Evening star., 1926-10-31

through reporting some of the
| most famous murder trials of
the last quarter of a century.
easily defended. The forces that can
! so upheave an apparently sober
| righteous. and God-fearing communi-
ty and drive those hurrying figures
along that darkening lane to some
thing darker still, are no mean forces
| surely.
What other forces drove Paola and
| Francesca to that marble bench in
tina garden in Rimini and set them
| drifting forever lamenting and Ia
mentable. through a windy hell? 1t
! Is Il far cry from that enchanted gar
den to the grim ar!dity Of the Phillips
farm, but in the fields that led to 1t
that night. golden.rod and asters
stood knee high, and there were stars
| in the sky. 1t ie a far cry from those
magic lovers. forever young and beau
tiful and doomed to the middle-aged
clergyman and the pretty, shabby
little choir singer-but the man in
| De Russey's lane saw only his gay
gypsy" dancing at his side. with
| crystal eyes, and golden heart and
heavenly voice--and she had only to
reach out her hand to touch the
noblest and wisest and bravest of
men.
This is a love story-as ruthless.
as selfish. as frantic. absurd and
touching as though 1t had been writ
ten 500 years before. True. it is
tails. In their letters and diaries
| these two dead lovers deal with great
things in small words, the tarnished
and counterfeit coin Of the lost dime
nNel and the discovered tabloid, but
he who runs ever so swiftly through
| them may read that this tinkling stuff
purchased something dearer to them
than much fine gold.
Love and Murder.
It is a love story-and it is a mur-
der story. 1t would be an exigent
| public, indeed. that would demand
more to rivet it's attention. However
much the fastidious may shake heads
and draw back skirts, murder is a
| gripping and irresistible thing to the
/ vast majority Of those who love the
drama and SAVIOR and incongruity of
| life. For life, to it's lovers, has often a
dreamlike, mechanistic and unreal
quality-it is only when the red hand
Of murder falls heavily on the shoul-
der that it wakes to a shuddering and
| pTOIOuIlu ScIlS0 VI realty.
| Here-here is life, even more in
credible than death Some force
stronger than all other forces has de-
scended OH the principal actors in this
| drama-a force that has swept from
them the one tenet that makes this
uncertain world moderately safe for
lhumanity-the tenet that human life
| is sacred. The murderer has found
something more vital to him than life.
his own or his victims. For as surely
as he takes another's life, he risks his
own-he is at once victim and execu-
! toner.
We are not dealing here with the
murder by stray shot from a drug
cmGed bandits gun. or a blow from
a drunken wife fe-beater-thoSe are
hdeous tricks of fate. with no mean
ing behind their empty cruelty. 1t is
the motivated murder that rivets us.
! however unprecedented that motive
may be.
Sayings Plainly Motivated.
Obviously, the Hall-Mills murder
was motivated. The strewn letters.
the carefully arranged bodies. the cut
throat, prove that beyond dispute
though it is difficult to find one motive
to cover those incongruous details.
| Whatever that motive was-ven-
geance, passion. fear. retribution,
blackmail-it was strong enough to
| make death more real than life to
those who moved under its spell. That
fact clothes even murder in a strange
and terrible dignity.
This Is love story. and a murder
story, and a mystery story. There
have been a hundred solutions Of it.
plausible and preposterous; you and
| ho tn hn CT nd
girl in the telephone booth and the
old lady in Dubuque. each has his or
her favorite one, but not one has yet
been advanced that quite covers every
phase Of this most perfectly plotted
of all mystery stories.
That is why all eyes are turned to
the pretty town in New Jersey, where
on Wednesday the law. which has
once more taken up the book that it
laid down four years ago, rs turning
the last pages of the story, hoping
that there 1t will find the final solu
ton of the mystery. the final un
raveling of the clues.
World Waits Eagerly.
And because it is a story compact
of tragedy, of pity, Of honor. because
in it are all the elements that go tc
make great drama, irony. and incon
gruity, moving touch of beauty and
despair. something grotesque and
something poignant-the world will
lean eagerly over the laws shoulder
reading those concluding pages.
Who used the brass lamp and the
ivorv-keyed piano in the Phillips
farm? Who led the footsteps of those
relentless pursuers to the crab apple
tree? What did Eleanor Mills say wher
she called the rector to the telephon.
| that sent him hurrying to her ant
death?
! Was it the wind or a reckless hant
that strewed those small, desperate
absurd and heart breaking notes o
Eleanor Mills over the blue lawn dress
notes that at once damned and alb
solved her? 1t is because you and
and the man in the street and thu
girl in the telephone booth and the
old lady in Dubuque want desperatel,
/, tn kunW the answer tn fheSa UueS