Newspaper Page Text
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the penitentiary until you gee Elwell
leave, and then follow him till he gets
aboard a train.'
" 'All right, Tom,' said Phipps, and
put on his hat and left the office.
"I didn't think there was one
chance in a million either of Benson
making good on his threat or of his
knowing the time! of ElwelFs release;,
but I arranged things so that, in case
there was any story I could give it a
couple of front page columns. Then I
forgot about it. My hours were from
ten to six, usually, but that week the
night man was on his holiday, and I
had to stay around till about ten 'at
night to handle anything important
that came in. Naturally, I was rather
rushed.
"It must have been about six
o'clock in the evening when I got a
telephone message from Phipps. He
wouldn't speak to anyone but me.
" 'What is it?-' I called.
" 'Benson shot Elwell dead 12 min
utes ago,' he answered.
" 'Where are you?' I demanded.
" 'I'm telephohing from Ossining.
Can you keep me two columns? '
' 'All the space you want,' I an
swered. 'Do you want to 'phone it
in?'
" 'No, I'll write the story on the
train, and bring it down,' Phipps an
swered. "That was all right, because, of
course, there was ample time to get
the story into the morning paper. I
was satisfied, too, that no evening pa
per had followed the case, and there
fore they wouldn't bring out an extra
for the murder of an unknown man.
So I waited frfr Phipps with some
naturalvimpatience, and about eight
o'clock he strolled into the office in
his usual quiet way and handed me
the penciled story.
" 'You flight run your eye over
f this,' he said. 'There's about a col
umn and a half there. I'lLfinish it in
20 minutes or so.'
"That was the best story Phipps
had ever written. It treated the sub
ject almost photographically, dhe
saw the man Elwell leaving the peni-
tentiary gate with a furtive, hurried
air; the assassin lying in wait for him,
the tracking down of Elwell in a
lonely part of the road, Elwell's
frightened recognition
" 'Say, John,' I called out at this
juncture, 'you must have seen the
whole thing, didn't you? Why in
thunder didn't you stop it?'
" 'You didn't send me to stop it;
you sent me to report it,' answered
Phipps.
"I had never quite understood John
Phipps, and now I stared at him inas
tonishment. Had he really permitted
the murder to take place'in order to
make news for the Clarion? He
might, of-course, have been exagger
ating; in any event, he had done his
duty to the paper, and the moral as
pect was for his own conscience. So
I went on reading the story, which
was a dandy.
" 'The assassin got away?' I asked.
" 'Yes,' answered Phipps, thrusting
a couple more of sheets o© into
hand. 'He took the next train you'll
read all about it there. He got Elwell
just where he wanted him.'
" 'By George, this will be a scoop!'
I said, congratulating myself on hav
ing followed up the case. 'Say, John,
-now I think we'll have to send you
down to Georgia to interview the
murderer.'
"Phipps thrust the last sheet into
my hands and looked up in his calm,
dispassionate manner.
" 'I beg your pardon, Tom?' he ask
ed me.
" 'I say we'll have to send you down
to Georgia,' 1 answered. 'Can you
catch the midnight train for Atlanta?
He's sure to be making for home. A
man like that is a monomaniac, with
no more thought for anything except
his crime than a lunatic has for any
thing except his delusion. You'd best
hurry to your apartment and then
catch the midnight '
" 'Sorry, old man, but I've got an
appointment at police headquarters,'
answered Phipps, putting on his hat
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