Indianapolis Times, Volume 38, Number 120, Indianapolis, Marion County, 25 August 1926 — Page 10

PAGE 10

“The VANITY CASE” A Tale of Mystery and .Love By CAROLYN WELLS

BEGIN HERE TODAY MRS PRENTISS, who suffers from Insomnia, sees lights mysteriously appearing and disappearing In the HEATH househo.d next door one night. and the next morning HARBOR GARDEN'S Bong Isiand. is ago with the murder of MYRA HEATH and the disappearance of her husband. PERRY, an artist. House guests of the Heaths are LAWRENCE INMAN and BENNY MOORE. Inman might have a motive because he is heir to Myras considerable fortune, she having made her will in his favor and out her husband off. Suspicion also , points toward Bunny, a vivacious, gold-en-haired beauty, because of her refusal to answer questions at the inquest and the fact she had apparently known of the murder before tile maid, who went to her room to inform tier. Myra Heath was a peculiar woman, heautiful hut cold She did not love her husband: she never used cosmetics, never wore colors: she had a mania for collecting rare bits ot s ass. ami it was an old whisky bottle that was the Instrument ot her death—a bottle Irom her own collection. Candles were burning at her head and feet, when a maid discovered her hodv, and near by was a card marked. "The Work ot Pcrr.v Heath. Strangest of all, ehe was made up heavily with rouge and dressed in ga.v colors. At the Country Club the murder is discussed by SAM ANDERSON. AL CUNNINGHAM and others, some believing Perrv Heath the murderer, others disagreeing. The strangest thing about Heath's disappearance is the fact that all the doors and windows had been locked on the inside the night before and were found that way in the mornfinger prints of Inman and Bunny Moore are found on the bottle, and the coroner declares his bplief that the murderer will be found fit the hou-chold. NOW GO ON WITH THE STORY CHAPTER XIII Had Larry been less perturbed, he must have laughed at the prompous air and stilted diction of the coroner. But he was dismayed at the turn i things had taken. He had had no j doubts but the coroner would at once assume perry Heath guilty and j forthwith institute a search Cor him. i “Your assumptions are noi without interest,'' Larry said, looking at the coroner. “But what, then, is the meaning of the eccentric act of painting Mrs. Heath's face and adding colorful touches to her costume? This point was an obsession with Mr. Heath, but no one else would have done such a thing ” “As I understand it. nearly all of Mrs. Heath's friends and acquaintances urged her to use a t<sueh of makeup, and, too. we hive no real reason to assume that the rouge was , applied to Mrs. Heath's face after she was dead. It may well be that she consented to the experiment while still alive.” Inman looked startled. “Surely a medical man can tell you about that.” he said. This speech deeply annoyed the coroner, for he suddenly realized his own delinquency In not having thought of that point. He therefore ignored it, until such tune as he could correct his own j error. "Then the card, of such sinister j significance. It is scarcely possible ! that Mr. Heath .would have placed • that where it was found, if the terrible deed had been really his own work.” "That’s just where you're wrong,” j Larry exclaimed. “Perry Heath is fufi of the spirit of bravado, he has a diabolical sense of humor. It is exactly what he would do—attach a grewsome signature to his own work.” “I can’t agree with that. But we are not seeking opinions, we want facts. If then we assume Mr. Heath went away on some simple or casu al errand, wljere do you think he is now?” “That is surely a matter of opinion, Mr. Coroner, and you say you are out for facts. But I can’t pine about Mr. Heath's casual errand — if he went on one—for I am fully convinced that he killed his wife and then disappeared purposely and permanently.” "Getting out of the house and leaving no unlocked door or window.*’ “Surely he had his latfh key.” “But the front door was fastened on the inside with a chain bolt.” “Then by some overlooked window, or side door, perhaps.” “No, we had the most thorough and careful search made In that respect. Herrick fastened every door and window on the inside, last night, and he found the bars and bolts all intact this morning.” "Then I give it up, hut I still feel sure that there must be sonje obscure entrance or exit from this house; that Perry Heath coud use, 1 is so minded.” “Will you suggest, one?" “In the cellar, perhaps the coal hole.” “Not a chance. Everything down there w r as cut off from the main house, by the upper cellar door, leading from the pantries, and which is the only means of connection with the cellar. This door was lock?d as usual on the pantry side. Heath could not have gone down through it, and lef’T'it locked.” "Let me go over the house, and I'll guarantee I can find several he could have left his >ome secretly. Lord knows I've no wish to accuse Perry Heath of this thing if he is hot guilty, but,’personify, I think there is no slightest sign of r his innocence.” “You say you all urged Mrs. Heath to use what Is known as ‘make-up’ on her face?” “Yes, we did. We all felt it would improve her extremely pale countenance.” j - <Hotels Madison w,Lenox BETROn r CJn the heart of the down-town district near dll public buikHnis. department stores and theatres. yet 2 away from the noise of /he City^-Tbasenabhw* MMatMSMAYZNUAQiWmcntSVtfaIIt

“Y*ou thought that, too, Miss Moore?” Osborn had a most disconcerting way of turning with a sudden question to another witness. “Why yes,” Bifnny said, pulling herself together. “We have all been in the habit of jesting about it. “Then the crime was clearly the work of someone who knew of the distaste of Mrs. Heath for cosmetics, and someone who had sufficient nerve to apply the coloring to a dead woman's face.” "You said you were not sure she was dead when—” Larry began, but the coroner interrupted him. “I am stire now." He referred to a written message which had been handed him. “I asked povtor Conklin to investigate that matter, and he tells me that the cosmetics were applied to Mrs. Heath's face after death.” “How can he tell?” Larry growled. “There are many ways to ascertain that. A physician could not be mistaken. Now, what I want to know is, where is the vanity box that was used for the purpose.” ‘‘That’s easy,” said Inman. “When I left the room, I saw a gold vanity box with lots'nf/dangllng trinkets, lying on the table.” _ “It is not there Who removed it?” Nobody answered, and the coroner, turning to Bunny, said: “Do you think it was Mrs. TJeath's own?” "I think it must have been," she replied, hut her voice shook in spite of hoi efforts to keeiV, it steady. “Then why has It disappeared?” "I’m sure I t know,” Bunny had recovered her pertness if not her poise. ‘T suppose whoever used it. carried it off. Theve are sometimes valuable trifles, and I think it was a burglar who did the whole crime." She put her head on one side like a. wise canaru bird, and falling under the spell of her helpless air and wistful countenance, the coroner forbore to question her further. But, whether by reason of Osborn’s lack of skill, or the noncommittal evidence of the witnesses, no points of real importance were forthcoming. and the awe-struck and bewildered jury brought In {he open verdict of murder by unknown hadds. hut with a strong recommendation that Terry Heath be found. *• • CHATTER XIV The Country Club of Gaybropk Harbor, being over on the Park side, was a magnificent andwrnate structure, built with a large outlay of money and a small outlay of taste. But it created especially to the comfort*fr itsfrnembers and its spacious verandahs and big easy chairs were well patronized of a summer afteua noon. y * Al Cunningham strolled over there after the inquest was over. He had his own opinions of the coroner’s methods and procedure, bdt he was determined not to express them, hut merely give a report of the affair. He found a small group of men. who were quite evidently waiting for him, and almost without preliminaries, he plunged into his subject and gave a brisk account of the Inquest.

. The men were those who had agreed to employ Cunningham as a private and amateur Actective in the Heath matter, and they listened to his story, for the most part in si lence. Then Arthur Black said: "I gather, Al, from the way you describe things, that you don't altogether approve of Osborns techni que.” "Technique! He hasn't any. He hasn’t sense enough to go in when llt rains. I didn't mean to speak out in meetin' like this, but since you ask, admit, that I- think he's about the tvorst apology for a coroner I ever saw!" “Seen many?” asked Anderson, a little dryly. "Well, I've seen a few," Cunningham ’stood liis ground: “and I've read lots of detective stories, and I know how a coroner ought to behave.” “But he can’t do anything more until they find Perry Heath,” Black said. “That chap has got to be found. There's no question of- his guilt. Why, his running away is the same as a confession! And who else could it have been? As Al tells us, the house was so darned well locked up that no intruder could get in.” >"Yes," Anderson Interrupted, “and by the way, how did Heath get out?” “It doesn't matter how he got out, since he did get out,” Wallace Forbes declared. "We have to admit he’s missing, so why not assume he’s the murderer? It seems not only the logical but the inevitable deduction.” “Well, I don't know,” Cunningham said, thougtfully. “Logical, yes. But not inevitable to my mind. You see, that man Osborn got no evidence of any value. Spoken evidence, I mean. He questioned his witness?* perfunctorily and very sketchily. He ought to have put those servants through a. regular grilling and the house guests ought to have been questioned far more closely. That blue eyed flapper knows a lot more than she told. Why, she knew about the thing before the maid went up to tell her—or else why was she crying to beat the hand when the maid went in her room?” “Oh, come now, Al, that’s pure surmise," Anderson objected. From Lydia E. Pinkham to Her Great Granddaughter Have you ever heard a grandmother say, "Lydia B. Plnkham’s Vegetable Compound? Why, my mother and I took that fifty years ago.” In some families the fourth generation Is learning ths-merlt of this dependable medicine. From the days of the polonaise to the days of the radio, mothers have given this famous remedy to tfcelr daughters. The happy schoolgirl of today, like the demure maiden of the 1870's, knows she cftn rely on Lydia E. I’inkham's Vegeta-: hie Compound.—AdverUbement

OUT OUR WAY—By WILLIAMS

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"Maybe, but surmises ought to "be looked into and tracked down. Then, that girl vamped the coroner so at the last, that when she told him she thought the murder was the work of a burglar, he just nodded his head and let up on her entirely. Fine sort of coroner, I’ll tell the G. P!“ "Well, old man,” Black said, "then your work is cut out for you. The verdict of a coroner’s jury doesn’t close a case, and I rather fancy that man Mott won’t let the matter rest as is. He's a live wire, I happen to know, and you. Cunny, could do "Worse than to Join issues and work with him." "No, I prefer to go on my own." “There speaks the true amateur! Os course you would. And I don’t know but you’re right about It. Can't you get around the LittleBright Eyes, and fined out what she really knows? You don’t suspect she Is the principal, do you?” “Mercy, no!” Cunningham looked shocked. She’s a mere kid. But I do think she’s in the know —more or less ” “Then go to It, and And out.” “Will Cunny be let do this?’’ Anderson asked. “Will they want him noising around In the Heath bungalow —it Is a bungalow, I suppose, being over on that side.” “Yes, It's a bungalow,” Forbes told him. “And one of the most attractive ones over there. Heath was an artist—” “Why was? Do you think he’s dead, too?" Black asked. “No. But whin any one disappear*

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like that, you can't help thinking of him In the past tense. Well. Perry Heath Is a pretty fair artist, and his home is one of the show places of the Gardens. Oh, it didn't cost a quarter as much as your place, place. Black, or as Anderson's home, but it's a comfortable enough shack. And now, idea who's at the head of It. You see, Mr. and Mrs. Heath had no children and the two house guests over there can't be expected to stay on forever.” “Somebody said that Inman is Mrs. Heath's heir.” “I know. I mean, x l know that’s the report, but I don't know how true it is.” "Well, somebody's got to talk,” said Black, decidedly. "You can't find out things any other-way. And if there's nobody in particular to work this think up, all the more rea son, why we old Harbor residents shouhi take hold and tyj our best to run d’own the murderer of Myra Heath, whether It is her husband we’re after or not.” “That's the way I look at It," Cunningham agreed. "Those two people over there and that bunch of sermust give up what they know. Somebody must make ’em do it. If Mott gqgs for the little beauty, he'll probably^fall down on the job just as Osborn did, for she's a witch child, all right. But I shall steel my heart against her vamping and wrest the truth her soul! Why was she crying‘bitterly when Carter wpnt to .tell her about Mrs. Heath? Don't

SALESMAN SAM—By SWAN

BOOTS AND HER BUDDIES—By MARTIN

FRECKLES AND HIS FRIENDS—By. BLOSSER

tell me It was some sorrow of her. own. Too much of a coincidence. Or, if It was, then she must cough up what the sorrow was. It can’t hurt her as much to bare her secret grief as it can to be suspected of a premature knowledge of the tragedy!” “Good Lord, Al, but you have imagination!” Sam Anderson exclaimed. ”1 dare say it's a good asset for a detective, but don’t let it run away-with you.” “Oh. imagination helps only up to a certain point. After that you want tact, policy, cunning and ‘all the traits to round up youlKtcts. You want to hear everything you can. You want to see, quickly and surely. And most of all you need the sychologlc Instinct to guide you amfcg the shoals of false clews that continually crop up.” “My, Al, you do know a lot!”*exclaimed Black. “I'd no idea we were employing such a modern and up to date sleuth.” “And then, after all,” Cunningham went on, “it largely depends'on luck, and hard work, or—” he laughed—“work and hard luck!” (To Be Continued) Where is President James K. Polk buried? In the grounds of the State capital at Nashville, Tennessee. His body was moved there in 1893 from the old family tomb ,n the yard of the Polk Mansion which stood at .the corner of Vine UfUofi SU,

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MR. FIXIT Meandering Trucks Target of Correspondent,

Let Mr. Fixit present your case to city officials He is The Times representative at the city hall. Write him at The Times. Trucks that move all over the street without regard to the law are the target of a letter Mr. Fixit received today from the Hoosier Traveling Man, a ''veteran correspondent. The communication comes fftm Newark, N. 5. DEAR MR. FIXIT: Did you ever notice the hundreds of trucks that go right In the middle of the street at ten miles an hour into stop streets without driven in hundreds of cities and towns, I probably would still have the Indianapolis hog feeling, but I have seen lots more courtesy away from home than at home. I know we have the finefl city Jn the world In which to eejoy driving, If each one of us would obey the laws. If they are not right, get them changed, but obey them while they are on the books. HOOSIER TRAVELING MAN. Mr. Fixit has berated truck \ drivers probably as heartily as you. There is a tendency for persons who drive constantly to take advantage of thl 1 nr! ju-l ilnn of

OUR BOARDING HOU&E—By AHERN

drivers who are not so quick with the twist of the wheel and tho rapid acceleration. Hence the apparent hoggishness of taxi cab, mail and truck drivers. Police certainly should arrest a few of them as a tvarning. DEAR MR. FIXIT: I wrote you last week with reference' to having my garbage collected. The collector had not been On our street. Concord, for three weeks. This morning he came while I was gone and did not take my garbage. I see no reason for It unless it was spltework. My garbage can is a large lard can with two strong handles on the sides and a lid that also has a handle. Os course the can w-as very full, not having been emptied for three weeks. MRS. HENGEL, 766 Concord Ave. Orders have been issued to collectors to take care of your garbage. TO AN OLD TIMES READER: After an Inspection, Mr. Fixit Is advised that your only recourse is to petition for new sidewalks on tjie east side of Ritter Ave., between Lowell ad Michigan Sts.

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'AUG. 25, 1926

SUICIDE THEORY HELD Richmond Youth Found Dead With Poison in Pocket. Bu United Press RICHMOND, Ind„ Aug. 25 j Authorities Investigating the death ] of George Hardwood, 19, today held 1 to the theory of suicide. The youth , was found dead in a garage with j two bottles of poison In his pocket. ] He Is the son of A. R. Hardwood, ; wealthy Richmond business man.

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