The Hardin tribune-herald. [volume] (Hardin, Mont.) 1925-1973, 1934-05-25
By Michael Kent

Of his decision to vary the easy pay,
ment system for a complete ana 1lnal
uuittance, he made himself tamlnar
with Johns mode of life so tnat MS
next venture should not suter from
the hitch which had rendered the earl
Ter one almost nugatory.
Murder, as he saw it, was q mat1er
which granted a steady nerve ana a
| close application to detail. u be
| embarked on with all confidence pro-
| vided that the method were Simple M
direct. Anything elaborate demanded
implements or ingredients, winch, now
ever, studiously obtained, left threads
for the investigator. The polsoner,
meticulous as he might be in practlce,
| can by no means get at the essentials
| for his device without leaving some
record. A man can neither BUY IRE
arms nor cartridges without the fact
being in some degree ~traceable. The
use of a burning car was fraught with
| suspicion, whereas the simple matter
| of Draining a man in his own room
with his W poker at a time When, by
mutual consent, his visit would be sec
ret, seemed, if carried out with ele-
mentary forethought, beyond crltlclsm.
| One would not, of course, forget to
wipe the poker.
That excellent simplicity obsessed
him.
John, since his graduation from the
sideboard, had gone to town. Mr.. Kill
dare had business which took him up
from time to time. John was working
with a commission agent / an office
in Piccadiry and Mr.. Kildare had met
him there on the occasion of his first
disbursement. This office being on the
ground floor offered ready access to
the street.
On his former visit MI. kildare had
met the ex-butler there alone after Of
flee hours. It was safe and convenient
and doubtless John would make a SIM
liar arrangement for the second visit.
The affair could be accomplished / n
ten minutes or a quarter OF an hour
allowing for that natural hesitation for
the choice of a moment to begin which
Mr.. Kildare knew to be requisite. No
implement was necessary. He could
disperse that discriminating fragment
in a hundred ~untraceable ways in the
street. His movements, if they should
be questioned, could be so substantial
ed that, though they could not be ar
ranged to acquit him, would reveal a
balance of circumstances In his favor,
while nothing could connect him with
the event beyond the fact that he had
CHANGED to be in town on the same
evening that a man who had, some
months before, been a butler to his
cousin, vas murdered.
The scheme, if carried through with
| the most ordinary common sense, was
! simple and safe. For himself he could
be sure of exercising more than COM
mon sense, infinite care. What then
was to be feared?
There was, of course, the point about
the production of the piece of glass
which he was buying. Aske probably
would conceal it until he had seen the
money. It would be necessary, then,
to obtain a sufficient amount in notes
to keep the butler intent for a little
while counting them. That was the
greatest risk which he had to run, for
it is not customary for any one to draw
from a bank any considerable value in
so easily negotiable a form.
Here, however, his known mode of
life gave him a plausible excuse. He
was an inveterate gambler and from
time to time wasted a good deal of
his substance in foreign casinos. A
consequence Of this weakness had in
fact caused him to smite his more
prudent cousin on the head with a beer
bottle.
He drew the amount in notes from
his bank with the remark that he was
going to town on business and meant
to run over to LeTouquet for a flut-
ter. Since he would only be there for
- ~1oo1~ o,a5 In ~voFor,.oj ,n0toc - lat
tiers Of credit OF travellers cheques, and
he wanted a large sum to try out a
new system. That was innocent
enough, but the denominations bother
ed him. He could not reasonably ask
for anything less than twenty pound
notes and Aske would lib at them. Ger
tainly they would never be his proper
ty, but the butler must have sufficient
evidence of a bona fide payment in
front of him to make him produce the
bottle neck.
Kildare decided to change his big
notes to single pounds at various banks
and casinos on the Norman coast,
meeting the butler on the night Of his
return.
He fixed up for a theatre the same
evening and trusted 81 to juggle the
minutes between his passage OF the
customs at Victoria, the journey to his
hotel, the business of dinner, and a
certain amount of shopping, that no
one could suspect him of slipping in a
spot of murder as well.
His own program was to 60 from
the station to his hotel, emerge as soon
as his room was fixed up with the ex-
pressed intention of buying a dress
shirt before the shops closed, buy his
shirt, and get his interview with John
over in time to dress for dinner.
OF course, one would have to be care
full about blood and finger marks.
He made his appointment for half
past six, shortly after dark. AS it hap
pened, he was delayed in the customs.
He went to his hotel, the Magnificent,
saw his room, and had q haSty wash.