Evening star., 1922-03-04

except Gregory. He was easily CIV
most nervous OF us all. though ms
,,rr,sr Ache tried repeatedly to re-
assure him. 49,.
"Nr Close" began Kennedy. II
Won and Mr.. Lawrence will SIT over
here on this side of the room ""I''
DR.. Gregory ana MIR. Asche si' OH ''e
opposite side with Mr.. Jameson w ''
middle, 1 think both of you oppoeE's
parties will be better suited. fo'
appreherd that at various stages ~
what / am about to say both YOU MI
those, and you. Mr.. Gregory, Will "ah'
70 consult YOUR attorneys That. o.
course. would be embarrassing, If no;
impossible, should'you be sitting nea.
each other. Now, If we are ready !
shall begin"
Kennedy placed a small leaden cas-
ket on the table of his lecture nan
..in this casket." he commenced. SOL
emnJy .there is certain substance
which | have recovered from the ilS'
swept up by vacuum cleaner IN the
room of Mr.. Close"
one could feel the every air OF the
room surcharged with eScitenaen. II . :.
Craig drew on a pair of gloves anu
carefully opened the casket. Win
his thumb and forefinger he lifted out
a glass tube and held it SinSeriN a,
arms length. My eyes We're riNeteo
on it. for the bottom Of the tube
glowed with Il dazzling point of light
Both Gregory and his attorney ano
Close and Lawrence whispered tC
each other when the tube was DIS
played. as indeed they did through
out the whole exhibition of Kennedy
evidence.
hi a.:
subtle" said Craig. than the tube
which l hold in my hand. The in'as
ination of the most sensational writer
of fiction might well be|thrilled WIFE
the mysteries of this fatal tube and
its power to work fearful deeds. A
larger quantity of this substance in
the tube would produce on me. as
now hold it. incurabie burns, just as
it did on it's discoverer before his
death \ smaller amount. of course
would not act so quickly. The
amount in this tube. if distributed
about, would produce burns inevita-
bly,. providing l remained near
enough for Il long enough time"
Craig paused a moment TO enpha-
size his remarks
Here in my hand. gentlemen,
hold the price of womans beauty.
He stopped again for several mo-
mentS. then resumed.
"And now, having shown il to you
for my own safety l will place it
back in its leaden caSket.
Drawing off his gloves, lie pre-
ceeded.
Il have found out by a cabiegram
today that seven weeks ago an order
Tor one hundred milligrams of radium
bromide from certain person IN
America was hlled by corporation
dealing in this substance.
Kennedy said this with measured
words. and l felt thrill run through
me as he developed his case.
AT tnat same time, Mrs. Close be-
gan a series of Treatments with an
N-ray specialist in New York pur-
sued Kennedy. Nov. it Is not gen
orally known outside scientific err
cles. but the fact is that in their
physiological effects the N-ray and
Iadium are quite one and the same
Radium possesses this advantage
however. that no elaborate apparatus
is necessary for its use. And, in ad-
dition, the emanation from radiu Is
steady and constant, whereas the ~
ray. at best varies slightly with
changing conditions OF the current
and vacuum in" the N-ray tube. Still
the effects on the body are much the
same.
"A few days before this order was
placed l recall the tollowins dispatch
which appeared in the New York pa
pers. l will read 1T:
"Leigc. Belgium. October" ha
is believed TO z & the fist s criminal MI
death dealing agent is engaging pub
lie attention at this university town.
a wealthy Old bachelor. Pailin by
name. was fohnd dead in his fiat. y
stroke of apboplexy was at first be-
Ueyed to hafe caused his death but
close exaEIination revealed CURL
Gus discoloIation of his skin A spe-
cialist called in to view the body gave
as his opinion that the old man had
been exposed for a long time TO the
emanatioEs of \-ray or radium. The
police theory is that NJ. Pailin was
done to heath by q systematic appll-
cation OF either X-rays or radium by
a stude At in the university who room
cd next to him. The student hats dis
appeared
p "Now here. l believe. was the sug-
Cestion which this American criminal
followed, for | cut it out of the pa
per rather expecting sooner or later
that some clever person would act on
It. 1 have thoroughly examined the
room of Mrs. Close. She herself told
me she never wanted to return to IT,
that her memory of sleepless nights
| fix the impression that ! had already
formed from reading this clipping.
Either the N-ray or radIum had
caused her dermatitis and nervous
ness. Which was it? I wished to be
sure that j would make no mistake.
OF course. i knew it was useless to
look for an N-ray machine in or neal
Mrs. Closes room. Such a thing could
never have been concealed. The al
ternative? Radium! All. that was
different I determined on an expert
ment. Mrs. Closes maid was pre-
vailed on to sleep in her mistress
room. or course. radiations of brief
,;uration would do her no permanent
harm, although they would produce
their effect, nevertheless. In one night
the maid became extremely nervous.
M she had stayed under them several
hirhts no doubt the beginning of a
f,ermatftis would have affected her, If
hot more serious trouble. A system
attic application. covering weeks ano
months. might in the end even nave
led to death.
The next day managed. as have
said to go over the room thoroughly
with a. vacuum cleaner-a new one
of my own which L. had bought my
self But tests of the dust Wnich
got from the floors. curtains ana 1ur-
niture showed nothing at all. AS
last thought 1 had, however, cieanso
the mattress of the bed and the
cracks and crcvices in the brass oars'
Tests of that dust showed it to be ex
tremely radioactive. 1 had the dust
dissolved. by a. chemist who unueT
stood that sort of thing, recrystaI-
lized, and the radium salts We're ex,
tracted from the refuse. Thus 1 found
that had recovered all but very
few milligrams of the radium that
had been originally purchased in Lon
Hon. Here it is in this deadly tube in
he leaden casket.
1T is needless to add that the night
fter had cleaned out this deadly ele-
ment the maid slept the sleep of the
bust-and would have been all right
krhan har hut for fha n.