Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-03-16
The Gray Phantom's Romance
Astonishing Adventures of an Unusual Hero


! to absorb its meaning. Slowly and
dazedly he mumbled the words.
| DYING MAN ACCUSES THE GRAY
PHANTOM.
Presently his quickeninS eye was
running down the column of type. Ii
was a lurid and highly colored account
of the murder of Sylvanus Gage, a
crime said by the police to be one OF
| the strangest on record. Headquarters
detectives confessed themselves baff1ed
by several of the circumstances, and
especially by the fact that the muir
derer seemed to have accomplished the
apparently impossible feat of making
his escape through door which had
been found bolted on the inside when
| the police reached the scene.
| The murder. it was stated would
| probably have gone down in the an
nails of crime as an unsolved mystery,
| but for the fact that the dying man
! had whispered the name of his aSSal'-
| ant to Patrolman Pinto. who had been
summoned to the scene by the house
keeper Mrs. Mary Trippe. after the
latter had been disturbed by myS-
terious sound. The name mentioned
by the victim was that of Cuthbert
Vanardy. known internationally as the
police as one of the most ingenious
criminals of modern times.
However, the account went on. the
Gray Pha ntom's guilt would have been
clearly established even without his
victims dying statement. 1t had been
learned that for some years feud had
existed between the two men and that
the Gray Phantom had threatened to
take his enemys life. The total ab-
sence of fingerprints and other tangi-
BILE clues strongly suggested that the
deed could have been perpetrated only
by a criminal in the Phantoms class.
The perpleXing features added further
proof of the Phantom's guilt. Who
else could have made his escape in
such an ineXplicable manner? Who
but the Gray Phantom, who was
known to be pursuing a criminal ca
reer for pleasure and excitement
rather than for the. profits he derived
from it, would have left behind him
small fortune in perfect stones, TAX
ing nothing but worthless curio?
These and other details Vanardy
read with interest. He smiled as he
reached the concluding paragraph,
stating that countrywide search
for the murderer was in progress and
that the police confidently expected
to make an arrest within "a hours. lie
glanced at the accompanying likeness
of himself, made from a photograph
taken in the early stages of his career.
What drivel"' he exclaimed, toss
ing the paper aside. Then. one by one,
he glanced through the other early
editions of the New York evening
newspapers. All featured the Gage
murder on the first page, and all the
accounts agreed in regard to essential
details. In the Evening Spheres story
of the crime, however, he detected a
subtle difference. 1t presented the
same array of damning facts, point
ing straight to the inevitable conclu-
sion of the Phantom's guilt. yet. be-
tween the lines, he sensed an elusive
quality that differentiated 1t from the
others. He read it again, more slowly
this time; and here. and there, in an
oddly twisted sentence or an ambigu
Gus phrase. he caught hint that the
writer of the Spheres article enter
tanned a secret doubt of the Phant
guilt.
The suggestion was SO feeble. how
ever, that casual reader would
scarcely have noticed it, and what
ever doubts the writer may have felt
were smothered under a mass Of evi.
dence pointing in the opposite direc-
ton. He threw the paper down With
an air of disdain. Here, in this shell
tered retreat, what the world thought
of him was of no account. Serene in
his seclusion, he could snap his fingers
at its opinions and suspicious. He sat
down at the piano, and moment
later his finely tapering fingers were
flashing over the keys.
Suddenly, in the midst of one of his
favorite arias, his hands began to
falter. For time he sat motionless,
with lips tightening gazing narrowly
at the point where Helen Hardwick
had stood at the moment when he :Ield
her hand. His face was grim and
troubled, as if disturbing thought
had just occurred to him. He got up
and with long strides passed TO the
desk, where he pressed button.
Wade" he crisply announced when
the fat man reappeared II am going
to New York IN the morning"
Wade sat down, drawing a squeaky
protest from an unoffendinS chair.
ITO New-New York" he stammered.
Exactly. Tell Dullah to pack my
grip. / shall leave early, about the
time you are getting your beauty
sleep"
Wade bIinked his little eyes. 'But
why, boss?''
Here's the reason Vansrdy hand
ed him one of the papers he. had been
perusing, watching with an amused
smile the fiabbergasted look that came
into the fat mans face as he read. As
he approached the end Of the article,
wheezy gasps and indignant mutters
punctuated the reading.
Rot he commented, emphatically.
IF | wasn't a fat man I'd lick the
editor of this sheet within an inch of
his life. Why, you always play ed the
game according to the code, boss. You
never killed man in your life"
mo, never"
And you were right here at Sea
Glimpse at the time the murder was
done"
True enough. But J might have
some difficulty proving it. Your own
testimony wouldn't be particularly inn
pressive.
Besides, there's just enough of
truth in the police theory to give color
to the lies. 1t is true Gage and
quarreled, and / believe / once threat
ened to give the old skinfiint a beat
ing. 1t was foolish wrangIe involv-
ing nothing but a cross made of imita-