Omaha daily bee., 1921-07-24


Benot was too sounded to pro
test. He could have sworn that h
had been driven by Jules. In daz
he followed the detective back t.
the car. The latter made an ex
tremely thorough examination Of tn
motor, going over it inch by inch
the detective continually making
notes of his observations. The steps
doors, windows and floor were gon'
over minutely. His final act was t.
raise the cushions and look in thu
compartments beneath them. From
one he took cap, muffler and Goa
identical with the ones the dead mar
was wearing.
II suppose these are a duplicate
set belonging to Santon?" he asked
Certainly not!" replied Benot ex-
citedly. II am absolutely sure hi
hadn't any other motor clothes than
those he was wearing
The detective looked puzzled. II
was clear to him that somehow or
other Jules Santon had been MUIR
dered while in charge of the banks
car. and after his body had been
thrust out of sight behind the seat,
his pace had been taken by some
one dressed in duplicate clothes.
But when was he murdered?
Did you notice anything peculiar
in any way about Santon when he
drove you here? Did he stop or
slow up anywhere, for instance?'
asked the detective.
NO." replied Benot. 1--WE fol-
lowed our usual routine exactly"
Tell me everything that hap
pened, no matter how trivial, from
the time you saw the gold and notes
put in the box till you saw it opened
here" said the detective.
Face Lights Up.
AS soon as Benot came to the in
cident of his recall to the bank by
the messenger, and the accidental
collision with the banks customer,
the detectives face began to light up.
"Oh, l begin to see. That acci-
dent wasn't quite SO accidental as it
appeared" he said. II suppose you
don't know how long you left San
ton in the carr"
"As it so happened. I can tell to
the minute" replied Benot. Il looked
at my watch when we were about
to start, and it was just a quarter
past two. When l entered the car
for the second time l again looked
at my watch mechanically, and it
was 22 minutes past"
Seven minutes-and just over two
hours ago Good heavens, we are
dealing with some clever criminals.
In that seven minutes the chauffeur
was murdered, his body thrust out of
sight and another box substituted for
the one containing the notes and
gold. 1t was one of the criminals,
disguised as the dead man, who
drove you here"
The detective was frankly puzzled
over the chauffeur's death. His
first examination had convinced him
that he had not been strangled, pois-
oned or drugged. There were no
marks on his throat nor any signs of
how he had been killed, in fact. But
his second examination brought to
light the way he had been killed,
and it was as remarkable as the rest
of the whole affair. He began to go
over the dead mans head and face
with Hagnifying glass, and in only
few minutes small clot of blood
on the hair at the top of his head
attracted his attention. He parted
the hair, and there, in the skull, was
a small hole only about the sixteenth
of an inch in diameter! The dead
man had been murdered by some
fine small-steel weapon, which had
been driven vertically through the
top of his head. From this wound
the detective obtained an important
clue to the identity of the murderer.
We'll now drive back to the head
Office" he said. Il think I have
found out all I want to know here.
You had better come with me, be-
cause l shall want to know exactly
where the car stood outside the bank
and other details" he added to
Benot.
The detective, with a number of
police officials, made a careful ex-
of the side street in which
the dead chauffeur had been muir
dcred. Luckily there had been very
little traffic down the street that day,
and the fine snow which had been
falling had left practically un-
touched the marks of the big car in
the snow.
That's what l expected to find"
said Balthazard, pointing to the
tracks of a car running parallel
to and close 70 those of the bank
car. He gave certain Instructions
to two of his assistants, and care
full measurements and particulars
were soon taken of the track of the
strange car. Unfortunately this
track was lost in the traffic in the
main road, but from the marks left
in the side street the detective
strengthened the theory he had al
ready found. To the puzzled Benot,
who had followed every one Of his
there seemed no discov-
cries of real importance to make,
save that the trusted servant Of the
bank, Santon, had been murdered in
a most mysterious and remarkable
way. The detective, however. seemed
to be getting cheerier every minute
as he went over the ground so care
fully.
We'll now finish up from where
we started" he said, "and then per-
haps we shan't be long before we
put our hands on the men we want.
Five or six people have been con-
cerned in it"
BY the orders of the police all the
bank employees had been gathered
into one room, and no one was al
lowed to leave the bank on any ex-
cuse. The first thing the detective
German ''Houdinii' - Plan: