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Show II ""Tj SS "" 11 (Copyright, 1310, by V. G. Ohapman.) .T Sjti v b A JILyllL VXJL JlL LJ IkJP I 1 Passages from the Case-Book of Inspector Finney Valentine, Investigator Extraordinary. J IS'So you think that dlmo novel fiction r unhealthy for the juvenllo juind." Ucrlcd Finney Valentine. "Yon are lent of course, scarcely a week passes El wc do not read In the papers of imc youngster. or youngsters, who fall feo the hnnds of the law while ondeav-rintf ondeav-rintf to duplicate the feats of n bandit uro. as portrayed by the hlood-and-Mindor writers. But you might go'a Etep irtmr. and assert that there are adulln ho are prone to fall under the same fluence, and not bo making an error. 'Why?" asked the listener, scenting a feslblo story. , , F'Becauso the readers of that class of ftfon arc not by any means confined to fir rising generation," replied the cx-iwieclor. cx-iwieclor. 1 You may think It odd. but I fa personally acquainted with a promi-Git promi-Git rncmhnr of flic New York bar who Iks relaxation from his legal problems devouring all the cheap detective dries he can get his hands on. Much i tho samo principle. I suppose that a d business man lakes in a light musl-1 musl-1 comedy after he has completed his born of the day. But the lawyer's sq doesn't exactly Illustrate my point, -man with a well-balanced mind and lined Intellect would only see the ab-M ab-M side of I ho melodramatic hero's cx-JJtB. cx-JJtB. But there aro plenty of men who id such stuff and arc not only cnter- Ilned thereby but take It pretty serl-fely, serl-fely, Also, here and there a reader of Inc novels may find a fairly ingenious t which, divested of Its fireworks and IWimlng. might contain a hint of how Accomplish a certain crime that could h? successfully worked out. Tho mero ingestion would bo enough, provided i&t It suited the reader's desire or aim." "For instance?" queried I he listener in half mocking, half-skeptical tone which g purposely intended to goad (lie for-iv for-iv chlof into unlocking sonic particular foodc in his vast experience. Doubtless ishrewd a student of munkind as Fluty Flu-ty Valentine was not fooled for a minute I" such a transparent rust, sinco he piled inscrutably and knowingly. ?4There was once a criminal even! In fcvexperlenco which illustrates my point ija' hair," he explained. Prensing a but-tv but-tv on his desk, after consulting his In-;xed In-;xed case-book, "Bring me file No. 82," ,Jsaid to the attendant who answered e, buzzer. Meanwhile he nmoked mcdi-tjvely mcdi-tjvely as though mentally going back BOinc thrilling happening In his varied refer. In three minutes the required c was placed at his elbow. Taking out Bshcaf of papers, nowspapcr cuttings, id photographs, he riffled them momentarily mo-mentarily between Jils supple fingers, ddcd satisfactorily, voplacod them In Kfr place, lighted a fresh long and ck panctela. and began the following ry, which shall be given hero In his firn words: Within a hundred miles of the Bowery. SjfConnccticut and Massachusetts, you gy run across little villages and rural ttlcriients that arc almost, as primi-yc primi-yc and old-fashioned as they wero in y'olutlonary days. There's where you rid the "abandoned farms" that one jars j-o much about nowadays; they ve been "abandoned" mostly by the uncrr generation; the old folks held iltill death and the crave claimed them, cn the e'eared fields ran to weeds, e stone fences fell down, the applo chords died for lack of tending, and fit farmhouses and barns gradually fell tplcces. But here and there enough young lod remains to keep up the village (town life, and the soil, instead of be-rjworn be-rjworn out as we've been led to sup-id, sup-id, yields just as good a living as ever, illo Ibc ha'xly people go on living it sturdy lives, marrying and giving Sniarrhigc, as though trolley-lines and tomobils had never bec-n invented, rust such a place was the Connecticut lago of PIsgah. about twenty miles rth of Stamford, among the hills rdeWrig the Hotitatonie valley. Every-. Iy ii Fisgah was prosperous In a plain 8-feaiing way: tho town had no poor; I ere was a Congregational church, a lion school the usual stores, and ono Jtwo canning factories. Two thring farms of perhaps a cou-of cou-of hundred acres each adjoined each jcr. owned rrspeetivcly by men named illey and Merrill. Tom Valley, a Ijhgster of about 26. an orphan, worked of of those farms; tho solo heiress to c1 other was a charming girl of 24. nicd Ruth Merrill. It was the most lural thing in tho world for the young 6p!c lo fall in love, marry, and thus lie the twin properties Into one and Bt's exactly what happened. Ruth frrlll had possessed several suitors. t-Tom Valley eventually proved to be fei lucky man. Local gossip said that irk HcTiiiiker, another landowner, had cn his hottest rival. Well. Tom and Ruth were married member, it. was a primitive littlo com-mlty. com-mlty. After tho ceremony at the miner's min-er's houso the young couple drove - heto the Valley homstcad such a J Ing as a weddlntr tour would have boon thought a wicked and useless extravagance. extrava-gance. Besides. It was ha.ylng time, and Tom couldn't be spared. There was a wedding supper for tho immediate relatives, and heforo the meal waa well ondd a large crowd of the villagers vil-lagers ami neighboring farm folks arrived ar-rived outsldo the liouao to give the bride and groom a genuine old-fashion'cd "Shlvarcc." There wore all sorts of an uproar beating of tin pans, blowing of horns, ringing of cowbells, shouting, laughter, and even firing of gun3 and pistols Of course the young couple had to show themselves, and at their appearance the tumult and the shouting broke out worse than ever. It was a cloudless night with I he moon at tho full, and as Tom and Ruth stood unn in arm on the wldo porch they were in clear view. Suddenly Sud-denly there was a volley of firearms, and Ruth Vailey was seen to fall backward back-ward in her husband's arms. At first it was thought sho had fainted from the excitement, but in a fev momentB the bridegroom's affrighted shouts apprised ap-prised those nearest that tho newly-wedded newly-wedded wife had been shot! Some miscreant mis-creant in the crowd had deliberately "drawn a. bead" on her breast! At least for J must not get uhcad too fast that's what became apparent afterward. In the Initial confusion It was thought that, the shooting must have been mi accident ac-cident some cheerful Idiot -In tho crowd on the lawn, who "didn't know It was loaded," had pulled the trigger and unknowingly un-knowingly sped the fatal bullet. But when I got on tho case tho facts already discovered put a totally different differ-ent complexion on the mattor, and I spc-diiy decided that "Ruth Valley's death was a case of deliberate murder. There had been an inquest, of course, by the county physician, and that gavo me the hint. Tho missile proved to be a soft-nosed soft-nosed steel bullet fired from a Krag army rifle. And here was a rcmarkablo fact: The soft lead nose of the bullet had flat- tened and spread itself against the girl's corset steel. When examlnod It looked for all the world like a cat's eye, even to tho coloring of tho pupil! It was the steel cone of tho bullet that had caused death, that having penetrated the heart. Tho poor child probably never knew what hit her. Naturally, my first task was to search for some one who owned a Krag army rifle a rare weapon In a rural com-munitv com-munitv this person also being an excellent ex-cellent marksman. Tho finding of a man who united theso two characterlsls, I told myself, would be tantamount to spotting tho murderer. But here I ran upon the first snag. Tho owner of the Krag was soon found In l he person of George Gerrlsh. a veteran vet-eran of the Spanish war, who had returned re-turned from Montauk the previous autumn. au-tumn. Gerrish not only proved a complete com-plete alibi, but strenuously denied having loaned his Krag to any one- Ye when I told him my errand, and together we had examined the gun, he unhesitatingly declared de-clared that It had been recently discharged, dis-charged, and (hat one shell was missing from the full clip which it had previously contained. Gerrish explained that, living alone as he did. he thought it no harm to keep the gun loaded. However, he readily identified the steel com? wnlch had killed Ruth Valley, and told me of several similar Instances of the queer shapes sometimes taken by the ""mushrooming" ""mush-rooming" of the soft-nose bullot. Also he agreed with me that some one. knowing know-ing lie was away from home, might have "borrowed'' the Krag on tho fatal night, though he was equally frank to say that ho had observed no Indications that his house had been feloniously entered during his absence. And until my call ho had not noticed that the weapon had been moved from Its accustomed place on a couple of staples over his old brick fireplace. fire-place. Swearing him to silence, and to the locking away of the Incriminating weapon until I might call for it, my next task was to look for a good marksman and n man with a motive for the killing. To this end I went through the male residents resi-dents of the neighborhood with a fine toothconib with the idea. "first, of eliminating elim-inating t lie sheep from tho coats. All told, thero wore not more than half a dozen names worth considering. Some of these had been among Ruth Merrill's suitors, but all. with ono exception, scorned to have taken the result philosophically philo-sophically and gone about their business. This exception was Mark llennlker, who had been overheard to boast that Tom Vailcy wouldn't long have tlio girl, oven after she had promised to marry him. Those who heard him make this threat thought ho referred to the woll-known frail state of her health. But the subsequent subse-quent event put the remark in a different light to me. But a more important fact was that Meunlkcr bore tho reputation of being a crack shot with cither rifle or pistol. In the hunting Held, after rabbits or birds, he was never known to miss, said local gossip: while at the annual "tur- 0 key shoots." Mark invariably carried off first prize. Lastly, ho had been seen on tho outskirts of the crowd on the night of the "shivarce." though no ono could remember noHcltig him after the alarm had been given. This latter fact, of course, counted for nothing. In tho confusion con-fusion anyone might have been missed or not counted. However. I made It my business to visit and interview Mark llennlker. Ho lived on and owned a ten-acre farm with his widowed mother. 1 found him In tho hay lot driving a. tedder. Taking my stand by tho stone fence which separated tho field from the highroad, 1 waited until un-til a long turn brought him alongside. To him 1 was merely a "city feller." and you can bet I appeared as green as they make 'em concerning farming. I never saw the fanner yet who would not "spell a bit" for a yarn with a stranger, and Mark H?ntiiker was no exception. ex-ception. He "Whoa'cd" to his team and got down from tho iron saddle to talk. I found him a tall, gangling, typical Connecticut Con-necticut Yankee of about ;;0. snndy-halred. snndy-halred. freckle-faced, his vollow board and moustache stained with tobacco juice, which he chewed Incessantly with working Jaws, spitting nervously" between sentences. His eyes wero of a shifty blue, ifet dangerously close- together, which infallible mark of a treacherous nature, perhaps, set me against him, although al-though I novur allowed personal prejudices preju-dices to affect my judgment. Well, we "gammed," to use a whaling term, about the weather, the crona and farming In that particular locality. I mon Honed two or three names of faiullio3 in Pisgah with whom 1 was-already acquainted, ac-quainted, allowing him to suppose that 1 was a "two-weoker from York." Ry degrees wo got quite chummy, to which end a couple of my cigars helped not a little, though I hated to s".e him chew viciously on a good Panatclla until the end was a frayed pulp. Gradually and quite naturally I led tho way around to the recent tragedy, saying: "Thai was a bad job over at the Valley farm tho other day " "Ya-as, ya-as." drawled Ilenniker non-commlt non-commlt tally, spitting among the weeds. "Wero you among those present?" I Inquired In-quired casually. "Ya-os, ya-as. I wb3 thar " ho admitted, ad-mitted, but volunteered no more. "Queer sort of an accident, though," T remarked, a little moro pointedly. "Ya-as. ya-as," camo the lazy answer. "Must, 'a' been an accident., us y" nay." "There was some promiscuous firing of guns and pistols. I've been told?" I ventured ven-tured in the effort lo draw him out, and perhaps get him to admit that ho himself him-self had been armed. "Ya-as, ya-as." ho drawled for the fourth time, an ono weary of the topic, and mounting his' tedder: "some feller forgot t' draw his load, I guess! Gld-dap!" Gld-dap!" And with a "So long, mister!" flung ovordiis shoulder the team and the machine moved off on their long circuit of the "meddcr." Well, I had drawn a blank po far as any dofinilo result was concerned, but like a. good many men In my business I am a firm believer in first impression, a.nd T "had a hunch." as the iilang phrase goes, that Mark Tfminlker had fired that fatal shot from George Ger-rlsh'n Ger-rlsh'n Krag. But how to connect tho snaky miscreant with tho crime was a totally different proposition. For a v.'cok longer I pursued my investigation in-vestigation In Plegnh. Tho only result was? a remark niado by an old Irishwoman Irish-woman named Biddy Mullaly. who Inhabited In-habited a littlo shack and eked out a living by doing chorea for tho neighboring neigh-boring farmers' wiven and raising chickens chick-ens and ' pigs on tho aide. Stopping to chat with her one day. I found her an Inveterate cosslp. and when we touched on tho Vallny murder the old crone made no bones about ttpoaking her mind. She knew all the antecedent facts how Tom Valley had "bested" Mark Henni-ker. Henni-ker. had ce.-;s f him. "Oh. bin. that llon-niker llon-niker lad was a crool ono," she ended, "and poor Utile Rulhic better bo dead in her coffin than married to th' varmint, var-mint, rent her sowll" At Ihls mention of my suspoH's namo 1 wao all alert, you may bo wire. "Do you think ?" I was beginning. when Mrs. Mullaly broke in. looking nt me shrewdly and nodding her gray head sagely; "I wouldn't put It past him!" she averred: then, as though fearing that sho had wild too milch sho shut up light as a olani. Of cour." II ivm; only an old woman's gossip, ydu'll say. and no evldenco at all, but Ihe sentiment, so cloquonlly expressed chimed so exactly with my own private belief that I was more confirmed thnroln than ever. That night I resolved on a bold move and rather desperate one- to arrest Mark llennlker on suspicion and thus perhaps terrify him into a confession. confes-sion. Next morning I swore, out a warrant heforo the local squire and went with the Pisgah constable to serve Ml. We found our man in the barn and clapped a pair of hnndcuffs on him jlrst thine. Then r read the warrant. In which I charged him circumstantially and categorically cat-egorically with havlnrt threatened Tom and Ruth: with having Plotted to rob thu huobnnd of his newly made wife: with breaking Into George Gerrlsh's house and otoallng tho Krag; and finally, with havlnc drawn a bead on th girl - from whero ho stood In the outskirts of the crowd during the confusion of the "ohivareo" and the promiscuous shooting shoot-ing ln tho air around him. Finally, ln the moot drnmatic manner I could oummon. which had more than onco scared a criminal Into confession, I ononed my hand, exclaiming: ''Horo'o thu bullet which cont tho poov girl to her death: und you aro tho man who flrod tho cdaot! Belter muku acloan breast of Ihe matter If you want to eavc your dirty neck!" Well, sir. tho effect was electrical. I think that, cat's-eyo effect I told vou abo&t, and which I didn't forget to point put. scared him most. The skunk collapsed col-lapsed right. there like a busted bag of pats. Ho foil on his kneeG and confessed the whole plot, which was Just as 1 had outlined It In my mind, Tho thought that, hiii carefully covered tracks were so completely exposed thoroughly unnerved un-nerved him. reminding me of Kugcno Aram In the poem. "Now comes my point, to which I've been leading up all along," said Finney ientlne in tiiumphnnt conclusion. We toted Mark llennlker ntf to the lockup. lock-up. When there wo searched him- carefully, care-fully, and In a greasy old wallet I came across a folded page torn from a dlmo novel entitled 'Black Dan's Revenge, or the Sharpshooter's Threat. , It told how the, villain of the talc shot at the liero's sweetheart under almost Identically tho same conditions that llennlker bad taken advantage of to get even with Valley. " 'i IH In the atory the girl was only slightly wounded, but I suppose Hennlker saw lH when? he could Improve on that. It H sceniK strange, that ho should have kept 1 the printed record, but It Is likely that he deemed It safo from everv one's eyes IH except IiIk own. and perhaps found a ccr- H tain amount of satisfaction In gloating H over and thinking how clover he had been to adapt the plot to his own credit. H "It goes to show how big a part time-y time-y suggestion plays In staging a crime. Hcnniker only needed the hint, and when it was furnished, noted upon it. So vou see the fleryi ten-cent fiction Is capable of kindling an unhealthy glow In mora 1 matured minds than those of the juniors to which it Is supposed to appeal sol el v. B You may argue that Ilennlker's won an exceptional and Isolated case, but I dare H say there have been other Instances. At 1 all events, thero can be no doubt that 1 It was the Wood-and-thuudcr literature 1 which planted the hellish Idea in 'the IH brooding brain nf that cool and hard- H headed Connecticut hayseed." H (Next week: ' Tho Trouble Maker.") IH |