Perrysburg journal., March 23, 1916, Image 2

About Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965

Image provided by: Ohio History Connection, Columbus, OH

                
WHERE THEM'S A WILL
Detective Story Wherein the Mystery of the
Conrad Murder is Unravelled.
SYNOPSIS
Gordon, a newspaper reporter, is
awakened by n telephone summons to
Ylait the residence of Anthony Conrad,
a retired broker, who has been found
dead on bis couch.
Suspicion points to Gustav Conrad,
his nephew, with whom he had quar
reled the night before and who to all
nppearences tried to commit suicide
after killing his uncle.
Physicians tliul that Gnstnv has a
chance to recover. The will leaves
$5,000 to Gustav and the balance of
the estate to George Mullet, another
nephew.
Not satisfied with the apparent so
lution of the case, Semi Dual, the old
man of Mystery, takes a band In the
tangle of human life.
Dual asks Gordon to go with John
son of the detective force and search
the Conrad premises thoroughly for
other evidence.
"All right, Glace. If you can find
anything which will let young Conrad
out I won't kick, and from what this
Dual said I reckon that's his lay.
Lead me to it, son."
"Come along," I told him, and
passed on into the larger room.
There I took the glass from my
pocket and began to examine win
dowsills and the floor. Not that I
had any hopes of picking out any
footprints, save those made during
the morning, but I meant to let no
chance to escape.
Johnson perched on an end of the
desk and watched me, grinning.
"You look like a stage detec,' son,"
he jeered as fc.vorked. "Dual thinks
this an outsiae job?"
"I don't know what Dual thinks,"
I snapped back. "He's a habit of
not telling everything he knows."
"Go ahead," said Johnson, and
lighted a cigar.
"By the way," I suggested, get
Bryce on the phone and tell him to
keep in touch. Tell him to have that
gun and those hairs handy when we
need them, and to be ready to bring
them to us."
Johnson shot me a quick glance.
"Is that from you or Dual?" he in
quired. 'I was talkin' with Bryce
after Dual called me up, and he says
the chap's the real stuff. Does he
want Bryce to stay close?"
I nodded.
Johnson reached for the phone.
While he was talking I went on into
the alcove where the body of Conrad
had lain and continued my search.
There wasn't a thing I could find.
"Window-sills, floors, even the panes
of the windows, I went over, but
they showed nothing which I could
call suspicious. Johnson sauntered
in as I worked.
"I got Bryce, and he's on edge
about the thing," he remarked. "He
says I'd better git into the wagon be
fore you boys crack the whip. Is
there anything I can do?"
"Not yet," I responded. "I can't
find anything here."
I rose and we both went into the
unused room between the study of
Conrad and Gustav's room. There
again I got down and began to exam
ine the floor.
It was close by the window of the
end of the room that I found my first
reward.
There, as I swept the carpet with
my glass, I found something which
sent my heart into my mouth. It
was a faint outline in the nap of the
piling just the dim outline of a foot
print. But the toe pointed inward and
the outline was plainer at the heel
than at the toe.
It was as though some one might
have thrown a leg across the sill and
planted a foot on the carpet, rising
through the casement, with his full
weight thrown upon the heel of his
shoe. I bent above it and scanned it
through the glass.
There was no mistaking its import.
Some one had stepped there, and
about itb outline was a fine line of
powdered soil, as though particals of
earth had clung to the sole of the
shoe.
I beckoned Johnson, and he came
quickly to my side. I pointed, and
ho (hopped to his knees beside me,
glanced at the print, anil a second
later at me.
"Did anybody stand or sit here this
morning?" I asked.
He 'shook his head.
'I don't think so," he considered.
"The flatties stayed in the room with
Conrad, and neither Bryce nor I was
here. Sommers might have sat here
or stood by the window where's the
other foot?"
I nodded.
"Exactly! Then, Johnson, some
body stepped in through this window,
and that somebody had damp soil on
his foot, which has since dried.
Well"
"You're right! By the great guns,
you're right!" he exclaimed in some
excitement. "Come on an we'll see
if we can find any more of these."
"Wait a minute," I checked him.
"Let's measure this one now. You
takes notes."
I clrew the tape and carefully took
the measurements of the print, call
ing them to the detective, who wrote
them down in a book.
"Now," I said as we finished, "we'll
look for some more."
We searched, but without success.
There was that single print, point
ing inward from the window, and
then came the wide path of many
other feet leading from door to door
across the room, and into the one
where Gustav had lain.
Whatever may have been there ear
lier in the day was smuged and ob
literated by the others which had
tracked across them. Once or twice
we thought we had found one sim
ilar to the first, but we could not be
sure.
Johnson swore.
"What a bunch of darned fools we
were not to look this morning!" he
berated himself and Bryce. "But
honest, Glace, the thing looked so
clear "
"That, as Miss Burton said, you
never looked below the surface," I
finished.
Johnson scowled and wagged his
head.
"That's right," he admitted. But
how in time did Dual know the thing
was here?"
"I don't know," I confessed, "but
he must have had a reason. He nev
er makes a statement unless he
does."
"But he wasn't here, puzzled John
son. "He was miles away, an' he
didn't see anything at all, nor know
anything at all, and yet "
"He knew something, all right.
You've got to admit that," I took
him up.
"It looks that way," he grumbled.
"But good Lord how?"
I had been thinking. Now, as he
paused in confused question, I turned
the subject back to the footprint.
"If a man came in through that
window he must have laid hands on
the sill, Johnson. Come over there
and see if we can find any finger
prints." He started to attention.
"Right you are," he snapped out
and reached the window in a bound,
bent, and began to scan the wood of
the sill with a careful eye.
"Take the glass," I suggested,
"and look about a foot inward from
each end. He'd reach through, grasp
the sill with his hands, and swing his
leg between his arms. The footprint
is about the middle of the sill if you'll
look."
He nodded, took the glass without
looking around, and continued his in
spection. "And here they are!" he cried out
in sudden exultation. "See? He did
just what you said. Wait! I'll take
a print of those. Take the glass!
He literally tossed it to me and
reached into his pocket, from which
he drew a small package of giay pow
der, dusting it lightly over the region
where the hands of the unknown hud
rested.
Then with a .small sheet of caibon
paper he pressed lightly and smoothly
over the dusted outlines and lifted
away a gray impress of the telltale
marks.
lie lifted a face which had grown
thinner and more tense.
"Glace, he remarked, "we'ie on
the trail of something big and devil
ish, and we're going to run it down.
If this goes like it looks, Gus Conrad
was shot by the man who climbed in
this window. You can bet I'm going
to look below the surface from now
on, all right, and I'll get this jasper
if it takes ten years!"
Very carefully he put the paper
away.
"I reckon we'd better go outside,"
he added.
We left the house and went into the
grounds.
Then we walked around and came
down the side, until we wore below
the window where the man must have
entered. There we both went down
in the grass and crept carefully
toward the wall, scanning the earth
for a sign, but not until we were di
rectly beneath the window did we
find it.
Then, just where the grass of the
lawn ended and left a little bare patch
of earth, close to the wall, we came
upon another footprint, pressed
deep into the damp earth.
Johnson pointed it out with a thin
lipped smile.
"There it is," he said quite calmly.
"He stood Uioro and reached up and
gripped the sill. Ho put all his
weight on thnt foot when he stretched
up, and he pressed it in deep. Go on
nnd measure it, and see how it match
es up."
I got out the tape, and with hands
which trembled I laid it lengthwise
nnd across the well-mado print. One
by one I gave the measurements to
Johnson, nnd ho wrote them down
beneath the others from the print in
side. At the end he nodded in sat
isfaction. "They tally," he announced. "And
see here."
Ho pointed to a fresh scratch on a
brick, broad and smudged, with a bit
of mud sticking to it such a mark
as might be made by the toe of a
shoe scraping against the wall.
We looked at it for fully a minute;
then I turned away.
"Now," I announced, "I've got to
see the Porters. Do you know where
they are?"
"Somewhere at the back," said
Johnson, following along.
We went back into the front hall
and walked down it to a door at the
rear, where I rapped. Footsteps
came from the other side, and it was
swung back by the old valet.
"Can you come in front for a few
moments?" I requested, and he nod
ded and stepped into the hnll.
Once in the front room, I asked
him if there was any way in which I
could obtain a sample of the younger
Conrad's writing.
He viewed the request with some
surprise.
."All the writing done of late was
done by Mi-. Gustav," he volunteered;
"but I rather fancy it would not do
to take any of them away, they being
mostly business papers and the like."
"I only want a mere specimen," I
explained. "Just a word or two."
He knit his brows for a moment.
"How would a small note-book or
something like that do?" he asked.
"It would be the very thing," I le
plied. Porter turned to Johnson.
"Will it be all right, sir, to let him
have it ? I was thinking maybe there
might be a note-book in the coat
pocket of the suit Mr. Gus was wear
ing last night."
"Glace is acting with me," leas
sured Johnson. "If you can dig up
what he wants, get about it quick."
Porter nodded and walked through
the door toward Gusav's room. John
son and I followed.
The coat and vest of the wounded
man still hung over the back of a
chair, and Porter immediately began
an examination of the pockets, pres
ently withdrawing a small book bound
in soft red leather, and extending it
to me.
"That is a memorandum- book he
always carried," he stated. "You can
see he's writ his name on the front
page himself."
I opened the book and verified his
words.
"This is his own writing? You're
sure?" I questioned.
"Oh, yes, sir!" declared Porter.
"I'm sure of it, sir."
"And, Porter," I continued, "do
you know if the window in the next
room was opened or shut during last
night?"
"It was open, sir. Mr. Conrad al
ways had it open, winter and sum
mer. He liked the air, sir, though
he always had this here window open.
That was why nohody slept in this
room, sir."
"Then it would be easy for some
body to get in that way, Porter?"
My "Some one to get in, sir!" cried
the man. "Why, yes, sir. Bui, My
Gawd, sir you don't think thai any
body did get in not last night, sir?
I asks your pardon, but just what
do you mean by that?"
"We mean that some one came in
that window and murdered your mas
ter, and tried to murder Mr. Gustav,
and thought he had succeeded," said
Johnson.
"Then" Porter's hands were
shaking and his lips writhed above
the question "then Mr. Gustav
wouldn't have killed the master, sir?"
"No."
"Thank Gawd, sir!" stammered the
servant. "I've been thinking and
thinking and hoping, sir but I
couldn't see it. I'm glad as you can."
"We can't as yet," grinned John
son; "but you can bet we will."
"Yes, sir," said Porter. "If that's
all, sir, I'll be going and tell the wife.
She's takin' it hard, sir."
He shuffled out.
Things were moving. I had the
sample of Gustav's writing, and we
had two footprints and some finger
marks. Once more, as before, Dual's Won
derful insight into events was being
justified an the wheel went round.
All of Johnson's skeptcism had van
ished, His thin face was eager, tense.
There was a look of purpose in his
eyes, which I knew would remain un
til he had run his quarry to earth.
No doubt now but that he would con
tinue to look deep below the surface,
or rest until he hnd found the man
ivlinen fnni- nnd hrmrla liMiwl fVincn
marks.
Like myself, he had witnessed the
truth of Dual's methods, and, as in
my own case, it was Dual's wonderful
force back of him which was now
urging him on; though 'I knew that
he did not know it ns I did.
As the servant's back vanished in
to the hall Johnson turned to me.
"Now, is there anything else we
were to do?" he asked.
I nodded nnd I smiled. Even at
thnt time it struck me as rather odd
to have this member of the city de
ectivo bureau asking me what he
should do next. Nevertheless, I did
not hesitate about my reply.
"Dual said he wanted us to get hold
of the will and be able to produce it
when it was wanted."
"Mallet put it back in the drawer,"
said Johnson. "All we got to do is
take it out, I guess."
He drew out the drawer and lifted
the document from it, tossing it up
on the desk.
"I wonder why Mallet didn't take it
with him, seeing that he's the major
heir?"
I shook my head.
"Maybe he meant to come back
after it later.He knows he can trust
the Porters, and probably didn't want
to appear too anxious about it this
morning. I'm going to look at the
thing again."
I opened it out and spread it upon
the desk, pushing back some loose pa
pers to make more room for it, and
then I paused, for under the papers
there was a spot.
It was nearly circular and slightly
raised, higher in the middle than on
the edges, and a dead chalky white.
It wasn't very large not bigger in
circumference than a large pea but
on the black surface of the mission"
desk it showed in glaring contrast.
I put out my finger and touched it.
It felt dry and yet brittle to the touch.
"See here, Johnson," I exclaimed,
"what do you suppose this is?"
He bent down and eyed it, put out
his finger and felt it, and finally rais
ed his head.
"It looks like a flake of starch," he
declared.
"Take your penknife and scrape it
off and add it to the collection, what
ever it is," I suggested. "We'll let
Dual take a squint at it, anyway.
Get it off without breaking, if you
can."
Johnson attacked it with the small
blade of his knife and, working gently,
succeeded in scaling it off the wood.
Then he slid it upon a piece of paper
and folded it up with exceeding care.
That done we once more turned to
the will, and I spread it out on the
desk.
Together we read it over, but there
seemed nothing in it which could give
us a further clue, which shows how
a person may look right at a thing
and still never see it.
It almost seems at times to carry
out the claims of those people who
allege that nothing exists save
thought, and that what we see is only
what we think we see, and isn't there
at all.
Just as I was on the point of folding
up the will and slipping it into my
pocket the light, striking across it,
revealed something I had overlooked.
I spread it out again, and got out
the glass and focused it on that part
of the page where tho light had
struck. Then I saw it plainer, and I
let out a yell.
For, close to the end of the line in
which the word George appeared,
there was the dim, almost impercep
tible outline of a finger-print!
1 gave the glass to Johnson and
pointed to the spot. He bent and
peeied at it as I hnd done.
"Do you see it?" I asked in some
excitement.
He nodded and laid down the glass.
"It's there," he said almost in awe.
"If I ever get inlo a case like this
again, where I make so many blamed
blunders in the same length of time,
I'm going to cut the game and go to
driving a milk-cart. The whole
trouble was the thing looked so darn
ed simple that it had me hypnotized.
I just went to sleep and let anybody
tell mo anything was true. Well,
at all events, this justifies us in tak
ing the will along as evidence. Hand
it over, son."
"But Dual wants it," I made pro
test.
"And he's going to get it!" flashed
Johnson. "Good Lord, that fellow's
all to the good! He can sit in a chair
and beat me at-my own game. I'm
going to see him before this thing is
over. He's got a method I'd like to
get next to myself."
I handed over the will, as he de
sired and smiled to myself.
I had an idea that Dual's method,
as he called it, would take some "go
ting next" to that Johnson wouldn't
be up to, but I didn't tell him just
what I thought.
He had drawn the carbon-print he
had made of the marks on the win
dow sill from his pocket, and was
scowling at it in deep thought. Pres
ently ho put it away again.
"I won't say for sure till I am
sure," he began speaking; "but I've an
idea that these marks and that on
tho will arc the same."
"If that's so, the murderer opened
this drawer last night and examined
the will!" Pe.srlni-i.od.
"It looks that way now," Johnson
agreed.
It seemed to me that wo must have
accomplished what wo had come for,
and it was nearly two o'clock.
"Dual told me to call him up," I
told Johnson and picked up the phone.
I gnvo 'Central Dual's private num
ber, and in an instant he answered
my call. I imagined him at the desk,
waiting for the ring, ready to guide
my course into the next stage of the
chase, and I smiled to myself ns his
voice thrilled along the wire.
"All through, Gordon? Now, lis
ten closely. You have found what
you sought, of course? Next, you
will go to the St Mary's Hospital and
inquire nt the iflice for anything
which Dr. Sommers may have left
there for me. He promised to leave
it, subject to my call, this morning.
After that find a way to get a spec
imen of Mnllet's writing. You have
done such things before, and I am
leaving it to you. Use your taxi
and do not waste time. Also, while
you are at the hospital you may as
well see Miss Burton and tell her for
me that I said her sweetheart is in
nocent of all wrong-doing, and that
he will live.
"After you have done this you may
go to the Record office and report to'
Smithson, and then come on here,
Now, call Johnson to the phone."
CHAPTER V.
A Mysterious Envelope.
I left Johnson at the phone and went
out and down to the street where my
taxi still waited, entered it and told
the driver to take me to St. Mary's
Hospital where Sommers had sent
Gustav Conrad for the operation,
which it seemed, from Dual's woids,
was to save his life.
How like Dual was that message,
I thought, as I rolled along.
Out of his busy scheming and plan
ning to catch the cowardly assassin
who had struck down two men the
night before, he could yet find time
to give a thought to the woman who
lingered beside the bed of one of
those men in anxiety and heart-sick
fear.
Suffering always appealed to Semi
Dual, and he would relieve it if he
could.
The golden light of the spring day
was dimming. Glancing out of the
window I noticed that the clouds in
the sky, light and fleecy at noon, had
increased in number, and had grown
darker in hue.
It looked as though we might be in
for spring rain. I drew back from
the window and lighted a cigarette
and smoked and thought over every
thing from the start.
I wondered what it was Dual ex
pected me to get at the hospital that
could possibly bear on the case. Even
as I asked myself the question we
turned into the grounds of the hos
pital itself, and slowed down before
the main door.
Again telling my man to wait, I
went up the great steps to the door
and rang the bell. Presently a Sister
of Charity came shuffling along the
tile floor in her billowing robes of
black and set the door ajar.
To her I made known my wants,
and with a wordless gesture she turn
ed and led me back through the hall
with its faint reek of drugs, its sug
gestion of nth degree cleanness, to
the office, and waved me to enter.
(To bt CoLtinued)
The Use of Rice In Salads.
The use of rice in salad is still a
novelty, says a Cornell Readlr.K
Course pamphlet, published by the
New Yoik state college of agriculture
at Cornell University, "and pet haps a
woul devoted to the subject may not
come amiss. A lice salad is often tin'
best solution of tho (iiiestion, "How
.shall I act up a dainty dish for n
luncheon or supper which slnll lit
rilling enough to satisfy heaity appe
tites and vot not cost too much?" Left
oveis of moat, diicKcn. and t-aia ma
be pieced out with canal quantities of
cold boiled rice; canned salmon an I
tuna fish aie ically inipiovcd by kikIi
tientmonl; cold hailed cod and ill.
make a moat templing sabid; am
hard cooked eggs may always Li
piossed Into service. Left over a of
vegetables may aten.be used up la
this fashion ; . . Frcm h dicsslng, may
cnnalso dicsslng, and simple be Ilea
dressing are equally good with tliPM.'
salads.
The Return Invitation
One oung man met another, a
filead of his, and to do tho piopcr
thing Invited him to a French dinner
Everything was served in good st.vle,
but tho different courses wore dished
up in very small poitlons.
At its conclusion, the one who hnd
extended Uio invitation, and who was
perfectly accustomed to tho general
f.tylo of tho lestaurant snid:
"Pretty good meal, that for, dpllar
Mm
frIMul Trtif
ehJ"
"Yen," responded hlfl frtsMrfjo
was still nungry, "iirai rater newjypu
havo ono with mo."
Drafts under (he floors are death t
pigs and even to grown hogs.
PATENT
MEDICINE
IS OF OLD
ANCIENT PRESCRIPTIONS FOUND
TO BE VALUABLE IN BY
GONE YEARS
Earliest Remedies Said to Possess
Very Much Merit.
Because Americans buy and uso
such largo quantities of patpnt medi
cines that many manufacturers have
mado large foi tunes in tho business,
one might naturally conclude that
there Is a gieat deal physically wrong
with the people of this country and
that this is tho age of patent medi
cines, but It appeals that secret ineoi
cal preparations were made and vend
ed In largo quantities many centuiies
ngo.
Indeed a few of these scciet lemc
dies became so popular and were' con
sidered of ho much nlire to ailing hu
manity that the reigning monarchsin
past centuries bought the seciets from
their discovers paying for them Inrgo
bums of money. It has been found for
example, that Louis 2ilV of France
paid lhindsome sums for three such
piepaiatlons, namely, Helvetius' lpo
cac remedy, Glauber's kermis mineral
and Talbor's cinchona lemedy.
It would seem that some of the ear
ly secret lemedies must have possess
ed some merit, for some that were
patented as early as the sixteenth
centuries are now standard remedies,
being highly esteemed and sold In
large quantities. An interesting and
unusual fact in connection with soma
of tho medicines which made their
debut as patent remedies is that they
ORIGIN
aro now hold in good leputo by prac
ticing physicians who prescrlbo them
for their patients.
Among these nro 'Fowler's solution
of potassium arsenate, which was first
made by an apothecary named Fowler
who kept the lemedy as a secret and
refused to admit that It contained ar
sonic. Another 1b paregoric which j
was originated by Dr. Le Mori of tho ,
Leyden university, nnd still another is
Doer's powders, first piepared by
Thomas Dover, a doctor and pirate.
Common bicarbonate of soda, which
is universally used In cooking was
originated under tho namo of "univer
sal salz" by a Berlin apothecary.
Although nil modern physicians
look with contempt on patent medi
cines, some of the earliest of tho
preparations were Introduced by phy
sicians. For example, one Dr. Gregory
a professor of medicine nt Edinburg,
originated a compound powder of rhu
barb; Dr. Turner a distinguished sur
geon of London Introduced an oint
ment calamine ointment and Dr. ,
Sii)dejrham, a" noted English pbysl-
clan, brought out wine of opium.
FLORIDA MOUND YIELDS
BONES OF HUGE INDIANS
Pottery, Axes and Arrow Heads aro
Also Found Buried With Pre-
historic Seminoles
A prehistoric burial mound of tho
Seminole Indians has just been found
at Magnolia Springs, Fla. Dr. E. J.
Tomson and John Kendilck, a well
known artist of New York, made tho
discovery a few days ago, and after
two days of excavation.
Three skeletons, half a dozen skulls
four arrow lreads, and pieces of pot
tery, weie obtained on the first day,
tluee moi e skeletons and six anow
heads and stono axes were dug up.
Dr. Tomson said it was impossible to
say how long the bodies and lellcs
had been buried there, but he believ
ed them to be prehistoric.
The skeletons all measured more
than 6 feet. One measuring 6 feet 6
inches is perfectly pieserved, and in
the skull the teeth remain perfect.
Tho size of the jaw is remaikable.
The toot of a tree has grown in tho
exact shape of another skull.
The skeletons weie found lying faco
downward with heads to the south. It
Is a known fact that the aborigine
buried with their chiefs and priests
their favorite pieces of pottery con
taining food to nouiisli them on their
Journey to the Happy Hunting Ground.
It is also known that the tiibes
burned tho sand so ns to preserve
their dead and Dr. Tomson pays tho
sand excavated has .the queer look of
burned sand. As there is no suitable
Btono in Florida tho doctor has con
cluded that the arrow heads original
ly came from sorao of the Northern
Indian tribes.
Tl.e mound is aixty feet lonu, 30 feet
wide and twelve feet high. It is locat
ed in a clump of live oaks and long
leaf pines, 200 feet from tho St. John's
River. Tho largest four trees almost
mark the four corners of the mound.
They aro neatly SO feet high and 4
feet in diameter.
The explorers aro continuing thflr
work In the hope of adding more cu
rious to their collections. They will
Bend tho skeletons to tho Museums
of Natural History at Jacksonville ard
New Yoik.
To Make Compass on Watch
A watch may be used to deteimlno
tho points of 'tho compass by pointing
tho hour hand at the sun any time of
SIM A .! A r nwY 4 It n nlnnlttn 4 1 a HbHill
h.juv wo Mi.u n.cii jjmtiiiK win an. ti ii
ijypleeo of straight vlro crosswise be-'-
tweon tho hour hand nnd the flgurn
12, getting exactly half way. Tho point
of tho wire which comes between the
13 and tho hour Land nlwayB polntH
duo south.