Newark leader. ([Newark, Ohio]) 1917-1946, 1923-03-16
SYNOPSIS

CHAPTER I.-John BARLEY. noted Grim
inal investigator, recently returned from
Secret Service work during the war, is
asked by the governor Of New York to
investigate a mysterious attempted rob-
berry of the Robert Slyke home at Circle
Lake, near Saratoga. Peculiar circum-
he accepts.
CHAPTER n.-With his friend Pelt,
BARLEY goes to Circle Lake, the pair
old friend. The three visit the Slyke
home. Slyke apparently resents Bartley's
coming, saying he is satisfied the two
men in prison for the attempted robbery
ing Slyks is found dead in bed, apparent
ly having shot himself.
CHAPTER III.-Miss Potter. the dead
mans sister-in-law the village police
chief, Roche. and the family physician,
Doctor King, all agree Slyke killed him
self, but BARLEY insists he was murdered
Investigating, BARLEY finds evidence that
Slyks, after a card party he had given,
was shst on the tower of the house. un-
dressed, and placed in bed. During his
absence from the room someone removes
the revolver from Sykes hand.
CHAPTER IVA boy working in the
garage asserts he heard shot during the
night, apparently "in the air." of course
really on the toweE.
CHAPTER V.-Pelt starts out to inter
view the members Of the card party. He
finds 10 his surprise that Slyke. apparent
ly wealthy broker had offered to sell his
friends whisky. He finds evidence that
the men in Jail for attempted robbery of
Slyke were framed.
CHAPTER vI.-Returning from a visit
to Saratoga, BARLEY, Pelt and Currie
come upon a large motor truck, without
lights and off the road. They are dis
covered endeavoring to ascertain the
license number, and fired on. The truck
gets a y. The three come upon long
disuseo 5urial vault. Apparently the lock
is new and BARLEY picks it. They And
the W t stored with whisky, and also
the revolver which had been found in
Sykes hand. a man, seemingly well
acquainted with the place. arrives. and
chauffeur A detective, working for the
revenue department, arrives and takes
charge of the vault.
"Then it might have been someone
in the house" l suggested.
BARLEY assented, and we discussed
the various persons in the household.
First, we both agreed that the shot
the boy had heard was the one that
had killed SIyke, and that the time
must have been between half-past one
and two o'clock. If that were so,
then. when the girl came in about
three o'clock, Slyke was already dead.
BARLEY was sure that 1t took at least
thirty minutes to undress Slyke and
get him down from the balcony to
his room. If the shot that the boy
heard was fred before two o'clock
then the girl would not be suspected
for she had not returned until three
We eliminated her.
BARLEY then analyzed the sister-fn-
law He said he felt sure she was
hiding something, for she had not
been frank in telling what she knew,
and seemed anxious to get him out
of the house. Whether what she was
Withholding concerned Sykes death
or not he could not tell; but what
ever it was, he' was determined to
discover it,
do you remember, Pelt," he asked,
that Currie told us she runs a ouija
board? There is nothing startling In
that; thousands are doing the same
thing. Since the war all forms Of
spirituallsm have made hundreds Of
converts. When she met King at the
door this morning, she told him that
the board had spelled trouble the
night before"
/ stared at him in establishment
He seemed to be regarding a ouiJa
board seriously. He saw my look and
chuckled.
"Oh, I'm not interested in the ouija
board itself; what l am interested In
is that word trouble that 1t spelled
out for her"
This was more astonishing still, and
l asked, why, you haven't any faith
in those things, have your
Again he chuckled, then became Sc
rious Sure / have, but not In the
way you think The messages people
think come from another world, come
from che subconscious minds of the
persons who are fooling with the
board. Iney 90 not realize that they
themselves are subconsciously direct
ing It's movements and spelling out
their own messages. Now, that board
wrote for Miss Potter, Trouble Is
coming not once but many times.
What I want to know La this: What
was the something that, deep in her
mind, told her that trouble was COM
ing? What was the cause Of her
fearT
He lighted another cigar before he
continued: "There Is still another
thing that shows she knew some dan
ger was threatening. You remember
she also told US that she had dreamed
that Slyke had been killed"
/ knew what he was driving at now.
Freud, whose theory Of psycho-analy-
sis was well known to BARLEY, had
worked out the interpretations Of
dreams. The theory Of psycho-analy-
sis is that In our sleep the subcon-
scious mind has full play; our re-
pressions come to the surface and
express themselves in dreams. The
psycho-analyst is thus often able to
explore the secret places Of our minds