The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1927-11-08

"And you wanted to b. here ID
| protect herr"
eyes, sir-that was 4"
"Why were you 80 worried The
morning after the murder, wheu
| Mr.. Markham here asked you & Mr.
Benson kept any firearms around
the house :"
The woman shifted her gaze.
"I-wasn't worried" !
Eyes, you were, Mrs. Platx. And
I'll tell you why. You were afraid
we might think Miss Hoffman she'd
him."
"Oh, no, sir, I wasn't" she cried.
"My girl wasn't even here that
night Il swear it!-she wasn't
She was badly shaken: the nef-
vous t-nsion Of week had snappedj
and she looked helplessly about her,
"Come, come, Mrs. Platz," plesd-
ed Vance consolingly. "No one be-
lieves for moment that Miss Hoff-
man had q hand in Mr.. BenSon'a
DEATH"
The woman peered searchintlY
| into his face. At first she was loath
to believe him,-it was evident that
fear hid long been preying on her
mind,-and it took him fully Z quar-
ter Of an hour to convince her that
what he had said was true. When,
finally, we left the house she was
in comparatively peaceful state
| Of mind.
On our way to the Stuyvesano
Club Markham was silent, complete1
ly engrossed with his thoughts. IL
was eviden. that the new facts
educed by the interview with Mrs,
! Platz troubled him considerably.
Vance sat smoking dreamilya
turning his head now and then to
inspect the buildings we passed.
We drove east through Forty
eighth street, and when we came
abreast of the New York Bible
Society House he ordered the chauf-
feur to stop, and insisted that we
admire it.
christianity" he remarked, has
almos indicated itself by its ar.
chitecture alone. With few excep.,
tons, the only buildings in this city
that are not eyesores, are the
churches and their allied strucI
lures.
1.-THE American aesthetic credo iss
Whatever's big is beautiful. These
depressin' gargantuan boxes with
rectangular holes in 'em, which are
called skyscrapers, are worShippee
by Americans simply because they've
huge. A box with 40 rows Of hoiea|
is twice as beautiful as = box with
20 rows. Simple formula, what 8
Look at this little five-steyJ
affair across the street. It's in,
| f'nitely love!ier-and more impress
| sive, too-than any skyscraper in
the city. -. :"
Vance referred but once to the
crime during our ride to the club,
and then only Indirectly.
kind hearts, " know, Markham,
are ore than coronets. I've done
a good deed today, and I feel pos
lively virtuous. Frau Platz will
sleep much better tonight. She has
been frightfully upset about little
Gretchen. She's q doughty old soul;
motherly and all that. And she
couldn' bear to think Of the future
Lady We're de We're being suspected.
! Wonder why she worried so?"
And he gave Markham a sly look.
i Nothing further was said until
after dinner, which we ate in the
Roof Garden. We had pushed back
our chairs, and sat looking out over
the tree-tops of Madison Square.
Nov, Markham" said Vance,
"give over all prejudices, and con-
slider the situation judiciously-as
! you lawyers euphemistically put it.
/. To begin with, we now know
| why Mrs. Platz was so worried at
your question regarding firearms,
and why she was upset by my ref
erence to her personal int'rest in
Benson's tea companion. So, those
two mysteries are eliminated. :"
"How did you find out about her
relation to the girl?" interjected
Markham.
"'T was my ogling did it." Vance
gave him a repruving look. "You,
recall that 'ogled' the young lady
at our first meeting,-but forgive
you. And you remember our
little discussion about cranial
| idiosyncrasies
"Miss Holman, I noticed at once,
pOSSCSScu 0A4 C1AC VAy 0SSo4 4V& SSSn~
lions # Benson's housekeeper. She
was brachycephalic; she had over.
articulated cheek-bones, an o1thog-
nathous jaw, a low flat parietat
structure. and q mesorrhinian nose.
Then / looked for her ear,
for I had noted that Mrs. Platz had
the pointed, lobeless, 'satyr' eas~a
sometimes called the Darwin ear.
These ears run in families; and
when I saw that Miss Hoffmsn,s
were of the same type, even though
modified, YVES fairly certain Of the
relationship.
"But there were other similari-.
ties-in pigment, for instance: and
in height,-both are tall, y know.
And the central masses Of each were
very large in comparison with the
peripheral masses: the shoulders
were narrow and the wrists and
ankles small, while the hips were
/ bulky. That Hoffman was
| Platz's maiden name was only q
guess. But it didn't natter
| THE b0Ok-0r Z part of it-has.
I believe, been recently translated
into English.
(To Be Continued)