Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1924-02-20

Alone, l could never nave ac-
complished 1t nor could Lane, but
| together. with my knowledge of Joe
! Benkard's innermost processes of
thought and pnscrupuious methods
| OF manipulating tho market which
| he had confided TO me boastfuily
| down to the smallest detail, and
with Lanes own practical expert
| ence and mastery or the, same game,
| we stood a fighting chance. Ssc-
| cess would means fortune to Lane
and be agreed to divide with me
| OH, don't mind being frank about
| 1t: when love went out OF my life
men had become just what they
were before. creatures to be used,
| EARLY next morning, though.
| Lane telephoned me the news of
I Joe's DEATH and the suspicion that
| 1t had been murder. and cautioned
me to do or say nothing until had
heard from him again. On Sunday
evening he came and said the police
] had learned of his quarrel and
break with Joe and were looking up
his whereabouts on "Wednesday
night: that he had refused to give
an alibi till he bad an opportunity
to come to some agreement with
| me-"
She hesitated. and Geoff nodded.
60 course with Mr.. Bernhard dead
and gone there was no reason why
you should get into fresh .notoriety
after living quiet all these years. but
il the folks who were investigator
the case dragged You into it any
way, YOU hadn't no call TO protect
Lanes name SOS Wall Street
wouldn't git onto his double dealin'
! unless he paid you we'll not to tell
INi, roll 1, 4
been workin' hand in glove with
say if the POLICE should come to
You. didn't he:'
Dr. Hood made an odd. choking
noise in his throat, but Zoe Dawn
replied candidIy:
Yes. He knew I could tell the
truth about his proposition and still
save my own face by declaring | had
refused to entertain it. and it was
worth the hundred thousand he
promised me to shield him, for such
IL story would have put him out of
the Wall Street game for good and
all. 1t will. too. for if my name is
oven mentioned in the press in con-
nection with this case the past will
all he raked up again and this time
| can never live it down. mean
tiitit nv N.Ietll SuitNl stiSV, lpi IiC Has
double crossed me. He told me too,
that he had been left certain stocks
and bonds under the terms Of DOCS
will. made OF course when they were
secret ral tners. and that when it
was probated he would sell them
and give me one quarter of the pro-
ceeds for my continued silence.
4 made my compact with him
and when Il detective did come to
me yesterday afternoon | kept my
word and gave the explanation of
Lanes lato visit tn me on the night
of the murder we had concocted be-
tween us. Today [ discovered that
he had been making fool of me all
the time, that he never intended to
pay the price of my silence after
had once committed myself, and
that he had he'd about Joc's will.
too, he'd been left the bulk of the
estate.
Il would not sc TO the detective
bureau ia New York with the true
story. for after the trumped- up YER
sion | had given them yesterday T
knew they would never protect me
from publicity: brt when | found
out that Lane was laughing at me
in his sleeve | made up my mind
to tell all | knew to some one who
might find 1t useful in the invcsti-
CATION. and | thought of you. doctor.
You or your deputy may ask me any
questions YOU like and / will answer
but please let me say first that my
resentment against Lane is not my
only motive; III coming here. Ever
since it was settled beyond doubt
that Joseph Bernhard was murdered
have not slept. feeling that
should cone forward and tell what
perhaps only | knew. could have
seen him ruined. begGared. driven
to despair. but oh, not dead. Not
dead"
She sank back once more in her
chair, staring straight before her in
dull misery, and only reused herself
at the doctors question.
What is it you can tell US that
perhaps only YOU know. Miss Dawn?
assure YOU again that you are
speaking IN the strictest confidence,
and beg that you will be absolute
ly frank with us"
Il shall be-" The woman raised
her dry, haggard eyes to his.
Doctor there was something in
Joseph Benkard's life that he fear
cd. He was no coward. that much
must be said for him, but something
must have occurred in the past
that preyed upon his mind. although
he never consciously admitted it to
me, and ! am sure now that he
anticipated the death which actually
came to him. The haunting dread
of murder was ever in the back of
his mind.
when we first became interested
in each other and | grew to know
his every mood, ] observed that he
had curious fits of depression at. two
periods or the year, in the early
autumn and around the midwinter
holidays. He told me that he had
been receiving anonymous letters
evidently written by some lunatic
and threatening him with all sorts
of dire things, but l knew that
could not be the real cause; that
there was something deeper. some
thing stamped indelibly on his
memory. He had boosted to me of
the men he had used and whose
trust he had afterward deliberately
betrayed. of the firms which through
his secret Vaccinations had been
driven to the wall. He thought il
supreme cleverness on his part,
strokes of genius, and his con-
science did not trouble him in the
least. but of this other thing he
never spoke in hiswaking moments"
You mean. ma'am," the doctor
leaned forward with his hands on
his chubby knees, you mean that
lie talked in his sleep?"
She nodded.
"Hc often came to me straight
from the office after the market
closed in the afternoon, utterly ex-
hausted in mind and body with the
days conflict and strain. and would
throw himself on the davenport in
my library and fall almost instantly
into brief but deep and profound
s,umher. He awoke. strengthened
and refreshed, but | began To fancy