score of veal
before he had been president of OF
of the metropolis biggest banks. E
, had been discovered to have embe
. zled nearly million dollars. He ha
= been tried and sentenced to seventee
a years. Imprisonment, but no one ev,
had been able to find what he ha
, done with the money, so safely had /
q hidden it away.
6 In his long years in prison. assoc
ating daily with criminals of the wor
sort, and listening to their plans f,
further crime on their release, h
d own criminal instincts, already deve
d oped, had grown stronger, and he hs
e spent his time planning a new syste
of crime of which he was to be Il
4 head, using as his confederates ce
j tain evildoers with whom he had b
t come acquainted in prison. When
: had been released he had slippt
quietly away to the West and lived
t close retirement until he had been fo
t gotten. The white whiskers he hs
o grown so changed his appearance
= too, that he had little fear of beil
recognized. Recovering such part
the stolen money as was left to hil
he had come to New York in the gui
Of prosperous Western investor an
purchasing plot of land, had erectt
the Granddeck apartments, design,
for the occupancy of the wealthie
class of tenants.
In this building, sitting like a litt
white spider in his web, he planned
prey secretly on all who came to Ii
there. Every attendant in the bull
ing was either a criminal or an asso
ate Of criminals, reporting to hl