The Little River news., 1920-04-14

"Miliionaire Gaston Found Murdered"
 Was the Startling Headline That Flashed Before Me.
 startling headline that flashed before
 me, right there in the column next to
 the account of the Bradford wedding. The sinister effect of this terrible news daWned on nc instantly. With my great-uncle Rufus dead, without the possibility of his corroborating
 any part of my story, my case was hopeless, desperate. Unquestionahly it would mean that l would be found guilty of murder and sentenced 10 death in the electric chair. As soon
 as 1 could sufficiently compose myself 1 read every word there was in the newspapers about this new tragedy, smiling grimly at the thol;S':t tt at least they could not blar,e ..;3 mt:r- i der on me.
 Mir Gaston, it appeared, lad come to the Grandleck about ten o'clock in the morning and had gone at once to his apartment. On his arrival he had been greeted by the telephone girl and had informed her thH' he was only in the city for few da:'s and was stay ing at a hotel. He had added that he l would not be occupying the apartment for several weeks until his wifes re- turn to inc city. About half-past twelve there had come q telephone call for him. The girl had been un- able to get any response from the apartment. Knowing that he had not gone out, and fearing that he might have had a sudden attack of illness she had become alarmed and notified Mr. Wick, the superintendent. The superintendent, the account continued, had summoned Mir. Henry Kent the owner of the Granddeck apartments. Together they had gone to Mir. GaStnn's rooms. Being Hn;lhle to get any reply to repeated rings and knorks they had finally let themselves in w.,h 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 iufns Gaston, fully clad. lying on the ficor, face down stone dead. great wound on the back of his head showed that he had been killed, prob ably instantly, by terrific blow from some sort of a blunt instrument. A search of the rooms failed to show any sort of weapon.
 The police theory was that the crime was undoubtedly the work of aDbur glar who had been trapped by the re turn of Mir. Gaston so unexpectedly to hiS apartment. How the murderer
 escaped after attacking MT. GastOn
 was puzzle to the detectives at work on the case. The superintendent of
 the building expressed the opinion thrt the murderer had gained access in the guise of meter inspector. Attend,
 ants in the hall recalled that there
 had been such 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 unlnO-
 tested.
 There followed 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 it appeared that his for tune was likely to run to over ten million dollars. It was with some sur
 prise that l learned that score or
 more of years ago the old man appar- ently had been a powerful figure in the life of the metropolis, active both in it's business and social life. What interested me most wRs the attention paid to the remarkable co incidence that only n few weeks be. fore murder had taken place in the apartment just below, under practi- cally the same circumstances. The DO 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 mur- der of Miss Lutan, undoubtedly be 1 ionged. Their theory was that a bur glar gang succeeded in planting Nel- Sou iTe NS o toAH Ht'~Nse . and that this enabled them to get | their bearings in the building and pro | vide themselves with false keys for | ranSac cking 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 brief interview
 with Wick, in which he was quoted as
 saying:
 "I was suspicious of Nelson from
 the start and tried to keep an eye on
 him. He was very seeretiye about his
 comings and g0ngs and was always prying about trying to learn some ; thing about the other tenants. How
 Mir. Gaston came to employ him as
 carctaker never learned, but 1t would