New Britain herald., 1927-11-21

and d bold, level-headed gambler like the Major, there is a great diff terence-a psychological abyss, , Tn fact, their animating im- pulses are apostles. The plunger i is actuated by fear and hope and l desire; the cool-headed gambler is l actuated by eXpediency and belief ! and judgment. The one is emo- l tional, the other mental.
 "The Major, unlike Pfyfe, Is a lorn gambler and infinitely self l confident. This kind of self-confi- dence. however, is not the same as , recklessness, though superticially the two bear q close resemblance. It is based on an instinctivc belief in ones own infallibility and safe ty. It's the reverse Of what the | Freudians call the inferiority com plex.-a form Of egomania.
 The Major possessed it, but it vas absent from Pfyfe's compost tion and as the crime indicated it's possession by the perpetrator, ] .hne" 1IElc Was lHllOCcil'.
 'I begin to grasp the thing in q nebulous sort of way said Mark ham after a pause.
 But there were other indica- tions, psychological and otherwise" went on Vance. the undress at tire of the body, the toupee and teeth upstairs, th" inferred familiarity of the murderer with the domestic arrangements. the fact | hat he had been admitted by Ben son himself, and his knowledge that | Benson would be at home alone at that time-all pointing to the Major as the guilty person.
 Another thing: the height Of ! the murderer corresponded to the | Major height This indication. though. was of minor importance; ! for had my measurements not tal- ! lied with the Major, I would have | known that the bullet had been de- i fiected, despite the opinions of all ! the Captain Hagcdorns in the uni verse;
 "Why Were you so positive a woman couldn't have done it?" gro begin with: it wasn't a | woman's crme--that is. no woman would have done it in the way it was done. The most mcntalized women are emotional when 1t comes 10 a fundamental issue like taking life.
 That woman could have coldly , planned such murder and then l executed it with such business like i fficiency-aiming q single shot at her victims temple at d distance of five or six feet. would be con- 1 try, q ye see. 10 everything we know of human nature.
 Again women don't stand up 10 argue a point before a seated an- : tagonist Som chow they seem 10 feel more secure sitting down. They talk better sitting. whereas men talk better standing. And even had a woman stood before Benson, she could not have taken out a gun and , aimed it without his looking up.
 "A mans reaching In his pocket is natural action; but woman l has no pockets and no place 10 hide gun except her handbag. And a l man is always on guard when an angry woman opens q hand bag in front of him. tho very uncertainty of women's natures has made men it. ,; |, ! aroused But-abovc all--it vas Bensons bald pate and bed room slippers that made tho woman Hypothesis untcnabl"."
 You remarked momcnt ago." said Mark ham, that the murderer went there that night prepared to | take heroic measures if necessary. And yet you say h. planned the murder"
 True. Tho two statements don't conflict, y know.
 "Tho murder Was plaunpd--W with on, doubt. Rrt the Maj was will ing 10 give his victim lGst chanc" 10 save his life. My theory is this: The Major. being in q tight tinan- cial hOl" with state prison looming before him. and knowing that his rothcr had Sufficicn, funds in thc safe to say" him, plotted tn" crime. and went 10 the house that night prepared 10 commit if.
 "Frst, however. he told his brother of his prcdic'mcnt and asked for the money; and Alvin prob 'bly told him 10 20 10 the devil. The Major may even have pleaded a bit in order to avoid killing him; :; rut when the ltcr'ry Alvin turned 10 reading, he saw the futility of appealing further, and proceeded with the dire business.
 Mark ham su oked while.
 Granting all you've said" he re- marked at length. '1 still don't sec low you could know, as you asserted this morning. -at the