The Omaha guide., 1932-11-19
By ED ARD LAWSON
WHAT HAS HAPPENED:

caIly over his dead body. removing It
from an easy chair and placing 1t on his
bed. One is a man named Hutchinson,
Lucas's butler, and the other a middle
aged. white-haired fairly beautiful wom-
an who describes herself as Lucss's house
keeper. / call the police to handle the
case and give the story to my paper.
Hutchinson tries to escape by leaping
through the window while the police are
on the way. but I hold him until they
arrive.
The two servants ascribe Lucas's death
to an attack of heart disease, but the
police doctor, after examination. declares
that Lucas was poisoned.
A thorough search of the apartment
reveals only one clue. a typewriter note
bearing no signature, written by someone
obviously unfamiliar with a typewriter.
The note reads: Better stick to your
high society ladies or you'll regret IT,"
The author of this note caaIot be found,
but a detective establishes the fact that
1t was written on Lucas's own typewriter
The housekeeper tells a strange story,
disclosing that she is the common-law
wife OF the representative. who is really
a Negro. She also d~iscloses the fact that
he had been having an affair with a wash
ington woman, white and a widow, since
his arrival in the capital city. Once
when She confronted him, she says. Luz
cas- threatened to kill her. but her son
rushed in and saved her life.
Tests show that the coffee. spilled on
the rug by Hutchinson, contains definite
traces of arsenic poisoning. The inspec-
tor has the butler and the housekeeper
each make a copy of the note found on
Lucas's death to see who originally wrote
it. but to his surprise finds that both are
expert typists and therefore not likely to
do a b~ungling job such as the original
note revealed.
Further questioning brings out more evil
dence, almost all of which points to
Hutchinson as the guilty person. The In
spector is about to place MIN under arrest
wneu new development turns up LucaSS
son. the son of Ethel May Harmon-erSt
while Mrs. Lueas-is discovered hiding in
his mothers closet by two patrolmen who
have been making a thorough search OF
the premises.
NOW GO ON WITH THE STORY:
CHAPTER w
well" the inspector addressed
Paul Lucas's son, Just what are
you doing here?"
The boy appeared nervous, al
most about to break down.
Il was-hid' sir"
"Oh, I see. Hiding. You knew.
then. that your father had been
murdered?"
Il knew that he was dead"
''Then why weren't you in there
with him when he died? w did
you run away and hide ike that?"
Il heard the olice coming.
knew there was something wrong
I didn't want to get mixed up in it,"
Inspector Paine grunted. That
sounds pretty fshy to me, son." he
said.
ITS the ruth, SIR the young man
protested.
why were you SO afraid of the
police? What had you done to
cause you to worry about them?"
Nothing. But down in Mississip-
pi, where I come FROM"
This isn't Mississippi. We won't
lynch you"
you'd send me to the chair"
Nonsense, kid. For what?"
you'd say I killed my father"
did you?"-
mo sir, 1 didn't
1iCH WHY willy. 1Ou CdI plOfS
that you didn't?"
That's just it, sir. T can't prove
that 1 didn't"
Where we're you when the thing
occurred?"
Here, in this apartment"
did you know that your father
had been killed."
II was in the room when they
found that he was dead"
But you had no real reason to
suspect that he had been poisoned?'
mo. I had no real reason tC
suspect that he had been poi
Soned."
"AIl right. Now come on in here
Into the Office. I wa It you to try
something. A little test"
The inspector led the way back
Trough the representatives apart
ment to the Office room. He pro-
duced the note found On Lucas's
lr