Browning chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1941-1953, 1941-08-15

about the shattered hulk in the gaudy
pajamas. Eyes went up to the open
window. Police appeared, rushed into
the hotel. They had to break into
his room. They found his clothes tum-
bled about. his money belt empty. His
name and address were on the hotel
register. The police telephoned the
police at home. They telephoned VII
She almost died of shock and grief and
horror-but not quite. Death would
have been too merciful. She had to
live on and endure all the dismay and
shame
The police, making inquiries in all
directions. believed only the worst of
what they learned. In their summing
up the story ran: Arthur Todd leav-
ing his devoted and trusting wife and
carrying with him large sum OF
money. promptly broke all his pledges
and went at once to his old sweet
heart, Nina Spencer, recent principal
in a notorious divorce case. Her COM
panion at the dinner was Sheldon
Brown, the correspondent in her di-
vorce case. Others in the party were
James Pollard with a woman not his
wife, and her cousin. The old love af-
fair between Nina and Arthur Todd
famed up under the impulse Of much
liquor and the fetid air of night
clubs. Hours of drinking, dancing took
them to black-and-tan resort. There
a drunken brawl started, and Sheldon
Brown quit the place in disgust Ar
thur Todd and his old flame, Nina,
left in a taxicab together. The driver
testified to the fact that Nina was
in a state of drunken hysteria and
quarreled with Todd. The taxi driver
could not hear what was said but in
his mirror he had seen blows passed
between the drunken couple.
The scrub women and the night
clerk testified to Todd's peculiar gait
as he crossed the lobby, stumbling
over the hose. The elevator boy told
of his wild look and unsteady manner
Between these facts and the fact
of his next temperance as a corpse
on the sidewalk, there was only
theory But that was simple. 1t could
hardly have been a case of murder,
for Todd's door was locked and bolted
on the inside. His money belt was
empty of the thousands of dollars he
was known to have on him.
Finding his money stolen, and fac
ing charges of embezzlement as well
as divorce by his wife, he had I'M
doubtedly chosen the easy way out
the window.
The only mystery left was, who stole
the money? Even the taxi driver was
suspected and given the third degree
Sheldon Brown and Pollard both de-
MED all knowledge of the money, but
Pollard let slip the fact that he knew
of Todd's possession of a large sum
on his person. So Pollard was jailed
while his books were gone over and
his office and apartment searched.
His wife, hurrying back from a visit
to her mother, sued Pollard for divorce,
naming the widow.
The whole crowd denied that there
had been heavy drinking, but their
accounts were contradictory
The money would stay in its hiding
place till doomsday-till the hotel was
torn down or burned up.
Sheldon, discovering that Nina had
lied to him about Arthur, would turn
against her in rage; their quarrel
would be aired and their romance
ended forever even if he were not
sent to the penitentiary for the rob-
bery-possibly the murder of Arthur
from motives of Jealousy. theft. or
both.
In his waking nightmare OF the fu-
ture Arthur was sorry for everybody
connected with his alleged suicide; but
his grief for them was swallowed up
in his overwhelming sorrow for his
beloved wife. She would regard his
very memory with loathing. His chill
dren would be disgraced. Paying back
the lost money would wreck their fl
nances, impovertsh them.
He went through years Of Inferno
IN q few shuddering moments. forget