Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-07-08
CHAPTER XXvI.
The Astounding Truth.

monday, December 10: II pm)
AS you know, Markham" Vance
began, when we were seated about the
library fire late that night, II finally
succeeded In putting together the items
Of my summary In such way that ]
could see plainly who the murderer
vas. Once / had found the basic pat
tern. every detail fitted perfectly into
q plastic whole. The technic of the
crimes, however, remained obscure; SO
I asked you to send for the books in
Tobias's Mbrary-T was sure they would
tell me what wanted to know. First,
I went through CROSS 'Handbuch fur
UntersuchungSrichte wa;ch / re-
garded as the most likely source OF in
formation. II is an amazing treatise.
Markham. It covers the entire field OF
the history and science Of crime; and.
IN addition, is compendium OF GRIM
iraal tecllnic, citing specific cases and
containing detailed explanations and
diagrams. Small wonder Il is the
worlds standard cyclopaedia on its
subject AS ] read it, I found what
was looking for Ada had copied every
act Of hers, every method, every de-
vice, every detail, from its pageS-from
actual criminal history! We are hardly
TO be blamed for our inability to COM
hat her schemes; for it was not she
alone who was deceiving us; 1t was the
accumulated experience Of hundreds
Of shrewd criminals before her, plus the
analytic science of the worlds greatest
criminologist-Dr Hans Gross"
He paused to light another cigarette
But even when I had found the
explanation of her crimes" he con-
tinued. II felt that there was some
thing lacking, some fundamental PEN
cfant-tne thing that made the orgy
of borrow possible and gave viability.
so to speak, to her operations. We knew
nothing Of Ada's early life or OF her
progenitors and inherited instincts:
and without that knowledge the crimes,
despite their clear logic, were incredible.
Consequently my next step was to
verify Ada's psychological and environ
mental sources. had had a suspicion
from the first that she was Frau Mann
helms daughter. But even when yeri-
fed this fact couldn't see its bearings
on the case. 1t was obvious. from our
interview with Frau Mannheim, that
Tobias and her husband had been in
shady deals together in the old days:
and she later admitted TO me that her
husband had died 13 years ago, in
October. at New Orleans, after year S
illness in hospital. She also said, as
YOU may recall, that she had seen
Tobias q year prior TO her husband S
death. This would have been II years
ago-just the time Ada was adopted by
Tobias. / thought there might be some
connection between Mannheim and the
crimes. and / even toyed with the idea
that Sproot was Mannheim. and that q
dirty thread of blacEmail ran through
the situation. So decided 10 inTeSti-
1xfv 1ae Snk
70 New Orleans; and there ! had nc
difficulty IN learning the truth. BY
looking up the death records for Octo-
Der, I3 years ago. I discovered that
Mannheim had been in an asylum foI
the criminally insane for year preceo-
ing his death. And from the police
ascertained something Of his record
Adolph Mannheiu1--Ada's father-was
H. seems, q famous German criminal
and murderer. who had been sentenced
70 death, but had escaped from thf
penilentiary at Stuttgart and come te
America. I nave a suspicion that tnt
departed Tobias was. IN some way
mixed up In that escape. But whether
or not / wrong him. the fact remains
that Aoa's father Was homicioai and {
professional criminal. And therein lles
the expIanatry background Of he'
actions !"
You mean she was crazy Ike her Ole
mani" asked Heath.
no, Sergeant ! merely mean that
tile potentiallties Of eTlmina!ity haC
been handed down ~ her In her blood
When the motive for The crimes becamt
powerful. her inherited instincts as
serted themselves"
But mere money" put in Markham
seems hardly strong enough notiE'
70 inspire such atrocities as hers"
1T wasn't money alone that inspiret
her. The real motive went much deeper
indeed, IL was perhaps the most power
1ul Of ali human motives strange
terrible combination Of hate and low
and jealousy and q desire for freedom
To begin with, she was the cinderella
in that abnormal Greene family, lOoke'
down upon, treated like servant, mad
80 spend her time caring for naggin
Invalid and forced~~ae Sibella put 1t
10 early her livelihood. Can you not Sc
her for il years brooding over this treat
ynent nouriShing her resentment. ab
hoToing the poison about her, and com
ing al length 10 despiSe every one Il
that household? That alone Woui
have beer enough TO awaken her con
genital instincts One almost wonder
that she did not break forth long be
fore But another equally potent ele.
nent entered the situation. She fel