Jasper County Democrat, Volume 10, Number 33, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 November 1907 — Martin Hewitt, Investigator. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Martin Hewitt, Investigator.

The Affair of the Tortoise.

By ARTHUR MORRISON.

Published by Arrangement With Harper A Brothers.

OERY often Hewitt was tempted by the fascination of some particularly odd case to neglect his other affairs to follow up a matter that from a business point of view was of little or no value to him. As a rule, he had a sufficient regard for his own Interests to resist such temptations, but In one curious case, at least, I believe he allowed It largely to Influence him. nothing In this world that Is at all possible,” 1 have often heard Martin Hewitt say, “that has not happened or is not happening In London." The case I havo referred to occurred some time before my own acquaintance with him t>egan. He had called one Monday morning at an office In regard to one of hts cases, when he was Informed of a most mysterious murder that had taken place In another part of the same building on the previous {Saturday afternoon. The building was one of a new row

In a partly rebuilt street near tho National gallery. The "whole row had been built by a speculator for the purposes of letting out In flats, suits of chambers and. In one or two cases on the ground floors, offices. The rooms had let very well and to desirable tenants an a rule. The least satisfactory tenant, tho proprietor reluctantly admitted, was a Mr. Rameau, a negro, single, who had threo rooms on tho top floor but one of tho particular building that newltt was visiting. Ills rent was paid regularly, but hls liehavlor

had produced complulnta from other tenants. He got uproariously drunk and screarfaed and howled In unknown tonguos. Ho fell asleep on the staircase, and ladles were afraid to pass. He bawled rough chaff down the stairs and along the corridors at butcher boys and messengers and played on errand boys brutal practical Jokes that ended In police court summonses. He once had a way of sliding down the balustrade shouting "Ho! ho! ho! yah!” as he went, hut as he was n big, heavy

Ktan and the balustrade had been built "‘for different treatment, he had very soon and very firmly been requested to atop It. He had plenty of money and spent It freely; but It was generally felt that there was too much of the tight hearted savage about him. How much lpnger the landlord would have stood this sort of thing, Hewitt’s Informant said, was a matter of conjecture, for on the Saturday afternoon in question tho tenancy had come to a startling full stop. Rameau had been murdered In his room, and the body had disappeared In the most unaccountable fashion. Tho strongest possible suspicion pointed to a man who had been employed In shoveling and carrying coals, cleaning windows and chopping wood for several of the buildings and who

bad left that very Saturday. The crime bad, In fact, boon committed with tills man’s chopper, and the man himself had been beard again and again to threaten Rameau, who In his brutal fashion had made a butt of him. This man was a little Frenchman, Victor Goujon by name, who hud lost his employment as a watchmuker by reason of an Injury to his right hand. There was a tortoise living In the basement of which Goujon had made rather a pet, and the negro would sometimes use this animal ns a missile, flinging It at the little Frenchman’s head. On one such occasion the

tortoise struck the wall so forcibly us to break Its shell, and then Goujon •eteed a shovel and rushed at his tor mentor with such blind fury that the latter made a bolt of It Goujon, after correspondence with n relative In France who offered him work, gave notice to leave, which ex plrod on the day of the crime. At about 8 that afternoon a housemaid proceeding toward Rameau's room met Goujon ns ho was going away. Gou Jon bade her goodby and, pointing lu the direction of Rameau’s rooms, said exultantly, “Dere shall be no more of the black pig for mo; vit ’im I ’ave done for." And be went away, t* The girl went to tho outer door of Rameau’s rooms, knocked and got no reply. Concluding that the tenant was out, she WSi About to use Kef keys when she found that the door was tin locked. She passed through the lobby and Into the sitting room and there fell in a dead faint at the sight that met her eyes. Itameau lay with his back across the sofa and his head drooping within an Inch of the ground. On the bead was u fearful gash, and lielow Tt was a pool of blood. The girl must have lain unconscious for about ten minutes. When slw came to her senses she dragged her •elf, terrified, from the room and up to tho housekeeper's apartments, where, being an excitable and nervous creature, Bhe only screamed "Murder!” and Immediately fell in a lit of hysterics that lasted three-quarters of an hour. |When at last she came to herself, she told her story, and, the hall porter having been summoned, Rameau’s rooms were again approached. lhe blood still lay on the floor, and the chopper, with which the crime had evidently been committed, rested against the fender, but the body had vanished! A search was at once made, but no trace of it could be seen anywhere. It seemed impossible that It eould have been carried out of the

building, for the ball porter most at once have noticed anybody leaving with so bulky a burden. , When Hewitt was Informed of these things on Monday, the police were, of course, still In possession of Rameau’s rooms. Inspector Nettings, Hewitt was told, was In charge of the case. '* Nettings was pleased to see Hewitt and invited him to look around the rooms. “Perhaps you can spot something we have overlooked,” he said, “though It's not a case there can be much doubt about"

“You think It’s Ooujon, don’t you?" "Think? Well, rather! Look here! As soon as we got here on Saturday we found tills piece of paper and pin on the floor. We showed it to the housemaid, and then she remembered—she was too much upset to think of It before—thut when she was In the room the paper was lying on the dead man’s chest—pinned there, evidently. It must have dropped off when they removed the body. It’s a case of half mad revenge on Goujon’s part, plainly. See It You read French, don’t you?” The paper was a plain, large half sheet of note paper, on which a sentence In French was scrawled In red Ink In a large, clumsy hand—thus: “Punl par un vengeur de la tortue.” “Punl par un vengeur de la tortue.” Hewitt repeated musingly. " ‘Punished by an avenger of the tortoise.’ That seems odd.”

“Oh, he’s mad—mad with Rameau’s coutlnual ragging and halting,” Nettings answered. “Anyway, this is a pluin Indication—plain as though he’d left hls own signature. Besides, It’s In hls own language—French. And there’s hls chopper too.” “Speaking of signatures,” Hewitt remarked, “perhaps you have already compared tills with other specimens of Goujon’s writing?" “I did think of It but they don’t seem to have a specimen to hand, and, anyway. It doesn’t seem very Important Handwritings are easily disguised.” “Have you got ’Goujon?"

"Well, no. Wo haven’t There seems to be some little difficulty about that But I expect to have him by this time tomorrow.” Hewitt's Interest In the case was roused, and be determined to examine the rooms. By the side of the lobby was a bathroom, and lu this was fitted a tlpup washbasin, which Hwwftt Inspected with particular attention. Then he called the housekeeper and made Inquiries about Rameau’s clothes and linen. The housekeeper remembered

Harru nu Uiy with hie hack acroes the so/a. one heavy black ulster, which Rameau had very rarely worn—only la the coldest weather. The ulster had disappeared. At this moment a clerk from the landlord’s office arrived and handed Nettings a paper. “Here you are,” said Nettings to Hewitt. “They’ve found a specimen of Goujon’s handwriting at last, If you’d like to see It. I don’t want It. I’m not a graphologist, and the case Is clear enough.” newltt took the paper. "This,” he said, “Is a different sort of handwriting from that on tho paper. The red Ink note about the avenger of tbe tortoise Is lu a crude, large, clumsy, untaught style of writing. This Is small, neut and well formed—except that It 14 a trifle shaky, probably because of the hand Injury.” “That's nothing," contended Nettings “Handwriting clews are worse than useless, as a rule. Say now yourself, enu any fiddling question of handwriting got over this thing about ’avenging the tortoise’—practically a written confession? To say nothing of the chopper und what he said to the housemaid as he left"

sttid Hewitt, “ix>rbnps not, but we’ll see. Meantime”—turning to the ItiUillord'A^olerk—“possibly you will be good .enough to tell me one or two tblnps. First, what wus Ooujon’s character?” “Excellent, «o far as we know. We never had a complaint about him except ton little matters of carelessness—leaving coal scuttles on the staircases for people to fall over, losing shovels, and so on.’’ “The tortoise is dead now, I understand?” ‘‘Yea* " , "Have you a Uft In this building?" “Only for coals and heavy parcels; 11 goes Into the basement.” “And.are the coals kept under this building?" “No. The store for tbe whole row la under the next two houses. The basements communicate."

| "Do you know Rameau 1 * other name?" “Cesar Rameau he signed In ear agreement.” “Did be ever mention hls relations?” “No. That Is to say, he did *ay something one day when he was very drunk, but of course It was all rot. Some one told him not to make each a row—he was a beastly tenant-Hmd he said he was the best man in the place and hls brother was prime minister and all sorts of thlngß. He came here on a banker’s reference.” “Thanks. I think that’s all I want to ask. You notice,” Hewitt proceeded, turning to Nettings, “the only Ink in this place Is scented and violet, and the only paper Is tinted and scented, too, with a monogram—characteristic of a negro with money. The paper that was pinned on Rameau's breast Is In red Ink on common and rather grubby paper, therefore It was written somewhere else and brought here. Inference, premeditation.” “Yes, yes. But are you an Inch near er with all these speculations? Can you get nearer than I am now wlthopt them?”

“Well, perhaps not,” Hewitt replied. “But you don’t offer an opinion aa to who removed Rameau’s body.” “Who was It?” “Come, try and guess that yourself. It wasn't Goujon; I don’t mind letting you know that But It was a person quite within your knowledge of the cose. You’ve mentioned the person’s name more than once.” Nettings stared blankly. “I don’t understand you in the least” he said “But of course you mean this mysterious person you speak of as having moved the body committed the murder?” “No, I don’t Nobody could have been more Innocent of that” "Well,” Nettings concluded, with resignation, “I’m afraid one of us is rather thick beaded. What will you do?*’ “Interview the person who took away the body,” Hewitt replied, with a smile. “Probably the person will be a most valunble witness.”

“Do you mean you think this person, whoever it Is, saw the crime?” “I think It very probable Indeed.” “Well, I won’t ask you any more. I shall get hold of Goujon; that’s simple and direct enough for me. I prefer to deal with the heart of the case—the murder Itself —when there’s such clear evidence as I have.” “I shall look a little Into that, too, perhaps," Hewitt said, “and, if you like. I’ll tell you the first thing I shall do.” “What's that?” “I shall have a good look at a map of the West Indies, and I advise you to do the same. Good morning.” Nettings was better than his word, for within two hours of his conversation with Hewitt Goujon was captured and safe In a cab bound for Bow street. He had been stopped at Newhaven in the morning on, his way to Dieppe and was brought back to London. But now Nettings met a check.

Late that afternoon he called ou Hewitt to explain matters. “We’ve got Goujon,” he said gloomily, “but there's a difficulty. He’s got two friends who can swear an alibi. Rameau was seen alive at half past 1 on Saturday, and the girl found him dead about 3. Now, Goujon’s two friends, it seems, were With him from 1 o’clock till 4 In the afternoon, with the, exception of five minutes when the girl saw him, and then he left them to take a key or something to the housekeeper before finally leaving. They are men employed near tiie place and seem to have good characters. I wish you’d explain a bit as to what you meant by looking at a map." “See, now,” quoth Hewitt “you remember what map I told you to look atr * “The West Indies."

“Right! Well, here yon are.’’ Hew'tt reached an atlas from his book shelf. “Now, look here: the biggest Island of the lot on this map, barring Cuba, la Haiti. You know as well as I do that, the western part of that Island is peopled by the black republic of Halt! and that the country is In a degenerate state of almost unexampled savagery. Perhaps the very worst of tho presidents in recent times has been the notorious Domlngue, who was overthrown by an insurrection, as they all are sooner or later, and compelled to fly tbe country. Domlngue and its nephews, one of ivhoin was chief minister, while In power committed tbe eruelest bloodshed, and many members of the opposite party sought: r £- uge In a small island lying Just to he north of Haiti, bnt were sonpbt outthere and almost exterminated. X v, I will show you that Island on the i .p. What Is its name?” “Tortuga.”^— “It Is. 'Tortuga.’ however. G ly the old Bpnnlsh name. Tho V ■ :s speak French—Creole French. ’ is a French alias—now see the ham of that Island.” “La Tortue!” " * “La Tortue It Is—tho tortoise. rtuga means the same thing h. But that island is nlwnyn s; in .Haiti ns La Tortue. Now. do j «j| tho drift of that paper.Th . , 1 ameau’s breast?" “Punished by an avenger of—or fr m —the tortoise or La Tortue <■’ ir enough. It would seem that the -do idman had something t<< do with the massacre there, and somebody frotn the Island is avenging It" “And now listen. The name of Lomlngue’s nephew, who was chief minister, was Septimus Rameau.” “And this was Osar Rameau—Ms brother, probably. I see.” "I think the relationship probable. Now you understand why I was inclined to doubt that Goujon was the man you wanted.” “Of course, of course! And now I j suppose I must try to get a nigger—tbe chap vrbo wrote that paper. I wish

hadn’t barn such an Ignorant nigg*. If he’d only have pat the capitals to the words ‘La Tortue,\ I might have thought a little more about them, lastead of taking It for granted that they meant that wretched tortoise In the basement of the house. Well, I’ll be after that nigger.” “And L as I said before," said Hewitt, "shall be after the person that carried off Rameau’s body.” [TO B* CONTINUED]