The Wingham Advance-Times, 1938-05-19, Page 6f
ray from Heath’s pocket flash
about the walls and ceiling,
could see neither him nor
Then the light came-to a halt,
PAGE SIX
SYNOPSIS
During the night Kaspar Renting
>vas kidnapped. Philo Vance, with
District Attorney Markham go to the
Renting home there to meet Sergeant
Heath of the Homicide Bureau, Ken
yon Renting and Mrs. Renting, the
brother and wife of the kidnapped
man. Present also is Eldridge Fleel,
the Renting family attorney. The
first evidence casts some doubt as to
the genuineness of the crime. Vance
examines Weems, the Renting butler.
Further search shows that Kaspar
probably did not go down the ladder
found outside the house. Vance re
examines Kenyon Renting first, then
Mrs. Renting’s mother Mrs. Falloway
and her son, Fraim. He learns little
but notes an undercurrent of hostil
ity among these members of the
strange inhabitants of the Purple
House. At this time a ransom note
arrives demanding $50,000 and free
dom from police interference. Vance
and Markham consult the Rentings
and Fleel, their lawyer. It is decided
to allow the police a free hand in
dealing with the supposed kidnappers.
A dummy package is substituted for
the money and then secreted in a tree
in Central Park according to instruc
tions. The police capture a cloaked
figure, Mrs. Falloway, who admits to
.Vance she is really trying to forestall
' an attempt by her son, Fraim, to get
the money. The woman is not held
and the real kidnapper’s identity re
mains a mystery. Immediately after
ward, Madelaine Renting, wife of
Kaspar Renting, also disappears sud
denly. That night, while walking
home, Eldridge Fleel is machine-gun
ned at close range from a passing
automobile but not hurt Vance sus
pects a ruse. Heath, Markham and
Vance go to Markham’s office and
learn that Kaspar Renting’s body has
been found in the East River. While
there Kenyon Renting arrives with a
■second ransom note as does Fleel
who also received a note. Vance ex
amines both and discovers a cryptic
meaning in the Fleel communication.
The hidden meaning prompts Vance
to investigate further. Vance decides
that the hidden meaning is really the
directions for getting to the kidnap
per’s lair. Together with Markham,
Heath and VanDine, he drives to a
lonely house in upper Manhattan
where, after silently disposing of a
Chinese doorkeeper, the party enters.* * *
There was a brief respite of black
silence, so poignant as to be almost
palpable, and then came the crash of
an upset chair and the dull heavy
sound of a human body striking the
floor. I was afraid to move. Heath’s
labored breathing made a welcome
noise at my side.
Then I heard Vance’s voice — the
cynical nonchalant voice I knew so
well.
The
moved
but I
Vance,
and Heath’s triumphant voice rang
I-'*
6
DR, R. L. STEWART
PHYSICIAN
Telephone 29.
Phone 231, Wingham,
«
J. H. CRAWFORD
OntarioWingham
the
Telephone No. 66.
6
the
:ush-
1 DOLLAR OF EVERY 4 GOES INTO TAXES
the car in less - than
got
<>116
studio restaurant, lived in Canada,
we
the
$os-
Park,
sped
quitd,” answered Vance. “Doicati see, If Virginia Bruce and James
Barrister, Solicitor, Notary, Etc.
Successor to R. Vanstone.
looking and well dressed, bad
and drawn, and his right
in a sling. He saluted
Dr. W. A. McKibbon, B.A.
PHYSICIAN AND SURGEON
Located at the Office of the Late
Dr, H. W. Colbome.
R. S. HETHERINGTON
BARRISTER and SOLICITOR
Office — Morton Block.
the consumers hili without his know
ing it? The government collects an
A longer pause followed as
“Don’t know noth-
he shot back, in a
carelessly, “I killed three
all right, Sergeant,”
approached the car.
«•
i breathed. “I don’t have to tell
Dr. Robt. C. REDMOND
M.R.C.S. (England)
L.R.C.P. (London)
, PHYSICIAN AND SURGEON
DR. W. M. CONNELL
PHYSICIAN AND SURGEON
Phone 19.
Office Phone 54h Nights 107
fyS.S.Van Dine.eL™
Barrister, Solicitor, Notary, Etc.
Money to Loan.
Office — Meyer Block, Wingham
W. A. CRAWFORD, M.D.
Physician and Surgeon
Located at the office of the late
Dr. J. P. Kennedy.
Phone 150. Wingham
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tO<PAD OF PAPER
TAXED It
J
“Here it is, sir—a socket beside the
window.” And as he spoke a weak,
yellowed bulb dimly lit up the room.
On the floor lay two motionless
bodies.
“Pleasant evening, Sergeant.”
Vance spoke in his usual steady,
whimsical voice. “My sincerest apol
ogies, and all that,” Then he caught
sight of me, and his face sobered.
“Are you all right, Van?” he asked.
I assured him I had escaped the
melee unscathed, and added that I
had not used my automatic because
I was afraid I might have hit him in
the dark.
“I quite understand,” he murmured
and, nodding his head, he went quick
ly to the two prostrate bodies. After
a momentary inspection, he stood up
and said: f
“Quite dead, Sergeant. Really y’
know, I seem to be a fairly accurate
shot.”
“I’ll say!” breathed Heath with ad
miration. “I wasn’t a hell of a lot
of help, was I, Mr. Vance?” he add
ed a bit‘shamefacedly.
“Really nothing for you to do, Ser
geant.”
The last word had been only half
completed when there came two shots
from the rear door. The slim, crouch
ing figure of a man, somewhat schol
arly
WINGHAM ADVANCE-TIMES Thursday, May 19 th, 193$
near us.
“By jove, a telephone {’’^comment
ed Vance. "Now we’ll have to find
the instrument.”
Heath straightened up.
“The thing’s right here on the man
tel,” he said,
“You’d better let me answer it, Mr.
Vance. You’re too refined.” He pick
ed up the receiver with his left hand.
“What d' you want?” he asked, in
a gruff, officious tone. There was a
short pause. “Oh yeah? O.-K., go
ahead.”
Heath listened,
ing about it,”
heavy resentful voice. Then he add
ed: “You got the wrong number.”
And he slammed down the receiver.
“Who was it, do you know, Ser
geant?” Vance spoke quietly as he
lighted a cigarette.
Heath turned slowly and looked at
Vance. His eyes were narrowed, and
there was an expression of awe on
his face as he answered.
“Sure I know,” he said significant
ly. He shook his head as if he did not
trust himself to speak. “There ain't
no mistaking that voice.”
“Well, who was it, Sergeant?”
“It was—” he began, and then he
was suddenly aware of my presence
in the room. “Mother o’ God!” he
you
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A yellow spurt of flame stabbed from a dark corner.
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Sunday by appointment.
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Phone 272. Hours, 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.
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suddenly appeared there.
Vance had swung about simultane
ously with his warning to Heath, and
there were two more shots in rapid
succession, this time from Vance's
gun.
I saw the poised revolver of blue
steel drop from the raised hand of
the man at the rear door; he looked
round him, dazed, and both his hands
went to his abdomen. He remained
upright for a moment; then he doub
led up and sank to the floor where
he lay in an awkward crumpled heap.
Heath's revolver too dropped from
his grip. He staggered backward a
few feet ad slid heavily into a chair.
“The baby winged me,” Heath said
with an "effort. “My gun jammed.”
He had barely finished speaking
when we heard a repeated ringing
Mr. Vance. You knew this morning.”
Vance looked at the Sergeant a
moment and shook his head.
“Y’ know,” he ’said, in a curiously
repressed voice, "I was almost hop
ing I was wrong. I hate to think—”
He came suddenly forward to Heath
who had fallen back weakly against
the mantel and was blindly reaching
for the wall, in an effort to hold him
self upright. Vance put his arm ar
ound Heath and led him to a chair.
“Here, Sergeant,” he said in a kind
ly tone, handing him an etched silver
flask, “take, a drink of this — and
don’t be a sissy.”
Heath inverted the flask to his lips.
Then he handed it back to Vance.
“That’s potent juict,” he said, stand
ing up and, pushing Vance away from
him. “Let’s get going.”
respectful, but a little weary. I
Vance looked at him with commis-|
EXILED KAISER SEES GRANDSON WED TO RUSSIAN BRIDE
—M.MMMII.IIIIWl ■■■! Illi. .1.1111
tail everything that had happened
that night. But I thought he too
greatly minimized his own part in
the tragic drama. When he had fin
ished his recital he asked somewhat
coyly:
“Am I a doomed culprit, or were
there what you would call extenuat
in' circumstances?—I’m horribly weak
on the intricaces of the law, don’t y’
know.”
“Damn it! Forget everything,” said
Markham. “If you’re really worried,
I’ll get you a brass medal as big as
Columbus Circle.”
The front door-bell rang, and a
minute later Heath entered the lib
rary. His "ordinary ruddy face was a
little pale
arm was
Markham and turned sheepishly to
Vance.
“Your old saw-bones at the hospi
tal told me I had to go home,” he
complained. “And. there’s nothing in
God’s world the matter with*me,” he
added disgustedly, “Imagine him put
tin’ this arm in a sling —* Hell! If
my gun hadn’t jammed—”
“Yes, that was a bad break, Ser
geant,” nodded Markham.
Vance and Markham and Heath
discussed the case from various an
gles for perhaps a half hour longer.
Markham was getting impatient.
“I’m going home,” he said finally,
as he rose. “We’ll get this thing all
straightened out in the morning.”
“Is there anything you. want me to
do, Mr. Vance?” Heath’s tone was
Third of the marriage ceremonies
Which united Prince Louis Ferdinand
and the Grand Duchess Ityra took
place at Doorn, Holland home of the
•groom’s grandfather, the former Rais,
er. Previously the couple were mar-
ried in Potsdam, with a civil cere
mony and later in a Russian ortho
dox ceremony, The former ruler of
^Germany donned a pre-war uniform
of a general to see them married ac
cording to German evangelical laws.
The three enjoyed a quiet chat in
corner of the Doorn castle during the
reception. The bride wore a bracelet
and a neckpiece of diamonds which
the exiled kaiser gave her.
■
“Right-o, Sergeant/We’ve only be
gun,” As b# spoke ho walked toward
the rear "door and stepped over the
dead man, into the next room. Heath
and I were at his heels.
We were in a small box-like room,
without windows, Opposite us, ag
ainst the wall, stood a narrow army
cot. Vance’ rushed forward and lean
ed over the cot. The motionless (orm
of a woman lay stretched out on it.
Despite her disheveled hair and her
deathly pallor, I recognized Madelaine
Renting. -Strips of adhesive tape
bound her lips together, and both her
arms were tied securely with pieces
of heavy clothesline to .the iron rods
at either side of the cot.
Vance dexterously removed the
tape from her mouth, and the woman
sucked in a deep breath, as if she had
been partly suffocated.
Vance busied himself with the cruel
cords binding her wrists. When he
had released thetn he laid his ear
against her heart for a moment, and
poured a little of the cognac from his
flask between her lips. She swallow
ed automatically and coughed. Then
Vance lifted her in his arms and
started from the room.
I preceded him as he carried his in
ert burden down the dingy stairway.
“We must get her to a hospital at
ance, Van,” ,he said when we had
reached the lower hallway.
The Chinaman still lay where
had left him, on the floor against
wall.
“Drag’ him up to that pipe in
corner, Mr. Van Dine,” the Sergeant
told me in a strained voice. “My arm
is sorta numb.”
I moved the limp form of the
Chinaman until his head came in con
tact with the pipe; and Heath, with
one hand drew out a pair of hand
cuffs. Clamping one of the menacles
on the unconscious man’s right wrist,
he pulled it around, the pipe and with
his left foot manipulated the China
man’s left arm upward till he could
close the second iron around it.
Then we both went out into
murky night, Heath slamming the
door behind him. Vance, with his
burden, was perhaps a hundred yards
ahead of us, and we came up with
him just as he reached the car. He
placed Mrs. Renting on the rear seat
of the tonneau and arranged the
ions under her head.
“I’m heading for the Doran
pital, just this side of Bronx
Sergeant,” Vance said, as we
along. In about fifteen minutes, ig
noring all traffic lights and driving
at a rate fare exceeding the city speed
limit, we drew up in front of the hos
pital.
Vance jumped from the car, took
Mrs. Renting in his arms again, and
carried her up the wide marble steps.
He returned to
ten minutes.
“Everything’s
he said as he
“The lady has regained consciousness.
Fresh air did it.”
Heath had stepped out of the' car
and was standing on the sidewalk.
“So Jong, Mr. Vance,” he said. “I’m
getting in that taxi up ahead. I gotta
get back to that damn house. I
work to do.”
“Stay right here, Sergeant, and get
that arm properly dressed first.”
He led Heath back, and accompan
ied him up the hospital steps.
A few minutes later Vance came
out alone.
“The Noble Sergeant is all right,
Van,” he said, as he took his place at
the wheel again. "He’ll be out before
long.
When we reached Vance’s apart
ment Currie opened the door for us.
There was relief written in every line
of the old butler’s face.
“Good heavens, Currie!” said Vance
as he stepped inside, “I told you, you
might tuck yourself in at eleven o'
clock if you hadn’t heard from me.”
“I’m sorry, sir,” Currie said in a
voice which, for all its formailyity,
had an emotional tremolo in it. “I—
I couldn’t go to bed, sir, until you
returned. I’m very glad you have
come home, sir.”
"You’re a sentimental old fossil,
Currie,” Vance complained, handing
the butler his hat.
“Mr. Markham is Waiting in the
library,” said Currie.
As we entered the library, we
found Markham pacing up and down.
“Well, thank God!” he said. And
though he attempted to sound trivial,
his relief was as evident as old Cur
rie’s had been.
“Greetings, old dear,” said Vance.
“Why this unexpected pleasure of
your presence at such an hour?”
“I was merely interested, officially,
in what -you may have found on Lord
Street” returned Markham.
“I’m frightfully sorry, Markham,”
he said, “but I fear I have made you
a bit of trouble , . . The fact is,” he
added
men.”
“Arc you serious?” 'blurted Mark-
ham.
“Oh, r
you think you can save me from the Stewart, seen here lira Hollywood
dire consequences?”
And then he told Markham in de- they might reflect that the milk they
$25.00 SILK DRESS
TAXED $4.00
L ' .SC*"'
$35.00 SUIT
TAXE0$2A0
>50.00 CARPET
TAXED $+.00
The Canadian Government doesn’t
tax the future taxpayer for being
born, but it costs him money all
through life and even costs money to
die. Income, excise, and 50 other
taxes keep" the collector’s hand in his
pocket during his lifetime, and suc
cession duties return a part of his es-
tate to the government, if it is
enough. The above pictures show
how Canadians are taxed on such
things as clothes, food and furniture.
There is even a special 10% tax on
cosmetics and a five per cent tax on
soap. *
ONE-THIRD OF ALL CANADIAN TAXES CONCEALED
There are ttidre taxes than the eye are* drinking is almost the only taxeight per cent, excise tax', for Instance