New Britain herald., 1929-06-10

I
 'The barkeeper seemed nervous. 'Upstairs,' he replied.
 ''As dad made his way towards the gallery stair. Fitch. Burke. and Webb came in.
 Dad stood at the top of the stair and looked down inte the hall. The piano had started again. and the crowd was milling around tho floor or drinking at the bar. They all seemed animated by the same i'm. pulse: to have as good . time as Lundy's Place could offer them, dad said. Az he watched them. it came over him that they were all of kind. They might have been members of single body.
 Sheep. dad muttered to him. self. Think alike, act alike. Whether it's lynching . man Or swallowing booze. Wax! Get 'em hot enough and you can shape 'em any way you please
 These were his thoughts as he stared down into the hall and I mention them because they bear on what follows. The comparison to wax sent dads eyes to a colored poster tackled in the we'll of the stair. It went something like this. dad said:
 GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH PROFESSOR DRYDEN POPE's WAXWORK WONDERS Direct From Two Year Run In New York See Lifelike Representations of PRESIDENT CLEVELAND MADAME DU BARRY SITTING BULL BUFFALO BILL BLUEBEARD NAPOLEON and
 OTHER FAMOUS PERSONAGES LUNDY'S PLACE JUNE FIST AND e2ND i Professor Dryden Pope had left without paying his bill and Lundy had confiscated the show. You'l get the significance of that pres- | entity. Several of the alcoves and some of the rooms were occupied. but the alcove in the northwest corner of the gallery was empty, and dad went towards it. This alcove was always empty. for the reason that A door in the north wall. close to the corner in the north wall. close to the corner. led into Lundy's office. or secret room. Of course it wasn't secret m oo,rxea CMRDFLYUH secret room. except in 90 far that the door when 1t was closed wasn't | visible to the casual observer, Everybody familiar with the resort knew it was there. The door was set in the partition which ran across the north end Of the build- ing, and it extended from the floor to the ceiling. When the door was closed you hardly knew it was there.
 Dad went to the door. It was aiar. Lundy and the two gamblers. Richey and MacCoy. were sitting at a round table. Richey was a tall. thin man with a yellow face. Mac Coy was much shorter and heavy- set and he had blue chin and sly fingers Dangerous men, dad said. Lundy was Adding with stacks of poker chips.'
 At this point Jerry stopped and refreshed himself from glass of milk. The pause gave me time to assemble my wits. My feeling had become one of stark horror as Jerry described that poster and the partly concealed entrance to Lundy's secret room. Wax dummies! l had suspected something of the sort. Jerry was commencing again. Those poker chips Lundy was fiddling with must have given dad an inkling of what the man had in mind." Jerry paused. II won't pre- tend that what I have told you is an exact description" he went on earnestly. But it's different with what I'm going to tell you now. Dad had what follows as clears as letter on dictaphone record and he passed 1t on to me that way. | Howdy. Ten-to-One,' Lundy greeted dad. Come in.'
 Dad described the room. A hanging lamp lighted it. There were half dozen chairs, an old desk, the table. and an d-fash- toned cafe with a broken lock. A brewery calendar with . picture of a woman in tights hung on the south wall. A door in the east wall led into a storeroom which occupied the other two-thirds of the end Of the building.
 Dad took chair and rolled .