Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1922-06-16

Their host groaned. "Durand'll see
| go to the chair-and / only struck the
nan to save my own life. l wasn't try
ing to kill the fellow. He was shooting
at me, and l had to do it,"
"Of COURSE" agreed Whitford.
"We've got proof of that. Lindsay is
one witness. He must have seen it all.
I've got in my pocket one of the bullets
Collins shot. That's more evidence.
Then"
Beatrice broke in excitedly. Dad
Mr.. Muldoon just told me over the
phone that they've got the express
wagon. The plank with the bullet
holes was in it. And the driver has
confessed that he and a carpenter.
whose name he had given, changed the
partition for Durand."
Whitford gave Il subdued whoop.
"We win. That lets you out, Claren-
don. The question now isn't whether
you or Clay will go to the ~penitentiary,
but whether Durand will. We can show
he's been trying to stand in the way of
justice, that he's been cooking up false
evidence"
Let's hurry! Let's get to the police
right away! :" the girl cried, her eyes
shining with excitement. I'VE ought
not to lose a minute. We can get Clay
out in time to go home to dinner with
u.s."
Bromfield smiled wanly. He came to
time as CALAMITY as he could. "All
right. I'm elected to take his place, /
see."
"Only for a day or two, Clarendon"
said the older man. "As soon as we
can get together a coroner's jury We'll
s~traighten everything out"
"Yes," agreed the clubman lifelessly.
1t was running through his mind al
ready that if he should be freed Of the
murder charge, he would only have
escaped Scylla to go to wreck on Cha
rybdis. For it was a twenty-to-One bet
that Jerry would go to Whitford with
the story of his attempt to hire the
gang leader to smirch Lindsay's repu-
tatiOn.
1t must be admitted that when Brom-
field made up his mind to clear Lindsay
he did 1t thoroughly. His confession
to the police was quiet and business
like. He admitted responsibility for
the presence of the westerner at the
Omnium club. He explained that his
guest had neither gambled nor taken
any liquors, that he had come only as
O spectator out of curiosity. The story
of the killing was told by him simply
and clearly. After he had struck down
the gunman, he had done a bolt down
stairs and got away by a back alley
His instinct had been to escape from
the raid and from the consequences OF
what he had done, but of course he
could not let anybody else suffer in his
place. So he had come to give him
self up.
The late afternoon papers carried
the story that Clarendon Bromfield
well-known man about town, had con
fessed to having killed "Slim' Collin
and had completely exonerated Lind
say. 1t was expected that the latte
would be released Immediately.
He was. That evening he dined a
the home of the Whitfords. The min
owner had wanted to go OIL the bon(
of Bromield, but his offer had beer
rejected.
"WeIl hear what the c%oroner's jur!
has to say" the man behind the desl
at headquarters had decided. It'll
not hurt him to rest a day or two il
the cooler"
After dinner the committee of de
Tense met in the Red room and dis
cussed ways and means. Johnnie an(
his bride were present because II
would have been cruel to exclude them
but for the most part they were silent
members. Tim Muldoon arrived witt
Annie Millikan, both of them some
what awed by the atmosphere of the
big house adjoining the Drive. Each
Of them brought a piece of informa
ton valuable to the cause.
The man In charge Of the blotter al
the station had told Tim that from
dip called Fog Coney, n of those ar
rested in the gambling-house raid, al
automatic gun with two chambers dis
charged had been taken and turned II
by those who searched him. 1t had re
quired some maneuvering for Tim tC
get permission to see Fog alone, but
he had used his influence on the force
and managed this.
Fox was a sly dog. He wanted tC
make sure on which side his bread wa:
buttered before he became communi
cative. At first he had been willing
to tell exactly nothing. He had al
ready been seen by Durand, and he
had a very pronounced respect for that
parsonage. 1t was not until he had
become convinced that Jerry's star was
on the wane that he had "come
through" with what Muldoon wanted
Then he admitted that he had picked
the automatic up from the floor where
Collins had dropped it when he fell
His story further corroborated that OF
the defense. He had seen "Slim" fire
twice before he was struck by the