Charlevoix county herald. (East Jordan, Mich.) 189?-1953, 1920-04-16

tne city IOr rev days anu was stay
ing at hotel. He had added that he
would not be occupying the apartment
for several weeks until his wife's re-
turn to the city. About half-pas
twelve there had come q telephone
call for him. The girl had been I'M
able to get any response from the
apartment. Knowing that he had not
gone out, and fearing that he might
have had sudden attack of illness,
she had become alarmed and notified
Mr.. Wick, the superintendent.
The superintendent, the account
continued, had summoned Mr.. Henry
Kent, the owner of the Granddeck
apartments Together they had gone
to Mr.. Gaston's rooms. Being unable
to get any reply to repeated rings and
knocks they had finally let themselves
In with pass key In possession of
the owner Of the building.
In his study In the rear Of the
apartment they were Mortified to find
old Rufus CASTOR, fully clad. lying on
the floor, face down, stone dead. A
great wound on the back Of his head
showed that he had been killed, prob
ably instantly, by a terrific blow from
some sort Of blunt Instrument. A
search Of the rooms failed to show
any sort of q weapon.
The police theory was that the crime
was undoubtedly the work Of bur-
glar who had been trapped by the re-
turn Of Mr.. CASTOR SO Unexpectedly
to his apartment. How the murderer
escaped after attacking Mr.. CASTOR
was puzzle to the detectives at work
on the case. The superintendent of
the building expressed the opinion that
the murderer had gained access In the
guise Of meter inspector. Attend
ants In the hall recalled that there
had been such a man In the building
that morning. As he wore the usual
uniform and presented the customary
credentials, he had been permitted to
enter and leave the building unmo-
Tested.
There followed a long review Of Ru-
fus Gaston's business career and an
estimate of some of his extensive hold
ings In stocks, bonds and real estate,
from which 1t appeared that his for
tune was likely to run to over ten
million dollars. 1t was with some sur
prise that l learned that score or
more Of years ago the old man appar-
emily had been powerful figure in
the life Of the metropolis, active both
In its business and social life.
What interested me most was the
attention paid to the remarkable CO.
incidence that only few weeks be-
fore a murder had taken place in the
apartment Just below, under practi-
cally the same circumstances. The po-
lice, the account stated, were inclined
to believe that the murderer was one
Of the gang to which young Nelson.
now in prison charged with the null
der Of Miss Lutan, undoubtedly be-
longed. Their theory was that bur-
glar gang succeeded in planting Mel
son In the apartment as a caretaker,
and that this enabled them to get
their bearings In the building and pro-
vide themselves with false keys for
ransacking the rooms at their leisure.
The guilt of young Nelson, the police
say. is established beyond question,
and they are hopeful Of being able to
round up his associates.
There was also a brief Interview
with Wick, In which he was quoted as
saying:
II was suspicious of Nelson from
the start and tried to keep an eye on
him. He was very secretive about his
comings and goings and was always
prying about trying to learn some
thing about the other tenants. How
Mr.. CASTOR came to employ him as
caretaker never learned, but 1t would
be no hard matter for a slick young
crook like him to impose on 80 old
man as Mr.. CASTOR with q cock and
bull story"
/ shifted Indignantly as read this.
knew that Wick was deliberately try
Ing to still further discredit me.
recalled that he himself had told me
that Mr.. CASTOR had mentioned our
relationship. 1t was obvious that he
was deliberately Withholding this In
formation with q sinister purpose.
That Wick knew well who had killed
Rufus CASTOR, just as he knew who
had shot Daisy Lutan, was morally
certain. l was inclined to agree with
German that Wick himself was not the
murderer. The fact that he was Of a
cowardly and cringing nature seemed
to argue against associating him &C
lively with crimes of violence. Yet
the virulent way In which he was
adding to the evidence against me
showed plainly that he was industri
ously engaged In masking the real
murderer.
Who could the murderer be7 was
confident that the same person who
had killed Miss Lutan had killed my
great-uncle. 1 could only conjecture
as to the motive. The police theory
that II was burglary seemed as logical
as any. The more pondered over the
matter the more firmly became con-
vinced that there was q numerous