New Britain herald., 1927-09-22
Vy VAN DINE

greeted her kindly. I'm he dis tr.ct attorney. and there arr some questions I want 10 ask yog."
 She took straight char bE the .e9r and waited. gazing uerrousIy from one 10 The other ot Us. Mark .au'S gentle. pvrsuas.te voice, though, appeared to encourage her: and her answers beca4e more and Hnre iluan..
 The main facts rh.t ,-agspmed fom quartar-ot-an-Houfs ex- awinaton may te sluHsd Ep as .3llo.ss-
 Mrs. rlatz had b..n Bon~on's ..opsek.ep,r for to4r y.ars and .as tr- o4Iy servant employed. eae lived ID the house, and her l9gm vas On the third. or top, floor t9 ,aa r.ar,
 nn inc afternoon of the pr cshng G4y H-nsou EaI returned .rorl his offic" at au guusua,b carly hoar-arouad 1 o'ciocA-- auuoHn~inG 10 Mrs. Plaz that |. would not be hon,. Tor dinner rbat evening, h. had remained in the Hvins-room @rh he hall door closed. until half past six. arl had then gone upstairs 10 dress.
 H. had left the house about : o'clo~h, but had not said Wherc he was going. II. had remarked c3suHlly that he would re;grn in fairly good season, bu- lad told Mrs. plaA she ueei not Hait up for him-which Was her custom whenever h. intended bringing guests homo, This was the last she had seen him aIvc. She had Lot heard him when he returned taa, night.
 She had retired about half pas ten. and because Of th~ neat. lad left the door aiar. Sho haI been awakened some time later hy T loud dc:oaatioa. T. lad startled h.r. and she had turned on tho light by her bed. noting that it was jus, half past twelve hy the small alarm-clock she usel for rising. T. was in fact. the early hour which had r.as- surcd her. Benson, whenever h" i went out for the evening, rarely returned homo before two; and this fact. coupled with the still ness Of the house, had made her conclude tha. the noise which Lad aroused her had been merely the bactflrine Of an automobile in Fortv-ninth Street Consr- mlrntlg sh" had dismissed the matter from her mind, and gone back 10 sleep.
 Al o'clock tho next morning she came downstairs as usual 10 be- gin her days duties, and. on her way 10 the front door 70 bring in the milk and cream, had discovered Bcnson's body. All the shades in the lirIng-room were. down. Al first she thought Benson had fallen asleep in his char. but when she saw the bullet hole and noticed that the electric lights had been
 
 dead. She had gone at once to ihc telephone in the hall and, asking the operator for the police station. had reported the murder. She had then remembered Benson's brother, Ma for Anthony Benson and had telephnned him also. He had arrived at the house almost Simultane ouslr with the detectives from inc West t'ortv-seventh Street station. H. had questioned her q little, talked with the plain-cloth"s men. and gone away before the mon from head quarters arrived.
 "And now Mrs. Platz." said Mark nam. gIarcing at the notes he had been making. 'one or two more questions. and We won't trouble yOu further. Have you noticed anything in MT. Benson's actions lately that might lead you to sus- ect that hc was V orried--or let US say, in fear Of anything happen ing 10 him?'
 "No, sir" the woman answered readily. Tt looked like he Was In special good-hurnor for the last week or so."
 T notice that most of the win 1ows on this floor are barred, Was he particularly afraid Of burglars, or of people breaking in?" well - not exactly was the hcsitant reply. "Rut he did use to say as how the police were no good. begging your pardon. sir-and how q man in this city had to look out for himself if he didn't want to get held up"
 Markham turned to Heath with