Evening star., 1922-03-26

wear tnoSe gloves!
The police were puzzled. A commits
sary called upon me, and i told him
all I knew concerning the gloved
man.
I'VE will make inquiries through
our embassy in London as to his iden-
tity. and that of the young lady. She
has been photographed. and copy
will 90 to London tonight"
So left Turkey and came back to
London. much puzzled. That Charles
Cathcart had murdered his wife. and
would have established an alibi. had
not so fortunately come upon the
scene. seemed quite proved.
1 called upon my friend at Scotland
Yard. and as soon as mentioned the
case he grew serious.
'Yes, we know all about 1t. The
man who calls himself Catheart Is un-
doubtedly an arch-criminal. There
are already three other charges
against him of numbering women
whom he married-doing away with
them after he had obtained all their
money. The first case was in Leeds
five years ago. He married q young
widow who had been left eight thou
sand pounds by her husband. and
three months later, after obtaining
the whole sum, she was found dead
beneath the cliffs at Robin Hoods
Bay, in Yorkshire. The second case
was that Of a young Austrian womah.
daughter Of a manufacturer of fancy
leather goods, living in Vienna. He
married her under the name Of Le-
fevre. and she was found strangled in
a hotel in Hercules Bad in Hungary,
whence he escaped. From her he had
obtained sixteen thousand pounds. In
the third case, when he married un-
der the name Of Cathcart at the Brit
ish consulate general in Rome the
only daughter of a wealthy land
owner in Sussex, who had died and
left her quite a substantial fortune,
he managed to get hold Of it and
then. in pretence of showing her Tur-
key and Asia Minor. he managed to
entice her into Galata, follow her. and
strike her down. It was your pres
ence in Constantinople that caused his
flight without doubt"
MANY months passed. I continually
~'A kept watchful eyes upon the
papers to see whether the gloved man
had been traced, but in vain. Though
he had killed his brides for their
money-in the same way that later
on Smith of the brides-in- the baths
case had killed his wives-yet he was
still at liberty!
had often wondered whether the
gloved man was dead when. on the
day previous to my call at the bureau
Of the surete in Paris.sa curious cir
cumstance had occurred.
had arrived at the Hotel Chatham
and been there for some days when
my old acquaintance, Arthur Rowe.
had drifted in. On the day after his
arrival we had lunched at the Grand
Hotel together. and as we sat over
our Iqueurs Arthur had hailed a man
who was just passing out.
"Hulloa, Evans, old chap! Fancy
you in Paris!" Rowe cried.
1t was the gloved man!
Cathcart turned and greeted me
quite effusively. saying:
"By Jove. Don't you remember me
on board the Danube boat, and
afterward at the Pera Palace?"
"Ah?" said Rowe. $50 you two
know each other, eh?" - =
"Of course 1 know you, sir" said
Cathcart. addressing me. But until
now 1uever knew your name"
glanced at his hands. He still
wore gloves Of the same gray hue.
wondered whether he had lunched in
them.
Cathcart. alias Evans, at Rowe's in
vitation. took a seat at our table. and
Joined us merrily in liqueur and cof-
fee. BY the conversation between the
friends. fact which struck me as ex-
ceedingly curious and even suspicious.
was sitting there calmly with a
man who was wanted by the whole
police in Europe!
reflected. Then I decided upon a
plan Of action: to behave in a subtle
manner and afterward to inform the
surete Of Cathcart's presence in Paris.
When Cathcart had gone and we were
walking along the boulevard together,
I remarked:
II didn't know that you were ac-
quainted with that fellow Evans"
"Oh, I've known him years-a most
excellent fellow, but perhaps a bit of
a four-flush," replied my American
friend.
What is he?"
Don't know, my dear old chap. I've
! never inquired. He seems always full
| Of cash money and stays at the best
hotels"
"A bit of q bon vivant, I should
say" remarked.
''Where did you meet him." asked
my friend.
up the Danube, long time ago"
| "Ah! He's often out in the near
east. I saw him with his wife at Con-
stantincple last. Ever seen her?"
I replied in the negative. 1t was
| evident that Rowe knew nothing of
the tragedy, or If he did he was clev-
erly concealing his knowledge from
me.
| X X y X
ONE fact gratified me. Rowe had
~ asked his friend where he was
staying, and Evans had told him that
/ he was at the Continental. They had
made an appointment to meet there
at IL o'clock on the following morn
| ing.
1 did not lose sight of the fact that
the gloved man had made good his
escape from. Constantinop1e after
meeting me, probably because he
feared that I knew Of the death OF
! Would he fly from Paris? That was