Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-05-11
90 BY EDGAR WALLACE

Green who had the unusual experience of
being promoted to his position over the heads
of his seniors, for special services he rendeE=j
during the war, was undoubtedly an ex-convet
and he spoke the truth when he said that he
received letter from man who had served
period of imprisonment with him. The name
of this blackmailer is, or rather was, ArtAEr
George Crater whose other name was Malling"
mot the night watchman?" said the public
prosecutor, in amaSement.
Mr. Reeder nodded.
Eyes, sir, it was Arthur Mailing. His daugh-
ter Miss Magda Crater, was, as she very truly
said, born at Walworth the 18th of October
1900. She said Wellington after but Walworth
first One observes that when people adopt
false family names, they seldom change their
given names, and the Magda' was easy to
identify.
Evidently Mailing had planned this robbery
of the bank very carefully. He had brought
his daughter, under a false name to Ealing,
and had managed to get her introduced to Mr..
Green. Magdas job was to worm her way
into Green's confidence and learn all that she
could. Possibly it was part of her duty to Sc
cure casts of the keys. Whether Mailing rec
ognized in the manager an old prison acquaint-
ance, whether he obtained the facts from
the girl, we shall never know. But when the
information came to him, he saw, in all prob
ability, an opportunity of robbing the bank and
throwing the suspicion upon the manager.
1.-THE girls role was that of a woman who
was to be divorced, and I must confess this
puzzled me until I realized that in no circum-
stances would Mailing wish his daughters name
to be associated with the bank manager
1.-The night of the seventeenth was chosen
for the raid. Mallings plan to get rid of the
manager had succeeded He saw the letter on
the table in Green's private Office, read it, Sc
cured the although he had in all prob
ability duplicate Set-and at a favorable mo-
a ha
bank as he could carry, hurried them round to
the house in Firing avenue, where they were
buried in the central bed of the front garden,
under rose bush-I rather imagined there was
something interfering with the nutrition of that
unfortunate bush the first time saw it, can
only hope that the tree is not altogether dead,
and have given instructions that it shall be
replanted and well fertiized"
Eyes yes" said the prosecutor, who was not
at all interested in horticulture.
I'm planting the tree, as he did In some
haste, Mailing scratched his hand Roses have
thorns-I went to Ealing to find the rose bush
that had scratched his hand. Hurryng back to
the bank, he waited, knowing that officer Bur-
nett was due at certain time. He had pre-
pared the can Of chloroform, the handouts and
straps were waiting for him. and he stood at
the corner Of the street until he saw the flash
of Burnett's lamp; then, running into the bank
and leaving the door ajar, he strapped himself,
fastened the handouts and lay down, expecting
that the policeman would arrive, find the open
door and rescue him before much harm was
done.
"But Officer Burnett had had some pleasant
exchanges with the daughter. Doubtless she
had received instructions from her father to be
pleasant to him possible. Burnett was a
poetical young man, knew it was her birthday
and as he walked along the street his foot
struck an old horseshoe, and the idea occurred
to him that he should return, attach the horse
laI.
had given him permission to pick and leave
his little bouquet, so to speak, at his ladys feet
"a poetcal idea, and one worthy of the finest
traditions OF the metropolitan police force. This
he did, but it took some time; and all the
while this young man was philandering-Arthu
Crater was dying!
"In a few seconds after lying down he must
have passed from consciousness the chloro-
eventually reached the bank, 10 minutes after
he was due, the man was dead!"
The public prosecutor sat back in his padded
chair and frowned at his new subordinate.
How on earth did you piece together all
this?"
Mr.. Reeder shook his head sadly.
ST have that perversion," he said. cit Is
terrible misfortune, but it is true. I see evil
horseshoes-in poetry even. I have the mind
of criminal. It is deplorable!"
Copyright, 1930)
Knots in Structural Beams.