The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1931-01-05
Murder At BRIDGE
OH b,> ANNE AlJSTN 4oNtzoI BLACK PIGEON. a
HtfSA "

nita Leigh, as she was known on
Broadway, had directed our Easter
play the last two years, and the
reporters simply bounded us the
first two days after she was muir
dered out in Hamilton, where a
number Of our richest girls have
come from"
by Jove!" Dundee exclaimed.
WAS the Selim woman connected
with this school, really? i. =. only
read the headlines-neyer pay much
attention TO murders in the pa.
pers-"
II wish,' Miss Earle interrupted
tartly, fresh tears reddening her
eyes, that people wouldn't persist
in referring to her as that Selim
woman When think how
sweet and friendly she was, how
how kind" and to Dundee's sur
prise she choked on tears before she
could go on.
"Of course, I know it's dreadful
for the school, and I ought not to
talk about it, when you've just come
to see about putting your sister into
the school, but Mia was my friend,
and it simply makes me wild"
"You admired and liked her very
much?" Dundee asked, forgetting
his role for the moment.
eyes, I did, And Miss Pendle-
ton. liked her, too. And you can i'm
agine how clever and popular she
was, when a wonderful woman like
Mrs. Peter Dunlap, who was Lois
Morrow when she was in school
here, admired her so much she took
her to Hamilton with her to direct
plays for a Little Theater.
"Why, I never met any one I was
so congeniaI With" the secretary
went on passionately 1.-THE girls
here snub me and make silly jokes
about me behind my back and call
me nicknames, but Mia was just as
sweet to me as she was to any one
even Miss Pendleton herself!"
"XXTERE you with her much?"
w Dundee dared ask.
with her much? I should
say was!" she asserted proudly.
Il have q room here, live. here the
year round, and both years Mia
shared my room, so she would not
have to make the long trip back to
New York every night during the
last week of rehearsals.
1--WE used to talk until or 3
o'clock in the morning-say!" she
broke off, in sudden terror. "You
aren't a reporter, are your"
"a reporter? Good Lord, NOT"
Dundee denied, in all sincerity.
Then he made up his mind swiftly.
This woman hated the school and
all connected with it, had grown
more and more sour and envy
bitten every year of the fifteen she
had served there-and she liked
Nita Leigh Selim better than any
one she ever had met.
The opportunity for direct ques-
tioning was too miraculous to be ig-
nored. So he changed his tone sud-
denly and said very earnestly: mo,
am not a reporter, Miss Earle.
But I am not James WadIey Ran
dolph Jr. am James F. Dundee,
special investigator attached to the
Office Of the district attorney of
Hamilton, and I want you to help
me solve the mystery of Mrs.
Selim's murder"
1t took nearly ten precious mo-
mentS for Dundee to nurse the
terrified but obviously thrilled
woman over the shock, and to get
her into the mood to answer his
questions freely.
"But I shan't and can't tell you
anything bad about Nita!" she pro-
tested vehemently, wiping her red
trimmed eyes. "The papers are all
saying now that she got $4,000 for
embarrassing some awful racket
eer named 'SWallowtail Sammy,
but I know she didn't get the money
that way! She was too good
From Nita's condolences to you,
do you have any idea how she did
get the money!" Dundee asked.
Miss Earle shook her head. 81
don't know, but she got it honorably.
know that! l.. Maybe she found
her husband and made him pay
alimOny-"
Dundee controlled his excite
ment with difficulty did she tell
you all about her marriage and di-
vorce?"
Again Miss Earle shook her head.
'"The only time she ever spoke of
1t was last year-the first year she
directed our play, you know. I
asked her why she didn't get mar
ried again, and she said she couldn't
she wasn't divorced, because she
didn't know where her husband was,
and it was too expensive to go to
Reno.
"Of course she may have found
him or Something-and got divorce
sometime this last year, and this
money she got was settlement
"She must have got a divorce,
since she was planning to be mar
ried again to young man in Ham
ilton," Dundee assured her sooth-
ingly.
1.-THE way everybody puts the very
worst Interpretation on everything,
when person gets murdered" Miss
Earle stormed. "If poor Mia had
belonged to a rich family, like the
girls here, they would have spent a
million to hush up any scandal on
herl I've seen it done!" she
added, darkly and venomously.
Ito Be Continued
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