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Under the Rose " CBo THE TAXI-CAB *Ius,"r MURDERS rAtzN I•NE e tlg ator By FREDERIC REDDALE (Coporrght by W. 0. Cpsomap ) URING the fall and winter months following that date when Finney Valen tine left the department and became a free lance on his own account, the city of New York, and in deed the whole United S gStates, were greatly ex / ever a sequence of more or less gl es crimes whatcn, because of peculliar environment, became to press and public as "The Murders." /rit incident in the series, al set of the common, occasioned en than passing interest in the capital. But when a see * third and a fourth repetition under almost precisely the gemditions, only the locality and Esatity of the victim being the police and the communi gseraed began to "sit up and 4Sti," as the tack of the day sq case a "magnate" or a of the fnancial or indus gaeld was the victim-"malefac f pWeat wealth"--death, sudden overtook each and is; so, also, the interior of -. hose convenient vehicle, a laaseab, was the tiny theater SWires; and the companione of always managed to disap trae. e- of criminal annals could ggo peuling settings for a set inexplicable crimes- tive, without profit, so far he seen. For, after the see , the consesus of opinion. r, was that a great wrong eommitted by a master setuated by a mind of fear .But let us enumerate Order the eacts. s October, on one of those smy autumn morning for York ls tamous, two men entered a tacab from a outside the Astoria ho 4 the s was elderly, cor iwd of face from groas liv. prowling; as a tro of New York's afterdark the l ieter palaees, no less than i was one of Wall street's he was well-known to' the of the city and also to its r the great Philo B. UvWt ma was coamparatliely so much so that the Is tzl failed to notice him isd could afterward fur iiauate description of his Yet it was mai who gave the order the Chrone National beak. tWi stopped at the curb ft this famous inancial ln i ow Broadwary, the mhbad disappeared; his the atWresal mnoed was scovered to be dead! that the second man. ljt the smeadr was beym d tersI s trouoe, had some perhaps during a tam hbl k, opened either of sad quietly stepped out, enla·-ks n the crowd. of how verlidge had )l bst was a passle to ies alike. As has bee 3a1e l. was a Sa patron of the Tende a Wles shady night life Sprotector of certain demalne habituss there Swas also one of Amer suspeeted of sway and cabinets upon oo 1sse O~ these notorious to the initiate, the igeerally and generously thile B. Liveridge had e to the end of his physi leasg that he was well on age limit of three sa ten-in fact, "old bett," as one scribe, than his fellows, -t la his obituary notice. bAst a prrunceory inquest ad illogical vertdict of was returned, the re tinterrd to an intoned a fashionable retor, and thYidge would have been Sal rl save those who were me his fll-gotten millions bean for a second occur 4detical in scene and had Liveridge come to he S"ti lis," and what was Il to rest In Trinity am Sother of the same Iden group met his death in SJ was old Zenas Roker. 'iS of "pru t r ry erene." oIab. had neen hired by ke the Belsonia; again a last to enter the vehicle the erder r irve around the between the Casino Uadred and Tenth street Sasmengers had vanished * hbe stopped for further am the remaining fare Oa drivin to the Arsenal., a the Central Park p 4itlon llfe had depart. ' E WAS POPULAR arly Attentive to W Cned at the Keeley kaews what it means ppular until she has E y hinstitute," said a mhewledge that that in lae on e arth to go to b ut a colorless we tely has been de everwhee elam, is tt at the nstitute. I ed from the occupant. A verdict of "death from apoplexy" was returned. Again the authorities were puzzled; there was no apparent cause for death save the increment of years; the sus piclous circumstances were, first, that, as in the LJveridge case, the man's companion had disappeared; secondly, the apparent absence or motive, sup posing something sinister had been a factor in the case. Yet, to the initiate this very lack of surface enmity was really the crux of the whole situation. But the public mind, already ex cited by two deaths of prominent citi sens who in life had been closely al lied in various enterprises vulgarly known as "honest graft," was not al lowed to rest, for less than a fort night later a third taxicab tragedy oc curred. This time the scene was shifted to Philadelphia. The victim was Orrin K. Vandal, one of those traction mag nates concerned in the dual lootings of the City of Brotherly Love and the Empire City. The circumstances were almost identical with the tragic taking off of Zenas Roker. A public taxi had been hired in front of the Midvale-Hartford hotel with instructions--egain given by the last man to enter the con veyance--to drive out to Fairmount Park. The cabman testified that he knew Orrin K. Vandal very well by sight as did thousands of other Philadel phians; for some distance he could hear his fares talking loudly; that he was ordered to stop at the Hermitage, a roadhouse frequensec by the elite, where one of the men-the smaller and lighter-got out. After waiting for some time, the man who had alighted falling to return, and all be ing quiet within the cab, the driver got down to investigate. Like his fellow Jehns in New York, he found a dead man left on his hands. Orria K. Vandal had engineered his last crooked deal. It it bad not been tor me two sim Itar preceding occurrences In New York it is doubtful If the police of the city by the Schuylklll would have turned a hair. Of course, the disap pearance of the dead man's companion looked somewhat "fishy," but there were no signs of violence or of rob e Apparently the r1eat Vandal had died a "natural death from causes unknown," which was the routine ver dict rendered by a Pennsylvania cor oner's jury. But by this time the group of rich mea of which iUveridge, Roker and Vandal had been prominent members, began to be alarmed. The dead fan elers had bee engaged in so many questionable-though entirely legal deals, in which they had ruthlessly ruined Innumerable "lambs" and "in nocent investors," that their surviving confreres, who were no less guilty, began to be "afraid to go home in the dark." Consequeatly these associates, now that Number Three had fallen victim to an unknown Nemesis, began to tremble in their collective shoes, to wonder who of ther gutlty number might be next markee down by the ruthless avenger, and to hysterically invoke the aid of the municipal po Ule ot both citles. Ao it should be noted that by this time the opinions at prep and public has become crys tallsed around the bellet that the three taxi murders were the result of private vengeance on the part of some one who had been wronged in a real or fancled way by the "Interests" rep reented by the three men thus mys terlously taken ot. But the regular police were ap parently powerless to solve the mys tery, and that they were held in sovereign contempt by the perpetrator -man or woman-was proved by the commission of a fourth crime ti the series, the scene shifting to Chicago and claimin Its victim from among the samine group of allied traction fbnanciers. This fourth victim wasu Marvin D. Marix, a multimillonalre. Again the same stage setting, a taxicab, and two men entertlag It from a great hotel on Michigan boulevard. The assassidn, apparently growint bolder, had re verted to daylight methods as In deal' ing with Philo B. Liveridgse in New York. But seeing that Chicago's "amil. square" afords a leser distance than New York or Philadelphia, the time at his disposal was proportionately less. "Board of Trade" was the direction the Chicago cabby recetve-a matter of only a few squares. But upon ar rlving at the dustination named the former sequence ot event was repeat ed: One of the pair alighted sad dis appeared within the portals. Aain, after waiting a reasonable time for the remaining "tare" within to make some signm or sound, the Jehn opened the trap only to see his pmuaseager cl lapsed in one corner or the cab. When help and medical asseistance had been summoned it was patent to all that Marvin D. Mar1 had joined the great majority. No longer could "natural causes" or "the act of God" be accepted as adequate explanations. Some maleie human agency was elerly the moving force. The Chlcago police were no did. I was not seat up as an ales holic. I had a relativo who had been advised to take the ceae. As I was the only person on arth who bhad stuck to him through thick and thiLa, he urged me to m him through the institute ordeal. I went. I ate there with him. There were fmurteen other patients at the table, all me. The irst two days the ordeal of eattng thre meals a day with ffteem 'dipsV lsittlng to the right, to the left and a front of me nearly drove m er a, but for the sake of my reative I stuck it ot. mere fortunate than their confreree of New York and Philadelphia in solving the mystery. It was clearly seen that only a master-mind could successfully grapple with the problem, and that was how inney Valentine came into the case, as much in response to pop ular clamor uas owing to the fact that he was retained by the ramily of the second victim, Zenas Roker, to run down the assassin. "You can't commit any sort of a crime without leaving a trace or a clue." said the great detective. "Gen erally, sooner or later, we pick up the thread: sometimes we don't; but it's there all the same." For paucity of detail available, Val entine was early compelled to admit, probably the taxicab murders were unique in the annals of crime-for there could be no doubt that the four successive "removals" of men so close ly associated in business affairs as Liveridge, Roker, Vandal and Marix had been, was the result of a care fully outlined plot. The center human sing-pin was un doubtedly the mysterious companion of the several victims who had disap peared before the bodies were discov ered. Two of the crimes had been committed In Oroad daylight; two un der cover of darkness. Beyond the most hasy descriptions the four cab men concerned could grye no closer or more accurate descriptions of the second individual than would fit the average man on the street. - n each and every case he seemed to have been on more or less Inti mate terms with his victim--other wise they would not have been in his company. From this fact Valentine deduced and confirmed the primary fact before referred to that the quar tet of murders were in all likelihood a matter of private vengeance for financial losses Inflicted. Yet this only complicated the case, for the ramif. cations of the various enterprises in C~8\ \ ~'4, I ~P Yr. '~b r hi. 'd$ C~ -oo which Lvteridge and his allies had t been egaged were such as to em- t brace the whole country. Victims a could be found nto any corner of the k United State. 1' naney Valentine was never the man to St his facts to a pet theory. Give him a basis, a clue, however v slender, on which to work, no man in I his profession could construct a clev- c erer superstructure of logical infer- f ence. But the taxicab murders at first c seemed absolutely hebarren of evidence, o either descriptive, personal or tan- a gible. I However, proceeding upon his own t axiom, that the criminal invariably a leaves behind some Incriminating evi- . dence, he stumbled upon one tiny clue. This consisted of the third of a torn c postal-card found on the Soer of the t cab which Sgured in the Roker mur- p der. On the message side there were only two words left, evidenly the be- l ginning of lines, "meet" and "sure." But the address side Ise the igures of a street and number: "489 West b Zd, Man." The name of the ad dresse was missing. The fragment might have been a tossed on the foor of the taxi by one s of half a dome previous occupeats; t the New York podieo apparently had o "pased it up" as worthless. Not so b Pinney Valentine. Where all was c blank even thoe few blind words a were like water is a thirsty land. Net the least pusslintg details per- a talaing to the four widely eeparated a crimes was the fact that each victim s had apparently died a natural death- ti one not out of keepag with the age b and the personal habits eo the vie- s tima. The most rigid autopses had p failed to discover any qmptem that o might not be covered by the stereo- o typed "heart failure" or "apoplexy": c there were sigs ea nlther violece "The I began to be peo lar. I was the aret womas whoe b dined at that table. Thew m bIraeed p is a my hoer. They eo ntar de eeag ers. At the ep t the drat week I was havn the tm to yt mp ,aso I elalbf cesaidered. Im s what it g mess for a weomn who b asore p ben ipseeats the atbsstent of p meUn saddely t fnd fiteern men t4 wel bred, well emed~ . ne at of > sat rutatu her, eed net aser e ta asn i the Ma t g t was daft Oer" nor robbery; for an eadesee to the contrary Liveridge and Roker, Vandal and Marit might have died pewseelly In their beds! But the colacnidees were too many for all but the most casual observer. Fl3ney Valenttie be liered that deliberate murder had been committed in each ease, and pro ceeded accordingly. His solitary clue was that bit of tern postal card; yet before that he had raked with a fine tooth-eomb the per sonal acquaintances and associates of the four dead men. How many promig cuous thousands had been ruined through their operations no man could say. But one transaction Vala tine did unearth which seemed to promise results. In going through the afairs of Philo B. Liveridge he came across docu rents relating to the foundation of a stock company to float a certain elec tric device applicable to traction cars in which the name of a certain Ar thur Sarell appeared as tae inventor, dated some ten years earlier. Later papers showed that the company had been reorganized, ano under the new order of things Sarell's name did not appear. As a matter of fact the brains of the invention had been "frozen out" by his associates. This was clue Number Two, and bore heavily in favor of Valentine's theory that the four murders had been the result of private vengeance for some business wrong. It then re mained to connect the address on the torn postal with the name of Arthur Barell. To get a line on 489 West 23d street and its inmates was such a simple and natural move that it was matter for surprise that the' regular police had not done so long before; yet, of course, they knew nothing of the hid den affairs of Philo B. Liveridge nor of Arthur Sarell and his losses. Valen tine, by that prescience which dif ferentiates the born detective from the ordinary "gum-shoe man," sensed that the rounding-up. of sarel would at once solve the mystery of why sad how the four financiers had lost their lives. And so it proved. Inquiry and a watch set upon fou-eighty-ntae re vealed the fact that Artar reDll had lived there. It was one of a block of old-fashioned houses setting well back from the street, fowuing a veritable oasis in the midst of the busiest part of Manhattan. Further sleuthing add ed that 8arell was an Inventor who had a laboratory and workshop sm the top floor. He was an eccentric and soured, said the landlady, and in great poverty owlng to the roguery of some men with whom he had been assno clated In business. He was only able to keep body and soul together sad pay his rent because a brother some where in the west sent him a few dol lars every month. This data seemed sucltemt to Fin ney Valentine to warrant a heart to heart talk with Arthur luretl. Neith er he nor his men who watched the premises had sneusedsd i- gettilg a glimpse of the inventor, for he seldom went out of late, said the woman of the bose. So Valentine determined on a call-whieh was destined to bring about tragic reslts and also clear up the mystery of the taxicab murders. Gaining admittance to four-eghty nine, he ascended to the topmost Seor and rapped om the dear of the rear suite Although the landlady asserted that the man had not stirred out at his room that day. there was no - spouse, only a sort of stealthy, pal pitating silence-so h as resnlts when one knows tPat thee is some other one living and breathing b*ned a closed dor. Then, whle Valetinea waited, ater is a Oandary. "Uncle Heanry I wat to ask year advice." "Wells "But you meu't meatom It to a q lag souL Sppoe you were a yesa girl of my age, and three ms 'd proposed to yes; sem ef them a raq preeber, fie lamia and well eduem tod; the seesad es a handessem young mas i business, sw+a dM or, sad thinan the wor nd ye; and the third a sich bsreieer, w a stlsgiahed air about him sa qebin well t by *reybedy. WhIei apptogs a mced time, asi a tie time, there reach"e hib asa ear te taint sonad of ootateps wthin; ., after perhaps ann tateral a saw watch-ticks, there wars a heay ad; then silece asaln. Valentine, up this, hesitated no loaner, but put his shealder to the decrepit old door and pushed It in The sight that he had haltl epected met his gae. On the faded carpet lay the body of a nm, thin and hag Sard to the point ot emeadation, but with an almost seraphic emile spa his face. There was a curle.. odor in the room, the windows at which were tightly closed and whih was crowded with a work-beach and ta bles containing all sorts of retorts and electrical devices. In the right hand of the dead mea for life was extinct when Valmtie reached his side-was a cprious iL strument, something like a cldumy, wide-chambered gun, having a handle and a trigger, with a short thick bar rel, terminating In a rubber cone such as dentists or surgeon. use when they administer ether. When a doctor was called-for eve.s laney Valentine's ecyaclopedl knowledge was at fault-he uttered the words: "Ha! A gas-gun. Carbon dioxide!" Arthur arell had chosen to travel by the same road as the men who had wroaged him sad whom he had "removed" nla his half-eray determina tion to "get square." HIs "gasgun" one of his many hnvetloarn-was charged with the deadly earbo diea ide, an instantaneoon narcotic poises when iahaled. lie bad somehow lured his vietims Into te marrow intertar at a tealcab. At a favorable opportunity be bad pressed the rubber cone of his di bolical ga-gun aver the month and nostrils of the condemned men, then pulled the trigger two or three times, by which the polonsoa vapor was em -eled sad whleh, team by -pble. his victis i dlattay Iabld.o a lg every oe ams of adaseed am heavy barld, sad asopsletb baMt, wih hearts ome too aasr ,the m ito u wM as ertasi as If a revolver had been fIed at heart or ead, with ms--r noise nr powder tines. A as a result the taxicab aered bad pas sled the coroers and the polel ofr three dties until the fertis ml·gt Plasey Valmatlae led t the tree mo Intlon. Guarding the Teage How many of as have e teaes trick-that seemi lasility to ly aecomplish anything withest hai Ins the tip at cae's toas lslbis and mearly as satIve a e's loigret Watch youear yoae trles tar awhile whem the are bsr a-het somathlm a and see ow mar of them show their tomges. Wateb yrsl and se if yon do It. Yo mar sed that you do met, but wil agesIam you to see how asay there we wh do. It is aot a. ptt habit, yj wmt aQ serve, for there is aosg attrmpitU about a team pretrdlag. > you do act how whather yen have this practise or smt smpam a 3tle thought seitmael reey orw barm, ad put him as guard at year lp.. N t go and ·ik at rsursolf i the l-a You will keep that itse saltal asi duty atwl pu have eared pmrses th "agns truk Wreos a-mr 1 . "I seesre you, r dear Mr. CeS, I waut picde am tar twM easergess a m.a, fsr them who tovt'n itd ra pesabty hles." "Ptba mapt mp I gwms ys ase et the threes do yes Mtin Wal ge the best wadYr "WhR, -Aame s h&6 i nd.. ea W r eow hert. Whbs of fs Urge ds ars Merq. Chst aB mmbshos' p wep- a me lw t se 1iesy t -ma whip be m on susms e. "fait I goms.. st or a ." .4MI t WAYS , .OK EI S SOME NEW O'- A PEW T AT At Wfi.L KNOWN. Spanishlk pl Puer With Thea Who. LOea a Highiy leaee Dksh-Onialms Whem Seved Wah M.el Chees. Spanish Eggs-Cook two cups of raw tomatoes with a chopped-up sweet popper, ftla the two n a table. pooaful of butter. Add paprika, salt sad a tesapoosrul of smers aised chives, and ro"es to half the uemtl t, which wllp take shoot 10 or 15 minute. Toast sals. of white bread. pet poaced eggs as top and pear over the tomat sad pepper aeea So ve at ea, PearWeman Etea-Reat a Mlis butter eartheaware dish ad the break elm or more-or towe Into k. and sprinle over frel brhad erause. Set the dish In the ars and let it olsk for two airates wr atil the - tern. Add salt, white peP K sad a tableskpoosfal of Cld el, dayormd with a Ittle c ar cad nut hot, sad serve llsht away. Ewo a a hemr w a and dras quarter of a pea of fres h ts w s. Place thIm in a better, sa-- d as with s 1t WhMt pepper sad two drops aof leamn e. Osver the saucepan and cook !or 15 aliuia as et moderate Ar. Add two blo6epee-a of good madea w1, will take a very few minutes. Pme e , al peaod egges, put the as a het dal over the sases, with the "he*oa pse io the sater. and serve I a hotL Eggs ena M0ee Ceease-Orate two ceases s Paresea eese In a abl0s dish; st it a the sa, saddi bhIe a gae l of wrs.wbao, a ina a assme Iwele, a little espe hivea. e * of go)d be ter, sa alt and ppper to taste sir thor ughly while esekng and wham the --cheese in ameled ah eaz in a bowl, pear term Into the ease aM as hot ftled tast is a beet, lasi a pucltb of er ehtppje parlee, half a ats .. Was adt hbl a a4Otl oft swert sm. oeat the ,thel w th LLt -i tour minutes; wea melt a ' 'Is a psa who It begis ito u porr in the east loth thym- o a ias We for about three minltes: at! oare earafrty with a paenee tC'rm, lett ng ,he tade ht e st* sell, thes ei the a at Ca a et dash, bat with melted btIt `M a be spur s o raw piurslqp ad $er5 at emes. no salt and peper te bastes up with the ergs. -imle w oseaisee serph Tteb as -r p-i beslitgd I M desIrei, ssada Mseerl W . eraw 't the eea"ee withb m egrib ; p wgee trhr th1s 1ta i4 bab ils lso a t e gbCnet **'. ap b haW mea Se a sI h * oues. -a a meas t.sees es tshe prbit ugsh *of io b* iinam. samear stas nee as sr a nde af as uWNW The obeda apples sad ewam wa mahats a datsoa eseshmiate.e se" aSaOr 406 Put se up et[ sa sa sit she the e beaU Sa drh brm uslses b sestowead a heW rir4) tw ao m a last aweoeat4 s hI n ier. s ee s o r #r , a w e r D as sdeerose w1hen a th ua re o th e berat smsa. as b m pint.- s wmi the sitar a. asa upa n thow to **la haet buear par ,p sit upWoer a l ai Ee lam M ae ada walk o M* s- a eman psss thin bumr an a suter of sach iMisy MI sdee ah atll hreqW sg Mi cee oe ah em 'Pu tae ever she Sa, se wham it sn b let as a a 9nr sae ea sam · ar cud bu assIesl me la e as a NW. , ,esadrqr s- f seeIs; p a appetd gm ubet keedsa MIs eeseer kees see e Gre. 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