New Britain herald., 1927-09-23
CHAPTER TX.

Mrs. PlatZ, 1t was learned, had been born in a small Pennsylvania town, of German parents both of whom were dead; and had been a widow for over 16 years.
 Before coming to Benson, she had been with one family for F years, and had left the position onlX be- cause her mistress had given up housekeeping and moved into q hotel. Her former employer, when questioned said she thought there had been q daughter, but had never seen the child, and knew nothing of it. In these facts there was nothing to take hold of, and Mark ham had merely filed the report as q matter of form.
 Health had instigated a city-wide search for the gray Cadillac, although ne had little faith in its direct connection with the crime; and in this the newspapers helped considerably by the extensive ad- vertising given the car.
 One curious fact developed that fired the police with the hope that the Cadillac might indeed hold some clue to the mystery. 4 street. cleaner, having read or heard about the fishing tackle in the machine reported the finding of two jointed fishing rods, in good condition. at the side of one of the drives in Central Park near Columbus Cir cle.
 The question was: were these rods part of the equipment Patrel- nan Mclaughlin had seen in the Cadillaco The owner of the car might conceivably have thrown them away in his flight: but, on the other hand, they might have been lost by someone else while driving through the park.
 No further information was forth coming, and on the morning of the day following the discovery of the crime the case, so far as any definite progress toward a solution was con- cerned, had taken no perceptible for ward step.
 That morning Vance had sent Currie out to buy him every avail able newspaper; and he had spent over an hour perusing the various accounts of the crime. It was un- usual for him to glance at a news paper, even casually, and l could not refrain from expressing my amazement at his sudden interest in a subject so entirely outside his normal routine.
 No, Van, old dear" he explained lan6uidly T am not becoming sen- tlmental or even human, as that l word IS enormously used today. | can not say with Terence, Homo sum, humani. nihil me alienum 1 puto,' because I regard most things l that are called human as decidedly alien to myself. But, y know, this furry in crime has proved rather intrestn', or, as the magazine writers say, intriguing-beastly word, . Van, you really should read this precious interview with Sergeant Heath. He takes an en- tire column 10 say I know nothing A priceless lad! I'm becoming pos lively fond of him"
 Tt may be-" l suggested, that Heath is keeping his true knowl- edge from the papers, as a bit Of tactical diplomacy"
 No" Vance returned, with a sad wag of the head; mo man has Bc little vanity that he would delib'- ratcly reveal himself to the world as a creature with no perceptible powers of human reasoning-as Inc does in all these morning journals for the mere sake of bringing ont murderer to justice. That would be martyrdom gone mad"
 Markham, at any rate, may know or suspect something tha' hasn't been revealed" l said.
 Vance pondered a moment. {, That's not impossible,' he s1'