The Skyland post. [volume] (West Jefferson, N.C.) 193?-1988, 1942-02-05
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Sue 10 SlQe. only A1lOW ne
hated Harley +. Harley told
me so dozens of times"
Thumm snorted, looked signifi-
cantly at Sergeant Duffy and
snapped: Everybody stay here
until I get back" then strobe to
the general room.
The inspector stamped loudly
for attention.
The conductor, questioned first,
revealed himself as Charles Wood,
Number 2101, in the employ OF
the company for five years. He
was red-haired man of perhaps
fifty. He remembered the dead
man as having paid fares for ten
people out of a dollar bill.
ever see the man on your Car
before?"
"Yep. He's been getting on pref
ty often at that time for years."
Recognize anybody else in his
party as regular passenger"
Seems I saw another man, g
weak little guy. Gray-haired, sort
of. I've seen him come on pretty
steady with the guy that was
bumped off"
Thumm then questioned the
passengers. No one, it seemed, had
seen anything slipped into Long
streets pocket. Detective Peabody
came in.
"Any luck?" asked Thumm.
"Dry as a bone. Whatever this
bunch had on 'em when they left
the car is still on 'em."
"Only one thing to do" Thumm
said. Search everybody in this
room. Look sharp for cork, need
les, anything that's out of place or
out of character. Get busy"
But the search produced no.
thing.
Thumm returned to where the
Longstreet party sat miserably
waiting. DR.. Schilling was stand
ing before the screen putting on
his coat. He crooked his finger,
and the two went behind the
screen.
death from respiratory paraly-
sis, but that's a detail" The doc
tor bobbed his head in the direc-
ton of the bench; the weapon had
been unwrapped and lay, inocent-
ly enough, at Longstreet's stiff
fee. "There are fifty-three needle
ends around the ball of cork.
Their tips and their eyes, project
ing from the cork, were dipped in
nicotine-nicotine in I think a
concentrated form. The fresh
pure product is a colorless and
odorless oily liquid. But in water
or on standing it soon becomes
dark brown and you can smell the
characteristic tobacco odor. The
needles pricked the palm and fin
gers in twenty-one places; the
poison made immediate entry in
to the bloodstream. Thumm, my
friend, don't envy you. Unless
this poison was secured through
legal channels, it will be untrace-
able. Pure nicotine is hard to buy,
and if I were a poisoner l would
not get it from a chemist. It would
be possible, of course, to disti1l it
from an enormous quantity of to-
bacco, which normally has a nico-
tine content of four per cent. But
how are you going to trace a nico-
tine-cooker? The easiest way is
to buy can Of" DR.. Shilling
mentioned a well-known insec-
ticide, land you have nicotine
without much trouble. It has a
thirty-five per cent content to
begin with, and by evaporation
you would get just such a resin
Gus sticky mess as the needles
are smeared with"
"How long would it take for
this poison to act, Doc?"
''Not more than a few seconds
ordinarily. But if the nicotine was
not wholly concentrate, and Long
street was very heavy smoker, it
would have been three minutes or
so, as it did"
Inspector Thumm went out to
the Longstreet party and signed
to Dewitt. GAS Longstreet's part
ner you're probably best equip
ped to tell me about his habits.
The conductor has often seen him
on his car. How do you account
for this?"
(TO BE CONTINUED)