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HomeMy WebLinkAboutZurich Herald, 1933-02-16, Page 2.41,* -41.0.11.40.10.104444"411r * 1 nurder at Bridge By ANNE) AUSTIN. 'svalOnSis. getting ready to.leave. There was no \. number of people could have killed. Juanita Selim at her bridge party: Judge Marshall, her landlord, to whom she paid ric rent, and owner a the gun and sil- encer with whieh she WU.> Shot; Drake, Vlore, Miles, Dexter Sprague, Clive Hammond, Polly Beale and Janet Raymond are also suspected. Dundee believes that Nita, recognizing one of these six: in a group photograph, came down from New York for black- mail, receiving $10,000 an a bullet, raid he warns Sprague not to carry on the scheme. • Nita had burned papers, intending to marry Ralph Hammond, and Dundee thinks the murderer .will return, looking, for them. At the office Thursday morn- ing, Penny Crain is telling hh'- or an impromptu bridge party Wednesday at the Miles' home, to which Sprague came uniavited, when the elephone rings, ' with the news of Sprague's murder in the trophy room at the Miles' house. CHAPTER XXX VII. The Miles home, still known in Hamiltom as the Hackett place, sine it had been bui,t more than 30 years before by Flora's father, old Silas Hackett, dead these seven years, dom- inated one of the most beautiful of the wooded hills which encircled Mir- ror Lake in the Brentwood section. Once before—on Sunday, the day after Nita Selim's murder, when he had t. ese to interview Lydia Carr and had secured the alibi which had elim- inated Dexter Sprague as a :suspect- -- r..ndee had driven his car ep this hill between the tall yew hedges. Now he thing else to hring in, iii case of rain. The bridge tables are of Iron, covered with oilcloth, and fitted with oilcloth bags for the cards, score pads and pencils—" "Yes, 1 know," Dundee interrupted. "Bu the by, where is Mrs. Milee now?" "In bed. The doctor is with her. She is prostrated from the shock." "Where is this room you call the trophy room?" Dundee asked. "No, don't bother to come with me. just point it out. It's on this floor, 1 understand." Miles pointed past the grea'. circu- lar staircase that wound upward from the main hall. "You can's see the door from here, but it's behind the staircase. Celia found the door closed this morning, and no light on, as I Dundee cut him short by marching ' sward the door, which was again - closed. He entered so noiselessly that Ceptain Strawn, Dr. Price and the fingerprint expert, Carraway, did not hear him. For a moment he stood just inside the door and let his eyes wander about the room which Penny had already described. It wag'net a large room -12 by 14 feet possibly -- but it looked smaller, crowded as it zontinued along the main driveway to was with the long ping-pong table, the more impressive entrance, whose bag of golf clubs, fishing tackle, ten- lianking; slim turrets frowned down rjs racquets, skis and sleds. There Prod a line of police cars and motor- were two windows in the north wall :ydes. His approach must have' been ex- eected and observed, for it was the nester of the Muse who opened the loors and. invited him into the hall, t the end of -which lay the inimense iving room. "A horrible thing to happen in a nan's ome, Dundee," Miles was say- ing. "I can't realize yet that we tetually slept as usual with a corpse Ying down here all night! And I 'lave only myself to blame--" "What do you neeae" Dundee tsked. "Why, that the—body wesn't dis- severed sooner," Mike explained. "If t, had occurred to me that Whitson hadn't closed the trophy room win- dowsI should have gone in to close. and 'leek them when I made the rounds ef living room, dining rooin and library, after our guests were gone last night." A pale -faced, bald-headed butler bad materialized while his master was speaking. "Beg pardon, sir, but 1 did net close the trop:iy room win- dows because I thought you might be using the room again. . . , You see, sir," and Whitson turn' d to Dundee, "Mr. Miles and Mrs. Dunlap played ping-pong in the trophy room after dinner until the other guest began to Arrive, and I did not want them to rind the room stuffy—it was a warm eight—if any of the guests—" "I see," Dundee interrupted. "Who, la. your knowledge, was the last ver- nal' to enter the "trophy room last night, Mr. Miles" "I was, except Sprague, of course, end 1 had no idea he'd gone there. E)rake wanted to play anagrams, and before the bridge game started, 1 went to the trophy room to get th- box," Miles explained. "I turned off the light when I'd got the box and there was no light burning in there this morning when Celia, the parlor maid, went in there to put the anagram box i>ack in the cabinet, and—and found the body. . . . Flora --Mrs. Miles— had brought the anagrams in from the porch and left them om, a table in the living room, as our guests were $ro*ppon,all* of the room, looking out upon the yew- hcdged driveway, and between them stood a cabinet of numerous big and little drawers. Not until he had taken hi the gen- eral aspect of the room did Dundee look at the thing ever which Captain Strawn and the coroner were bending —the body of Dexter Sprague. The alien from New York had fallen about four feet from the win- dow newer the east wall of the tro- phy room. 'He lay en his side, his left cheek against the _floor, the fin- gers of his left hand still clutching the powder -burned bosom of his soft shirt, now stiff with dried blood, a pool of which had formed and theu half congealed upon the rug e The right hand, the fingers half curled but not touching each other, lay paha- upward on the floor at the end of the rigid, outstretched arm. The one vis- ible eye was half open, but on the sallow, thin face, which had been strikingly handsome in an obvious sort of way, was a peace and dignity which Dundee had never Seen upon Sprague's face when the man was alive. The left leg was drawn up- ward so that the knee almost touched. the bullet -pierced stomach. "How long has he been dead, dde- tor?" Dundee asked quietly. "Hello, boy!" Dr. Price greeted him placidly. "Always. the same ques- tion! I've been here only a, few min- utes, and I've already told Strawn that I shall probably be unable to fix the hour of death with any degree of accuracy." "Took your time. didn't you, Bon- the?" Captain Strawn greeted his former subordinate onthe homicide squad. "Doc says he's been dead be- tween 10 and 12 hours. Since it's nearly 10 now, that 'wane Sprague was killed sometime between nine and eleven &dock last night:" "Better say between nine o'cleek and midnight last night," Dr. Price suggested. Dundee crossed the room, stepping over thee dead man's stick—a swank affair of dark, polished wood, with a heavy knob of carved oeyx, which lay Q& hnila 1 can I /, Chritie's roots Contain pure arrowroot; always fresh; their quality is rigidly maintained. FOR LITTLE BABIES Itoll two Christ' s Arrowroots very fine, pour enough bailing water over them to make taste; thin delve with milk. Sugar may be added if desired. keeeeeee DUDLEY DAWSON Who, at the annual meeting ol the directors of the Dominion Bank, was appointed general managed. Mr. Daw- son was formerly assistant general manager. about a feet beyond the reach of the curled fingers of the stiff right hand. "Sprague's hat?" he asked, poiele keg to a brightly landed straw which lay upon the top of the cabinet. "Yes," Strawn answered. "And did you notice the window screen?' He pointed to the window in front of which the body lay. The sash of leaded panes was raised as high as it would go, and beneath it was a screen of the roller-cuetain type, raised about six inches from the window sill. A pair of curved, nickel -plated catches in the centre of the inch -wide Metal band on the bottom of the coppernet curtain showed how the screen was raised or icwered. Dundee nodded, frowning, and Strawn began eagerly: "You'll have to admit- I was right now, boy. You've sneered at my gun- man thee* and tried to pin Nita's murder on one of Hatniton's finest hunch of people,. "This is the way 1 figure it out: Sprague has good reason to be afraid he's next on the program. He's nerv- ous. He hops a taxi at his hotel. and comes here. This crowd here ----and 1 have Miles' word for it—ain't any toe glad to see him, and shows it. He phones for a taxi to go back to his hotel—about 9.15, that was, Miles says—but decides to -walk. down the hill to meet it. Well, he opens 4he front door, or what would be the frOxit door if this was any ordinary hoege, but before he steps out he sees or bears something, or maybe ne,e:ven °sees a fhce, in the light of therlan- terns on -each gide of the door.. t. Modern Wreckers "On The Job" Life of a Salvage Worker 'Ar- duous And run of the Un- expected One of the difficulties of salvage' work at sea is. that almost every case; presents its own special problems.: There was the (Mama, ' for instance,' an American troop -ship which went ashore during the War on ‘he Antrim mist. The "wreckers" founc their work caMplicated bythe fact that the sea was like glass, and that on the Antrim coast at that time of the year there was hardly any difference between- high and low water. So to help to float. her oft theylteked for destroyee, to create an artificial swell! One arrived and—we are told by Mr. Desmond Young, son of the late Com- modore Sir Francis Young, formerly head .of the Admiraltn Salvage Sec - Eon, in "Ships Ashore"—she began to make short runs at dull speed close to the stranded cht The utmost strain possible was.put on all the anchore wires and a)1 avail- able tugs were doing their best. The Oriana rolled ..and 'struggled to free herself each time the destroyer pass- ed. . . Four or five runs at very dose quarters set up the effect of bad weather for two or three minutes at a time. This was exactly what she wanted. At the sixth run, the Oriana rolled, shook, slipped, and came away into deep waten. THE DIVERS' DAY OFF. Mr. Young himself took to salvage work after the War. His first job was one of his hardest. When he arrived the Ulidia had already b• ashore for two years at Soroka, in the south- west of the White Sea, straining on the rocks with the tide rising and falling inside her. Work started; first there was a strike among the Rus- sian workmen. This was settled by a show of bombs and a Lewis gun. When the Ulidia was eventually float- ed off, the divers' were ordered to go dcwn to locate the damage; But they had other ideas: it was a Sunday, and at noon they always knocked off for the day:— They were endangering the ship at the eleventh hour, when elm was practically in safety, Jut it was use - lees to point this out to them, or to promise them that they could stand easy for as long as they liked once, the essential work was doni. . . Stop work they would, and did, and having washed and put on their best clothes, went ashore to stroll abotit ien, the sunshine! • - :THE TREACHEROUS 'PILOT, "He feels sure Nita's rieurder4bee, d. The fleas missed aegee..beee carne trailed 1.1mhe d 'f . In a panedTht& this room, and. don't turn on, the light for fear he'll be seen frai the Win- dows, but he can see well en: ugh to make out how the screens work. 111 bet you anything you like Sprague stayed in this room for an hour or two, till he thought the coast was clear, then eased up this screen, in- tending to climb out of the window and drop to the ground. You cat see that the tall hedge on this side of the driveway conies pretty near up to these windows. Well, I figure he laid his hat on this cabinet, intending to reach in for it when he was outside, but,. that he made some little noise which the gunman was listening for, and that when he got the saseen up this high, the gunman, crouching under the window, let go with theesame gun and silencer that he used to bump off Nita. I've got Miles' word for it that neither he nor anybody else heard a shot. Of cense nobody knew Sprague was in here; and since his hat and stick were both missing from the hall closet, they took it for grant- ed he'd beat it. . . Any objections to that 'heory, boy?" "Just a few—one in particular—" But Dundee was not allowed to fin- ish his sentence, for Strawn was sum- moned to the telephone by Whitson. When he returned there was a slight- ly bewildered look on his face. "That's funny. Collins, the lad sent to check up on the taxi compan- les—eays he's located the driver that answered Sprague's call last night. The driver says he was told to wait for Sprague at the foot of the hill, on ,tho main road; says he waited there until half -past ten then went back to town, sore'n a boiled owl." "It doesn't look exactly as if Spra- gue were afraid of anyone outside of this house last night, does it?" Duns deo asked. "By the way, I suppose you've sent for everyone who was here?" "Sure!" But again Oaptain Strawn looked. uncomfortable."But we haven't been able to loeate the Beale girl and Clive Hammond." - .(116 be continued.) when the tugs nearly got the ship ashore again on the same rocks im- mediately after leaving Soroka! Re- pairs were made at -..A.echangel, and when the time came to' leave, an old Eussian pilot came en board to take the Ulidia down the winding river. Suddenly and without any warning she struck a bank, and, es.ys Mr. Young, there can be no doubt that the pilot had put us ashore on purpose. Fortunately the tide' had jind begun to make, and the ship had not gone very far up on the mud bank which had been selected for her. It was, hewever, a very moot point whether she would float or not, and, as a fact, she only did so at the top of high water. His age and Our preoccupation alone saved the old pilot. . . But they got off again, and made bpi -England towed by only one tug. The only experieaced sailors on the Uliclia were three Russians! Their safety depended on the weather, the tow -rope, a patch remaining in posi- tion, and the pumps. They struck vile weather, as it happened, and it took them a month tc reach the Tyne. The strangest incident of all, how- ever, occurred in London. The Rus- sians were to return from Tilbury Mr. Young sent an assistant to meet them at Euston and bring them to the office. Two taxis were needed; in the second the young man put the Rus- sian tack and a man owned Savanoff, and, without giving the shiver the address, told him to follow the first taxi in which he himself rode with the others. The second taxi pre- aumably lost the first in the traffic, for it never arrived at the office. And that, In 'spite of our inquiries, was the last we heard of the cook and of Savonoff. What became of them? They neither of thein spoke a word of English; they neither of them knew the name of the ship by which they were to return to Libau; they -had no permits and no tickets; they had no English money with which to pay the taxi. London swallowed them up! Room and Board for $3 Isouie.—A new home in which room and heard for women is furnished at $3 a week for those earning less than 00 4a week, has, been opened. here by the Women's Auxiliaries Wel. fare Association. "Most modern work is not romantic beeanse It is modern, but beeause is weak, slokly and diseased; and the anelent is not demi° beoatt$a it ts old, but because t is strong, fresh, cheerful and healtby."---Goethe, 4§SL1E No, 6—'33 r' A Quality Wilk!) Is Incomparabie Fresh from the Gardens" ..-eeseennerewe----esegenn._ 622 Why, I think you cut 'ee thioat a fortnight ago with your messin' "— a truthful answer which horrified the attendant staff Lut so delighted Ad- miral Wilson that until his death he never failed...Jo inquire after ;Jona- than. "Well, my friend, how goes it?" said Jonathan, at the same sase to a busy .Commander. "Don't can me eour friend, I'm not your fiend," snapped the Commander. "Yes. you are," said Jonathan, "I've taken a lik- irg to you." And friends they were for the rest of the job. Risks and discomforts are met with and expected by all salvage men. Yet 'Captain Young's first chief al- ways went wrecking wearing a top hat! One is constantly coming across the bizarre and unexpected in this story of a little-known occupation where all is excitement and uneer- tainty—a gamble with time and a race against the weather. And after readingthe book one can understand something of the power of what Mr. Young's father used to call the "sal- vage bug," which has attacked the most unlikely people "including par- sons,- colonels, and an American di- rector of a famous life company." The Sound of a Child's Laughter All the bells of heaven may ring, All the birds of heaven may sing, All the wells on earth may spring, All the winds in earth mas bring All sweet sounds together; Sweeter far than all things heard, Hand of harper, tone or bird, Sound of woods at sundow:i stirred, Welling water's winsome word, Wind in warm wan weather. One thing yet there is, that none Hearing ere its chime be done Knows not well the sweetest one Heard of man beneath the sun, Hoped in heaven hereafter; Soft and strong and loud and light, Very sound of very light Heard from morning's rosiest. height,. When the soul of all delight Fills a child's clear laughter. Golden bells of welcome. rolled Never forth such notes, nor tdd Hours so blithe in tones so bold, As the radiant month of gold, Here that rings from heaven. If the golden -crested wren Were a nightingale—why, then, Something seen, and heard of men Blight be half as sweet as when Laughs a child of seven. —Swinburne'"Poems." ONLY TWO FAILURES. Actual failure is rare for the ex:- pMr. Young. tells us that his father, in over four hundred cases before the War'when he was known all over the world as "Captain Young of Liverpool," only twice failed to float a vessel on which he had started ork., The value of the ships and cargoes he saved was more than n0,000,000. Some of the salvage men were true to W. W. Jacobs eharacters, Ginger Dicks and Sam Smalls of real life. One was Jonathan Railton, the fore- man carpenter: when the battleship Montagu went ashore on Lundy he was asked by Admiral of the Fleet Sir A. X, Wilsont— "Well, Jonathan, what do you think so now?" and replied: "Think! "Hard work, more than any other woman la the world, is the one to stand up best -for ffer man," --Sir James M. Barrie, "The hungry, suffering millions of unemployed will not again get em- ployment until the high cost of gov- ernment is ent."--Admiral Richard E. Byrd. Harz Mountain Canaries Shipped From Germany Several hundred thousand canady birds, mostly from the Harz Mountain region, are en route by special steam- ers from Germany to countries across the sea. In former years, the number of songsters thus shipped every year was upwards of half a million. but they gradually have been decreasing "in popularity. In some countries, fur- thamore, the duties are so high as to mak the birds too costly; in Rus- sia they are baneed as "unnecessary luxuries." As early as the 16th Century, can- aries were popular. The 'science oi cultivating their. voices improved bit by bit ui.til now they are put through a thoroegh schooling, from which they have to graduate, as it were, be': £cre being , approved for shipment; Among the most skilful teachers in the German bird academie. are blind ex -soldiers. The color of the birds is an im. portant matter. United States fan- ciers always have preferred the light yellow type, but Britain, for example; likes them red -yellow. The desired colors are secured by cross -breeding; pairing white and green birds, for in- stance, yields blue ones in the third generation. ._Cayenne pepper is also listed as a dietary item in deseelopins the red -yellow shade. OUI WILL For though with judgment we on things reflect, Our wIll determines, not our lad -Edmund Wailer. Electricity is the driving newer of a new Euglish model motor -car intend- ed for children It has ell the fittings —gears, self-starter, lamps, and harn —of the real article, costs gso, and is intended for use in gardeas and pri- vate ground,s. rEs,surr. T.•••••••••••••ip.w.W.••••=1.0 Any little soreness in the throat grows tepidly worse if neglected. Crush some tablets of Aspirin in some water, and gargle a once. This gives you instant relief, and reduces danger from infection. One good gargle and you can feel safe. If all soreness is not gone promptly, repeat. There's usually a cold with the sore throat, so take two tablets to throw off your cold, headache, stiffness or Other cold symptoms. Aspirin relieves neuralgia, neuritis, too. Use it freely; it does not hurt the heart. - A S P IR IL N TRADE -NARK REG, itICANADA LP.