Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1922-05-20


Well, 1t Is. as near as 1 can make out,
combination of dishonest merchants
and insurance adjusters engaged in
the business of deliberately setting
fires for profit. These arson trusts are
not the ordinary kind of firebugs
whom the fremen plentifully damn In
the nxed belief that one-fourth of all
nres are kindled by incendiaries
such trusts exist all over the caun-
try. They have operated in Chicago,
where they are said to have made
seven hundred and fifty thousand dol
iars IN one year. Another group Is
saio 70 nave its headquarters in Kan
sas City: Others have worked in ST.
Buffalo The Are marshals of illinois.
Kentucky. Tennessee. and Ohio have
investigated their work. But until
recently New York has been singu-
Iariy free from the organized work
OF this sort. OF course. we have plenty
OF nreougs and pyromaniacs in a
before.
Now, the Jones-Green fire, the
quadrangle fire. the Slawson building
nre' ana the rest, have all been set for
may as well say right here that some
people are in bad in this case. but that
others are in worse. Miss Wend was
originally a party to the scheme Only
me trouble with Miss Wend was that
sne was too shrewd to be fooled. She
!nslsted that she have her full share Of
the pickings. In that case it seems to
nave been the whole field against Miss
Wend, not a very gallant thing nor yet
according to the adage about honor
among thieves
frank to say / do not know-yet-con-
ceiyed the idea Of destroying the obli-
gatlons OF the Stacey compares to Miss
Mehd as we'll as the discriminating evil
aence which she held Of the firebug
trust, Of which she was a member up
to this time. The plan only partly sue
ceeded. The chief coup. which was to
destroy the Stacey store into the bar
gain. mfscarried.
What was the result? Miss wend,
VINO had been hand in glove with the
trust was now a bitter enemy, per-
haps would turn states evidence. What
more natural than to complete the con-
spiracy by carrying out the coup and at
the same time get rid of the dangerous
enemy OF the conspirators? I believe
pretext or other to the Stacey store on
the night Of the big fire. The person
VINO wrote the second and third "A
spark letters did 1t. She was murdered
with this deadly instrument''-Cairg laid
the letter-file on the table-"and 1t was
planned to throw the entire burden OF
suspicion on her by asserting that there
was a shortage in the books Of her de-
partment."
POOH exclaimed Stacey. smoking
been victimized in those fires by people
who have grudges against US, labor
unions and others. This talk of an
arson trust Is bosh-yellow Journalism.
More than that, we have been system
aticaliy robbed by a trusted head of a
nd
was the way the thief took to cover
er-her stealings. At the proper time
we shall produce the bookkeeper Doug
las and prove it,
Kennedy fumbled In the drawer of
the desk. then drew forth a long strip
OF paper covered with figures. "All the
Stacey companies" he said. have been
suffering from the depression that ex-
lists IN the trade at present. They are
insolvent. Glance over that. Stacey. 1t
OF the accountants Of the district attor-
ney who have been going over your
books today
Stacey gasped How did you get it?
The report was not to be ready until 9
o o'clock and 1t Is scarcely quarter past
now"
Never mind how I got 1t. Go over
1t with the adjusters, anybody. I think
you will find that there was no shortage
in Miss Wend's department, that you
were losing money. that you were in
debt to Miss Wend. and that she would
have received the lions share Of the
proceeds of the insurance II the firebug
scheme had turned out as planned"
eve absolutely repudiate these fig
ures as fiction" said Stacey. angriIy
turning toward Kennedy after hur-
ried consultation.
this" replied Craig, pulling another
piece of paper from the desk. I'll
read 1t. Henry Douglas. being duly
sworn. deposes and says that one
with force and arms did feloni-
ously. willfully. and Intentionally kill
Rebecca Wend whilst said Blank was
wilfully burning and setting on
"one moment" interrupted Stacey.
Let me see that paper"
Kennedy laid 1t down so that only
the signature showed. The name was
signed in full round hand. Henry
Douglas
ITS a forgery" cried Stacey in
rage. Not an hour before I came
He had signed no such paper then.
He could not have signed it since,
and you could not have received it,
I brand that document as forgery"
Kennedy stood up and reached down
into the open drawer on the right Of
I had seen him place there
early in the evening.
Gentlemen" he said, this is the
last scene of the play you are enact
ing. You see here on the desk an
instrument that was invented many
come really practical. It is the tel
long distance writer.
In this new form 1t can be introduce
into the drawer of a desk for the
use of any one who may wish to
make inquiries. say, of clerks with
out the knowledge of caller 1t
1t possible to write a message
under these conditions and receive
an answer concerning the personality
or business Of the individual seated
at ones elbow without leaving the
desk or seeming to make inquiries.
with an ordinary pencil I have
written on the paper of the trans
mitter. The silk cord attached to the
pencil regulates the current which
controls a pencil at the other end of
the line. The receiving pencil moves
with my pencil. It is
the principle Of the paragraph cut
at the end of the line. two telephone
wires in this case connecting the
halves.
while we have been sitting here I
have had my right hand In the half
open drawer OF my desk writing with
this pencil notes Of what has tran
spired In this room. These notes. with
other evidence, have been stimuli
placed before Magistrate
Bremen in the night court At the
same time. on this other, the receive
Ing instrument. the figures Of the ac-
countants written in court have been
reproduced here. You have seen Them
Meanwhile Douglas was arrested,
taken before the magistrate and the
for a charge of murder