HomeMy WebLinkAboutZurich Herald, 1933-03-30, Page 2A Blend oF Distinctive Quality
"Fresh From the Gardens"
49 -49.049 -e•4 -0 -1S+4 -*•' ho --e -.-o
By ANNE AUSTIN.
SYNOPSIS.
Special Investigator Dundee believes
that Juanita Selim and Dexter Sprague
were both murdered because they were
partners in a blackmail scheme, while
the police believe that they were killed
to avenge "Swallowtail Sammy" Saveiii,
whom they are supposed to have betray-
ed. The case is strongest against Flora
Miles. Dundee thinks it possible she
killed Nita, thinking Nita had told her
husband of some scandal :.evolving her,
and that Tracey Miles killed Sprague to
protect his wife from a charge of mur-
der. He learns that Flora rushed Tra-
cey into marriage. In New York he
goes to the Forsyte School, where the
women involved. attended and where
Nita was director of the Easter play,
And learns that Flora left school and
became a chorus girl in 1919. There
'were rumors that . he had been living
with an actor. Her parents brought her
back and the story was hushed up, He
learns that Serena Hart, Forsyte girl
and successful stage star, re.,ommended
for the job. She tells him that she
met Nita in the season of 1917-18, and
that Nita was married and deserted be-
fore the show was over.
CHAPTER XLIII.-
"No, I never met Nita's husband,"
Serena Hart replied. "As a matter of
fact, she told me extraordinarily little
about him, and did not discuss her
marriage with the other girls of the
chorus at all. I got the impressioe
that Mr. Selim—Mat, she called him
—wanted it kept secret for a while,
"but I don't know why. This was early
in. 1918, as I've told you, though I
have no way of fixing even the ap-
proximate date, and New York was
full of soldiers. I remember I jumped
to the conclusion that Nita had suc
cumbed to a wear romance, but I don't
think she said anything Oto, confirm
"say suspicion.
"When. did she tell you of her mar-
riage,—that is, when—in relation to
Me date of the wedding itself?" Dun-
dee asked.
"The very day she was married,"
Serena Hart answered.
"Tilts dress?" Dundee asked, and
handed her the photograph of dead
Nita in the royal blue velvet dress
she had kept for twelve years.
"Yes," and Serena Hart shuddered.
"Her hair was dressed like that, too,
although she had been wearing it in
long curls. She whispered to me that
she had been married that day, that
she was terribly happy, very much in
lave, and that her husband had asked
her to dress her hair in the French
roll, a favorite hair -dress with him.
li2etween numbers she whispered to
me again, telling me that her husband
was 'so different,'—totally unlike any
man she had met on Broadway, poor
child... For she was a child still—
only 20, but she had been in the show
'business since she was a motherless,
fatherless little drifter of 16.. .
"No, she did not tell me how old he
was, where he came from, his busi-
ness, or what he looked like. As the
weeks passed she became more and
sore silent and reserved, Then came
a day when she did not show up for
the performance at all. The next
7eigiit she told me that her husband
had. left her, after a quarrel, and had
not returned. I1; sems that she had
innocently told him how she had
vamped Benny Steinfeld, the big revue
producer, into giving her a 'spot' in
his summer show, and that her 'Mat'
had flown into a rage, accusing her of
having been untrue to him, She never
mentioned. -his desertion to me again,
but—"
"Yes?" Dundee prompted.
"I've afraid I rather forgot poor
Nita after 'Teasing Tilly' closed. After
a year of stock I got my chance in a
legitimate show on Broadway, and
one day I met her on the street. I
asked her if she and her husband were
reconciled. She said no, that she had
never seen him. again. Then, in a
burst of confidence, she toll me that
she had hired a private detective to
investigate him in his home town.
The detective had reported that no
such person as Matthew Selim had
ever lived there, so far as he could
find out. After that I rather lost
sigh': of Nita, our paths being so very
divergent.''
"And you never saw her again?"
Dundee asked, disappointed.
"Oh, yes, two or three times—at
openings, or on the street, but we
never held any significant conversa-
tion," Serene Hart answered, reaching
for her hat. "Oh, yes! I was about
t'-• forget! I had quite a shoes: in con-
nection with Nita. One afternoon I
bought The New York Evening Star,
and on the first page I saw a picture
of Nita, beneath a headline which said,
'Famous Model Commits Suicide'—"
"What!" Dundee exclaimed, as-
tounded.
"Oh, it wasn't Nita Leigh," Serena
Hart reassured him. "There was. a
correction the next day. You see, an
artist's model named Anita Lee had
committed suicide, and as The Star
explained it the next day, the similar-
ity of both the first name and the last
had caused the error in the photo-
graph."
"When did the mistake occur?"
Dundee asked, in great excitement.
"Let me think!" Serena Hart
frowned. "'Hullabaloo' opened in—
yes, about the first of May, 1922.. .
Just a little more than eight years
ago."
Dundee reached for his own hat, in
a fever to be •?•one, but to his si.rprise
the actress stopped him, a faint color
in her pale cheeks.
"Since you're from Hamilton, and
are investigating the murder, you
have undoubtedly met little Penelope
Crain?"
"I know her very well. Why?"
"I save her as lead in. the Easter
play at Forsyte four or five years
ago," Mis Hart explained, "and I was
impressed with her talent. Iii. fact,
I advised her father, who had come
from Hamilton to witness the per-
formance, as proud parents are likely
to do, to let her go on the stage."
"So you met Roger Crain?" Dun-
dee asked.
"Oh, yes... a charming ni..n, with
even more personality than his daugh-
ter," the actress answered carelessly,
so carelessly that Dundee had a sud-
den hunch.
"Have you see Mr. Crain recently?
Ha deserted his family and fled Ham-
ilton in rather unsavory circum-
stances."
"When do you
asked sharply.
"Oh, there was nothing actually
a: iminal, I suppose, but he is believed
to have withheld some securities
which would have helped satisfy his
creditors, when bankruptcy was im-
minent," Dundee explained. "Have
you seen him since then—January,
that was, I believe?"
"January?" Miss Hart appeared to
need time for reflection. "Oh, yes!
He sent in his card on the first night
of my show that opened:in in January.
It,; was a flop—lasted only five weeks.
.. We chatted of the Forsyte girls
who are now in Hamilton, most of
whom I went to school with or have
met at the Easter plays."
"Do you know where Mr. Crain is
now?" Dundee asked. "I have a mes-
sage for him from Penny, which I
should like to reach him."
"1 haven't the least idea where he is
living or what he is doing now," • Miss
Hart shrugged. "Of tonne, if he
• ,.,,1 came to see me backstage a,�ir
�"w"'°'", `. ,. •�,,, -• What i e
ance
had quoted so accuir toly, was .a pia' Ti ,;�' �
tire of a young, laughing Nita Leigh,
her curls bobbed short, arose between
her gleaming teeth. And in the issue
of May 4 appeared two pictures side
by side—exotic, straight-haired, slant -
eyed Anita Lee, who had found life so
insupportable that she had ended it, Harris is itself a remarkably remote
and the same photogzaph of living, shot to be the origin of such: a
vital Nita Leigh, famous material. Harris is the
When he returned the files he asked mountainous southern portion of
the girl in charge a question;
"Does this copyright line beneath
this picture mean that the picture was
syndicated?"
Tho girl bent her. head to see.
" `Copyright by Metropolitan Picture
Service'," she read aloud, "Yes, that's
what it means. But the picture syn-
dicate was discontinued about five
years ago."
"Are their files available?" Dundee
asked.
"If they are, I dent know anything
about it," the girl told him.
"It doesn't matter," Dundee as-
sured her,, and asked for a sheet of
blank paper, on which he quickly com-
posed the following telegram, address-
ed to Penny Crain:
'Please search files all three Ham-
ilton papers week of May fourth, to
eleventh, nineteen twenty-two, for
story and pictures on suicide Anita
Lee, artist's model. .Say nothing to
anyone, not even Sandersx if he .s
back. Wire result Hotel."
In his hotel, while impatiently wait-
ing an answer from Penny, hepassed
the time by scanning all the New
York papers of Thursday and Friday,
on the chance of meeting with signifi-
cant revelations concerning the pri-
vate life of De Iter Sprague or Juan-
ita Leigh Selim, united in death, by
the press, at least. There was much
space devoted to the theory involving
the two New Yorkers with the mur-
der of the racketeer and gambler,
"Swallow -tail Sammy" Savelli, but
only two pieces of, information held'
Dundee's interest.
The first was a reminder to the
public that certain thearictal columns
of Sunday, Feb. 9, had carried the
rumor of Dexter Sprague's engage-
ment to Dolly Martin, popular "baby"
star of Altamont Pictures, and that
the papers of Tuesday, Feb. 11, had
carried Sprague's own denial of the
en gagement.
"So that is why Nita tried to com-
mit suicide on Feb. 9—and her at-
tempted suicide, with its tragic con-
sequences for Lydia Carr, is probably
the reason Dexter Sprague 'gave up
his picture star," Dundee mused. "Did
Nita let hint persuade her to go into
the blackmail business, in order to
hold his wandering, mercenary affec
tions?"
The second bit of information which
the papers supplied hint was gleamed
by Dundee himself, from a new sui�3-
mary of Nita Leigh's last year of life
as chorus girl, specialty dancer,
'double' in pictures, and director of
the Easter play at Forsyte-en-the-
Hudson.
"If Nita got a divorce cr even a
legal separation from her husband
after her talk a year ago with Gladys
Earle, she got it in New York and
so secretly that no New York paper
has been able to dig it up," Dundee
concluded. "And yet she had'promis-
ed to marry Ralph Hammond!"
A bellboy with a telegram inter-
repted the startling new train of
thought which that conclusion had
started. The wire was from Penny
Crain.
Of Harris Tweed
Harris tweed is truly a subject for
romance, The beautiful island of
mean?" Miss Hart
About
• eagerness,
Such unrestrained
that hold
Tiptoeing dawns
bravely gold.
If night winds daunt them
not confess
Who rise in glad abandon to express
By every upfiung petal they unfold
Eternal newness in a world grown
old
And faith too sure to compromise on
Iess.
(To be continued.)
Sonnet For April
first flowers there is
delight for
such
days
and moons so
they
will
what is known as the Long Island,
lying far out in the Atlantic in the
chain of islands known as the Outer
Hebrides. In Harris the tweed is
woven in the little houses, on small
hand looms, and the buyer receives'
it in a web as immaculate as any
lifted straight from the shelf of a
great warehouse in the city,
In St, Kilda, where the sheep were
black, the tweed woven by the in-
habitants, before the island was
evacuated, was usually either black
or speckled, owing to the difficulty
'of getting natural dyes; but in
Harris, where vegetation is plentiful,
the tweeds show a variety of beauti-
ful colorings. In fact, the only dyes
bought are indigo and "enbbar"—a
bright red dye, Cochineal is also
used for the finer shades of red, but
it is too expensive to be used freely.
Sometimes a pretty red and white
mixture is obtained by boiling in
dye a tightly tied skein of wool of
equal lengths (usually measured in
homely fashion by placing one fist
against the other). The tied por-
tions remain the natural color and
thusa contrast is made throughout
the skein.
Aanong the many plants from
which dyes are extracted for the
tweeds are alder -wood, which gives
black, ivy leaves which yield yellow,
and heather tips which give green.
Crotal, or rock lichen, yields brown
and, incidentally, gives the unmis-
takable smell associated with the
true Harris tweed. The following
lines, from verses by an anonymous
writer, .convey a real interpretation
of what the smell of Harris tweed
means to anyone who loves the is-
lands off the west coast of Scotland:
"I met a man in Harris tweed
As I walked down the Strand;
I turned and followed like a dog
The breath of hill and peat and bog
That clung about that coat of brown,
And suddenly in London 'Town
I heard again the Gaelic speech,
The scrunch of keel on shingly
beach;
"With buoyant step I went along
Whistling a Hebridean song
That Ian Og of Taransay
Sang to me one enchanted day.
I was a man renewed indeed
Because I smelt that Harris. tweed.
-.'1 'walked down the Strand,"
Prince George $calors
Sir Malcolm Campbell
London.—Prince George, who is
President -in -Chief of the British Rac-
ing Club, presided at a banquet
which the club held in honor of Sir
Malcolm Campbell on his return to
England. Sir Malcolm set up at
Daytona Beach, Florida, a new worlds'
landspeed record of 272.10E miles an
hour.
It is understood that the club's
British Empire Trophy race will take
a different form this year. Instead
of one race composed of four heats
and a final, it is stated that this
year the club is holding a British
Empire meeting, at which live sepa-
rate and independent races will l'e
held.
All roses learn of June the art that
lies
In Ieisured blend of sunlight with
the dews
Warne dusk bestows, till beauty
Is complete,
But youth — and April -- who would
have them wise
Or earth insist on reason lest she
lose
Her swaying daffodil -:--her danc-
ing feet,
—Molly Anderson Haley, in "The
Window Cleaner and Other Poems."
`'Iiemptatibn '>1p ••�* ✓•. - s
message from Petty?"
"That her mother wants hint to
meo see " Dundee ar swerad, t Xaa i
I am sive 'e Penny wafits him back, too,''
l.Iali` tee, hour Inter 13onnie Duttclee,
in the 'filo h•oein of The Neti, Fork
i ve;.ing Star, was in possession of
,- ..ras w1
r `/"• ` ` ' y w the bound volume of the newspaper
r.�*XS,k:a
i':1k the. month of. May, 1922, tinder!
" flit+ volition, en the :front page of the!
]'�,o, 12 33 ieeue of May 0, which Serena Hart
DRAPERIES MADE NEW
CHE IVIPl6
TOBACCO
Buy chewing tobacco
the same way you do
farm implements
get the best you can
forthemoney.There's
longer lasting, richer
flavour in Club Chew-
ing Tobacco.
Two Viking Swords
Found Near Dublin
Also Ancient Battle Axe Dis-
- covered During Road •
Construction
Dublin, Irish Free State.-- To the
National Museum's collection of Vik-
ing weapons now will be added some
swords discovered in Viking graves at
Islandbridge, in the suburbs of Dublin.
Construction of a new road led to the
discoveries. In one grave was found
a sword and in the other a sword,
battle-ax head and spear.
That the single sword came from a
disturbed grave is indicated by the
condition of the iron. The quillon, or
crossbar, shows fine moldings in hol-
lows which probably were inlaid with
rich metal.
The undisturbed grave revealed a
warrior's complete outfit. The sword
is richly done with traces of silver
engraving on the quillon. The spear
Novel Ingredients
Are Used by Artist
London. --Jean Varda, French artist,
uses everything but the kitchen stove
in creating his "pictures."
They are made of painted cement,
wire, 'glass, bootlace eyelets, slabs of
stone and beads from old cemetery
wreaths. Nails, pieces of lace and
artificial flowers are also among
his ingredients which are fixed to
wood foundations.
Varda is said by some critics to
be an instinctive artist with a good
taste in color.
Andes Road 15,912 Feet Up
The new Lima -Cerro de Pasco-Hua-
nuco highway in Peru crosses the
Andes at a height of 15,912 feet and is
said to be one of the great scenic roads
of the world.
"When we resumed housekeeping a.
month ago I found my draperies had
become creased from packing. T hung
them out on the line, hoping to re-
move the creases, Then I forgot them
'h@ r0.3111t was they became badly
ed
tad sUll-apottecl,
«1 was heartsick until the happy
thought struck n to thhem. L
just dyed them s, deepV gI,ducelines as
I used Diamond Dyes they look ger-
g*ushew. I have never seek
e.t5ler dyes to use than Diamond Dees,
They give the most beautifies eolors•..-
whet used either for tenting or dye-
ing—and rover talcs the life out of
cloth as oilier 'lyes do."
Ivies. J. II% T., Montreal.
H
Cahn'
Nua"se
Baby
Yourself
e m Try
Eagle Brand!
Countless thousands of healthy,
happy babies bawl boon roared
ea Eagle Brend during the lest
seventy-five years. You will
Sud our little booklay" Baby's
41Fato," gull ofijeq or
still til ltiaby eekb. Write or
6t. U ooupen below.
Tho Donlon Co., Milted,
Yardley shouse, Toronto,
Contletneu i;,'1ea'A Valhi the
f o° espy of boobies entitied.w
aby's Welfare:
tORD NINE
head is unusually long and the ail
very heavy.
It was the discovery of a Viking
sword in the crannog of Ballinderry,
Westmeath, four years ago which was
responsible for a new chapter in. Irisb
history in the Viking period.
It also resulted in the systematic
excavation of the whole Crannog by a
Harvard archaeological expedition.
Out of that quest came two valuable
acquisitions for the National Museum
—a gaming board of yew and a bronze
lamp of ecclesiastical origin.
Russian Population Soaring
Moscow. — In fifteen years the
population of the Soviet 'Union has
increased by 35,000,000, of whcih 10,-
000,000 were added in 1931-'32 through
decreased mortality and increased
births say government figures.
"My philosophy is to enjoy all good
things on this earth. Don't miss .any
thing, but be moderate in every re
spect; then you will live long and b4
happy."—Dr. Adolph Lorenz
pure, wholesome,
and economical table
Syrup. Children love
its delicious flavor.
THE CANADA STARCH CO. LIMITED. MONTREAL
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feel any effect at all from the
slower forms of relief.
Do not hesitate to take
Aspirin tablets because of this
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due to the fact they dissolve
immediately.They are perfectly
safe. They do not depress the
heart.
That's the beauty of a
remedy like Aspirin. Anyone
can take it, as often as there is
any need of its comfort. In
sufficient quantity to get com-
plete relief. You could lake
Aspirin every day in the year
without ill effects.
When you want relief from
headaches, colds, neuralgia,
or neuritis, periodic pains, etc.,
stick to Aspirin. You know
what it will do, and you know
what you are taking.
The new reduced Brice on
bottles of 100 tablets leaves no
reason for experimenting with
any substitute for relieving
pain. Insist on Aspirin.
SPIRIN
TRADE-MEG.ARt< R
has P,.!
nef