Richmond Palladium (Daily), Volume 32, Number 331, 12 January 1908 — Page 7

l'AUli "SEVlLV. M V X V - f ! Bv am PIT m ' fi Broughton Brandenburg

THE RICHMOND PALLADIUM AND SUX-TELEGKA3I, SUNDAY, JAXUAKY 12, l!H)S.

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Copyright, 1307, Bj Thomas H. .VcKee. B RODERICK wa3 in a 'worried and ill-tempered frame of mind. He was stalking up and don, picking up magazines from the table of the cluw library and trying to read them, only to hurt them back with bo much unnecessary floise that I said to him: "See here, Brod, several of your humble fellowmembers are trying to read. What is wrong with you? What has upset you? if you won't tell me, at least stop your rumpus." He turned on me sharply. "It ia the sight of you or rather the remembrance of what you stand for that kt-pa me from forgetting what is on my m;td. Hang it! I may aa well tell you." A doien other men about pricked up their ears. , "You and your partner Rand are professional investigators of the problems and puzzles of this troubled human life. He ia the cleverest man alive fnd you well, you know how to look wise. I am tormented by a desire lo tell you, or somebody who can think it out, a perfectly foolish, entirely absurd tet of circumstances which haa come under my notice. They amount to noihing at ail and yet they are arousing my curiosity." The whole room was listening. "Curiosity is the broom of the mind. An unexplained fact passed over ia the beginning of mental untidiness," said Tjowrence Rand's quiet, distinct voice from the doorway behind us. "Go on, Broderick, perhaps the trivial will lead to the important." "Well, I will, on one condition. You two are not In this business for the entertainment you derive from it and I suppose you know that I ana not likely to embarrass myself when I ask you to undertake this rase on a generous retainer and pursue it to a finish at my cost." "Very well," said Rand. The listening members, teeing badinage turning into business, turned away and several were about to leave the room. "No, no. Don't go, you fellows. I want everybody lo hear this, only don't laugh at me. Last night just before six o'clock I went into Langstadter's stationery stora on Sixth Avenue Just south of Herald Square end asked for a dozen fnper napkins. I wanted just that sort of paper on which to lay some damp special wens to dry, and it occurred to me that paper napkins were quite what I wanted. A pretty little blackeyed woman behind the counter spoke up when I stated my requirements. j '"I am sorry,' she 6aid, 'but we have just sold Every one we had.' " 'Nonsense, there are nine gross down In that third drawer,' said a man behind the counter. "'No, they arc all gone,' corrected the woman; even the broken lots. A young man came in here In a rush just before lunch to-day and asked for all the paper napkins I had. He got fourteen hundred lnd ten." f ' 'If you will wait just a minute, sir,' said the man he may have beep the proprietor of the place, judging from his manner 'I will send across the 6treet and get some.' I "I waited while the boy went out. He was gone an tmmercifully long time and at last arrived on the run, cut of breath, clutching tbe two-dollar bill he had aken to pay for bis purchase.

A DOZEN MEN ABOUT ATTORNEYS NLW PREPARING ' FOR THE FINAL BATTLE

or their testimony today far the last time before- the actual trial of the cas

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prope-r win no opener wnn a brior aitdress by Assistant District Attorn v

Garvan and then the people's ease wil! be put in. The case will be brief. The killing will be proved and evidence will be introduced to show that thr Klrut which killed Stanford White wi;s fired by Harry K. Thaw. It is not likely that more than two or three hours will be required. Then the

New York, January ll The attor-' prosecution "s direct cape wUS be rlod fcys in the Thaw trial were soius ov-i'"3'5 defense will begin.

" 'Dey ain't none in no place around. I been clean over to Ate Av'noo. Dey says some guy bought 'em all out to-day." "We all laughed and I walked out, but it suddenly struck me as extremely queer that any man who really wanted a large quantity of paper napkins should not telephone a wholesale house. He would have saved time, money and trouble. There was no excuse such as the wholesale stores being closed, for it was Tuesday in the middle of the day that he was buying and everything was wide open in ail New York. On my way home i passed two places that might sell paper napkins and I went in. Both were sold out. Both bad sold to a handsome young man. The last place was on Broadway close to Fifty-seventh Street, more than a mile from Langstadter's. Now, Lawrence Rand, Prince of Fryers tell mc what tbat fellow wanted with all those broken lots of paper napkins! " There was a little nervous laughter among the assembled men, but it was plain to me that the simple problem had sunk deep into their minds. It adds nothing to the main thread of this story to say that inside of an hour every man in the club had heard the premises and that the most interesting evening we have ever had ensued. Imagine one hundred men cudgeling their brains for probable explanations of this odd but most trivial occurrence. I mention it merely to show how many of us are much more curious than we will admit. Next morning, at Rand's suggestion I telephoned the jobbing houses downtown and soon found that the few that handled paper napkins had received no unusual orders; in fact, no orders from dealers or individuals not known to them. In a word, before we left the house, we were sure that our mysterious young buyer of paper napkins had confined his efforts to the retail field. We went first to Langstadter's and then the neighboring stores. This was Wednesday morning the eighteenth of May, and by Thursday evening, when we sat down to dinner at the club, the field had been swept clean and the facts before us were these: The buyer of the napkins was a handsome fellow of about thirty years, dressed in a darl? sack suit with a pin stripe, a black derby and patent leather buttonshoes. His eyebrows were black and heavy. The left upper incisor was of gold and there was a white triangular scar on one ear-top. His ears were the dark rod of a healthy vigorous man of his type. This description was carefully pieced out of more than one hundred versions of his appearance. We soon found that he had bought out the paper napkin stock of every store in a circle the approximate centre of which was about Madison Square when we checked it off on the map. The total of his purchases was about one hundred thousand napkins. In each case he had carried away the packets himself or when they were very large had called for them later in the day and piled them in a cab. He had done that at a store on Fourteenth Street and also at one in Thirty-fourth Street where they had a large slock. His cheerful, nonchalant maners were those of a Westerner and nothing about him suggested tbe lunatic or crank. His funds were mostly in fresh twenty and fifty-dollar bills. That was all that we could rake or scrape and Rand went carefully over every detail with Broderick, Hargreaves and every

PRICKED UP THEIR EARS.

The jury, wh.tii was coniiitUM v.,- Yaummth have worried her creatly . It Is terra, , ,; i ,)w-er. spend the title and she is concerned about her son's After

until the case is nnaliy completed un- trial, rvery aay sue icttncs blunts experts,

' u- nit, m"5 lRe u'a' der close guard. The mail of

ess will ail be read before th men are allowed To see it and they can ouly read newspapers after the head ballifi has carefully cut from them every rei erence to the trial. They will be eve. more closely pnnrden than Thaw bin; M-lf. It eauie oat that the condition t Mrs. Mary C. Thaw, mother of llurr Thaw, is serious. It is possible ?h may tint be aide to sret tr the trial a aiL The uouUlc el the Couhua -u

club member who could get within hearing distance that night. "But," said Broderick, "can't you give us a guess as to what he wanted with a hundred thousand paper napkins, purchased at the retail stores, which he could have bought at a ridiculously lower cost wholesale? Isn't there anything on which to hang a conjecture?" "Frankly, old man, I am more puzzled than I was in the beginning, for I have satisfied mysif thai out of my two hundred barely possible explanations col oue fits the facts. I have not the faintest glimmer of light on the real "why"." There was a long pause, then fomc one ventured a remark and soon the whole place was a-hum with the talk of the bewildered ciub members. "Mr. Rand, just a moment," said Reynolds, coming up to us about an hour later. "This is Dr. Reiter, au eye and ear speeiali.-u, who dined with me to-night. He and I agree that on Inst Tuesday evening about seven o'clock we saw a young man in evening dress in the Waldorf-Astoria who answers your description, particularly the white scar on the red ear. Dr. Reiter noticed it. being interested in such things, and mentioned it to me." "Conic ou, Dunk, I think we have hit the trail," cried Rand. "Why so?" "Well, that little scar observed so definitely and carefully by a specialist like Dr. Reiter is a clincher on identity. He, doubtless, was living at the Waldorf. Let us go and see." In half an hour we knew from a dozen porters and clerks that there was such a guest. He had not been there long. None knew his name or room number, but all had seen him.' "But, see here," said Rand to the head bell-boy when we were about at the end of our string, "to what room in this hotel did several hundred packages go on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday?" "Suite 501, sir," the man answered instantly. "How do you know?" "There was more small square stuff went into that place them days than I ever see before in any job I ever been in. Everybody knows it. Just ask the floor staff up there.1' Rand now stated his full case to the management. In two minutes w-e knew that Suite 501 had harbored "Mr. William Walling, t'hicago," who had arrived Sunday night, with a suit-case only. He had baggage checks but bad been unable to get his trunks and had left Wednesday night. There were no telephone calls or messenger calls on his bill and he received no mail that, they could recall. That was all the office could tell. It is only by chance that I have anything to add to this story. Chance? No, only by reason of .r.d's wonderful sense of perception. Three weeks had gone by without one new fact being adduced. Tom Rahway and I kept watch on the New York stores, wholesale and retail, by occasional telephoning, to see if the napkin-buying should be resumed, but it never was. The part the napkins had played in some big game was finished. Rand. Tom Rahway and I were leaving the Van Norden Building on Fifth Avenue on the twentieth of June, when just as we reached the curb a big red touring-car came swinging around the corner out of the side street into the avenue. The only occupant of the car was the driver, well shielded in motor rig. He shot by us within four feet of our faces. Rand clutched my arm. "Quick, Dunk! There's our man!" The only identifying thing Rand could have seen was the tell-tale ear. I asked no question, for I knew that was the point. In front of the bank stood a vacant Mercedes, which I recognized as belonging to a friend of ours. Rani caught sight of it as he whirled about seeking means to follow. Without a word he sprang for it and was already opening up as Tom Rahway and I clambered into The rear seat. We lost lime by being under the necessity of turning around and, as we headed up the avenue, we could just make out the flying car in the scattered traffic of the mid-forenoon, perhaps r-even blocks away. The steady subdued hum of tbe splendidly balanced and groomed machine under us was reassuring, and with Rand's adroit steering and vantage-taking, we lost no further time, so that while, not running at a speed to attract undue attention from the poiice. we were nevertheless gaining on the other car. About Ninetieth Street we were but twoTlocks behind. At

th jurof what is going on. ."today .nr. uuiea'ii s iafv " ij get. tiie is

consent of Mts. Thaw to have a com- ' sease known to experts as ''stupormission appointed to R,' to Pittsburg otis melancholia." The symptoms are and take her testimony. Mrs. Thaw j deeiared by Dr. Allan Methane Hamilas a witness for her son at the last j ton to be the failure of the afflicted :iai, and in view of the straight in- j person to realize events transpiring in

af.ity defense which is to he made by i his haw this time, her testimony is coniJered important. Nothing was done ecause Mr. Jerome suggested that it ,-ouid be well to wait and se if Mrs. Thaw' coaiuon -Iec rove. but the then was tiajL,

one Handled and Nit.: a Street we werj alijj.u aliingaiae. Rand drew a. iki- a. h dared and hailed tlv? solitary motoric in a friendly ten-. Mr. Wii'iaai Wailias. sarb he wuj, tamed cj-j !:.- ly. gave us one frighuscd I"i: as j tbtr threw rz speed wiiii a leap. Aw.jy Le wen: aro tu i in:1! Oa. Hundred and Tenth Street. car. in? srj.s r.;r so8c. and be Tore we eouid i-csi'aiy u.ect l:i nunc ::: kind be was two blOflis away. 11: :;v.-uus iu;o Marri-ttan Avenue and still v t lie ;::. In a few :.:icy: we saw him top the r..o ::oi-.r Durci."'?- o'm pla -c and aus.le a rt .s-, tie liarlcra Ri e: Our gain was i'f lentiess in th open and th man in front knew it. lie waited till I coui i be tossed

IT WAS RATHER AN a pebble from our car into his and then swung Into the first side road. It happened to be the one to tfcarsdale Station and he had not gone forty revolutions cf his drivers before the killing grade of the hill began to tell and in a moment we were almost alongside. "Ah. thunder, you've got me!" he called back, throwing out the gear. "Sorry to chaee you away tip here on a small matter, my dear sir," answered Rand. "Is being made co-respondent, though innocent, in a stage divorce suit, a email matter for the son of a Governor who may be President if his family behaves? Oh, well, toss me your subpoena." "I hare no subpoena," answered Rand. "Well, I'll be Say, what do you want with me?" "I want first to inquire if you are the Mr. Wtlliam Walling who occupied Suite 501 at the. Waldorf for three daya three weeks ago?" "I am Bob Macready, son of Governor Bob Macready, but I was at the Waldorf as Mr. Walling. Yes." "Well, Mr. Macready, I am a paid investigator and if you'll be so good I want you to tell me for a curious client what you wanted with all those paper napkins." Macready stared a second, then burst into a wild fit of laughter. "Great Snakes! is that what yo'i have ben hounding me for? By George, that is rich! Say, the whole thing is too funny to tell. I will give you a quick glance at it. You see I was on my way to New York when I met at lunch on the train between Buffalo and New York a tall, splendid, gray-eyed young woman dressed in black, perhaps you would say mourning. We began with weather talk and 1 found out she was Russian. Before we left the dining-car she sail to me suddenly: " 'You are a strrnger but you are honest and good or else I do not. know men. I have a ta.k on whiih my whole fortune and future utpend. It naut be dene for me at once. I need a purchasing agent. Will you enter my employ at a liberal saiary? "You mayn't believe it when I tell you. but she must have had fifty thousand dollars in big bills ,j her purse and she gave me five thousand as soon as 1 said I would work for her. What do you think of that? She laid the plans and worked out her scheme.

"Stuporous Melancholia." Uucer of his sister, some ywus ago lion of earthnnakes. The station wij a. consultation with medical : and lie was acquitted. .afford an opportunity for practice

counsel ior iua auuuuuir n

that the defense would be that STUDY OF EARTHQUAKES.

sunerinE; ironi mw iiifuiai uigan Have , life, or leading up i a trasedy upon the culmination of a tragedy mind is reawakened and there is a possibility of a cure. This plea irrsjd in the case of Thomas IIir a jjlumliEr viu -tiUfn Xbe tr- vote a part of their

When wo ani-sed, she got Suite iuU at the Waldorf and 1 re? is i '.Ted as "Wailing' on her orders and got Suite 501. She went on tbe books as 'Mrs. Elinor Kent. London.' Before going up she lade me gcoi- " 'Nvjw, Mr. Wailing, begin to-morrow morniog an4 ui'l-'i't si! t'j" paper r.apkics you can find in all th r teres ai..u here, vi-'t them to your apartment, Paas

i.f:.i u.-u the hall to aie iu the evening aud eeutiU :e that until I ;,ee rrtouh." ' i 4ousui ail day Monday and all day Tuesday anS Lai iiii.i' .-i .-wept ihi uji.o-tn field by Wedoesiiaj afternoon. When 1 pu?.-ed them in the said: " 'Reniiia in your room after dinner and expect rat.' AWKWARD SITUATION. "She did not come, bnt sent me a not tnK4.' This is It: " 'You have don your -work well. Tour pay 4n not satisfy my entire indebtedness to you. Auf ireldersehen.' "I walked the floor two hours, then packed vp ami got out, and that ia all I know." Rand started to speak, but changed bis aiad an backed the car. In less than an hour we drew up in front of th big hotel that had harbored our mystery. Mrs. Elinore Kent was still a nuet. She - t sail in the morning by the HamburK-Aroerlcan Una. Yes. she would see tbe maDaxer and bis friend. It was rather an awkward tituation. A most attractive young thing she was, surrounded by a perfect maelstrom of feminine trifles laid out to go In her trunks. She was very angry when Rand broached tbt inV jeel of our search, but his wonderful srnil gradually won her over. "Well, if you must kr.ow a little, I will tell you alt. I am tbe only child of a Russian prince. My father and mother both died when I was a rhild and left me to the care of an uncle who has been always -with the army in Siberia. I have come and gone about Europe and America as I saw fit. Before my father died he led me to a long corridor lined with bewildering mosaics in the palac and pointed to one tiny pattern where if I touched oca certain stone, a litt'e door opened Within was a small chamber in which was a vast fortune. He died and I remembered th little design. I pictured it every night and morning in my mind while in a convent in France. I was b"r in New York two yrars ago and one day in the window of a little store I saw a paper napkin with th exact desipn in purple in the corner. When I wct home again I wa3 very sick I bad told my s-rt when I ravel and now I was tpt'd ca by my uncles servant. If they had known the mosaic deisin they wo lid have killed me. I have be?n spied upon ever fe nce and in xay i!inH3 I forgot th details of th design. It was a bold idea to hire this young man to buy me all the designs from the little stores in hop of findir.g it, but I triumphed. Here here next to my heart is one crumpled old napkin with my eecre on it. and I am coins back." work to those takin; the coarse li seismic geology.

Students in the University cf Miehi- "tlere's a letter from the boss. Mid

Instruments. the machine lender's fcnrhman. "II . . I said you'd E"ive me a Job."

Ann aroor, .viua.. lan. ji. htismo-; Bat.. prottM ,he merchant, "t graphs and other instruments kvo LaT(, absoJuteIv EotLinj? for voti to do b-ii ordered for the equipment of an jjen earthquake .station at the ruiversity xhafs all risrbt. 1 wc:t mind that or Michiean. Profs. W. II. Hobbs and so iong-9 j ;t me pay reg'Iar." E. C. Case, with advanced student ' of xhe 2olnffirsl fTenrtrf merit sill !-:

time to investiga- PALLADIUM WANT ADS PAY.