The St. Charles herald. [volume], September 22, 1917, Image 3

About The St. Charles herald. [volume] (Hahnville, La.) 1873-1993

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I The Protestor of Finance
Hj rr*
N Isles of Resilius Marvel, Guardian of Bank Treasure
I
By WELDON J. COBB
THE FOURTEENTH MAN
t Copyright, \V. CÏ. Chapman ,
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I T WAS a hard task that the presi
dent of one bank had given me. A
standard financial institution is
rarely desirous of doing business
with a woman, at least beyond the
ai» re depositor basis. In the present
instance it was not only a woman, but
i young and pretty one. Add 1o this
the fact that the Judy Ln question was
n deep distress, that her case pre
sented angles suggesting evasion and
even mystery, and yon will not won
>er why every official of the bank from
Jhe president down to the assistant
cashier had shied ut the task which I
was now obliged to shoulder.
' Do the best you can to get our
money out of this muddle," the presi
dent had told me tersely, handing
mo the folder which contained all
the papers in the case from the day,
four years back, where Itoyal Luding
tua, member of the Hoard of Trade,
bad made hia initial deposit with our
bank down to and beyond the recent
date of his sudden death. The rec
ord of his dealings with our institu
-tion up to the time of hi3 demise was
clear as crystal. A child could have
read and understood, pretentious as to
magnitude, and importance as had
been some of his dealings. Direct
and margin accounts were cleanly
attended to. There was not a mar cr
break in the admirable paying system
of Royal Lutiiagtoa. When death
dosed the account, however, we held
his note unsecured for 5:17,950; and
v,.' held it still, past due, uncollect
able, to our bewilderment, in any
legal way.
1 familiarized myself with all the
details of the case through a hurried
glance over the contents of the folder,
tidied collar and coat wi.th a twist of
toy hand, a,nd put ta my best bank
ing face to enter the private office of
the directors' room where I had been
advise 1 Miss Grace Ludingtou was
awaiting attention.
' I came about this," she said in a
t rie exld-likc, confiding, slightly re
proachful, all at once. The letter she
handed mo notified Mrs. Royal Lud
K.gton that the overdue paper of her
dead husband required immediate
settlement, rather strictly referring
to the fact that no attention had been
paid to previous notifications of the
same fact. I turned it over and over
in my hand, seeking to fix upon the
manner I should assume in serving
the best interests of the bank in
dealing with an emissary instead of
the chief person now in interest in
the case.
"I see," I observed, trying to gain
time, for I am not a ready diplomat;
but v. by did not Mrs. Royal Luding
ton—your mother—" the fair head
bowed "—come herself?"
A wavs of singular intensity crossed
the face of the young girl. Her lips
j,ai ted to speak. Then she subdued
tbeir expression. They quivered. Her
t yes dropped, her cheeks grew the
I aler.
''She would not come," was spoken
finally—"she will not come."
• Surely," I observed, "Mrs. Royal
Ludington does not repudiate the ob
ligation V"
"For the present—yes."
"Yet we have notations here that
■show transfers of property within the
fast month representing over $20,000.
Aside from that two notes have
passed through the bank for $10,000
»which she has seen fit to pay prompt
8y Those notes were signed by your
father, not by your mother. Why
does she discriminate unfairly against
the bank in caring for your father's
obligations? I refer to the notes
given by your father to one Abel
fc'andainann."
"My message, is," she said evenly,
voldly "that there are circumstances
jencouraging our fervent hopes, the
^possible relief of the bank, that you
&nd ourselves must wait for—must. '
It was her last word. With a mo
tion of head and body that was all it
should be, with the air of an empress
ishe went from the room, and I stood
«staring blankly after her, analyzing
tf^very word she had said, weighing it,
klissectine it. seized with a sudden in
spiration hnd carrying it forthwith to
«he president of the bank. He was
la man of few words and I lent my
fcelf to his system.
"It is simply—wait, I said.
He shrugged his shoulders, knowing
# had done my full duty.
• No pressure possible, then, you
^Nono at the present time. There
jis action possible, though," I said.
"You mean?"
"Resilius Marvel."
"Get him."
When the bank—or any other bank
-said ''get Resilius Marvel." it signi
fied the abandonment of direction or
opinion. It meant unrestricted power
awarded Marvel, great man that he
was-be, the brains, mouthpiece and
active director of the great United
Kankers' Protective association. Mar
£e, not n collector for tb. bank,
t Ie was the last resource, the final
court of appeal in a case when the
layman in investigatory science came
face to face with a blank wall, threw
%U cards, and left tbs gams tb an
*"y rl 'friond listened patiently, but
rather bered I fancied, to my tame
of what had seemed quite sen
.cry
sational at my first impetuous view of
it. He made a brief notation now
and th -ii on a tab of paper of the dry
details i gave him of the Ludingtou
affair. I had brought the folder with
me, the dossier in which the credit
department was supposed to store
up everything concerning a client and
keep it up to date. As I closed it he
asked the question;
"That is all you have?"
"Except the newspaper clippings re
ferring to the death of Mr. Luding
ton." I replied.
The newspaper story was simple
and plain. It was only because the
circumstance» were out of the ordi
nary and the decedent an apparently
successful business man, that the pub
lic prints had given any space to the
death of the exchange trader.
It was a chill March evening when
he had been found dead, lying against
a building. There was no evidence
whatever that ho had been assailed.
The contents of his pockets were un
disturbed. There were no marks of
violence on his body. He carried no
life insurance, but an autopsy was
held by the coroner. The inquest
develop d nothing new. According to
two expert physicians Royal Luding
ton had died from heat* failure. He
had been ailing and depressed for
sonic time preceding his demise. |
There was not the slightest hint at
suicide.
The police, tracing tho movements
of tlie decedent previous to liis death,
testified at the inquest that Luding
tou had been one of a small party of
friends who had met at the home of
Abel Vamiamann. The latter was an
apparently reputable business man of
the city of some wealth and social
standing. Tho occasion of the social
function was the grouping up of a
number of business men to whom
Vandamanu wished to present a stock
selling scheme to float a copper mine j
in Northern Michigan. A pleasant
evening had passed, a few cigars,
not too much wine, and the guests
had departed in pleasant humor and
seemingly all in the best of health.
Two of the guests had walked some
distance with Ludington, and had
bade him good night about a square
and a half from the spot where his
body was later discovered.
Mrs. Ludington bad testified that
she knew' her husband to have had
business dealings for a long time pre
vious to liis death with Mr. Vanda
niann. The latter she understood had
loaned her husband money. This wa3
not a new phase of the character of
Vandamann. His business was that
of a high interest rate note shaver,
but he had been always shrewd
enough to conceal his usurious trans
actions under the guise of expenses,
commissions and the like.
This was the story toid by the
newspaper clippings I handed to Resi
lius Marvel. .Pasted to it was a
briefer item dated two days later. It
had been preserved in the folder be
cause it mentioned the name of Royal
Ludington. It covered a strange hap
pening. On the-evening of the funer
al of the dead trader, a man had
been detected in leaving by the win
dow route the room Ludingtou for
merly occupied at his home. A watch
man had trapped him as the mid
night marauder dropped to the ground.
He was held until the police were
summoned and was sent to the near
est police station. Upon searching
him nothing whatever was found up
on him. He seemed to he some home
less tramp, he had taken nothing
from the room he had entered, and
when questioned declared with a fool
ish grin that he had been looking for
something to eat, struck a sleeping
chamber instead of a pantry, and was
too honest to steal anything more
than a bite of food.
The contention of the man was car
ried out in the main by circumstances.
The room he had entered had not
been at all disturbed. Upon the bu
reau lay the trader's purse with some
money and papers in It. This had
been opened, but nothing removed. A
suit of clothes in a closet had been
looked over, it seemed, but not even
the pockets had been searched.
The marauder, giving the name of
Edward Briggs, had been brought be
fore a police magistrate, charged w ith
vagrancy, and sent to the house of
correction for sixty days.
I noticed that my friend read and
re-read the little clipping telling all
this. I noticed him mark on the pad
the name—"Edward Briggs." I saw
also that he copied the names of the
two guests who had left the \ anda
mann home with the trader the night
of his death. Then he arose, and I
could tell by the expression of his
eye that he was ready for work.
Further, I regarded him with the ad
miration his ability always evoked
within me, for although I could not
guess how, I was sure that out of
the bare skeleton fabric of an unpaid
note at bank, a weeping girl and two
newspaper clippings, Resilius Marvel
had already discovered a diverging
suggestion, direct and important.
"Drop around in the morning," he
said casually. "You were right to
bring this case to my notice."
I told the president of our bank
this, later. In the light of past events
In which Resilius Marvel had been
he
concerned, that functionary smiled '
|
hopefuly as if he felt he had landed
the burden of a distributing circum
stance on helpful and reliable shoul
ders.
I found Marvel pacing the floor
of his office in a thoughtful way, hia
hands clasped behind him. when I
called the next morning. He drew
out his watch and consulted it with a
slight gesture of impatience, as
though 1 had kept him waiting.
"Two minutes," he announced, "and
then you will come with me. There is
a person to find, and no time to
lose."
"And the person?" I intimated.
"The fourteenth man."
I stared helplessly at Marvel. He
kept up hi3 restless walk, puncturing
each step with a sentence rapid and
enlightening.
"There was nothing unusual nor
suspicious as to tho social function
which transpired at the Vandamann
home," spoke Marvel. "There was no
motivo to it, no plan or anticipation of
foul play. Get that clear in your
mind in the first place. A strange
thing occurred, however, just as the
guests were about to be seated at
the table. It was discovered that
there were just 1:5 persons present."
I began to receive a glimmer of
where a "Fourteenth Man" might
come in.
"That arose which might readily
arise where one man of a group is
superstitious. Such a man was pres
ent—he was the man who died, Royal
I
Ludington" lie was probably in a j
mood for weird forebodings. Vanda- :
maun did not debate the point, lie ;
excused himself to his guests, put on j
his hat went out into the street and i
apparently picked up the first man j
he met to break the hoodoo."
"And this man?" I asked.
"Known to none of them, apparently
some city wreck on error's shore, a
freakish contrast in his attire to the
perfectly dressed guests, quietly took
his place at the table, maintained the
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SHE WOULD NOT COME','WAS SPOKEN FINALLY
"SHE WILL NOT COME."
1
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!
!
the city. I followed after my friend j
at his bidding as he went to the office j
of the captain. I
Marvel named a date—it was the \
day of the funeral of Royal Luding- :
ton. He gave a name. It was Ed- !
ward Briggs, the man arested at the ;
Ludington home that same night. The |
official consulted the record book. He *
read its details ending with the sixty
days' sentence of the prisoner.
silence he was paid to maintain, ate
like the hungry man he was, and then
seemed to disappear, his paid mission
executed."
"And you now seek to find this
man?'
"He must be found," declared Marvel
positively.
"Why?"
"Because I am satisfied he can ex
plain the mystery in this case."
"There is a mystery, then?"
"A deep one. That matters not
now. I wish to show you something.
As a memento of the first meeting of
the organizers of the Copper Queen
Mining company, a flash photograph
was taken. That is the group."
My friend drew from his pocket
a card four by eight inches and held
it before me.
"That is Vandamann," he explained,
indicating the broker, whom I recog
nized—"that Ludington," I knew him,
too. "That," and by some irony of
fate the forlorn, frowsy figure at the
far end of the table seemed to have
been focussed more prominently than
any of the others—"that is the Four
teenth Man."
I studied the face with interest. It3
ow ner was apparently one of the stray
waifs of the city to be picked up any
where in the crowded center within
a five minutes' walk.
"Come with me," directed Marvel.
He hailed a taxicab as we reached
the street. It conveyed us to a police
station ln the residence portion of
Photographed?" inquired my friend.
"So noted—No. 8 7 96."
"That is all—thanks," nodded Mar
' vel, and within ten minutes we were
at the identification bureau.
"The Fourteenth Man—Edward
Briggs," he observed, as No. S796 was
produced, and he held it beside the
ila-hlighf photograph of tho Vanda
nutnn function. There was no doubt as
to the conclusion he had arrived at.
Tiie faces were identical. 1 was won
dering what all this was going to lead
to while the bureau official was ex
plaining that although only a misde
meanor had been charged against the
prisoner, it had been thought best to
take his picture for possible past and
future reference.
Marvel went over to a phono and
called up the house of correction. 1
had done some brief calculating in my
mind. Edward Briggs had yet ten
days of his sentence to serve, so we
were in time, if that meant anything,
I decided. We were not in time, 1
knew instantly, as my friend hung up
the receiver with the words.
"Not there—pardoned out."
Our next visit was to the mayors
office. Marvel knew ali the ropes.
There was no indecision or waste of
time in his procedure. There was no
reluctancy on the part of the mayor's
secretary in giving him access to all
the records of the office.
1 was close enough to the desk of
the secretary to catch what, was said.
Edward Briggs bad been sent to the
house of correction on the day he ap
peared in court. On the one ensuing,
he was pardoned out on the recomnnn
dation of Alderman Miles Ryner. Ah,
j here it was, observed the clerk—letter
: to the mayor from the councilman in
; question. Request that a pardon be
j granted as the criminal cnarge of
i housebreaking had not been pressed;
j introduces Mr. Abel ^ Vandamann,
valued constituent, who would vouch
for the general good character of Ed
ward Briggs and practically accept
parole conditions in behalf of the pris
oner.
"That establishes something more
than a mere incidental connection be
I
tween these two men, I fancy," ob
served Marvel as we went outside
again.
' r And what of that—and what
next?" I inquired.
"Well, when I locate our Four
teenth Man it will be a forward step,
of course," observed Marvel. "We go
back to the Ludington end of the
chain now', however. Do you think
you know the daughter of the house
well enough to venture a call upon
her?"
' For what purpose?" I inquired
doubtingly.
"To induce her to come to my of
fice."
I ruminated. I considered the effort
to move Miss Grace Ludington from
her stated position hopeless, and my
friend knew' instantly that so I
thought. Ho went on, however, re
gardless of my opinion.
"You will inform Miss Ludington
that it is vital that 1 should see her
—two to four today. She had better
come alone. Tell her that it has noth
ing to do with the money of the bank,
that it is not a question of cash, but
of—family honor."
I could not for the life of me
imagine under what dark curtain Resi
lius Marvel was gazing, but there was
an indescribably lucid accuracy in the
broad hint that he was about to strike
a note with the young lady that would
influence her more than promises or
threats. He suggested explicit}', be
fore I left him, the course I was to
pursue in dealing with Miss Luding
ton. I went straightway to her home,
lingered about Its vicinity while frnin
ing the manner of my approach, and
accepted the opportunity offered as
she appeared with some ietters in her
hand to mail at the nearest letter
| box.
* T am not here in behalf of the
bank, Miss Ludington," I stated con
cisely. I come from a friend and
profeseicnal man who has been pur
suing some investigation regarding
tho circuicstances surrounding the
death of your father. They are, he as- 1
sures me, of sufficient importance to |
require your attention. You have
heard of Resilius Marvel?"
"1 have read about him," was the
reply, shrinking and muffled.
• If you knew Mr. Marvel as 1 knew
him, you would trust to his earnest
desire to be always helpful,'' I con
tinued. "He seeks only to protect the
family honor."
"Stop." cried Miss Ludington sud
denly, sharply interrupting me, throw
ing aside her veil and presenting a
colorless, defiant face. "What do you
know—what does he know?"
"1—1, nothing," I stammered, fairly
abashed at the resolute challenge—
he, everything, probably. From two
to four—you will see him?"
"I will see Mr. Marvel," she said
slowly, and passed on her way.
"She was adamant to every attack
I made to win one intimation, the
faintest clew as to what she and her
mother are holding back," Resilius
Marvel narrated to me the next morn
ing. "This girl is spanning ten years
of'her life with the agony, the resolve
of one. She is under some terrific
stress, and there is some influence
that is holding these two women un
der a dreadful thrall."
"She would tell you nothing?" I
asked.
"Until the last, absolutely nothing,
except to beg that I would not disturb
a condition that only she and her
mother could remedy. She arose to
leave. Suddenly she fixed her eyes
upon me. I saw her studying me as
if to search me through and through.
I noted the flush of some impelling
force in her face. 'Mr. Marvel,' she
said, 'you claim a wish to be helpful
to us, and I believe you, but this Is a
case where help from your viewpoint,
instead of assisting us, might precipi
tate a direful catastrophe. But you
are said to be a man who can find
where others fail, who from the
shadow can evolve a reality. You can
do something for us, imperative, vital,
if you can inform us what we cannot
learn—the whereabouts of a certain
person—you will bring us nearer to
the light for the end.' "
"And the person?" 1 inquired.
Resilius Marvel handed me a worn
photograph. Jt was tiiat of a woman
loud of dress, bold of face, wicked of i
eye. She had a certain wild beauty, |
but her smile was that of one who I
lures only to destroy. On the reverse
Id
or
of
It
of the card were these words: "Al
ways as now—ldalia."
I wondered what was passing in the
mind of my friend at this new element
injected into the Ludington case. He
did not see fit to enlighten me. He
called for me at the bank the next
day.
"A witness is sometimes handy," he
observed, and as we went spinning
along the boulevard south he briefly
told of hia success in locating this
new woman in the case.
"The name of the photographer was
a guiding clew," he advised me. "He
did not know ldalia,' but he knew a
friend of hers, an actress. From this
friend I learned the whereabouts of
the original of the picture. She is the
inmate of the reformatory, on a sen
tence for robbery. We are going
there."
A woman clad in light blue cotton
uniform was called to us, after we had
reached the place in question. She
came into the room where we awaited
her, her eyes roaming everywhere in
an attempt to surmise the motive of
our visit. Promptly Marvel drew the
photograph Miss Ludington had sup
plied him from his pocket.
"I have come to ask you a ques
tion," he said. "How long have you
known the man to whom you gave
this photograph?"
In an instant the prison restraint, the
forced reserve of discipline, all self
control went to the winds. The wo
man first attempted to wrest the pic
ture from the hand that held it to
wards her to tear it to atoms. Her
eyes glared like a tiger's, her face
became distorted, she raved, sho
trembled from head to foot, she
poured out curses upon the man a
memory of whom the photograph had
evoked.
"Listen," she cried. "Mark me, I
swear it!—the day I am freed from
here, be It when it may—I will kill
him!"
"You are too late," observed Marvel
quietly.
"I am too late?" she repeated, skep
tically.
"Yes, he has been dead for weeks."
She laughed, this ldalia, this woman
who made men shrink whom she did
not cause to weep.
"You came to draw me out, to de
lude me," she scoffed. "From him! I
see through you. Dead? Do you
think I do not keep track of him
through my friends on the outside, to
be ready to know when, and where,
and how I shall strike when the hour
comes? Go back and tell Abel Vanda
mann that from me."
A low whistle, so low* that it would
have been difficult to trace its source,
proceeded from the lips of Resilius
Marvel. He restored the photograph
to his pocket. He made a motion to
the attendant that his mission was ac
complished. Ho said to me:
"The case is complete."
What he meant I groped vaguely in
my mind to find out. He left me to
think out one fact; that the photo
graph was the property of Abel
Vandamann, not of dead Royal Lud
ington. Then how had it come into
the possession of his daughter?
Tim great man proved his last state
ment to me- the following evening. I
was seated in the office of the United
Bankers' Protective association when
there came a commotion in its ante
room. Then a man was thrust into
the private office by two officers in
uniform. Marvel followed, and the
one policeman retired at his words: |
"I will he responsible for this man. [
1 Now then, my friend, sit down and get
| your breath
i they were forgenes-to a large
| amount, given
I liatl further persuaded her
At a glance I knew the prisoner It
was Edward Briggs. He was frowsy,
unkempt, savage looking, somewhat
the worse for drink, and of lowering
brow and set pugnacious lips.
"What's all this?" he growled out.
"You have been arrested for deadly
assault upon one certain Vandamanu."
observed Marvel.
"It would have been more certain if
Id had the show," retorted the fel
low.
"Did you hurt him much?"
"Worse luck, no. The next time?"
—the man glared across his knotted
list.
"On top of your last exploit," re
marked Marvel, "it may be six months
or a year this time. Unless you have,
left a case of mayhem behind youfj
down at. Vandamann «, I can promise'
you a chance to get out of this mix-up
—on conditions "
"What conditions?" muttered the
fellow, an evil eye fixed on both of
us—suspicions and leery.
"As the Fourteenth Man—"
"What's that!" ejaculated Briggs
with a start, and then he shrank back
within himself, the barrier up, like a
man in a trap
"As the Fourteenth Man, you ofi
course knew Royal Ludington."
"Suppose 1 did?"
"What did you take to his house
the day of his funeral?"
Briggs bored into tho questioner s
face with his shrewd ferret eyes. Hoi
shook his head "This is some kimV
of a frame-up," he declared. "I don't
say a word till 1 know what's doing#
After some persuasion the man tolil
It amounted to this: Scoundrel-hearted
Abel Vandamann had seen an oppor
tunity in tho sudden death of one of
his victims to press fictitious claims
He had utilized the Fourteenth Man
in his plut. This had been to iiave^
Briggs visit the Ludington hornet
surreptitiously, place the photograph)
in a pocket of Ludington's coat, arid!
in his desk a card bearing notations*
of various amounts These, corresj
ponded in amounts to alleged notes of
the decedent, were later presented ; ,
his widow for payment.
The wily schemer had convinced
Mrs. Ludington that he held notes
a
a
I
I
to
to
ac
in
to
I
in
husband
to be
lieve that the borrowed money they
represented had been squandered m
gambling and in financing the extrava
gant whims of the woman, ldalia.
The notations, the photograph, all
seemed to verify the foul misrepre
sentations that brought sorrow ar.d
dread to the wife and daughter of tho
dead trader. Mrs. Ludington was a
proud woman. The fear of disgrace,
publicity, had made her the easy vic
tim of the arch swindler, Abel Vanda
mann.
The demands of the broker were so
extensive that his black-mailed victim
found that after she had sacrificed her
personal belongings to satisfy the
notes, there would be no hope of
liquidating the indebtedness at the
bank.
Resilius Marvel held a brief but
productive interview with Abel Vanda
ma mi the next day. Then he carried
to the bank twelve, forged notes for
$50,000, and a like amount in cash al
ready extorted from Mrs. Ludington
on similar forgeries. The bank there
fore, lost nothing, and the Ludington«
were restored to fortune and lifted
from the shadow of a great grief.
"There is such a thing as earthly
retribution," observed Resilius Marvel
to me one day.
A column in a daily newspaper was
the basis of the remark. It told of
the murder in cold blood of Abel
Vandamann. A stiletto had dealt him
his death wound, so it might have
been a woman. But his strong box
was rifled, so it might have been a
man. The police never found out, for
tiie woman, ldalia, and the Fourteenth
Man had disappeared as completely as
though tho earth had opened and swal
lowed them up.
Now Make Dried Soup.
One of the beneficial effects of the
recent scare over a threatened short
age of tin cans was an extended inves
tigation into other possible methods of
preserving food. The canned soup*
manufacturers were among the most
earnest seekers, for they were threat,
ened with having their tin supply cut
off at an early date. They have worked
out a process for putting up a dried
soup in powdered form ln container«
of heavy wax paper. Similar systems
of drying and packing vegetables nr**
already ln use in Europe, but the soup
idea represents American enterprise.
Apparently, it will not come on the
market, because tin cans are going to
be more plentiful than was anticipated.
"Getting By the Editor."
Getting by the editor is the most
fascinating of Indoor sports, says a
writer in the Atlantic. When I was a
journalist in the Freudian sens»« (tiiat
is, as an unfulfilled wish), my churn
and I devised a way Jo get money for
all our articles. Each agreed when lie
sent out a "story" to bet the other the
price of the "story" that it wouldn't be
accepted. That little arrangement took
the sting out of a rejection completely ;
and when you lost your pay. yon lia*!
the glory of the acceptance. Why ami
how the scheme broke down, I shalt
not divulge.
Could Do His Part.
Frederick the Great heard of a
Silesian clergyman who had a reputa
tion of communicating with the spir
its.
He sent for him and received him
with the following question:
"Can you cal! up ghosts?"
"At your pleasure, your majesty,"
| replied the clergyman, "but they won't
[ come."