Iron County news. [volume] (Hurley, Wis.) 1913-1950, 1923-05-05

next, the editor accompanied me in
his car 10 point out the building where
Lawrence had his office Here he left
me, saying that If I would call at his
Office in about an hour. he would have
the back files of the newspaper I
wanted ready for me-"
Lawrence's Office was on the second
floor Of brick building and his door
bore the sign Law Office" At a
desk. reading a newspaper. was a man
Of about forty-five, with q very thin,
i nervous face. He threw down the
! paper and eyed me QueStioningly.
When ] told him that Slyke was dead
and that l had come to learn about
his Interview with him. he moved IN
easily In his chair; but when / added
That We believed that Slyke had been
{ murdered, and that as far as we knew
he was the last person to see him
alive, he was absolutely unnerved.
/ could see that. until l mentioned the
/ word murder, he had thought that
| Slyke had committed suicide For a
second l wondered If, after all, he had
not had something to do with the
! crime.
Taking a chair by his side, I said.
"You were the last person, so far as
we can discover. TO see Mr.. Slyke
alive. We know that you stayed for
few moments only, and that he him
self asked that you remain. AS you
| were the last one to see him alive, we
are much interested in what you can
tell US Of how he acted. Did he seem
nervous or upset?"
My question did not make the man
b. ;1y side any easier. He answered
quickly, In a high-pitched voice that
broke several times, II did stay; but
the other men win tell you that I was
going home with them until Slyke
asked me to wait a moment. I had
no idea beforehand what he wanted.
wish to God I had gone with the
rest. Some id fool win say killed
him"
It was just what some people would
say, when it became public that the
| butler had not heard Sykes voice
| again after Lawrence's departure. But
for myself, I could not connect guilt
with the thin, nervous figure beside
me-
what did he want to see you
about?" I asked.
Lawrence flushed, then half grinned,
as he answered, "He asked me If /
wanted to buy some Scotch whisky"
Buy some whiskyy I repeated In
establishment
"Yes, it seems foolish, doesn't It'll
But that's what he wanted to see me
about He said he had lots more than
he needed, and that he could let me
have five cases"
said nothing, trying to digest this
astonishing information. l had been
wondering what 1t was that Slyke
wanted TO see Lawrence about, and
had even made several guesses :. but
never in my widest Imagination had
l supposed that it was about whisky.
l could understand why Lawrence
should want to buy it, for good whis-
ky Is hard to get; but why Slyke. pre-
sumed to be a rich man, should want
to sell five cases was beyond my COM
prehension
He saw my surprise and said. ut
does seem strange. / was surprised
myself I had heard that he had a lot
of booze but we were not the closest
of friends. and nowadays a man let's
his liquor go only to his pals. The
man who will let you have five cases
Of whisky is a pretty good friend"
I smiled at his answer He was
right. People with imported liquor
were not giving it away. And what
was more, few men Of Sykes position
were selling their private stock.
Gle told me-" Lawrence continued,
that he had a great deal more than
he could use, and that he would sell
me some for one hundred dollars a
case. That's pretty cheap for i'm
ported stuff"
"And then you left him." ! asked.
''Yes He told me he was not go
Ing to bed yet. Said someone was
coming in about half-past one"
Here was a new piece Of evidence.
Slyke, then, had not gone to bed after
Lawrence left. but had waited up for
some other visitor. It was curious,
to say the least One o'clock In the
morning is not a usual hour for re-
ceiying callers.
Have you any idea who it was?"
NO" he said, shaking his head. 7
haven't the least idea AS I was
starting TO go he said, Stay awhile
am expecting a man about two, and
have TO wait up for him That's all
I know about IT,"
II was not much Of a clue. still II
was better than nothing. 1t did estab-
fish the fact that there had been
someone else with Slyke that night.
That is, If he were telling the truth.
The burning question In my mind was,
who was that second person? Was he
the one who had killed Slyke? The
odds seemed 70 favor 1t. Lawrence
had little further information to give
me. He said that Slyke had not been
especially nervous, Tor had he acted
Ike a man afraid Of anything.