Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1924-07-14
THE STORY THUS FAB

Frank Rice. millionaire, is found
murdered in his library on the eve of
his daughters wedding. The weapon
used was a heavy cane.
Rice's best friend, is called in. He
learns that a valuable wedding present
is missing box containing $4,000 in
! gold pieces. and that Faith, Rice's
| tiers whose writer threatened to break
up the wedding. Faith admits that hel
cousin, Donald Maxson, was jealous OF
her. Word comes suddenly. that Max
son has been drowned at beach near
Long, BARLEY also learns that valu'
able book, worth 100000. has disap
peared since the tragedy-the very
| book which James Kent, rival OF
Rice's, had unsuccessfully tried to pur-
chase.
| Acting on impulse, BARLEY slips 6
| sheet of paper into the typewriter usec
| by Miss Long, and discovers that the
anonymous letters received by FAITH
Rice were written on her machine.
Pelt. Bartley's friend. is the nara
tor of the story. 80
"They were?" 1 said astonished
He nodded, yes, there is nc
doubt of it. You notice that the
letters they received have one or
two peculiar things about them
The letter e. for instance, has a
little gap at the top as If the type
was worn. Look at this" He took
| the piece of paper from the machine
and placed It on the desk.
went over to look at it. He had
written a line like this, ''e e e.
| that ran across the sheet. Every
| single one of them had the little gap
at the top of the letter. To make 1t
| clearer, he took from his pocket
magnifying glass and held it above
| the paper. The gap was. of course,
made larger and clearer. 1t seemed
queer, and l looked at it several
moments.
Placing the sheets of paper in his
pocket, he continued, That's not all,
Pelt. Did you notice the st.? Maybe
not, but the base of the t. is very
thick. 1t may be the type or the
ribbon, but there is little doubt that
| the letters were written on the same
machine. And this is the machine
| "Then," / suggested, they must
have been written by someone in
! the house"
He nodded, ooh, yes. of course
| For that matter, the paper the let
| tiers were written on is the same
kind as find in the desk here. The
same kind of watermark, even"
do you think" l ventured, that
! the young man that was drowned
wrote them? He had plenty of
| chances"
BARLEY looked at me with a very
remarkable expression, then laughed,
though why l could not see.
"Pelt," he said, you get wiser
every day. Once you would have
said something else. In your news
paper days you would have had an
other theory"
A little peeved, snapped, What ?"
He laughed, "Oh, something like
this. The dramatic Instinct, you
know. The old fool expression Of
the papers in every crime: Find the
| woman"
flushed. remembering that in the
days l was crime reporter on the
News, 1 had used that expression
very often. Seeing my face redden,
BARLEY continued:
"A dramatic crime. A beautiful
secretary, maybe in love with the
fiance Of her employers daughter,
she writes the letters to stop him
from marrying"
That's absurd" 1 growled. Again
he laughed but went on:-"Looks
feasible. Here is the machine and
here Is the paper in the desk. Who
else could have done it?"
His tone was such that l was not
sure II he was serious or not. At
the same time, felt a little alarmed
for had not thought of the fact
that the machine was the one the
girl used every day. or that she
might even be suspect at all. It
might be as BARLEY said. but I did
not wish to think so. Rather warm
ly said as much.
Seeing my position. he placed his
hand on my arm with little pat.
No, Pelt, l did not mean it? The
girl Is not the type, though you
know YOU never can be sure in a
crime like this. of any one. I said
that to see your face and listen to
your reply. Some bright reporter
Will Jump at that idea, however, or
would If they ever knew, but"
What he was going to say did
not know. for suddenly the butler
walked into the room. He came to
our sides, acting a bit embarrassed
as he said:
Mr.. BARLEY, sir, there is q man
wishes to see you. He asked for
Miss Faith but told him she could
not be disturbed, and then he In
sisted very violently that he must
see you"
See me-" cried BARLEY in a puz-
zled tone.
yes, sir; a Mr.. Kent. sir. he IL
out in the hall now"
That BARLEY was a BIT startled I
could tell. It was odd that, just
after we had been talking about
Kent, 1t should be announced he
wished to see BARLEY. How he