The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1938-12-06
THE ARMY POST MURDERS
Rv Tr0inin Hanson -

4 Lie SLIO111llS CO0RAC 4CsA4ACA
and we fell silent again. ] was
rather glad to drop the subject.
Anne Carewe was pirate; it was
asking good bit of women to ex-
pect them to feel sorry for her.
What did she need with women
friends? Even Adam was under
her spell-Adam the untouchable,
the impervious.
was swept by wave of an:
noyance. What was ! doing here
| anyway? What were they to me.
these group-minded individuals
inhabiting their strip of park-an
island in sea of cornfields. Had
they no privacy in their lives?
Was each word, each act, even
each thought common property?
Were their little lives so bound
and tangled by propinquity that
they must snap and Snarl inces-
sanity like a pack of dogs chained
| in the same enclosure?
"Why are we dancing here in
stead of at the Officers Club?" ]
asked idly, more to change the
subject than because I was inter-
ested. 'What do they call this,
anyway? The Service Club?"
ayes. It's for the use of the en-
| listed men-a survival OF the war.
Used to be the Red Cross build
ing. You notice the floor plan is
in the shape of a Maltese cross.
It's the only frame building on
the post. During the war, and for
some time afterward, a Red Cross
hostess was in residence here. The
post was a general hospital, and
the wives and mothers were al
ways coming to visit their boys.
You may have noticed that there
is a balcony surrounding the
dance floor in the center of the
cross; off the balcony, in the four
wings, there are furnished guest
rooms, scarcely ever used now.
The hostess lived in one of them.D
rxh.x xTG
"VITHAT became of herr"
w There's quite a tale about
that. After the war all but few
of the hostesses were discharged
or transferred to other work. This
one stayed on. The hospital was
dismantled and the regiment came
back. There was no job for her;
her pay was cut, eventually she
was to have left. She was queer
old thing, from all I've heard-a
maiden lady of certain age; and
either she was afraid of starving
to death or she was extremely
fond of her job. She started a sort
of poor-farm plea; so the Post Ex-
change set aside sum for her
maintenance. But after a few
months that, too, failed. There
was no place left for her to appeal
So one morning the captain
walked in and found her hanging
from the balcony just under the
regimental colors and the crossed
sabers that you see as you enter
the door. :"
"Suicide?" I asked, revolted.
Undoubtedly. That touch
about the colors proves it. A sort
of war-hysteria hangover. No
doubt she felt, with some obscure
logic, that she vas dying for her
country
aAnd you have dances here" ]
marveled.
swell, not often. Usually we
dance at the Officers Club-in the
mess hall, you know. Don't know
why the committee had it here to-
night. Do it occasionally as a sort
of gesture. It's really a recreation
room for the enlisted men. They
have movies, dances, card parties
and the like here. And there's a
reading room in the right-hand
wing. They didn't take it any too
well when the old girl made her
last bow: and once in a while the
story goes the rounds that some
body has seen her ghost fiuttering
around on that dark balcony. Then
the officers get busy and have a
dance here and the story dies
down for a while"
mo wonder the guest rooms are
seldom usedl"
Adam chuckled. "Catch any SOL
der on this post putting his wom-
enfolk in this building for the
night"
Something moved in the shad-
owS beyond the veranda railing
My heart gave an involuntary
lurch.
as that you, Katherine?"
It was Elizabeth in her pink
shepherdess costume. She was
alone.
'T'm going to run home a
few minutes - Father said he
might telephone at eleven o'clock,
/ won't be gone very long, butI
thought you might wonder ~
My conscience pricked me. ]
had not really given Elizabeth a
thought for the past hour. And
she must be having rotten time.
"Pll go with YOU" ] said
promptly.
Adam, on his feet, spoke almost
simultaneously. "I'll get my car"
But she waved us both aside.
"Please. no." she said firmly. "My
car is here, and ! slipped out the
side door from the powder room
so no one would bother. Please
/ won't permit you"
Nor would she. Anxious as
was to cease encumbering Adam
TO free him from his solitary vigil
by my side, found myself wait.
ing on the veranda while he saw
her to her car, listening to the
rather sad music Of the soldier or
chestra. watching through con-
venient window the very wan
dancers IN their uninspired cos
tunes.
fcopyrteAt. 1855. Tfrsiais HsssoHI
Temorrew: Death wallis the post