The Daily Alaska empire., 1934-07-11

guard at the front door to the Du- lresne house looked alert and ex-, cited when he saw the official group coming up the path. Plenty of ex- element in there this morning, Ser gcant." he volunteered.
 Tie four men from Headquarters walked into the hall. They heard vy.ces coming from the rear of the house and found an excited group baea in the kitchen. A policeman e!d taken his stand at the back door and Andrews and the two Whit laGres were holding lively discus
 ua with him.
 The appearance of Sergeant liar per and his party choked off this talk. The detective greeted them briefly, then turned to the police man. Where's O'Connell?" He's out there, with the body" nodding toward the garage. s AM right. boys" They went out the back door, .crossed the porch. went down the wooden steps and along the brick path under a covered pergola. The snow that had fallen the night be- fore had thrust it's spearheads be- tween the latticed sides. but the 'middle of the walk was clear. From the pergola to the stone garage was matter of about fifteen yards and number of tracks in the otherwise smooth snow led to the side door of the building, where there was a small porch with wooden Colonial benches on each side, under little pent roof.
 THE four men crowded around the bed where Joseph Donaghy lay dead. lying back at an angle from the edge of the bed. with his head sidewise on the pillow. He wore no uniform, but had taken off the coat and vest Of his civilian suit The automatic gun was loosely held in his right hand. His feet rested on the floor. his arms were in natural position. The bullet had been fired into the right temple.
 The Coroner's man picked up the ejected shell from a fold of the bed clothes. He looked closely al the wound. then bent one of the fingers. He nodded to Harper. Been dead six or seven hours
 Harper. satisfied with his scrutiny gave the signal to the photographer and the police surgeon and they set about their routine procedure Then the detective turned to the pitc de resistance of this unexpected ell max.
 , A chair. wi,h Donagby's feet still under it, was drawn up close to the bed. On the chair stood a portable typewriter and in it was a typed letter The arrangement suggested that the chauffeur had finished typ ing, reached for his gun without get. ting rp, pulled the trigger. and fal- len sideways across the bed. Harper carefully released the letter and read 1t. This was the letter:
 I'm going to kick off In minute
 because 1 couldn't stand going to
 jail. maybe to the chair Tonight 1 tried to win enough Jack 10 make sure getaway. but instead l
 dropped my roll Harper is wise to
 me know although he goes around
 limiting that he's got something on
 the boss.
 I'm not sorry l bumped of Harry
 Dorey but I'm real sorry ] had to
 bump off the cop. l knew him and
 he was a good guy but 1 had no
 choice when he butted in.
 1 never had any luck after 1 got
 in with Harry. We started on easy
 jobs but when Harry wanted 10 try
 the dirty stuff I wanted to pull out.
 He got nasty and said he would
 turn me in if l didn't play ball So
 I figured out way to get rid of
 him
 Look In the old tire hanging on
 the wall of the garage and 1t will
 save lot of explaining My scheme
 worked out fine and my alibi held
 up and everything would have been
 all right if It hadn't been for the : cop.
 Nobody will shed tear because
 Harry has gone. so 1 burned all
 his papers. Harper can figure out
 the rest of it for himself Anyway
 swore I'd never go to jail and
 won't can't find anything to sign
 this with. but guess that won't be
 necessary.
 Harper read this startling comics sion through twice and put the let ter aside thoughtfully. Have you been down in the garage O'Con. nell"
 "Yes, sir. It's just like it says in the letter-an old tire hangin up on 3 big spike"
 "All right. bring the tire up here" ! Presently the ruddyfaced police man came back with the designated tire. O'Connell held it upright on the window-seat while Harper's eager fingers dislodged the contents of the circular hiding place.
 The first. and bulkiest portion of the treasure trove proved to be a neatly-skeined length of very thin, but exceptionally strong and dur. able rope. It was brownish yellow in color and to each end of 1t a metal ring was bound. These rings had the circumference of a 6fty-cent piece. kCopy,toht. I9s&. by Walter c. Bro,cny