Evening star., 1922-05-04

ri TELLO! Yes, this is Prof.
IL Kennedy. I didn't eaten
the name-ob, yes-Presi-
dent Blake of the Stand
ard Burglar Insurance Company.
What-really? The Branford pearls
stolen? Maid chloroformed? Yes, III
take the case. You'll be up in half an
hour. All right, I'll be here. Good
bye" -,
1t was through this brief and 9asa- ta;a-
flesslfke conversation over the tele.
phone that Kennedy became involVeo
in what proved to be one OF the mos
dangerous cases he had ever nanoiees
At. the mention Of the branloEu
pearls ! involuntarily stopped eat @
ed to pry into Craig's affairs, but pc
cause / simply couldn't help It,. inns
was news that had not yet been given
out to the papers, and my Ihsti.s
told me that there must De: sometnins
more to it than the bare statement Oh
the robbery. ,,, I,
some one has made rich haul"
commented ut was reported, l re-
member, when the Branford pears
were bought in Paris last year tha'
Mrs. Branford paid supword or a. mn
lion francs for the collection.
est detective to- cooperate VIII WIN
me I'M the case" added Kennedy:
BLAKE, 1 understand. is the head OF
the Burglary Insurance Underwrlters
Association. too. This will be Dig
thing. Walter, il we can carry II
It was the longest half-hour that
I ever put in, waiting for Blake 10
arrive. When he did come, it was
quite ;evident that my surmlse nao
been correct.
men who are increasingly common IN
business today. There was an ar
of dignity and keenness about his
manner that showed clearly how I'M
portant he regarded the case. SO
anxious was he to get down to pusi-
ness that he barely introduced him
self and his companion, Special Ofh-
Ger Maloney. a typical private de-
tective. E -
"Of course. you haven't heard any
thing except what I have told you
to the point. I'VE were notified of 1t
only this noon ourselves, and we
haven't given it out to tie papers
yet, though the local police in Jersey
are now on the scene. The New York
police must be notified tonight. so
that whatever we do must be done
before they muss things up. We've
got a clue that we want to follow up
secretly. These are the facts"
In the terse, straightforward Ian
euage of the up-to-date man of eff
cheney, he sketched the situation
for us.
"The Branford estate. you know.
consists of several acres on the
mountain back of Montclair, over
looking the valley and surrounded by
even larger estates Branford. 1
understand, is in the west with a
party of capitalists. inspecting a re-
ported find of potash salts. Mrs. Bran
ford closed up the house a few days
ago and left for a short stay at Palm
Beach. OF course, they ought to have
put their valuables in a safe deposit
vault. But they didn't. They relied
on a safe that was really one Of the
best in the markets. splendid safe,
I may say. Well, 1t seems that while
the master and mistress were both
away the servants decided on having
a good time in New York.
They looked up the house securely
there's no doubt of that-and just
Mrs. Branford's maid. who refused to
got all the servants. but there's not
a clue to be had from any of them.
They just went OF on a bust, that's
clear. They admit 1t.
'tNow, when they got back early
this morning they found the maid
in bed-dead. There was still a
strong odor OF chloroform about
the room. The bed was disarranged
As If there had been a struggle. A
towel had been Wrapped up in a
sort of cone, saturated with chloro-