Newark leader. ([Newark, Ohio]) 1917-1946, 1923-05-11
SYNOPSIS

investigate mysterious attempted rob-
perry OF the Robert Slyke home at Circle
stances of the case interest BARLEY, and
be accepts.
CHAPTER II.-With his friend Pelt,
BARLEY goes to Circle Lake, the pair
becoming the guests Of Bob Currie, an
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
were guilty. BARLEY is not, Next morn
ing Slyke 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
Slyke, after q card party he had given
was shot 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
night. apparently "in the air." Of course
! really on the tower.
CHAPTER v.-Pelt starts out to inter
finds to his surprise that slyke. apparent
| ly wealthy broker, had offered to sell his
friends whisky. He finds evidence that
the t1,s.a men In 1aii for attempted rebssry Of
CHAPTER VI.-Returning from q visit
to Saratoga, BARLEY. Pslt and Curris
hs uHHn snG or afss hs ross c0r Ss1 T. nHs I
license number. and arsd on. The truck
gets sa1s.aS away; The three come upon E long
is new. and BARLEY picks 1t. They And
the vault stored with whisky. and also
the revolver which had been found in
acquainted with the place, arrives. and
they detain him It In Sykes missing
chauffeur, A detective, working for the
revenue department arrives and takes
CHAPTER VT.-Aftsr considering all
the mysterious angles Of the case. Bart
toy to- the heD1aed Murderer. e He is satisfied that
with taS it. ~ Miss Pottsrs arm 5slist in .Ss S
"ouiJa- board" and spiritualism also
seems to interest him.
CHAPTER VIII.-Bartley continues hts
search for evidence, and apparently hnds
some things he considers OF value. Tee
coroner, war veteran, and who had
been shell-shocked, conducts it. A heavy
thunderstorm Is In progress. Doctor
he believes Slyke was murdered
CHAPTER IX.-The storm increases In
intensity as the inquest progresses. Lit
tie of Importance is elected Briffeur, the
chauffeur, is called to the stand Before
he commences his testimony the lights
In the room are extinguished, stroke of
lightning having broken the circuit
During the ensuing confusion the party Is
Mortified by the utterance Of sudden
horrifying shrek.
CHAPTER X.-With the restoration of
the lights 1t is discovered that Briffeur
has been stabbed He had been sea ted
directly In front of Doctor King. No one
in his vicinity had noticed anything un-
usual before the mans shrek. Fatally
wounded, Briffeur manages to convey the
information that Slyke was murdered, re-
fers to the boys knowledge of the rob-
berry, and tries to point out the person
who had stabbed him, but dies before he
can do so. The inquest is adjourned.
How Briffeur had been stabbed without
any one being aware OF thee movements
of the murderer seems unexplainable.
CHAPTER XI.-On the handle of the
knife BARLEY finds design, apparently
drawn in Observation-Disclosures, which Ia
identical with one he had found on q
magazine in Sykes house, and seems
to attach much Importance to It. Miss
Potter admits knowledge of Sykes deals
in whisky, saying she had urged him to
discontinue them, and the two had had
slight quarrel over the matter. BARLEY
tells Pslt he knows who killed Briffeur
CHAPTER XII.-The boy employed in
the garage reveals the fact that Briffeur
in his cups, had told him he had framed"
the case against the two men convicted
of the attempted robbery of the Slyke
house and that he and another man he
did not name were the two who had
broken into the house. The reason he
gave was that Slyke lowed him a lot of
q
had supposed that in his intoxicated con-
dition Briffeur was merely talking wildly
and paid little attention to his sta atement
For some mysterious purpose Barley in
structs Pelt to procure five school states
He does so and they take them with them
to the Slyke home
We debated the story for an hour,
Roche taking the view that the chauf
feur might have been fooling the boy,
and. Black that the chauffeur had told
the truth and was too drunk to real
ize what he had said
Roche clinched his argument by de-
manding, 'Why, under heaven, should
Slyke owe Briffeur a large sum of
money!
That was, we all agreed, the weak |
point in the story.
MY Lord" Roche exclaimed as a
thought occurred to him, "do you
realize that it was Briffeur that found |
the torn pieces of cloth on the rose
bush, the piece that fitted into the
man't pants?"
In astonishment l asked, 1T wasp
1T sure was. He came into the
police station few days later with it
and told us where he had discovered |
1t, and asked if we knew what it was.
We found later that it fitted into a
hole in the pants one of the fellows
was wearing"
WAS he ever in the cell with those
menY Black asked, with a glance at
me.
Yes, several times. Slyke asked
that we let him go In and talk to