Askov American. [volume] (Askov, Pine County, Minn.) 1914-current, 1943-07-22
Not So Clever
By CARLTON JAMES
Associated Newspapers.
WNU Service.
"E ASTERNERS," said Sheriff


our dude ranches and indulge in the
well-known pastime of going native,
sometimes succeed in making a
pretty convincing job of it, until an
emergency occurs. Then they resort
to their civilized instincts.
81 recall the day Simon Merrifeld
was murdered out at Wesley
Holmes Triangle Bar. Wesley
called me on the phone and I hot
footed it out there.
Looks like suicide Yves told
me. sLeastwise hope so. But, try
and keep it as quiet as possible. Bad
for business to have these things
noised around
"We went down to the cabin which
had been assigned to the Merrifelds.
Simon was lying on the bed, peace
full look on his face, dead. Beside
him on a table was a half-cOnSumed
glass of liquor. Yves picked up the
glass and handed it to me. Poison
he said.
''It was poison all right looked
around the cabin. Does Mrs. Merri-
field know about this?'
No one knows. Mrs Merrifield
is out riding with a party of friends.
suppose, he added gloomily, it's
my job to break the news
Tell me all you know about it,
Wes,' I said.
Not much to tell. About 1:3o
this afternoon Merrifield called up
the cook and ordered a glass of
Scotch and soda delivered to his
cabin. The cook brought it down.
Merrifield met him at the door, men,
tioning that he intended to read
awhile, and then take a nap. He
wasn't, he said, feeling very well.
At $3.50 Tony Metcalf got back from
town with the mail There were
some pieces for Merrifield and he
brought them down to the cabin. No
one responded to Tony's knock, so
he stepped inside. He saw Simon
lying on the bed. At first he thought
the man was sick, so he called me.
That's about all
"Well, we hunted around the in
terror of the cabin, but didn't find
much of interest. 1t certainly looked
as though Simon had committed sui
eide. It occurred to me that when
we began digging up the dirt we'd
| probably find that Mortified had Ell
Their been having financial troubles,
or his wife had been two-timing
him, or he was in love with some
| woman who was married to some
one else and wouldn't have him. I
had investigated dude suicides be-
fore, and most always one of those
reasons fit the case. Dudes are like
that.
'We went up to Wes' office and
were just sitting down, when four
| riders came into the ranch yard, two
men and two women. One of them
was Mrs. Merrifield, and Yves went
to the door and called her inside.
She was a trim little thing, pretty
as a picture with wide blue eyes.
Yves introduced her to me and then
cleared his throat noisily and found
some things on his desk to occupy
his attention She looked from one
to the other of us and I could see it
was up to me.
"'The fact is, Mrs Merrifeld,' I
said, something pretty serious has
happened Then saw there was
no use beating around the bush
with this young lady, so blurted:
Your husbands dead. He commit
ted suicide this afternoon.
'I'm a pretty good judge of hui
man nature, but I sure missed the
boat as far as this little woman was
concerned. She stared at me min
ute, then her eyes rolled up into her
head and she collapsed like coat
dropped from a hook. Yves swore
and opened a door into the living
room and beloved for his wife.
"'You shouldn't have given it to
her so brutally, he told me angrily.
"'Guess not 1 agreed. Il had an
idea she had more stuff in her. Still,
it must be pretty tough to have your
husband 60 out by way of poison at
that
''Then Mrs. Holmes arrived and
we carried Simon Merrifeld's wife
into the living-room and hung around
awkwardly while Mrs. Holmes got
damp cloths and things and tried to
bring her to. After awhile the little
woman's eyelids fluttered. She
moaned, opened her eyes and tried
to sit up.
"'Just lie STILL Mrs. Holmes
soothed, till you get your strength
back
Sorry was so brutally frank, ,
apologized gruffly. I thought it
would be best to get it over with
at once
"a shudder passed through her
frame. But what horrible way
to die. Poison! Oh, why didn't he
tell me if he was in trouble?'
81 glanced at Yves, but Wes' face
was stony. We'd better get out
side,' he remarked uncomfortably,
and headed for the door.
Wait a minute I said. Hold
on here. Little lady, that's about
the SWEETEST bit of acting I've ever
| ,,,;tnosced Won DANCED near got