Evening star., 1928-12-03

Vitation to dinner. Besides, ne
knew that despite the differ
ence in their ages, the liking
was reciprocated. He smiled a
little at the transparent crattlnesS Whlcn
had led Gambion, on this particular oc-
casicn. to invite him to meet the olstln-
guished Judge Hood, visitor from an
other State.
Gambion had seized upon Peter as
one of the most promising OF his stu
dents, and Peter suspected that In the
professors eyes he had fallen from
grace in taking to journalism instead OF
concentrating on the finishing OF his
law course-with an income of nothing
a week. Judge Hood would be set forth
as a shining example: There, II you
stick to the straight and narrow paths
of jurisprudence, goes Peter Piper at
Yet Peter did not want to go to Prof.
Gambion's house for dinner. He want
ed to do nothing but think-even though
thinking had become single reiterated
circle His thoughts padded on. round
and round and round again, wearing
ever deeper track that led nowhere
save back to its own beginning.
He believed Barbara. He believed
Ellsworth He believed Mrs. Kane. He
had killed Sheila O'Shay. They were
simply not the right people for it. It
did not hitch on TO them.
That murder was committed by some
one who knew exactly what he was do
ing. The case had not progressed one
inch nearer to solution than in the be-
ginning. 1t was deep-fsr deeper than
any one had yet penetrated. There
was mind behind it-a mind far su-
perior to Orme'S or Mrs. Kane'S or
Ellsworth's
AS for>Barbara, her bare word was
better than a thousand proofs. She
had intellect, but she also had charac-
ter. She had the temperament for
truth. She was crystalline. It wasn't
a code of moral teachings with her,
something imposed from without, to be
sloughed off when the demands of self
interest became too strong. 1t was her
sell
Peter sat back in the shadow just
. beyond the freight, smoking one Gig
arctic after another and now and then
slipping at the glass of sherry on the
. arm of his chair. The old professor
had saved a small cellar from the pre-
Volstead era, and one of his precious
/ bottles had been brought out in honor
of his old friend. the Judge. Now and
then Peter reused himself to listen to
! their desultory talk.
you're on a newspaper, believe
Gambion said?" Judge Hood turned to
Peter, courteously including him in the
topic of conversation. They had been
discussing, as every one was discussing,
the Ellsworth case, and from that had
drifted to famous unsolved crimes of
the past.
Guilty, your honor" Peter admitted,
smiling.
Then I'm sure you'll bear me out
against the professor that many of the
great unsolved crimes were not really
unsolved at all. A group of selected
editors and newspaper men, in the mood
and with their tongues loosened, could
reveal what I believe you youngsters
call the low down on many of them.
The solution is merely not for publica-
, tion,' for various reasons, influence
sometimes, or lack of evidence sufi-
GENTLY conclusive for a court of law.
The Elwen and Hall-Mills murders in
New York, the Taylor and Ferguson
cases in California, are supposed by
many people to fall into that class"
STILL" the professor maintained,
fitting his glass against the light and
squirting through it, the only reason
that the criminals who undertake to
perpetrate the perfect crime seem such
utter asses is because they were asses.
Their jelly wouldn't jell; but that's no
reason to deny that there is such a
thing as jelly. OF course, we don't know
about any successful perfect crimes.
II they were successful, we wouldn' t
know about them. But that's no
ground for saying that they don't hap
pen. The normal criminal is stupid,
because the normal intelligent man
knows that he can go farther and with
less risk by sticking to the paths of
rectitude.
But there is such a thing as the
abnormal criminal mind--the man of
sufficient intelligence to fool the police
and the public and make his way un-
scathed through the whole elaborate
machinery We have constructed for the
protection of society, but man whose
intelligence has fatal flaW-a limita-
ton which allows him to disregard the
rights of his fellows and become a
criminal"
Yes" the judge agreed, there arc
men like that-though they don't al
ways turn to crime. There was Daw-
son, for instance. Remember him?"
Dawson? Let me see. Oh yes, the
queer fellow with delusions of grandeur
whenever he got drunk, in our class al
law school! What made you think OF
him?"
II happened to run across him not
long ago."
Committing the perfect crime?'
Peter suggested.
Nothing quite so dramatic. But the
only reason that Dawson has not COM
mitted a perfect crime is because he
has had no occasion to. You may be
surprised to know, Gambion, that Daw-
son has made name for himself as
one Of the most brilliant prosecuting
attorneys in the history of my State. ;
You don't say sol" Gambion blink
ed why, in our young days Dawson
was avoided even by the fellows whom
most Of the other fellows avoided! He
was a complete and perfect rotter."
He still is. Among the few who
know him there is no more unsavory
reputation in the city than Dawson'S
But you forget those deluSions of gran.
deur that used to disgust us, the tale.
OF the great things he was going to de
that he told when he was drunk"
"YeS?"
We'll, he's done just those things
And he's done them because he com
bines uncommon ability with consum
Ing egoisn1. That's why I said h
would be a great criminal if he wante
to-and he'd want to, right enough, j
1t was necessary to his progress.
Morality, after all, despite its com
xr.111 f~.~tf~ -.