The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1928-02-14
@ 90 UBG 90 osssss::s:.
XANAK0~ mUKDE[K CASE
2/ :. SWAN DINE AUTHOR % THE BENSON MURDER CASE
De % THE BENSON MURDER CASE

lady's life at midnight or there.
abouts?"
"Come. comet" laughed Mark
ham. THAT'S q bit too far.fetched.
You'd give every law.breaker credit
for connecting schemes OF the most
diabolical cunning"
$50 l would" admitted Vance ap-
athetically. "And-d'ye know?-I
rather fancy that's just the kind OF
schemes a law-breaker would con.
coct, II he was planning a murder,
and his own life was at stake.
what really amazes me is the
naivc assumption OF your investi-
gators that murderer gives no
intelligent thought whatever to his
future safety. It's rather touchin'.
y know"
Markham grunted.
well, you can take it from me.
1t was Cleaver himself who got
that summons"
Il dare say you're right" Vance
conceded. II merely suggested the
possibility OF deception, don't "
know. The only point I really in
sist on is that the fascinatin' Miss
Odell was killed by a man of subtle
and superior mentality"
"And I, in turn" irritably re.
joined Markham. Insist that the
only men Of that type who touched
her life intimately enough to have
had any reason to do it are Man.
nix. Cleaver. Lindquist. and Spots.
woode. And / further insist that
not one Of them can be regarded
as q promising possibility"
Il fear must contradict you, old
DEAR" said Vance serencly.
They're all possibilities-and one
OF them is guilty."
Markham glared at him deris.
lively.
well. well! So the case is set.
tied! Now. il you'll but indicate
which is the guilty one, I'll arrest
him at once. and return to my
other duties"
you're always in such haste"
Vance lamented. why leap and
run? The wisdom Of the worlds
philosophers is against it. Festina
lcnfc. says Caesar: or, as Rufus has
1t. Fcsttnatio tarda est. And the
Koran says quite frankly that haste
IL OF the Devil. Shakespeare was
constantly belittling speed:
He tires betimes that spurs too
fast betimes';
and Wisely. and slow: they stumble
that run fast
Chaucer also held similar views.
He hasteth well said he, that
WISELY can abyde.' Even Gods
common people have embalmed the
idea in numberless proverbs: God
and quickly seldom meet; and
'Hasty men never want woe"
Markham rose with q gesture OF
impotence.
"Hell! I'm going home before
you start . bedtime story" he
GrOwled.
The ironical aftermath Of this
remark was that Vance did tell q
bedtime story" that night: but he
told It to mo in the sec1usion of
his own library: and the sist Of it
was this:
"Hsath Is committed, body and
soul. to . belief in Skeels guilt:
and Markham 10 a. effectively
strangled with legal red tape as
the poor Canary was strangled with
powerful hands. Ehex, Van! There's
nothing left for me but to set forth
tomorrow q cdppelld, like Gabo-
riau's Monsieur Lecoq, and see
what can be done IN the noble cause
Of Justice.
II shall ignore both Heath and
Markham. and become Is . pelican
Of the wilderness. IN owl Of the
desert. . sparrow alone upon the
housetop. Really, y know.
I'm no avenger Of society, but I do
detest a unsolved problem"
(Thsrs1ay, September Is:
5orenooN)
Greatly to Currie's astonishment
Vance gavc instructions to be called