The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1927-08-05
CHAPTER v

luilH eApcCt0u LIldl uIteF lIle STlti-
ing he had received at the hands of
the district attorney. Harvey would
prove recalcitrant and reluctant sub
ject for the tests we wished to try
upon him. He was nervous. it is true,
and 1t took good deal of reassuring
of the most tactful sort, ON Doctor
McAlister's part, to get him Quieted
down into anything like normal
state of mind; but he was perfectly
willing.
His first sight of the queer. mysteri-
ous-looking instruments which our big
room contained did nothing to cOun-
teract that fear. To the eye of ignOr-
ance it must look like torture cham
Der from the Inquisition, brought down
to date.
My chief spent the better part of an
hour taking the young man around
and explaining the different instru-
ments to him. and it was not long be-
fore young Harvey began to show an
inclination to test himself by every
electrical and mechanical piece of ap-
paratus in the laboratory. He had for
gotten the Oak Ridge mystery, for,
gotten Ashton, forgotten his recent ar
rest, forgotten, even, the detective who
was waiting in the corridor outside.
He was ready at last for our real
experiment. Nothing about Doctor
McAlisters manner suggested that
there was any difference. from our
point of view, between the amusing
things we had been doing and the
test which he now proposed.
''I'm going to see how quickly you
can think" he said. you're to sit
down in this chair. and Mr.. Phelps
here will read you list Of words. The
instant he reads word. you are to
say, aloud, the word 1t makes you
think of-say it just as quickly as you
can. You've shown an unusually quick
reaction time so far, but this is bet
ter test than any of them. We hang up
a pair Of little telephones, so-one in
front of you and one in front of MIR.
Phelps. The moment he speaks q
word it makes little mark on that re.
volving cylinder. The moment you
sneak, a second mark is made. The
cylinder turns round all the while.
and the distance between the two
marks shows how quickly or how
slowly you think"
ran my eye down the list which my
chief had prepared, with good deal
them to bring Harvey to the labora-
tory. The first twelve words were what
we call central, that is, they had no
connection, so far as we know, with the
crime, the mystery or the inquest. In
telling US his association with them,
which he would probably do freely
enough, our subject would establish
his normal speed in this sort of men,
tai operation.
But the thirteenth word was Loops
and the fourteenth was Pipe. The as
sociations he should announce with
those two words and the time he
should take in pronouncing them
would go far toward establishing
conviction in the doctors mind and In
mine as to whether Harvey had guilty
knowledge Of the means which had
been employed for the old mans muir.
der. If he had such guilty knowledge.
if he had seen that CHASTITY tourniquet
made, and twisted it taut himself, or
had witnessed the operation, those two
simple little words would almost in.
fallibly recall it. The words that
would flash into his mind might be
violin, perhaps, or throat, or even,
possibly, the plain black word murder.
If some such word as that, some
damaging, suggestive word, should
flash into his mind, one of two things
would happen. He would either say 1t
aloud. or he would stop himself from
saying it, and deliberately think up an
other word which, to our ears, could
have no sinister significance. But that
latter course of action would betray
him as certainly as the other, for
thought takes time, and the fact that
he had been obliged to stop to think
would be remorselessly and exactly
shown in the chronograph.
ITO BE CONTINUEDN