The Omaha guide., 1932-11-12
ILLUSTRATED FEATURE SECTTON-Novem6er II. 1882.

let's See-who made that coffee?
Hutchinson. didn't you tell me that
you did?"
"Yes, sir, I did,"
Wasn't that a bit unusual? i
mean, have you always made the
Congressman's coffee fer him?D
1Since I've been with him, sir. He
had q special way he liked it-a
special drip process he used. I al
ways attended to it, sir, every
morning"
II see. So this morning you drop
ped a little arsenic into it while it
was dripping, didn't your"
Hutchinson shrank back in hor-
ror. mo sir, Inspector, I swear /
didn't. I tell you I had no cause to
harm him. He was my employer,
his death leaves me without a job,
and almost pennileSS. Why should
L murder him? It's preposterous."
ION the other hand, it might be
made to seem rather logical" the
inspector argued with him. "We
can't tell what your motive was,
but we do know certain facts-in-
eliminating facts. In the first place,
you fixed Mr.. Lucas's coffee, didn't
you?"
Eyes, SIR"
mo one was hear it but you?"
Il couldn't say as to that, sir. But
I watched it almost constantly, and
saw nobody put anything into IT,"
You Intentionally spilled the cof-
fee onto the carpet, thinking that
the contents of the fatal cup could
MT be analysed then, didn't you?"
"Of courSe not. That was purely
an accident. We were moving Mr..
Lucas's body from his chair to his
bed"
Then ycur conscience is abso-
lutely clear?"
Absolutely, sir"
That's fine. Maybe, then, you
can explain why it was that you
attempted to escape through that
window when this reporter started
to call the police? Doesn't that indi-
cate that you didn't want to be
found here?"
well, you see, sir, my mind was
sort of in a muddle. I could hardly
realize that the Congressman was
dead, and yet I knew enough to be
sure that if the police came, they
would Immediately accuse me-. And
I had no defense-no ~alibi-ready
to offer them. I vas equally sure
that the real murderer would
have an alright alibi. And 1 fig
ured that I wouldn't get half a
chance-I'd either go to the chair
or to jail for life. The only thing
that occurred to me at the moment
was to try to escape. I didn't real
ize then that that would only get
me in deeper. My mind wasn't.
ct see."
The Inspector looked down upon
the dark, %quivering little butler, al
knowing smile playing about his
face.
I'm afraid, though, Hutchinson,
that I'll have to arrest you anyway
for the murder CT Representative
Paul Lucas. Almost every bit of evil
.ence that we've uncovered points
directly to you. The one and only
not yet cleared up is that of
the note we found, and who wrote
it. But, after all, that's only an
unimportant detail. Even if wei
found the author, we would have
nothing really definite on him"
Hey, Inspector"
One of the patrolmen called from
> back room. The Inspector, sens
ing some important discovery, mo-
TONED two detectives to guard theI
housekeeper and the butler, and
went to the rear of the apartment,
whence the sudden call had come.
He found two patrolmen there,
holding between them a young man
OF perhaps twenty-five, a young man
who in facial features and coloringl
bore a remarkable resemblance toI
the dead Congressman.
Its Lucas's SOM" the INSPECTOR
shouted. Where did you find him?"|
In this closet, hiding behind al
nila nF uvayoan,c lr1r.1. - FL