The Syracuse Journal, Volume 25, Number 52, Syracuse, Kosciusko County, 20 April 1933 — Page 3

THURSDAY, APRIL 0. l»M

L\W JAe MAY day MEI mystery •I Uh *> |f* Rj. Ocfavus Roq Cohere

Randolph Fiske looked pleadingly at Hanvey, and the Gargantuan detective slowly extended his hand to Reagan. “Dene with you." said Jim. “If you really want me, I’ll take charge. But If I do, things are to be handled my way," “Oh, boy!" Reagan was enthusiastic. “Take my won! for It, Hanvey—you're the boss. I won't do nothing but bang around and listen." • Wrong," grinned Jim. “You're gon- • na talk—and you’ll start right now.* j “Weil, that bein' the case. I’ll say that I wouldn't like to be In this kid's ■ shoes. 1 guess you want to know all ’ the dope I've got on Vernon, don't your' i “Sure.* . | Randolph Fiske started to Interrupt , “1 told Hanvey—" A big, fleshy paw was raised in ad I monition. | “I’d rather hear this direct from - Reagan, If you don't mind." The banker nodded and Reagan proceeded “First, the robber was using Max Vernon's car and It’s a ten to-one bet that Vernon was driving It Second, after the robbery occurred Vernon drove right through Birmingham and on to Steel City. I've Just come back from there." “How far Is Steel City?" “Eighty miles from Birmingham. A hundred miles from here. He carried his car to a dealer and dickered for a new one on a. trade-in basis. Next morning they clqped the deal and Vernon turned in his old car on a new one. and paid the difference —twelve hundred smackers—ln cash. Now the funny part, Hanvey. Is that from all I can gather Vernon-has been broke for about a month.” “What makes you think that?" •He tried to borrow money several places—and didn't get It. Now 1 ask you this: if a man is dead brokb ><ne week, how do*-s It happen that the next week he buys a new expensive car and pays twelve hundred in cash on the deal?*? Hanvey nodded. “Sounds queer, Reagan. And then -what?''| “Plenty.* Reagan’s beamIng with pardonable pride. I discovered that when Vvrn<<n traded in, his car. there was something missing./ the floor rug."' “Floor rug. eh? What does that mean?* • “It means this: I’m sure Mr. Fiske, here, has told you all about the rob bery and how Mr. Burke and the stickup guy pot shotted each other. The . feller must have l>eeu hit pretty hart! because there was blood on the floor of the bank and a trail of bipod between the front dopr and the curb. Ain't that so, Mr. Fiske?" “Yea. It was rather plentiful, too." “I’ll say it was N >w, then. Jit’S natural to sup]H>se, ain't It, that this palooka was bleeding pretty free and easy when he piled into the back of t Veijnon's car." i | “If it was the boy's car." "We’ll take that for granted. Anyl way. he Was bleeding. That blood would have gone over all the floor rug. because we got to remember that a man who has Just robbed a bank wouldn't be fool enough to sit on the back seat of any car. Chances were he was curled up on the floor. Now. then. 1 Just naturally believe it would have been common sense for Vernon . and the other guy to have lost that bloodstained rug. because It would have looked -pretty queer if they hadn’t.* Hanvey blinked. “You ain’t nobody's damfool. John Reagan." ’Thanks Now. there’s one more tie-up. I looked at the ear Vernon traded in. and Jim—there was Mood right by the sills. Just where it would have been left If It had run over the floor rug before the rug was thrown ' away. Get what that means? It proves that there was a floor rug there originally* “Sure does. John," j “Then," Interrogated Randolph Fiske hopefully, “you're positive, Mr. Reagan, that Max Vernon was mixed up In the robbery of this bank?” ■ “The case against him looks about I two hundred proof,-Mr. Fiske." " I “I’m glad.* said the banker simply. Reagan was surprised. “Glad?" j' ’ i “Yea" . •Whyr “Because If Vernon helped rob this i bank, then he couldn't have killed I'aterson Thayer. Good G—d! Reagan—lt isn't reasonable. You've seen this boy: does be look like a person who could murder a man and go straight from that crime to the robbery of a bank, and then calmly return to college the next day with the . Idea of resuming bls regular life?* Tie does not,* answered Reagan * promptly. "But Jim Hanvey will tell L you what Pm saying is true, Nr. . Fiske: You can't tell from a feller's looks just what he'll do If he gets plenty desperate. Ain't that so, Jim?" “Yeh. John—lt sure is." “You see!” said Reagan triumphantly. He produced a little notebook from bis pocket and consulted Its pages. “Here's as near aa I can get to the happenings of day before yesterday—May first “Shortly before noon Pat Thayer and Max Vernon meet on the campus. Thayer is walking with Vernon's girt They have a row—lots of the students see It. About the same time two fellers come In from classes and start wasting time on the porch of the—-ag-k-i: KtoitowiMWKXpM-

nounce It. but It’s spelled P-S-I —" T'sl." explained Fiske. •■—The Psi Taw Theeta fraternity house. That’s a sort of college secret society like the Masons or Elks, or something like that These are a lot of crazy college kids, but pretty nice at that. There’s a long tail bird with a sad face nnd a big mouth and lots of sense. His name Is Farnum. The other guy is his buddy: skinny little runt named Philip Gleason. 1 got to them when things were still hot and they gave me a fistful of real dope. "About half-past twelve. Pat Thayer strolls down the hill from the college and enters this house. The guess Is that he went right to his room, because nobody saw him anywhere else In the building. A few minutes later Max Vernon drives down the street In his cur, climbs out and goes busting in lookiiig/sore as a couple goats. Fartium and/Gleason, trying to be pleas- ' ant and chatty, call out to him that ' his buddy. Fat Thayer, is upstairs In | his room. And then they get the shock of their lives because Vernon ; swings around on them and says he don't give two hoots in h—l where Thayer is. Then Vernon goes upstairs, leaving my two kids goggle-eyed? Then. ItefOre they get over this shock, something else happens. There’s a girl In school—Antoinette Peyton, and they call her Tony—who, from all 1 can find out. Is one regular feller. This Peyton kid comes walking down the street looking not much happier than Vernon did. And she turns in at the same fraternity house. That give the two kids a Jolt because they explained to me that It's against all rules for a girl to go anywhere near a fraternity house without a chaperon. “But that ain't all, either. Jim; be- | cause It seems that this Miss Peyton rambles up on the porch and asks where Pat Thayer is. They say he's up in his room and offer to call him. She says not to tmther. she ll go right up. That knocks 'em for a goal, and they sit back gasping like a couple fish while she calmly starts a big scandal by walking upstairs to see Thayer. " You gittin’ it all straight. Jim?* “Believe so. Reagan. You sure have found out a heap.* “Yell—and there’s a heap more. I About a quarter past one Alias Peyton comes downstairs and walks away. She no»l« to the two kids, but don’t stop for any conversation. At about a quarter before two o’clock Max Vernon cornea busting downstairs and stamps across the porch without so much as a hello. He has on a different suit of clothes and there is a bundle under hi* arm. He beats it out th his car. which Is parked in the yard, heaves this bundle in the back and goes down the hill at about forty, turning in the general direction of this bank, letter I’ll tell you some more about that bundle he had. Don’t forget IL* “I won’t," promised Hanvey. “Fifteen minutes later Farnum and Gleason find out they're still not immune to shocks when another guy comes down the hill to the fraternity house and inquires for Pat Thayer.” "Gosh!" murmured Jim. “they must have thought he was a popular guy. Who was this new feller?" “A professor!" “A what?” “A professor. And a whale of a line feller, too. He only graduated last June aud before that he was the best athlete this college ever had. His name Is • Welch—Larry Welch—and, I while I hate to land It on him, he’s I got a pretty rotten tie-up with Thwyer." j “How?” “In the first place, this Miss Peyton ! who had just been to Thayer's rintn Is suppose*} to be Welch’s girl. Every- ; body at the college says they’re nuta J about each other. In the second place. Welch Is the brother of the girl that l*st Thayer and Max Vernon are supposed to have quarreled about* Hanvey gave Mt the slightest indication of interest In Reagan's story —but both the detective and the banker were satisfied that he was missing nothing. “iJirry Welch remained upstairs only a few minutes,” continued Reath gan. "The boys say he looked kind of worked up and queer when he came out and he hustled back up the hill to, the college. Five or ten minutes after I-arry Welch left, the two boys on the porch hear all h—l bust loose Inside. Yelling and screaming and all. and they hear a feller coming down the steps so fast that he's almost falling. Out on the porch comes the Jahitor—a wop named (Mrmiclno. lle'a darn near cuckoo, but they finally get out of him that he saw Thayer's door partly open and could see Thayer's legs. Thought Thayer was most probably drunk—or maybe sick. Went tn to straighten him out—and discovered that he was dead." “Who called you?” “Either Farnum or Gleason, I don't know which.” “Everything there about as it was?” Teh—all but Thayer’s body. Coroner has that and they want to ship tt to his home tomorrow. His sister Is -here to take charge." “And you think that Max Vernon killed W»r "I a I most think he did.” “But a minute ago you said—" That's the rotten part of this case, Hanvey. Tve got too much dope

▼let Vernon In a” minute if it wasn't for two other people” “Who are they?” “Miss Peyton and Larry WelchThayer's other visitors.” "I see. . . ." Hanvey was absorbed in his toothpick. “Where are they, JohnF’ Reagan looked up brightly-” They’re under arrest, too." he announced pridefully. The huge detective nodded approval. “TH hand you one thing, John—you sure have made a complete Job of lt. M Reagan mop|>ed his forehead with a lavender-bordered handkerchief. “I had to, Jim. I've got those three, and I know I'm right on one of ’em.” "Which one?" That’s what puzzles me. One time 1 think it was Vernon; then I come to believe It was Alias Peyton. And Just when I’m sure of that I get a ’hunch that it must have been Welch. Os the three. I’d rather it be Vernon." “Why?" inquired Fiske sharply. "Would you pick Max Vernon as a murderer?" “Out of this bunch—yes. That is, maybe. I'm durned if I know." Hanvey was slumfted in his chair, ahsorbedly regarding his huge hands. He spoke without bothering to look up. “What does Miss. Peyton say, Reagan?” “Nothing. She admits visiting Put Thayer, but that is all” “Os course she denies killing him, doesn't she?” “Sure. Ste says they had a talk and she cau.e away, leaving him perfectly happy and healthy. But that ain’t the point, Jim: There’s something queer between her and Thayer. 1 asked her about it aud she got right white—but she wouldn't say boo. I ■ accused her of holding something back, ■ and she allowed she didn't care to dis- ! cuss the ease any further." “And this chap, Welch?" i “It don't look a bit healthy for him. \ First of all, Thayer was running around with Ivy Welch —that's lorry's kid sister; pretty little trick seventeen years old. Whether there was anything between them there shouldn't be, I can't say—and Welch won’t. But even if there wasn’t, and he thought there was—4 reckon Welch would be a pretty bad hombre.” Thayer was a big man, too, wasn’t he?" • "Yeh, but soft. Larry could have broke him in half—maybe." “What else you got against him?” “Welch was the last person known to have been in Thayer’s room before i Mike Carmiclno, the Janitor, discovered f the body. He seemed sore when he went to see Thayer, and he left iti a hurry. Then the body was found. But even If all that wasn’t enough, there's something else." ■ “You mean about Miss Pejston being Welch's girl?” “Exactly, And she had been to Thayer's room before that. Welch Is cuckoo about Miss Peyton. Somebody tells Larry' she has Just paid a visit to Pat Thayer in his room, so what does Welch do but hotfoot it down to find out what the h—l. Ain't it teasonable ! that he'd l>e boiling over under those circumstances?” “Uh-huh. I’ve seen lots of fellers get fightin' mad at less." “And tills ain’t less. Jim. There’s still more. I arrested Welch the minute I could get my hands on him, and had a long heart-to-heart talk with him. and all 1 can tel) you, Jim, is that that feller Red- to me like a sonovagun." “No?” "Yes. Absolutely. It was positively shameful, the way he lied . . . and you know as well as me,. Jim, that when a suspect lies all the way through he’s either in pretty deep or knows who is. Am I right?" “Right.” Randolph Fiske was listening fascinatedly to the conversation. He was amazed by two things: First, their cold-bloodedness; second. Reagan's undoubted superiority of intellect. At least, he was acting like a detective while Hanvey—well, Hanvey was doing nothing whatever and doing it consistently. » “When I first arrested Welch,” Reagan continued, “he blanketed everything with lies. He started off by denying that he hacL been to see Thayes. I proved that up on him in less time than it takes a goat to eat a shirt. After admitting that, he said ! that he'd never been anything but the i best of friends with Thayer. Then j I told him there was a chance for him ; if he was innocent because we already I had two other people under arrest He asked who they were and I told him. The minute I mentioned Miss Peyton's name his whole changed.” Reagan paused and chuckled. “And how!" “Well—how r “He wanted to know right away why we should think anything so ridiculous as that Tony Peyton killed Thayer. I told him it was because she had visited Thayer's room Just before he—Welch—got there. I could see he was doing some fast thinking. He finally called me a d—« fool, which wasn't very nice, and wanted to know how Miss Peyton could have killed Thayer when he had been there after she had gone and Thayer was alive. I put it up to him that that wasn't a very healthy stand for him to take because if Thayer was alive when he visited the fraternity house, then it certainly put Miss Peyton in the clear but made it rotten for him. I also was thinking—though I didn't discuss it with him—that It cleared Max Vernon, too; because Max left the fraternity house before Larry got there." Reagan stopped talking. Hanvey remained silent It was Fiske who could not tolerate the uncertainty. “What did Larry say then?" •He insisted Thayer was still alive when he was there, and wanted to know why I didn’t let Miss Peyton go right away. I told him I didn’t believe him and he informed me once again that I was a certain kind of an idiot* “But surely,” snapped Fiske, "a man isn’t going to put his own neck in a noose unnecessarily, is he?” “Maybe,” answered Reagan calmly. "Specially If he's a young fool like Welch and is craxy about a girt and thinks that she did the murdar"

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| Ilanvey’s soft drawl" broke in. I, "How about Max Vernon?" Reagan flushed. “Oh Vernon! The darn thing has got me goofy. As soon as I get one of them three crazy tied up with i this, I remember something about one of the others and start all over again. The more I think the less I know and the less I know, the nuttier I get” "You’ve done marvelously," insisted Randolph Fiske with considerable vehemence. “It seems to me you’ve discovered everything you need to know—" “Except the Identity of the murderer,” finished Reagan dryly. "Up to that point I’ve done swell.” Hanvey rose and waddled to the window, where his tremendous bulk almost blotted out the light Fiske spoke to Reagan in a guarded voice. “Is he really good, or just a bag of wind, Reagan?" The eyes of the Marland detective sparkled. “He’s the best In the world. Air. Fiske—make no mistake about that. He knows more about this case right now than I do.” “Hmph! I think you’re foolish and generous." Jim Hanvey spoke, but without turning. “Thayer was stabbed?" he asked over his shoulder. - “Yes.” “What sort of knife?” Reagan shook his head. “That’s one of the queerest things In the whole case, Jim. We’ve looked high and low for that knife and we can’t find it anywhere." CHAPTER VII Larry Welch was lying full length on the bed when the door opened. His coat was on the back of the chair and his collar and tie were on the dresser. The white shirt he wore was open at the throat and he leaped to his feet as Hanvey and Reagan entered. He stared with amazement at Reagan's companion. Hanvey was mopLu ’j/ ■ * ill 11 i Jia M He Stared With Amazement at Reagan’s Companion. ; ping at his forehead with a purple and white handkerchief and puffing like a porpoise. His little, fishy eyes j turned protestingly toward Reagan. “You shouldn't have done it, John." “What?” “Walked me all the way down aere. Pm all in.” The turnkey in the corridor closed | the dooi\ and Reagan performed the introductions. - 1 “Mr. Welch—this is Mr. Hanvey; Jim Hanvey. He’s In charge of this case." The youth hesitated, but Hanvey’s fleshy paw came out and Larry met It ! with a firm grip and a quick, friendly smile. Hanvey blinked, nodded and seated himself. “Siddown, Welch. I'd like to talk with you a few minutes." “Whatever you say, sir.” It was plain that the boy was puzzled by Hanvey. By the same token, ■he was reassured. Reagan seemed. ; keen, rather hawklike. But this stran- ; ger. . . . Hanvey lay back in his chair and reached for his golden tooth- ' pick. " jp “You understand. Welch, that you don’t have to talk at all if you don’t want to. I'm Just tellin’ you that so you won’t think I’m tryin’ to put anything over.” “I understand, sir." “I could say that anything you mentioned could be used against you. Instead I’ll Just say that if you’re innocent, the more you talk, the more chance there is of me helpin’ you. If you’re guilty—well, that’s a gray horse of another color. And my name ain’t Sir, either." Larry grinned. “I understand.” “I’ll spout one thing more. Me. and Reagan are out to find out who killed Pat Thayer and we ain’t got the slightest ambition to hang something on an Innocent man. Now—shall I go on and talk to yen or let you alone?" The young man seemed doubtful. “You mean—"" “I mean that if you want to help us, maybe we can help you. If yon don’t—then there ain’t a bit of use wasting every body’a time." (TO BK TRUCK LEAVES ROAD The steering gear of the New Paris Creamery truck which he was driving, broke Tuesday morning when he was on the Juday Hill on j the county Rue road, according to ‘William Wilkinson, driver, and the ’ track left the road and went down the embankment, coming to a atop against the fence. i Fortunately the driver escaped in- | jury and not a drop of milk waa spilled. Tractors from nearby farms and other machines aided in pulling ■ the truck back to the road, but the school hack and other traffic waa held up for a short time, while thia was accompliahed.

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