Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 100, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 April 1910 — The Indian Idol [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

The Indian Idol

It was In our bachelor days and we •hared a ' set of chambers In one of the London squares; when Browning had not attained the high rank In his profession that la his to-day—the •readed Nemesis of all criminals, the aspert to whom the detectives of Snrope come for assistance and advice, I had Just returned from a week's holiday in Scotland to find Browning Awaiting me on the platform at King’s (h-osa His face wore a worried look. “rve Just driven down from Cado--1“ place. Tve got an Important case "What is itr I asked. "TO toil you about it when we get When the cab put ns down at our chambers, he opened the door and led the way into our sitting room. Then ho took off his overcoat and flung it across a chair. “You know how strained the relations are between England and that the House had three all-night sittings last week, discussing the situation r “Tea* I said. “You know that a crisis has only been averted by the diplomacy of one ■umf* “Lord Quinton—the foreign secretary.* Browning poked the Are into

ft blaze, and then looked at me, the poker resting In his hand. “He was trand murdered this morning, and 1 have been engaged on the ease all day —called in by (Scotland Yard.” “Hare yon any idea how the crime was committed, and why?" “None; we are all working in the lark. There are four of ns engaged en It; three men from Scotland Yard and myself.” Browning paused. “There are some extraordinary features about the case, leatui us which contradict one another. At half-pest 9 he had breakfast with kls wife; at 10:15 he went into his fttudy; at half-past he was found on the floor dead, a half-smoked cigar between his Angers. Death must have been Instantaneous, since the look on kls face was a normal one.” Browning flicked the ash off his Elgarette. “We can really tell nothing until after the poet mortem tomorrow. He may hare died of heart failure; one of the men from the yard Is Inclined to that view. Personally, I think he was murdered." “By someone in the employ of a foreign power?” He was silent for a moment. Then, "1 should like you to see his study; It's a perfect museum of curiosities. Darring from China, inlaid work from Japan and India. Standing in one aorner is a most beautiful model of a pagoda, carved by natives; it must be worth hundreds of pounds. And his Sah-tray is a bronze representation *f a native god, holding a metal tray ■eplctlng the world.” The next afternoon at 5 o'clock Browning returned from the post mortem examination. **l was right on one point,” he said to me on entering. “Lord Quinton lied from the effects of poison. The next thing is to find the murderer.” That evening we received a visit from Inspector Turnbull of Scotland Yard. Browning handed his cigarette case across the table. “First of all, Inspector, I should like to hear your views—you smoke?" The detective took a cigarette. > “To be candid, Mr. Browning, I’m hanged If I know what to make of it” “It is somewhat perplexing,” he Said. “If we sift all the evidence we have at our disposal, I think we ran I snly oome to one conclusion, at any into, as to the motive. As far as we sen gather, Lord Quinton had no enemies; there was no one likely to do him any injury. He was happily married.” Browning smiled cynically. “True, every man Is supposed to have a skeleton In cupboard, but wo have searched hie private papers, and can find no evidence. Net we most go farther afield for motive. Yon know position as well as I do,

Inspector Turnbull uoddea. “But perhaps you have not hearo or KruogelT” “The great secret service agent?* “But did you know he left for his own country the mofftlag after the murder T ■■ ■ \ “You did not tell me.’’ *1 should not dare to offer my poor knowledge to Scotland Yard,” he said. “Besides, It was your place to find it out as much as mine.” Wo sat up discussing the case until past midnight, but with no satisfactory result. Browning had been smoking in silence for a few moments. “Inapeo tor,” he said suddenly, “will you meet me at Lord Quinton’s house at IQ o’clock to-morrow morning, and we’ll go through, the case together? I’ll be Lord Quinton, and act as I think he acted on the morning he was murdered. It may give us a hint that will put ub on the right track.” I went round next morning to Cadogan place with Browning, and there punctuall y at 10 o’clock we were Joined by Inspector Trumbull. For a few minutes the two detectives discussed the case together. Inspector Turnbull was absolutely stolid at times. “I cannot for the life of me see what good it can do us to go through that play-acting.” hie said, when Browning suggested we should commence. My friend smiled. “Then you must watch it Just to humor me.” A seriousness came into his voice. “It may all lead to nothing, but it may give us the very clew for which we are looking.” "Exactly,” said the representative of Scotland Yard. Browning walked to the door, and then returned, leisurely. In the middle of the room he stopped for a moment and lighted a cigarette. “I have no cigars, I never smoke them,” be said. Then he continued to Lord Quinton’s desk, sat down, and con(menced reading some letters. Browning rose Impatiently to his feet. “I have omitted to do something Lord Quinton did that moriv ing,” he said, and fell to pacing tbb room. He flung the end of his cigarette Into the fireplace and sat down In au easy chair. “You’ll come round to my view, think, in time,” said Inspector Turnbull. Browning leaped to his feet. For a moment he stood staring at me. Then, with a laugh, he crossed to the fireplace and flicked off the ash. "Inspector,” he said a second later* "I’m afraid I’ve wasted a lot of yeuV time; I’ve been a confounded fool.” He crossed the room to where, as the Inspector’s side, stood a ebony table, on which rested, among other things, the ash tray, with its Indian idol.

stooping down, he slowly and very' carefully passed his hand along th* rim of the tray. Suddenly, from the mouth of the god there sprang a long, pointed needle. For a second we saw it, and then It disappeared again. “You see now how Lord Quinton was poisoned,” said Browning. He pressed the rim of the tray again, and when the needle appeared, held it between a pair of tweezers. The needle was nearly three Inches long, and not more than one-eighth broad at its widest part. It was flat and hollow, giving an easy means of access for the poffibS’, “What a fiendish idea!” said the Inspector. The body was lying in a spare, bedroom, and we immediately went upstairs to inspect it. There, on the right hand, just above the wrist, was a small puncture, lined in blue. It was so small as to be hardly, noticeable, and had we not known where to look for It, we should never have discovered It. The same afternoon the news of Lord Quinton’s death was made public. Newsboys were passing beneath our window, shouting out the intelligence when Browning entered. “We have found where and when Lord Quinton bought that ash tray,” he said. “Three weeks ago he received a letter addressed from a road in Shepherd’s Bush, saying the writer had a curio for sale and would be pleased to call and show it to him if he would care to Bee it with a view to purchasing it.” “Have you seen the letterT’ I asked. “No. Lord Quinton destroyed it, but Lady Quinton told me about it. Two days later the man called.” “Yee,” I said eagerly. "I got his description from one of the servants; it exactly coincides with that of Kruegel, the great secret service agent. Lord Quinton paid him £2O for the curio. Herr Kruegel has a subtle sense of humor.” “And Lady Quinton Is willing to let her husband’s death go unavenged; to let the murderer escape scot free.” Browning smiled. “Thera are other ways of killing a man besides hanging him,” he said; “and there are other secret service agents in the world besides Herr Kruegel. England possesses a few, you know.” —Cassell’s Saturday Journal.

“I THINK HE WAS MURDERED.”