Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 179, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 July 1913 — The Cases of Alice Clement [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

The Cases of Alice Clement

True Stories of the Worlds Greatest Woman Sleuth as Told by Herself to Courtney Riley Cooper

The Dulcimer

(Copyright, by W. G. Chapman.)

HAD met,the boat at the dock, and watching the thronging mass of men, women and children .as they poured from the palatial prison In which they had crossed the Atlantic, there came to me the sight of a sparkling pair of. brown eyes and a smile

I knew. A moment later Alice Clement, home again from many thousands of miles spent in tracking criminals in the foreign countries of Europe, was at my side. “Now are'you going to tell me what took you across the ocean?” I asked. She smiled that sphinx-like little smile of hers and nodded ln the negative. We had taken a taxicab for uptown.' " ’ >-■< ■ -'■ “Once she said, "I told you that I was on a secret mission, but still it must remain a secret.” It piqued me a bit that she could not tell me what had sent her on her long trip or what the result had been. For some time she remained* in silence. Then as we left the cab and started up Thirty-fourth street tot a telegraph office, before going to luncheon, she looked up at me with a light in her eyes. ' ; ' “Do all stories have to be the ones that just happen?” she asked. “Why du you ask that?” I returned. “Because I saw something back there in a music store window which interested me.” ..CShe took me by the arm and led me to a musical display. Before us. was a dulcimer, a stringed instrument used in foreign countries, but little in America. I gazed at it for a moment In half surprise. Alice Clement was smiling to herself and she continued to smile as we turned again toward luncheon. Twenty minutes later over the consomme I leaned toward Miss Clement aqd fashioned a question which I had resolved not to ask. - “‘Well,” I said, “since you won’t tell me the story of what took you to Europe, would you mind telling me the one behind the dulcimer?” T wouldn’t have mentioned it if I hadn’t been ready to tell you the i story,” she answered in that rougish way which nettles one and yet makes the little woman who has tracked so many criminals, so likable. “The captain and I were ‘Sitting one morning in detective headquarters in •Chicago talking of nothing in particular when a station orderly entered. . ‘•‘There’s a death reported from Over here on Clark street,* he said. ‘Nothing to it in the way of a case, ibut the whole place is so destitute that I thought maybe you might want to just look things over.* “The captain pressed a button. Til send Williams,* he said. ‘Want to go along, Miss dement?* he said. ‘You’re always mussing around in this slum stuff.’ > “A little time after that Williams of the Central office and myself were ascending the steps of a rickety building on lower Clark street. The gaunt inhabitants stared at us as we passed floor after floor of the building, dodging in and out of doors like rabbits in a warren. It was a place of misery and heartbreak. . Finally, arriving on the top floor, we came to a room where a face stared upwards with unseeing eyes toward the ceiling. An embarrassed janitor stood awaiting us. “‘lt’s just a case of typhoid,* he said, moving toward Willlama ‘This little girl came here about six weeks ago looking for work. She didn’t find it. About two weeks ago she got sick. We did everything we could for her but there wasn’t much money and we couldn’t find out where her folks were, and that’s about all I guess.* “Williams looked casually around the room and started to leave. ‘I can't see where the police department has Anything to do with this,’ he said. ‘Coing back, Miss Clement?’ “I had stopped to regard an object which I had found partly concealed behind a trunk in a corner of the room. I brought It forth. It was a dulcimer. -- “ ‘Who does this belong to?* I asked of the janitor. “ ‘Little Miss Perry, I guess/he answered. “ ‘The dead girl?* I remarked. “Tessum. I never noticed it before but I guess it belonged to her because I used to hear music from up here once in awhile.* “1 had picked the Instrument up and was runnihg my fingers up and down the strings. Suddenly I stopped and reflected on the roughness of them. No rust was apparent. I looked doser. Then I took my magnifying glass from my handbag and made a most minute examination. “A moment later I handed the instrument to Williams. “Take thio to the microscopist,’ I ordered, ‘and then find out the name of the city physician who has been treating this little girl.* “Williams stared at me. “ ‘Now what have ydu got up your sleeve?’ he questioned. “‘A murder case and a good ones’ was my answer. ‘Hurry up and get that stuff to headquartetw“As I spoke the janitor uttered a life

tie cry and started down the- hall. I called him back. “‘You’ve got a good deal of talking to do,’ I told him, ‘and you might as well do It right in here while we are waiting for the coroner. I want to know where that dulcimer came from.’ “The eyes of the weazen faced man became wide and staring at my . determined question, and he started forward. - - “*Why, you don’t think—-?” he began. “*lt is not much of your business what I think. All you have to do is to talk and talk fast Answer my questions. Where did that dulcimer come from?* < jt 7 “ ‘That musical thing?* he asked and scratched his head as he thought ‘I don’t know where it came from. She didn’t have it with her when she came here.* “ ‘Did you ever see her bring it in?* " ‘No.’ “ ‘Did you ever see anyone come to visit her?* “ ‘Lord, she didn’t have any friends that I know of. There is so many people going In and out of this building all thejtlme anyway, that I wouldn’t be able to tell. Some of them settlement workers might have brought it to.her for all I know. Come to think of it, I did used to hear her picking on that thing, but she .never played it much after about a week before she too took sick. I don’t guess she was able.* “I looked up and down the hall In the hope of seeing someone who could give me more information. There was none. The rooms were unoccupied, their doors standing open, showing the wretched interiors where paper hung from the wall and plaster whitened the floor. I turned again to the janitor. > - <

‘“Did the settlement workers visit her when she became ill?’ I asked. “ ‘Yes, there were two that did. One was a man that I didn’t like at all. He was always grumpy and just stood around And talked about how much chsrlty patients cost the city, and every time he left the poor little kid seemed just that much worse.’ “ ‘His name?’ I questioned. “1 think it was Mr. 'Grimes,* he answered, ‘or some name like that He is the head of something or other in the society.* “ ‘And who was the other?’ I queried. ‘“f don’t know her name,’ was the reply. ‘She Is a mighty nice little woman though. Always pleasant and All that.* “ ‘Did they come together, Mr. Grimes and the woman?’ “‘No, always separate. I don’t think either one of them ever talked to the other.’ “For an hour longer I questioned the janitor and gained nothing further than the fact that Miss Perry, the dead girl, had been vlsltedjjuring her Illness by three persons—the physician, Mr. Grimes, and the little woman whose name the janitor did not know. But none of them ever had seen or talked to each other.

• “At last I left the dingy building just as the black wagon of the coroner arrived, and hurried to the station. Williams was awaiting me there. “ ‘Well?* I asked. “‘Typhoid germs,’” was his answer. “‘Strung along the strings of the Instrument so that if a person were playing and happened to touch one of their fingers to the lips, the inoculation would be complete.*” “ ‘Just as I thought,’ was my reply. ‘What does the city physician say?’ ” “ ‘All he knows is that he was called up to see the girl and took care of her. He wanted to take her to a hospital, of course, but it seemed that the girl objected so strenuously that he obeyed her wishes, and allowed her to remain where she was. She was just one of these little country girts who was born with a terrible fear of hospitals, and the doctor was afraid that the mental excite, aent of taking her there would make her condition worse, so he allowed her to remain. I don’t believe he knows any more about the case than what he has told me. To tell the truth, Miss Clement, I don’t believe that this is a murder case at all. You have no motive in the first place. Here 1* a little girl seventeen or eighteen years old, who has come to the city from a small country town, who appears to have had no particular enemies, who was simply here seeking /work as many thousands of girls are, and possessed of neither good looks nor money. From what I have learned, and from what the doctor found out about her, she was neither visited by men nor went out with them. If you want a plain, ordinary detective’s* theory, it is this: the little girl wanted some amusement, and she saw this dulcimer In a second hand shop somewhere, and bought it The germs may have been on there for six months, for all you know. For what purpose they were placed there In the beginning, I don’t know. Certainly I fail to see the motive that would make a person design so scientific a murder to accomplish So little.* “ ‘All very true,’ I answered. ‘But just the same, I have my theory. What it is I don’t believe I shall tell you right now, but if you want to help me

in what you think te a wild goose chase, find out whole that dulcimer fs while I do a little running around on my own hook.’" I had In mind the trunk which I had seen in the room, and while Williams began his rounds of the pawnshops, I went to the coroner’s office. In the little trunk I found clothing, a few post card pictures of the city, some addresses of business men, and the like, but nothing that would aid me in discovering the girl's home place, or the name of any relative. I Hid not see' Williams for two days, and when I did the information he gave me took me farther from the solution of the mystery than 1 had been in the beginning. Shadows had been placed on Grimes. They reported that he had been to the morgue, to look at the dead body of the girl, and that he seemed rather nervous and excited at the sight of her. More thafi that, he had seemed strangely interested in endeavoring to find out just what action the police had taken to locate the parents of the- girl, and if they had any success. This to me a few hours sooner would have been gratifying information, but as it was the news that Williams had brought me was rather depressing. For he had come to me with the fact that little Miss Perry had bought the’ dulcimer at a pawnshop on Wabash avenue. It had been left there several months before by some traveling musician, and it seemed Tor a moment that the theory which Williams had given might be the real one. But there was this to- combat it: to place germa on the strings of an instrument, one does not necessarily need tobuy that instrument. True, it was that the buying of the instrument fitted in .with Williams’ argument, but it did not complete the theory. “*I am not satisfied yet,’ I said to him, ‘and before I get through with this case I will show you that it was a deliberate murder. Keep your eye on Mr. Grimes. I am not sure but -what we may need to question him at headquarters. lam going to disappear for awhile.’ “When next I saw Williams I-was a different appearing woman from the usual Alice Clement I wore glasses and carried with me a sample case of books. My dress was rather severe in style, and my hair was presented in a mode of coiffure several years behind the fashion.

"Williams laughed as he looked at me, and I could not help from/railing back at him. - “ ‘I have here,’ I said, ‘all the latest on applied charity. We won’t need them this afternoon, so I think .1 will leave them at the station. Our work is to be of a different sort. Come om’ Then I led the way to a good looking apartment on the North side and asked for Mrs. Brent A few moments later a woman faced me in her living room. "‘I have changed my mind about the books,* she said. T don’t believe I care for them.’ Then, turning to Williams in some surprise, ‘ls the gentleman accompanying you?’ “ ‘Yes,’ was my short answer. ‘And our business here this-afternoon does not concern books on charity. Mrs. Brent,' my voice grew snappy and cold, *we are here this afternoon to ask you why you murdered yeur niece, Eileen Perry?* She whirled. Her face grew ghastly. She seemed to seek for some means of escape. No word came from her lips. I stepped before her again. ‘You have confessed by your actions that you are guilty,* I said. ,‘Now, before we take you to police headquarters, tell us Why you committed this murder.* “A sob broke from the woman. She staggered a few steps toward the door and sank swooning to the floor. Williams raised her in his arms and carried her in to her bed. “When at last she could talk, she told us the story of the woman whom money had driven mad. “Eileen Ferry lived in a ' small town in Pennsylvania, where she had earned her living by doing housework after her father’s death. •“In other days the Perrys had been wealthy, but when the father died it was found that his sole possessions consisted of a small tract of comparatively worthless land in Colorado. “This by the will was left to the trust of the aunt whom Eileen had never seen. The years went by and the child grew to near womanhood, still in the servile position which she had always occupied. One day in rummaging through some of her father’s papers she found the information concerning the western land and wrote a letter to her aunt notifying her that she was now' of age, and to sell the land for whatever she could get for IL

‘The letter came back to her marked ‘opened by mistake.* Eileen believed her aunt had left the country, and believing, also, that the land was worth absolutely nothing, gave up the quest She then turned her eyes toward the city. A little later there appeared In the town a woman who made inquiries concerning the girl, and on.learning that she had gohe to Chicago, left the village. “ In the meantime Eileen had found hard work to secure a position. Discouraged and disheartened, she one day answered an advertisement for a servant girl and poured out her story to the sweet appearing woman whose apartment she was In.” Miss Clement paused a moment. “The rest of the story is easy to guess,” she continued. “Eileen Perry had fallen into the trap that was laid for her, and told her story without knowing it to Mrs. Brent, her aunt, who had come to the city and advertised tor a servant in the hope that Eileen might see and answer. “At that time the woman didn’t know exactly what she was going to « » •

do. The-land that was once worthless had shown gold and was pouring in money. She must get it away from the girl by some means. How she did not know. , “At first there came the idea of hiring the girl as a servant and inveigling from her the deed to the land. It was given xip, and the girl sent away; leaving her address. That night Mrs. Brent saw the stars fade and the white light of morning break over the city. She was struggling with temptation, a temptation of an ordinarily good woman who had allowed greed to enter her heart and stifle all else.

“She began to visit the little room, and to work around the various charitable institutions in order that she might cover her action. One day in the laboratory at the city hall where she had gone on some charitable quest r there came the opportunity to steal a culture tube containing typhoid fever germs. In an Instant it was in her handbag, the decision was made, and she was hastening to Eileen’s room. “The girl was playing, or was at tempting to play, on the dulcimer, when her aunt arrived. - The instrument had been one much loved by her father, and lonely days spent in the city had reminded the little girl many times of when fortunes were better and when she hacT~listened to the strains of the instrument as played by her father. “This was a sentiment in which Mrs. Brent had indulged her, and she had given her the money wherewith to buy the plaything. “Eileen looked up with a smile of happiness on her face as the woman she believed to be only a charity worker entered the room. “ *i am thirsty,* the aunt said, after the first greeting. ‘Could you get me a glass of water? “She wanted time in which to make her plans. The girl laid down the dulcimer and left the room. In a flash it came to the aunt The girl loved-to play the instrument, and to turns the pages of the music* as she practiced. She must now and then touch her fingers to her lips to moist-en-them. Hastily Mrs. Brent drew forth the culture tube and applied some of the germs to the strings. Ten minutes later she was chatting with the girl over her chances of obtaining employment, and two weeks later she was sitting by the bedside of a fever ridden patient watching the first effects of her work.

“Eileen was out of the way now, typhoid was doing its work. Soon the eyes which gleamed with fever would be glaring in the stillness ot death. That gold bearing land in the west was hers. Hers at the cost of a human Mfe. “Mrs. Brent had finished the story, and Williams and I standing there by the bed, wondering at the Insatiable greed which -could drive a woman to take the life of a child that she might gloat over the money which would come to her through her death. “The woman had sunk back on her pillow. She seemed unconscious. Williams strode a few feet away and stood looking at the floor. “ Tell me bow you guessed all this,* she said feebly. “ ‘I didn’t guess it/ was my answer. ‘lt simply worked out I knew that Grimes bad nothing to do with It For I learned that he acted in that way with every case. The physician was out of the question. Then was left by the simple system of elimination, one person. This woman who bad seemed to have taken so much of an interest in this little girl, who could be nothing to her. "There are hundreds of such cases in the city. Why should this one be singled out for such marked attention? I determined to learn the reason. I obtained her description from tbe janitor and in the guise of a book agent I sought among the charity workers until I found her. I went to her house as a book agent, but 1 talked to her of many other things. And of two in particular—money and death. ..

“I .noticed her eyes glearff at the mention of one subject, then her lips paled at the other. In my brain was fashioned the conviction that there was some connection between this woman and the girl, and that Mrs. Brent had killed Eileen for money. That is all I knew, Williams, and that was all I knew this afternoon when you and I came—’ “A wild scream interrupted, and we whirled/toward the bed, just in time to see the woman who had murdered her niece plunge forward, the blood streaming from her throat, where she had pierced it with a penknife. No further explanation ever came from her, for ten minutes later a physician looked upward with a queer little expression and uttered the one little word which has caused so many sorrows in this world and ended so much suffering—‘Dead.* ” A blatant orchestra was sounding a strain of a late Broadway ragtime as Miss Clement concluded her story. For a moment she sat there in meditation, then reached for -the carte de jour nearby. “Charity covers a multitude of sins,” she said, simply.

SHE STAGGERED TOWARDS THE DOOR AND SANK SWOONING.