Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1930-12-30
Murder At Bridge
&SES y eeSSssEE tssss 80. q .ses esss1ass


0c~iU mere 1Oudy
Special Investigator Dundee, hav-
ing dinner with Penny Grain the
Sunday after Juanita Selim Is muir
dered at bridge. tells her the latest
findings: Suspicion centers heaviest
on Ralph Hammond, in love with
Nita, who has disappeared. Dundee
suspects that Ralph came TO Nita's
house from the rear. unseen by
Polly Beale and his brother, Give.
who were watching for him. shot
Nita in her bedroom with q Maxim
silencer stolen from Judge Marsh
all. Nita's landlord. to whom she
paid no rent, and fled.
Suspicion also rests on Flora
Miles. In Nita's closet at the time
Of the murder reading a note which
she thinks is from her husband,
but which Is really from Dexter
5prague, who came from New York
10 join Nita. and whom Penny &C
cuses Of the murder. Lydia, Nita's
maid, whose face Nita had burned
horribly and to whom Nita left all
her money in an attempt to ON
pensate. is practically cleared.
Ralph. however, appears and tells
Penny that he is cured of his in
fatuation for Nita. The morning or
Nita's death. Ralph. IN estimating
the cost Of remodeling Nita's attic.
finds bedroom evidence that SpraEue
was her lover. Polly. calling for
Nita. who has already gone. finds
Ralph. and forces him to come
with her. He promises not to come
to the party, and instead goes TO a
cheap hotel to drink 1t off" The
next morning he realizes he loves
Penny, and writes a note to Mia.
who had already promised TO marry
him. telling her he Is through. He
asks Penny very humblv to marry
him. She promises to. and then calls
in Dundee.
Now 70 on with the story
CHAPTER XVII
1T was nearly nine O'Clock Mon
day morning. and Dundee sat alone
in the district attorneys office. i'm
patiently awaiting the arrival Of
his chief. Co<oner Price. with the
approval Of Captain Strawn Of the
homicide squad. had set the inquest
into the murder Of Juanita Leigh
Selim for 10 O'Clock, and there was
much that Dundee wished to say
to the district attorney before that
hour arrived.
When the thoroughly tired n
dispirited young detective had re-
turned TO his apartment late Sun
day afternoon, after having see
Ralph Hammond completely exon
Grated OF any possible completely
in the murder of Mia Selim, he had
found a telegram from the district
attorney, filed in Chicago:
CALLED CHICAGO SERIOUS
ILLNESS OF MOTHER STOP RE-
TURNING HAMILTON EIGHT
TEN MONDAY MORNING STOP
SEE BY PAPERS YOU ARE ON
SELIM JOB STOP GOOD BUT
WATCH YOUR STEP-SANDER-
SON"
Well-and Dundee grinned rue
fully-he had been on the job all
right. but would Sanderson consider
that he had watched his step2" AZ
any rate. he had been thorough. he
congratulated himself, as he weigh
ed the big manila envelope contain
ing his own transcription OF the
copious shorthand notes he had
taken during the first hours Of the
Investigation. A smaller envelope
held Nita's tell-tale c~heckbook. her
amazing last will and testament,
and still more startling note she
had written TO Lydia Carr. The last
two Dundee had retrived from
Carraway only this morning, after
having submitted them 10 the fin
gerprint expert on Sunday.
Carrawsys report had rather
dashed him at first. for it proved
that no other hands than Nita's-
and his own. CT cour5e-had touch
cd either envelope or contents. But
he was content now to believe that
Mia herself had unsealed the n
velope she had inscribed ITO Be
Opened in Case of My Death.
Why?.. Had she been moved by an
impulse to give a clue to the iden-
tity or the person or whom she
stood in fear. but had stified the
impulse?
Strawn had said, too. that the
little rosewood desk had been in a
fairly orderly condition, before MS
! big. official hands had claTed
through 1t in search OF a clue or
the gun itself. Well. Strawn had
been properly chagrined when Dun
dee produced the win and note.
Why did she stick II away IN a
pack Of new envelopes. IL she want
ed il to be found?" Strawn had de-
manded irritably. and had not been
appeased BY Dundee's suggestion:
Because she did not want Lydia,
in busting the desk, to sec It and be
alarmed"
Yes. ne had been busy enough.
but what. actually, had he 10 show
Tor his Industry He had worked
Up three good cases-the first against
Lydia Carr. the second against Dex-
ter Sprague, and the third against
Ralph Hammond--only TO have them
knocked 10 pieces almost as fast as
he had conceived of them ~. OF
! course Lydia Carr might have been
lying to give Sprague an alibi, but
Dundee was convinced that she was
telling the truth and that she hated
Sprague too much to fake an alibi
for him .-.. OF course there was
always Judge Marshall, but
Through the closed door came
sounds which Dundee presently
identified as connected with Penny
Grains arrival-the emphatic click
OF her heels: the quick opening and
shutting OF desk drawers.
The down-hearted young detective
debated the question OF taking his
perplexities out to her, but decided
against ID. She probably wanted TO
TTI(KERE