The Bozeman courier. (Bozeman, Mont.) 1919-1954, 1926-03-26

.AuQ LuHEe meeaAeuEae IS al IUak 4 nave 10
report from the reading Of the :nind Of this
man. It is for your persIicaciyy to discOV-
er. whether or not it's reports to its pos
J SCISSOR were truthful ones and If Andre was
actually guilty Of the finale Of this hid
eOus crime. / viii not even promise to eX-
anime the man myself, because in the case
Of such a swift and savage impulse 1t
would seem sometimes that its discharge
l might be committed in a moment Of frenzy
that is like many forms OF criminal mad
2 ness performed without reconciliation, one
1 might say without VOlitiOn. 1t is as if the
I individual we're mOmentarily possessed Of a
2 demon, the urge Of whom he is unable 20
resist. And perhaps the imperative diabOlic
I mind that drives this unfortunate is not
e actually his own, for in some cases on re-
gaining sanity Of reason the criminal has
i no recollection OF his act. therefore, IL
D must be evident, messieurs, that in such an
s instance my lower would be Of no avail.
One cannot read from the blank page"
- He stopped speaking and glanced down
e at Robert Delmas, whose face now wore, /
2 thought, an expression Of satisfaction. Per-
!. haps he felt there might be a shifting Of
the guilt to Andre or perhaps 1t was mere
D ly to crafty a hatred long suppressed.
But at that moment he raised his bag
I gard face and said without waiting to be
d questioned: What monsieur has Just de-
scribed is true, in effect. / was seized with
u a madness. But II was Andre Wharf who
r killed his uncle. / have reason to believe
+ that he had learned Of his being cO-heir Of
NJ. Vibart's fortune"
e A subdued murmur ran round the room.
n Chances Of admiration and a sort Of awe
b were turned on Jacques. l caught such
II muttered words as "Stupifiant-
n able"-"etOnant"-
e But the grim faced president turned to
the man at his elbow and said CURLY, Ar
Y. rest Andre Wharf"
It Jacques and I left then. 1t seemed to
l. me that his sang-frOid had suddenly
re abandoned him. He looked pale and shak-
en-, and there was a rhine Of sweat across
his forehead. We went out, got in a taxi,
II and drove back . the studio. Neither Of
e US spoke on the way. Jacques leaned back
in his corner of the cab as if OverpOwerd
with fatigue, and / was rejecting on what
1 had just witnessed.
For in spite Of the startling demOnstra-
III ton of what would at first appear to be
e, occult power l was by no means convinced.
Mental telepathy it might be, and then
50 again it might be more than the result Of
ID keen and close deduction. If / had not
as known jacques as a boy, the chances are
Us / would now have admitted the possibility
OF of his psychic gift.
Of But / remembered not only his clever
r trickeries, but also his ingenuity in leaving
d himself always q lOOphOle of escape from
ne detection as a fraud. / remembered now
re. once he had myStified us as children and a
3 couple of lumbermen by packing a snow
40 bail in his mittened hands, then about to
throw it into a rapid stream his stating
IN that he could make it burn, set 1t Attire II
au he had a match. None Of US children had
de Il match, of course, but l. had EYtfcea that
Ter one of the men was smOking--0na SO asS9
had Jacques. To call his bluff, i tod thg
as; man what Jacques had said-thdt ne con.
OF make snow burn. The lumbern1er laughed,
TO pulled out a match and lighted Z, e2-
me Jacques calmly held his SNOWFALL Ovfl IN
Iy flare. 1t sizzled for a moment, aAd 0s 81
on jeered. Then to the amazement Of every
OF body it blaZed up in a yellow, SOOtY IL IBe
llu when, laughing, slyly, Jacques hurled Il
ee, into the stream. The astOnished lumbgv-
men asked to inspect the mittens, suspect
ell ing gasoline. We all shifted at them, but
ex- so far as we could detect they were limo
Did cent Of any trace Of cOmbustible.
led 1t was not until long afterwards that
a discovered the trick. Jacques had Learned
somehow that gum camphor was highly in
vas flammable. He had Lalmed a piece, 8.
ry' that in packing the SNOWFALL it was on IN
ST surface, but impossible to detect because o
lau the same white translucence as the we
KY. snow. Then he had put on his misten
Oh but avoided contact Of them with the cam
phOr. The real cleverness Of the trick IA.
30 in his doing it on the edge of the sawmil
II, dam, where he could throw the flamin.
arr; SNOWFALL into the mill-race, so that
All could not be subsequently examined.
the And here now with the same method h
had left open an alley Of escape in his eN
- animation of Andre Wharf. If Andre stub
bOrnly denied that his swift criminal in
pulse had led him to snatch up a shar
fragment of broken clOche and Llunge
into the throat Of his PROSTATE uncle, 81
yer jugular and carotid, how then could hi
w guilt be proven? 1t would have taken bJ
a second or two, and it was precisely til
n manner in which he was supposed to haN
met his death, but through the agency 1
accident. The interior Of the cabane wa
IA plunged in gloom. There seemed no wa
of proving Andres guilt any more than
proving that he had been falsely accuse
by Jacpes' prOfessed mind reading and Il
verbal confederation of Delmas.
The real ClOu Of the accusation again
viSt Andre was what JacL ues claimed to res
=. from the mind Of Delmas, that a man
S' Andres last experience and present Occ
ion patton would not have left his uncle's si
by through horror Of being shocked by t
,DF sanguinary catastrophe. The impulse
any honest man in face Of such a Situate
OF would have been to make an immedia
effort to stanch the rush Of blood. And
could not reasonably plead the shock
ines him was that on finding his uncle swift
7ree bleeding to death he had desired that Il
should happen-such an act being {
equivalent of murder.
Continuing my train Of thought, 1t tn
to occurred to NE that a man falling on the
nd clOches as they were shattered against [
cement floor could scarcely hope to esca
such wounds as that received by NJ. Viba
of Holding these nested one in the other wi
the dome Of the tOL one up under
chin, any sort OF fearful wound would SCI
Ter inevitable. All that Andre needed to
ign was to maintain his innocence IN race
every accusation or inquisitiOn, even shot
they "passer lie tabac," French slang
third degree q procedure that ought
ul0 be prohibited everywhere, and is prohth
al ed in England, where the accused is 1
al plOred not to say anything that might
We reached the studio, and Jacques
dered tea for himself and something M
aWeii. Johnny" he asked, what alb,
ITO be frank, Jacques, I'd say that eli
er you are a psychic phenomenon, or e
gifted with a faculty for acute deduct
mems that You may employ a smoke screen
Zo74- mind reading. 1 haven't yet deci'
yOU1 which"
and rs that an?"
2 up "NOt quite. If it is the latter, theT
coat think it criminal Of you not to say so.
- you going to examine Andre2'
Jacques shook his head. mo, for the I
1LLer son I gave the police. 1 am convinced
iges- act was one Of mad impulse committed 1
N Of brief moment Of hOmicidal mania. His
- = record describes him q born killer, and
DOW functiOned as such in the trenches Ju
A., up fiably, evan meritOriOusly. His leash
the slipped for that purpose and its perfOl
ance acclaimed.
"Then, on this fatal day his surround
atmosphere was charged with remin
J" ence. The rumbling thunder suggested
N : envy artillery and the powder fumes Il
y y the mortar he had fired were in his I
trils. The bombs bursting in the
~ - reused memories that maddened him.
a n6 savage impulses were rife, sanguinary
Juices SAVM2 - a.. ma -. 81 o-,eL O