HomeMy WebLinkAboutZurich Herald, 1932-11-17, Page 2•
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. , .0 . , �_ I Was so dire he was gone and leis Latest Findings
1 things with him that she :and Lydia e
went to town this morning and left Of Science
Ralph Hammond here to go through i
the place as freely as he liked, making
his .estimates en the job of finishing Professor Eir3Steirl Disagrees
up the other half of this floor, And' W;"11 Geologists Ai 1c
Ralph— But let that wait for a_lido-i Earth's Age—Other
haeme.
"Got any real proof that it was , Developments
Sprague who stayed here and not thellecture on.the ex-
Hammond boy?" Strawn interrupted in endithe Popular
universe that he delivered in
shrewdly. Bellln Professor Droste n i a
I u rd r t Brid ge
By ANNE AUSTIN,
*IA
SYNOPSIS.
The chief suspects • - the mu'�der of
Juanita Selim, shot at a bridge party
are: Mora Mlles, in Nita's closet at the
time of the murder reading a note: Dex-
ter Sprague, who wrote that note, and
7.,ydia, the maid.
Dundee learn from Lydia that Nita
went out with aiph Hammond, in love
with her, on Thursda• night and that
Friday night she ma'e her will, and saw
d
Dundee finds that thelkitchenedooi has
been unlocked. In the here, the only
hiding place for an intruder, he finds In
a bedroom traces of a man having slept,
there the night before.
Serague worded his note to her as he
did. I have another strong reason for
thinking his belongings were here at
least until noon today, but that can
wait for the moment. Furthermore,
I ani positive that Sprague descended
by the backstairs and went around the
house to join the cocktail party Which
was to follow the hen bridge party."
CHAPTER XXIV.
With the thrill of his discovery
singing blithely along his nerves, Ben-
nie Dundee, special investiga'-or for
the district attorney, had at first hug-
ged the. intcntior. of following the new
trail alone. Hadn't Captain Strawn
taunted him :lot too good-naturedly
about his ability to get along without
the younger :van's help?
But he was glad, both selfishly and
unselfishly, when, half an hour later,
he threw open the front door of dead
Nita's house to the chief of ti_. homi-
cide squad, Carraway, the fingerprint
expert, and the two plainclothesmen
who had• searched the top floor for
the missing weapon or the murderer
himself soon after the murder had
been committed. For if Strawn need--
' ed his—Dundee's—help, he needed the
expert machinery which Strawn cap-
tained. And it was good to feel the
grip of gratitude in the -old chief's
hand, :asp and to see the Imo hard shyoy
twinkle of apology his
gray eyes.
Dundee led the way up the front
stairs to the upper floor, glad to hear
the heavy tread of official feet behind
hint.
"I guess you've got it all doped out
who the Selim woman's gentleman
friend was," Strawn commented ge-
nially, as he followed Dundee into the
pleasant, big bedroom.
"I believe I have, but I need Cana -
way to prove my hunch," Dundee
acknowledged.
Eagerly, swiftly, he displayed his
first tangible ' finds—the open win-
dows, the drapes smelling of cigaret
smoke, the evening paper if the day
before, the faint odor and greasiness
of barber's pomade upon '.h . pillow
ease of -the bed, which had clearly
bee_. slept in .ince the linen was
changed,
fins—Harmon--" Dundee
iipdn "th're Ivo "silent plain-
.e,hesmen, "I want to know what you
saw in these rooms when you search-
ed"' them early ;this evening that you
don't see now. You looked into the
closets and drawers,• of course"."
"Yes, sir," Collix'answered. "And
they was all empty; Dundee. Me and
Harmon didn't spend time smelling
pillow cases, and I admit we didn't
pay no attention to that there news-
paper-"
"Empty!" Dundee echoed. "Are you
sure? ... You, too, Harmon?"
"What are you driving at, boy?"
Captain Strewnaskedindulgently.
Briefly,%' with disappointment flat-
tening his .voice, Dundee told of his
finding the kitchen door ajar after he
had made sure it was locked on his
first rounds of the house.
""I worked it out this way," he con-
tinued, despite Strawn's grin. "Dex-
• ter Sprague was in the habit of spend-
' ing the night here whenever Nita
would give him an evening of her com-
pany. He was here last night, ac -
Cording to the maid, Lydia Carr. Nita
sent her into Hamilton to a picture
stow. Nita and Sprague quarreled
Inst night, but.I am positive he spent
the night here anyway. Certainly he had done so; probably he did leave
there was no actual rupture, since before she got up. At any rate, she
Einstein remarked
rked
"Icoming to the proof," Dundee
teat the earth is 10,000,000,000 years
assured- hind, "or rather, the rest of old,therebyarousing the wonder of
tiwproof that I have't already given
'geologists id eosinot ovists who more
you. You're damned hard to convince, or less accepted 3;000,000,000 years.as
chief! But let me go on with is a satisfactory .estimate. The truth is
theory, which I think covers the facts., that no one knows how old' the earth
At luncheon, when Nita received that is On the other hand, there is good
note from Sprague, I imagine ehe got' reason to believe that the solid crust
a hunch that he hadn't taken her seri-
was formed about 2,000,000,000 years
ously, that he had not removed his be-
longings. longings. You remember Penny CrainThe age of the chit
said Nita had Lydia follow her into h was a question
"`How do you make that out, Bon. about which astronomers and geolo-
_e?" Strawn asked, his grin wipediped her bedroom, as soon as Nita got home
i.igsts wrangled in the last century.
from the luncheon? Lord Kelvin, generally regarded as
away. "Well, it's my hunch that Nita ask -
"Try 'to remember how Sprague the ultimate authority on matheuaa-
ed Lydia if Sprague's things were tical physics,had reached the conelu-
dee d when you first got here," Dun gone when she cleaned these rooms
dee suggested. `"I saw hien 20 minutes
this :a-orning, and that Lydia said no. sign that the earth could not be older
after you did, but—be was wearing an Nita "then probably told Lydia to pack than 40,000,000 years, his. calculations
immaculate stiff eviler, and there them herself, and I feel positive` that being based on the rate at ,rhieh the
o
were still traces of talcum powder ydid so, for she must have felt planet probably cooled after it was
over a close new shave! And yo•: will Lydia formed. Later he extended the period
safe when she protested to me that ,� 100,000 000 ear:. Geologists de
remember that he said he had made a Sprague was not Nita's lo -ser. I also ' • 3 g
half-hour's trip by bus, and had walk- feel sure that Sprague arrived .at mended more time. It was evident to
ed the quarter of a mile from the bus least haif an hour before he said, he,
them that the rocks were much older.
stop on Sheridan Road to this house. Three methods have been employed
It was a mighty hot afternoon, chief." lid, by some back path across the in, estimating the age of the earth's
meadow; that he carne -up to these rocky crust. One depends on the
"`Not conclusive," Strawn growled. rooms that he zonsidered; his, found saltiness of the ocean, the second he
"Then here's another straw to add his things packed, but went about
the thickness of the sedimentary rocks
to the weight of niy conclusion," Dun- shaving and changing his shirt and and the third on the degradation of
dee went on, unshaken "You renem- collar, regardless. I also feel sure radioactive Elements.
ber that Janet Raymond was on the teat Lydia followed him apstairs, to. It is obvious that the sea was not
front porch watching for Sprague, explain and impress upon him that originally salt. If we can determine
while the 'death hand of bridge' was Nita had meant what she said. And how long it required for rains to
being played? ... Oli, she tried to it is gt.ite likely that she was not wash out salt from the rods and im-
p otect him... • Wait, I'll road you through picking up after him when he part its present saltiness to the ocean
the notes I made when I was question- descended by the back stairs and sur -
we would hale a fair indication of
ing her. I looked them up while I was prised Janet Raymond on the front the earth's age. This method, origin -
waiting for you... Here! 1 had said porch. That accounts, of course, for ally suggested by Professor J. Jolly
to Miss Raymond: 'You observed Mr. Lydia's not hearing the kitchen bell of Dublin and developed by Professor
Sprague toiling down the rutty road, the first time Mrs. Dunlap rang."Arthur Holmes, give a value of 360;
hot and weary . but romantic in the Unim, Strawn grunted. What 000,000 years. ,,&Dr. J. W. Gregory,
:unset?' And she answered, stammer- about the proofs you're hol•ding, arguing that the rate at which sodium
ing, `I—I wasn't looking that day: . . back?" is dissolved is higher now than it was
And I knew she was lying, knew that "Conn along, chief—you, too, Car- in the past, multiplies this figure by
she had been taken completely by sur- raway!" Dundee answered, Lied led five and thus arrives at 1,$00,000,003
prise when Sprague suddenly appear- the way into the bathroom. I felt years. What we have here must be
:=d frcm the rear et the house: sure these rooms would yield a very regarded e
little as more than th
"What's more, she betrayed herself definite clue, even though ;i