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Thursday, October 22, 1931 McCORMICK MESSENGER, McCORMICK, SOUTH CAROLINA PAGE NUMBER TWO FOURTH INSTALMENT SYNOPSIS Six people, Horace Johnson (who tells the story), his wife, ! old Mrs. Dane, Herbert Rob inson and his sister, Alice, and Dr. Sperry* friends and neigh bors, are in the habit of hold ing weekly meetings. At one of thenk, Mrs. Dane, who is hostess, varies the program by > unexpectedly arranging a spir- f ualistic seance with Miss i Jeremy, a friend of Dr. Sperry and not a professional, as the medium. , At the first sitting the medi um tells the details of a mur der as it is occurring. Later that night Sperry learns that a neighbor, Arthur Wells, has been shot mysteriously. With Johnson he goes to the Wells residence and they find con firmation of the medium’s ac count. Mrs. Wells tells them her husband shot himself in a fit of depression. NOW GO ON WITH THE STORY Believing then that something might possibly be hidden there, I made an investigation, and could see some small objects lying there. Sperry brought me a stick from the dressing room and with its aid suc ceeded in bringing out the two articles which were instrumental in starting us on our brief but ad- ventrrous careers as private in- Testigatfbrs. One was a leather razor strop, old and stiff from disuse, and the other a wet bath sponge, rio,w stained with blood to a yellowish brown. “She is lying, Sperry,” I said. “He fell somewhere# else, and she drag ged him to where he was found.” “But—why?” “I don’t know,” I said impati ently. “From some place where a man would be unlikely to kill him self, I dare say. No one ever killed himself, for instance, in an open hallway. Or stopped shaving to do tf.” “We have only. Miss Jeremy’s word for that,” he said, sullenly. “Confound it, Horace, don’t let’s bring in that stuff if we can help it.” We stared at each other, with the strop and the sponge between* us. Suddenly he turned on his heel and went back into the room, and a moment later he called me, quiet- * * 1 ly. “You’re right,”! he said. “The poor devil was shaving. He and it half done. Cpnio and look.” But I did not. go. There was a carafe of water, ip the bathroom, and I took a.drink, from it. My hands were s shaking. . When I turned around ,1 found Sperry in the hah, examining the carpet with his flash lights And ncty and then 4< stooping to run bijSLhand over the £kx>r. . ; A- . . t .. ,, “Nothing here^’ he said in a low tone, when I i^d . joined him. “At v least I haven’t, fpnnd anything.” k ( How much pf Sperry’s proceeding with the carpet the governess had seen^I do not know. I glanced up and she was there, on the stair case to the third floor, watching us. v She came :down the stairs, a ; lean young Frenchwoman in a dark > dressing gcn^if, ;! dhd ‘Sperry sug gested that she sh'ould have an opiate. She Seised'at'the idea; but i Sperry did not‘go down at once for his professional 1 bag. - “You were not here when it oc- . cured, Mademoiselle?” -he : inquir- ed; • w -v >-' “No, doctor. I had been out for a walk.” She'Mjlaeped her hands. .- .“When-I came baelr——” “Was he-still on the floor of „N rfhe dressingrtToem When you >-came in?”. •. J ; 5 « - “But-yes. -Of . course.- She was alone. She could not lift him.” i “I see,” Sperrjr said thoughtful- : ly. * ‘“'No' I dare* say shejcouldn’t. Was -^he«fW)lver on therfloornlso ? ’ ’ •- “YCs, doctor. I myself picked it - CTo.ftpeiry- ahe showed, I observ ed 1 , a slight- deference, but when she-glanced at me, as she- did after ea^ch reply, I thought her express ion slightly altered. At the time this puzzled me, but it was explain ed when Sperry started down the stairs. “Monsieur is of the police?” she asked, with a Frenchwoman’s timid respect for the constabulary. I hesitated before I answered. I am a truthful man, and I hate un necessary lying. But I ask consid eration of the circumstances. “I am making a few investiga- , lions/’ I told her. “You say Mrs. Wells was alone in the house, ex cept for her husband?” “The children.” “Mr. Wells was shaving, I be lieve, when the —er—impulse over took him?” There was no doubt as to her surprise. “Shaving? I think not.” “What sort of razor did he ord inarily use?” “A safety razor always. At least I have never seen any others around.” “There is a case of old-fashioned razors in the bathroom.” She glanced toward the room and shrugged her shoulders. “Possibly he used others. I have not seen any.” “It was you, I suppose, who cleaned up afterwards.” “Cleaned up?” “You who washed up the stains?” “Stains? Oh, no, monsieur. Nothing of the sort has yet been done.” I felt that she was telling the truth, so far as she knew it, and I then asked about the revolver. “Do you know where Mr. Wells kept his revolver?” “When I first came it was in the drawer of that table. I suggested that it be placed beyond the chil dren’s reach. I do not know where it was put.” “Do you recall how you left the front door when you went out? I mean, was it locked?” “No. The servants were out, and I knew there would be no one to admit me. I left it unfastened.” But if was evident that she had broken a rule of the house by do ing so, for she added: “I am afraid to use the servants’ entrance. It is dark there.” “The key is always hung on the nail when they are out?” “Yes. If any one of them is out it is left there. There is only one key. The family is out a great deal, and it saves bringing some one down from the servants’ rooms at the top of the house.” But I think my knowledge of the key bothered her, for some reason. And as I read over, my questions, certainly they indicated a suspicion that the situation was less simple than it appeared. She shot a quick glance at me. “Did you examine the revolver when you-picked it up?” “I, monsieur? Non!” Then her fears, whatever they were, got the best of her. “I know nothing but what I tell you. I was out. I can prove that that is so. I went to a pharmacy; the clerk will re member. I know, monsieur, he will tell you that I used the telephone there.” I told her that it would not be necessary for her to go to the phar macy, and she muttered some thing about the children and went up the stairs. When Sperry came back with the opiate she was no where in sight, and he was con siderably annoyed. “She knows something,” I told him. “She is frightened.” Sperry eyed me with a half frown. “Now see here, Horace,” he ing in order to commit suicide, but that’s no argument that it can’t be done, and as to the key—how do I know that my own back door key isn’t hung outside on a nail some- limes?” “We might look again for that hole in the ceiling.” “I won’t do it. Miss Jeremy has read of something of that sort, or heard of it, and stored it in her sub-conscious mind. But he glanced up at the ceil ing nevertheless, and a moment later had drawn up a chair and stepped onto it, and I did the same thing. We presented, I imagine, rather a strange picture, and I know that the presence of the rigid figure on the couch gave me a sort of ghoulish feeling. The house was an old one, and in the center of the high' ceiling a plaster ornament surrounding the chandelier. Our search gradually centered on this ornament, but the chairs were low and our long dist ance examination revealed noth ing. It was at that time, too, that we heard some one in the lower hall, and we had only a moment to put our chairs in place before the butler came in. He showed no surprise, but stood looking at the body on the couch, his thin ’ace working. “I met the detectives outside, doctor,” he said. “It’s a terrible thing, sir, a terrible thing.” “I’d keep the other servants out of this room, Hawkins.” “Yes, sir.” He went over to the sheet, lifted the edge slowly, and then replaced it, and tip-toed to the door. “The others are not back yet. I’ll admit them, and get them up quietly. How is Mrs. Wells?” “Sleeping,” Sperry said briefly, and Hawkins went out. I realize now that Sperry was—I am sure he will forgive this—in a state of nerves that night. For ex ample, he returned only an impat ient silence to my doubt ias to whether Hawkins had really only just returned and he quite missed something down stairs which I lat er proved to have an important bearing on the case. This was when we were going out, and after Hawkins had opened the front door for us. It had been freezing hard, and Sperry, who has a bad ankle) looked about for a walking stick. He found one, and I saw Hawkins take a swift step forward, and then stop, with no expression whatever in his face. “This will answer, Hawkins.” “Yes, sir,” said Hawkins impas sively. And if I realize that Sperry was nervous that night, I also realize that he was fighting a battle quite his own, and with its personal problems. “She’s got to quit this sort of thing,” he said savagely and aprops of nothing, as we walked along. “It’s hard on her, and be sides ” “Yes?” “She couldn’t have learned about it,” he said, following his own trail Sperry was bn the floor/ examining the carpet with his flashlight. said. “suppose we had come in here, without the thought of that seance behind us? We’d have ac cepted the thing as it appears to be, wouldn’t we? There may be a dozen explanations for that sponge, and for the razor strop. What in heaven’s name has a raz or strop to do with it anyhow? One bullet was fired ,and the revolver has one empty chamber. It may not be the custom to stop shav of thought. “My car brought her from her home to the house-door. She was brought in to us at once. But don’t you see that if there are other developments, to prove her statements she—well, she’s as in nocent as a child, but take Her bert, for. instance. Do you sup pose he’ll believe she had no out side information?” “But it was happening while we were shut in the drawing-room.” “So Elinor claims. But if there was anything to hide, it would have taken time. An hour or so, perhaps. You can see how Her bert would jump on that.” I said irritably to him. “I intend to go home, it is 1:30 in the morn ing.” But as it happened, I did not go into my house when I reached it. I was wide awake, and I perceived, on looking up at my wife’s win dows, that the lights were out. As it is her custom to wait up for me on those rare occasions when I spend an evening away from home, I surmised that she was comfort ably asleep, and made my way to the pharmacy to which the Wells es’ governess had referred. The night-clerk was in the pres cription-room behind the shop. He had fixed himself comfortably on two chairs, with an old table cov er over his knee and a half-empty bottle of sarsaparilla on a wooden box beside him. He did not wak en until I spoke to him. “Sorry to rouse you, Jim,” I said. He flung off the cover and jump ed up, upsetting the bottle, which trickled a stale stream to the floor. “Oh, that’s all right, Mr. Johnson, I wasn’t asleep, anyhow.” I let that go, and went at once to the object of our visit. Yes, he remembered the governess, knew her, as a matter of fact. The Wellses’ bought a good many things there. Asked as to her telephon ing, he thought it was about nine o’clock, maybe earlier. But ques tioned about, he drew himself up. “Oh, see here,” he said. “I can’t very well tell you that, can I? This business has got ethics, all sorts of ethics.” He enlarged on that. The secrets of the city, he maintained loftily, were in the hands of the phar macies. It was a trust that they kept. “Every trouble from dope to drink, and then some,” he boast ed. When I told him that Arthur Wells was dead his jaw dropped, but there was no more argument in him. He knew very well the number the governess had called. “She’s done it several times,” he said. “I’ll be frank with you. I got curious after the third even ing, and called it myself. You know the trick. I found out it was the Ellingham house, up State Street.” “What was the nature of the conversations?” “Oh, she was very careful. It’s an open phone and any one could hear her. Once she said somebody was not to come. Another time she just said, ‘This is Suzanne Gautier. 9:30, please.’ ” “And tonight?” 1 ■* “That the family was going out —not to call.” (TO BE CONTINUED) ARE YOU READY? To meet your opportunity-a bet ter position, a good investment, a chance to go into business for yourself or any of the other pos sibilities that mgy come your way? If you do not have a sub- staintial savings account to sup ply ready funds, you are not • ready. START SAVING NOW AT THIS HOME BANK i And you will be prepared when opportunity comes your way. You will have the ready funds that are so necessary. We are prepared to help you in every way. Start now, no mat ter how small it may be. THE PEOPLES BANK McCORMICK, S. C. Drought Relief ; Still Necessary NATIONAL RED CROSS FINDS IN SOME SECTIONS Drought relief continues as a national problem for the Red Cross, requiring continued relief in many communities, Mr. J. A. Talbert de clared today in stressing need of increased' membership enrollment in the organization’s ranks, begin ning November 11. While active relief to whole com munities was discontinued some time ago, he explained, the serious ness of the calamity left many in dividual rural families unable to maintain themselves unaided, and in turn, created serious conditions in smaller communities where farming was the principal indus try. The Red Cross, he said, had as sisted a' considerable number of local Red Cross units in meeting such prolonged demands on their resources, with grants from na tional funds all during the past summer- In addition, he pointed out, the National Red Cross is now extend ing relief in the States of Montana and North Dakota where the drought of the past summer has assumed even greater proportions than'that of the previous year. In itself, the Drought Relief pro gram in these two States is a ma jor relief operation, so great is the need. While many local Red Cross Chapters are still wrestling with thi^ problem, he continued, it is rer ized that others either did not ha ,r ? this particular situation on thr'r hands, or have completed thrir work; nevertheless all must as^st in meeting it as a national nerd by the support of local mem bership. “' r 'he strength of the Red Cross as a whole.” Mr. Talbert declared, “is measured by its membership ovc- the country. Each chapter has a fhare in the responsibility for national service, because it is only through this participation that the national organization is en abled to meet its obligations to the country as a whole, or any part of it.” X Farmers’ Bulletin 1449-F, Selec tion of Cotton Fabrics, will be found useful when the supply of 4 c* +Vtic foil m FINE STATIONERY Reflects The Good Taste And Character Of The User You are judged by your letters as well as your personal appearance, so guard carefully that you create a good im pression with your letters. Use our fine stationery and be sure. NEW SHOWING JUST ARRIVED We are now presenting the very newest and smartest styles and shades of stationery which we have just receiv ed. Come in and choose a supply and be up-to-the- minute." We also have all other writing supplies, including foun tain pens, pen holders, desk blotters, pen points, ink, and letter wax. STROMS’ DRUG STORE MAIN STREET McCORMICK. S. C. HUMORETTES Miss Howler-*-Did my voice fill the drawing-room? Mr. Bluritly—No, it filled the re freshment-room and the conserva tory. “You are lying so clumsily,” said the judge to the defendant, “that I would advise you to get a law yer.” Gazonda—Why, Gazoof, how ill you look! What’s the matter? Gazoof—Oh, nothing much. Los ing weight, that’s all. Lost 120 pounds of flesh in one day. Gazonda—Impossible! Gazoof—Fact, I assure you. My wife deserted me. ' ■ ; 1,1 1 Acid st o mac idea you Heloise—Harold, you’ve no what it meant to me when kissed me last night! Harold—You’ve nothing on me. I got a five-spot out of it myself—on a wagerJ Mrs. Rapper—Miss Oldgirl says she is 25. Do you believe that? Mrs. Grabble—It must be true. She’s stuck to the same story all the years T’ve known her. Rhymer—What’s the difference between guitar and catarrh? Punner—One makes music and the other makes me sick. X The U. S. Department of Agri culture now grades turkeys at many country points as well as at terminal markets. In the 1929- 30 season, including Thanksgiving and Christmas, the department grades nearly 8,000,000 pounds of turkeys at country points and terminal markets. It classes the birds as old and young hens and toms. The grades labeled with a Government grade tag are U. S Prime and U. S. Choice. The cost of grading is less than one-half a cent a bird. Excess acid is the common causes of indigestion. It results in. pain an<H sourness about two hours after eat r ing. The quick corrective is an aikalu which neutralizes acid. The best corrective is Phillips’ Milk of Mag nesia. It has remained standard with, physicians in the 50 yearn since its- m ()ne i spoonful of Phillips’ MHk of Magnesia neutralizes instantly many times its volume in acid. Harmless^ and tasteless, and yet ita action i* quick. You will never rely on crude: methods, once you learn how quickly this method acts. Be sure to get the genuine. The ideal dentifrice for clean, teeth and healthy gums is Phillips- Dental Magnesia, a superior tooth paste that safeguards against acid*- mouth. It is a good plan to whitewash the dairy barn once or twice a year. To make a disinfectant white wash, dilute 1 1-2 quarts of com mercial lime-sulphur with about 3 gallons of water, and add 3 table- so ■'S of common salt, previously dissolved in a pint of water. To this solution, add, while stirring constantly, a lime cream made by mixing a heaping quart of good hye-ated lime with water, or by slaking 2 1-2 pounds of fresh quicklime and straining through a wire fly screen.. _ w