Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Wingham Advance-Times, 1936-05-21, Page 6I* Vogel finished, then WINGHAM ADVANCE-TIMES Thursday, May 21st, 1936 WOMAN REX BEAC-H “Copyright by Rex Beach” SYNOPSIS: Amos Ethridge is ■ Sound murdered in a country lane with Mrs. Holmes realized that this tragedy was a poignant quality to her grief. She was very young and very frail. hotel in accordance with a request believe me.” from Mrs. Holmes, and after she had “What do you mean?” Mrs, Holmes beat about the bush for a while she faintly demanded. told him haltingly that she wished to make a new affidavit. There were certain points in her first one that she realized upon careful thought, need­ ed explanation, modification, listened until she had he said; "I’ve been expecting for the trial.” "But—the trouble is tried now, in the newspapers, verdict will be in before the jury goes out." "Don’t you believe he’s guilty?” • The woman averted her eyes. “There are some people who couldn’t commit a murder, and he’s one, There’s nothing vicious about him. He liked Mr. Ethridge and he knew noth­ ing fair.” “Nothing vicious, eh? Nothing vic­ ious about his mother, either, I sup- where Mrs. Holmes was stopping. On pose?” Vogel grinned derisively. ’ account of the hour, she took old Ja- “Tell that to the reporter you shot ( cob Riggs with her. at.” a crude cross of twigs on his breast and a stented sheet of note paper in his pocket. He was the richest man in the state with power and influence ■enough' to make himself a candidate for Governor. With his death came Innts of an unsavory private life, of scandal that might come to light if the murder is investigated too ■Closely, . . . Mary Holmes, a former opera singer whose career was wreck­ ed when she lost her voice at the birth of her’ son, lives in squalor' nearest the scene of the crime. . . . on a small chicken farm where she ekes out a poor living and tries to had broken her like a butterfly. A curse on men like Amos Ethridge! “But there’s a terrible mistake somewhere," the girl earnestly assert­ ed. “I can’t explain the car with one headlight — the car that passed you after the •shooting—and yet Jerry de­ clares he left your house an hour be­ fore the murder and drove straight to town. He’s telling the truth: I know he is.” "They claim he laid in wait." "But they couldn’t prove it without you! It’s your evidence that contra­ dicts him. You didn’t actually re­ cognize him—you said so! And if it “You understand plain English, I You’ll hear a lot of it if you maintain I tin's attitude.” There was a pause, • “You must have some affection for | this—this son of yours, That’s noth­ ing more than nature! But the more lies you tell the more the jury will be­ lieve in the story you told me and swore to; the more firmly you will convince them that you are swearing falsely to save your illegitimate child.” “1 see. If I don’t do what you say you’ll tell all about—Jerry?” “And you! Exactly. I’d like to 1 spare you both, but—” the speaker shrugged. “Better grit your teeth and go through with it. Yon can’t save him, no matter what you do.” With these words Vogel left. whatever about the Woods af- i Hazel Woods was surprised late that night to receive a telephone re­ quest to come at once to the hotel this. Save it Jerry’s being The 1 2nd in drink the forgetfulness of past had been Jerry you’d have know him. glories when she was Maria di Nardi, I Of course you would! You’d know ■ 1199-world-renowned opera singer . . . . Gerald Holmes, a talented young art­ ist, is hated and loved by his mother "who is embittered because his birth caused the loss of her voice and ■wrecked her operatic career. He has bees befriended by the murdered Eth­ ridge, and is engaged to another of Amos Ethridge’s proteges . . . Hazel Woods, lovely and brilliant young actress, has been helped to success "by Ethridge. She lives in a small cot­ tage owned by Ethridge . . . Jacob .Riggs, eccentric old-time actor, now a doorman at the theater where Hazel Woods plays, has appointed himself her guardian and lives in a room ov­ er her garage. NOW GO ON WITH THE STORY “I—I only told what I saw,” Mrs. Holmes declared, uncertainly. “I swore to it and you know what it means when you swear to a thing. Why —they’d arrest me, for all I l<now.” do. I’m utterly helpless.” She broke ! down now and, hiding her face in her j hands, she sobbed wretchedly; the: tears came through her fingers. There . your own boy anywhere—” Hazel protested breathlessly: ‘“No, no! Think! Oh, God, think of some­ thing to show it wasn’t he! Some action, some gesture, some peculiar­ ity! Maybe there were two head­ lights on that last car and you were mistaken. It’s so easy to be mistaken and just that one point might save him . Think! If it were me I’d— think of something. I'd—But they’ve discredited me; there’s nothing I can Yes, and on men like Vogel! After a while the mother said, roughly: “Go away! Gime me a chance to think. Mind you, I don’t believe it’s any use but—” Again she broke out in gusty vexation. “Oh, why does everything I do turn out wrong? It’s his fault as much as much as mine. It’s easy .for you to tell me to lie, to perjure myself—” “I don’t. I merely say what I’d— be willing—to do.” “All right! now. I’ll let you know if I can think of anything, but I’m sick. That’s my luck. Sick! That’s how things go with me. I—I wish I were dead!” That afternoon Vogel called at the Mrs. Holmes argued feebly until he Tears fell through bttween her fingers. All right! Go along ^Business and Professional Directory Wellington Mutual Fire Insurance Co, Established 1840, Risks taken on all classes of insur­ ance at reasonable rates. Head Office, Guelph, Ont ABNER COSENS, Agent. Wingham. Dr, W. A, McKibbon, B.A, PHYSICIAN And SURGEON Located at the Office of the Late Dr, H. W. Cplbome. Office Phone 54.Nights 107 HARRY FRY Licensed Embalmer and Funeral Director Furniture and Funeral Service Ambulance Service. Phones: Day 117, Night 109. I DR. R. L. STEWART PHYSICIAN Telephone 29. J. W. BUSHFIELD Barrister, Solicitor, Notary, Etc. Money to Loan. Office — Meyer Block, Wingham Successor to Dudley Holmes. A THOMAS FELLS AUCTIONEER REAL ESTATE SOLD Thorough knowledge of Farm Stock. Phone 231, Wingham. It Will Pay You to Have An EXPERT AUCTIONEER to conduct your sale. See T. R. BENNETT At The Royal Service Station. Phone 174W. . She had taken I Jacob about with her a good deal this past week, not merely as an escort, but also because he displayed such pa­ thetic eagerness to comfort and to protet her. In these troubled circum- stanes she was grateful for sympathy and faith from whatever source, and of all her friends he alone remained loyal; he was indeed a father. He was, if possible, “queerer” than ever, more given to melancholy quotations from the Bible; nevertheless she had a tender feeling for him and her mis­ fortune had drawn them close togeth­ er. Hazel found a number of reporters ’ waiting in the hotel lobby and was ; surprised to learn that Mrs. Holmes had likewise sent for them. Her sur­ prise deepened, hope stirred, when the two attorneys she had hired for Jerry hurried in, explaining that they, too, had been summoned. It was quite a group that finally rode upstairs and filed into the sick woman’s room. Mrs. Holmes was up and dressed, but she looked desperately ill. As soon as her visitors had disposed of themselves, she began, in a voice harsh and purposeful: “Get out your pencils, boys. There’s another big story coming. I had a talk with Mr. Vogel today and told him I had made a false affidavit. I told him my account of the Ethridge murder was a pure invention.” The correspondents exchanged glances, the attorneys leaned forward eagerly. Hazel felt old Jacob’s bony fingers upon her arm and heard him mutter some scriptural phrase of thanksgiving. “I’m going to tell you the whole truth, and I want you to print it. I sent for Jerry’s lawyers so they can have it put down in proper form and I can swear to it. I don’t know how such things ought to be done, but—” “Never mind. Go ahead,” one of the attorneys urged. “I’ll start at the beginning and go , along in my own way. Please don’t i interrupt me—you can straighten it out later. Well, then, I did see an automobile with one headlight pass my house^that night—I was waiting for Jerry—and it stopped in the pine grove up by the lane. But that’s all I actually saw. I didn’t see the mur­ der; I didn’t see the car come back| I don’t know when it came back, for I never stepped outside my door af­ ter Jerry told me good night. After he left I went to bed. I heard some shots, but I didn’t know Amos Eth­ ridge had been killed until the next morning. As soon as I heard about it, I hurried up there and hung around all ‘day. That’s the truth, so help me God!” A question or two was voiced, but the woman did not answer, “I talked to some of you boys that morning and told you all I knew, but you went out of your way to treat me contemptuously—make fun of me. I was furious when I saw your stories. . . . When I was on the stage I used to get a thrill out of interviews; I was crazy for publicity. People in my profession frequently get that way. I. loved to see my name in print. I sav­ ed every notice, every criticism; I col­ lected thousands of clippings and pre­ served them. It’s a mild form a di­ sease and lots of actors have it, for they’re always playing to an audience. . . , I’ve been acting all my life, on the stage, at home, before my' friends, to myself. When you’re in print, you’re acting in a way, only to a dif­ ferent audience. Whefi I lost my voice I lost my audience. That was the hardest thing to bear. I used to think I was the most tragic figure in the world, but—’’the speaker smiled bit­ terly—“I guess it was largely because I never saw my name in print, never heard it mentioned any more. What is a career except—applause? What docs a person get out of it except food for his vanity? I'm telling you this to explain what happened next, for if you don't understand the sOrt of pefsoh I am—the theatrical tern- perament—you won’t be able to un­ derstand what I did. “Well, after I got over my first re* sentment at being; ridiculed, the old disease came back, If pleased me io Dr. Robt. C. REDMOND J. H. CRAWFORD M.R.C.S. (England) L.R.C.P. (London) PHYSICIAN AND SURGEON DR. W. M. CONNELL PHYSICIAN AND SURGEON Phone 19. W. A. CRAWFORD, M.D. Physician and Surgeon Located at the office of the late Dr. J. P. Kennedy. WinghamPhone 150 Barrister, Solicitor, Notary, Etc. Successor to R. Vanstone. Wingham Ontario R. S. HETHERINGTON BARRISTER and SOLICITOR Office — Morton Block. Telephone No. 66 F. A. PARKER OSTEOPATH All Diseases Treated. Office adjoining residence next to Anglican Church on Centre St. Sunday by appointment. Osteopathy Electricity Phone 272. Hours, 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. J. ALVIN FOX Licensed Drugless Practitioner CHIROPRACTIC - DRUGLESS THERAPY - RADIONIC EQUIPMENT Hours by Appointment. Phone 191. Wingham A. R. & F. E. DUVAL CHIROPRACTORS CHIROPRACTIC and ELECTRO THERAPY North Street — Wingham Telephone 300. think the public will believe you. The circumstantial evidence is too strong and you haven’t really destroyed part of it. Am I right, boys?” (Concluded Next Week) erich; C. R. Hunt, D. B. Weldon of London; S. R. Stuart of Mitchell; Charles S. Band of Toronto and N. M. Paterson of Fort William. The ele­ vator paid a dividend of 25c a share, plus a bonus of 15c. anybroke in: “I understand you perfect­ ly, and your feelings do you credit. But I am a servant of the people and the law must be upheld. I sincerely regret that in doing your duty you I placed your son in jeopardy, but it’s j not the first time such a thing has | happened. Justice must be served and murder will out. Truth is more sacr­ ed even than a mother’s love. It's my task to discover the “But you haven’t, taken,” the woman not going to let an suffer for my mistake.' “Mistake!” “Well, call it whatever you want to. I gave wrong testimony. I—lied!” “Indeed. It’s too bad you’re so late confessing it. Now see here”— the speaker’s tone changed — “we’ll end this foolishners right now. I’m not going to let you make a monkey out of me, whatever your natural im­ pulse may be. I dare say you'll testi­ fy that I deceived or coerced you; put words into your mouth; induced you to sign something you didn’t read. We’11 see! Are you going to play straight, do your duty as a citi­ zen and stick to what you said—or?” “No. I can’t. I’m going to tell the truth.” Vogel rose. “Thanks for letting me know. If you choose to discredit yourself in any such manner Til make a good job of it. You see, I’ve looked up your whole history and I’ll make you tell it to the jury, with your own lips. It won’t help the defendant any, truth.” I was — mis­ protested. “I’m innocent person if church furnishings* Under the pretext that a child had i trouble broke out again and bands of shows been poisoned by vsweet$ given by Anarchists went on a rampage, burn- burned in the streets of Madrid. (this was officially/ denied by the fog and destroying annything that re- tovernment and all political parties) sefobled a religions building. Photo BIG NEWS FOR All Fell 80 Feet Miss Ann MacDonald of Goderich was the victim of an unusual acci­ dent. She was planting shrubs at the fodt of her garden, which borders a steep embankment, when she slipped and toppled over the edge. She tumb­ led most of the way down the 80- foot hill and fractured her ankle. HOTEL 800 ROOMS DETROIT 50 • $ FOR A SINGLE ROOM WITH BATH That’s our offer— every single room with private bath. $2. $2£-° *3. FACING GRAND CIRCUS PARIS' CUFFORD R.TAYLOR, Managing Director A magnificent modern hotel right in down­ town Detroit. Fine food at low cost. CHURCH FURNISHINGS BURNED AT MADRID and I Nardi a for- and I be written about and to have my words quoted, even though you called me the ‘goose woman,’ a bedraggled old hag, a drunken harridan. When I realized how far I’d. gone back a lot of dead hopes and ambitions came to life . Embers I thought were cold. The ‘goose woman’! It’s a good name for me. “All at once I. dropped out of the papers entirely. I got no more thrills had nothing to think about, nothing to occupy me; I had to quit acting. I was awfully lonely. I’d had a taste of the drug; the habit was back on me fiercer than ever, if you know what I mean. I dare say after this you can follow my motives. I pierced, out a story to fit my theory of the killing, studied the ground so as not to con­ tradict myself, planted an old glove— It was very simple; it looked per­ fectly easy; I didn’t think I was doing harm to anybody for I felt sure the murder would never be solved was merely bringing Maria di back to life—-laying roses on gotten shrine. I don’t know don’t care who killed Amos Ethridge. Whoever did it had a good reason, no doubt, for he was a bad man. “Mr. Vogel believed me. tie brought me here, put me up, dressed me up, and I got so I believed my own story. It was wonderful to 'come back’, to creep out of my shell and become Maria di Nardi again, even though it was all make-believe. There’s a crab —the hermit crab—that does some­ thing like that. He’s an ugly, soft, misshappen thing, but lie crawls into empty shells, beautiful shells, the owners of which have died ,and he lives there. . . I had a glorious time in my new, beautiful shell until I rea­ lized that I had put a noose around my boy’s neck.” Mary Holmes fell silent. Nobody spoke for a moment; then somebody inquired: “What did Vogel say when you told him this?” “He said I was lying to save Jerry and he had expected something of the sort. Then he threatened me—” “Threatened you?” It was one of the lawyers speaking. “Yes, he’s holding something over me. Now that I’ve defied him, I’ve got to tell you what it is—that means telling the worid—and it isn't easy even for a 'bedraggled old harridan* like me. You see—I was never mar­ ried! . . . Well gentlemen, there you the whole story. Mr. Vogel doesn’t believe it, but you do, don’t you? And the public will believe it. Why, you must know I'm telling the truth.” The speaker stared eagerly at first one then another of her hearers. One of the older men answered her: “It makes no difference, Mrs, Hol­ mes, what we fellows think. We’re trained not to think, but to get the news. We’ll send out this story, if you say so, but are you sure you want Us to? Will it do any good?” “Then you—don’t believe me?” “Lets’ put it this way; we don* Walkerton to Buy Fire Siren The Walkerton town council fol­ lowing the recommendation of the fire and water committee at the sugges­ tion of the fire brigade will install a fire siren alarm system in town. The cost is expected to be about $250. Goderich Elevator Officers At the annual general meeting of the Goderich Elevator and Transit Company at Mackay Hall, the re- electes directors appointed G. L. Par­ sons President, Treasurer and Mana­ ger once more. Charles Hunt of Lon­ don was reappointed Vice President, and R. G. Sanderson of Goderich, Sec­ retary. The Directors are: G. L. Parsons, H. J. A. Macewan of Gbd- MONUMENTS at first cost Having our factory equipped with the most modern machinery for the exe­ cution of high-class work, we ask you to see the largest display of monu­ ments of any retail factory in Ontario. All finished by sand blast machines. We import all our granites from the Old Country quarries direct, in the rough. You can save all local deal­ ers’, agents’ and middleman profits by seeing us. E. J. Skelton & Son at West End Bridge—WALKERTON ••J fruauranteed HYDRO LAMPS The Lon$ Life Lamps CsMm a/ JZr Wingham Utilities Commission Crawford Block. Ar Phone 156.