Show I I I TRUE T 1 UE DETECT STORIES I S MURDER MURDER WILL VILL OUT When Then Detective of ot the Parisian police force came to investigate the details details de tails of the disappearance of the widow Houet he found that in spite of ot the fact that the woman had lived for many years in her house on the Rue des there were few of ot the neighbors who knew lenew anything about her Madame Houet it appeared had borne born the local reputation or ot a miser for the reason that she bhe was seen but seldom outside outside out out- outside side of ot her house and then only when she needed some food bed or some other necessity It Its s doubtful if it she spent ten so sous us a week weel declared one of the neighbors and she came out after dark dark dark-as as if it sho siw were afraid of ot someone or something What was the reason of or the report to I Ithe the police that she was missing in inquired in- in in-I in No one around hero here had seen her for fora a fortnight or more There was no light in her house no smoke from the chimney We Ve were afraid that something had happened happened hap hap- to her and of ot course we had hid no authority to break breal in the door I Inside the house the detective found nothing that would give him any idea of or orthe the reason for the old oct womans woman's s disappearance disappear disappear- ance The place was sparsely furnished and evidently had not bee beo cleaned or dusted for at least two weeks But no ru nowhere nR- nR I where was there the trace of ot the Widow Houet She had gone vanished disappeared entirely Nor did her daughter daugh daugh- ter a Mme Robert who was found to be living in another part of Paris have any solution for the mystery I I have not seen my mother for some years she stated There was a difference differ differ- enco ence between us us-a us a serious difference difference- quite a long time ago and she has not ome come hero here since we have lived In this house and that's that s a matter of at least five years veers Did you ever ever ver visit your our mother in the Rue des asked Never I tell you I haven't haven t laid eyes on her since we quarreled As a result of Inquiries made in the vicinity of ot the missing womans woman's home found that no one had over ever overseen overseen seen a woman enter the Houet house house- but he also found out something else which interested him extremely A man had called there several times wi within thin the past few rew months and the description of the visitor tallied precisely with that of M M. Robert Hobert husband of the Widow Houet's louet's daughter When a few days das later Robert cameto came cameto cameto to police headquarters with a letter from his mother-in-law mother stating that she was going away to the country to find finda a place in which to die and naming Robert as the sole solo heir to her fortune of more than francs Ch s sus suspicions became distinctly more real He lie felt relt certain that the letter was a forgery forgery forgery for for- gery but there was no way of proving this because not a scrap of paper bearing bearing bearling bear bear- ling ing tho the old woman womans woman's s writing had been found in her house and her daughter de declared declared de- de dared that she had preserved none of her letters S The writing she added Is certainly that of ot my mother Robert ROberts RObert's Js s entitled to the money If it he wants it For myself For myself I would not touch a sou When he came to sum up the evidence he had collected w was s clearly up against it It The widow had disappeared Her law in who had been seen going Into her house had received a letter stating stating stating stat stat- ing that she contemplated suicide That was a all II there was to the case from a legal standpoint for until could prove that Madame Houet had been murdered murdered- and this under the French law could be proven proven- only by production of the bOdor body body- or that the letter was a forgery there was no charge on which Robert could be bo held I The only consolation that the detective had was that Robert could not come coma Into possession of or the widows widow's s money until ten years jears ears had elapsed Then the 50 COO francs would be his his but but then al also o he would be immune from arrest under that section of ot the Jaw law which declared a crime to be outlawed after half a decade Apparently thera there was nothing to be bedone bedone bedone done and had to content himself with doing it though he never ne lost of the case ease in the ears that followed No matter what crime he was investigating his mind returned constantly to the dIsappearance disappearance dis dIs- appearance of ot the old widow and his feelIng feeling feel feel- feeling ing of certainty that her son law h had d been responsible for her death It was more than nine years later within a few months of ot the time when Robert would come into possession of the Houet money that stumbled across the first real clue to the mystery The governor of the Paris Pari a prison one day called his attention to a note which one of the prisoners had written for tor delivery de de- livery to a person on the outside Looks harmless enough doesn't It it inquired the governor But the man who wrote it It-a It a fellow named seems to think that we don't dont know an anything any any- thing about codes code Read every third word Following I 1 instructions n 8 t r 11 c t I 1 o 0 n s spelled out the message Remember the garden at 43 Rue Vau- Vau d. d I must have money at once A glan glance e at the address of ot the communication nl atlon caused to tp g VA an exclamation ex ex- ex- ex of joy jo v j Addressed to a M. M r Robert Robertl he cried and palpably a black mailing letter j Maybe it Its It's s hoping for tor too much but I think this will aid in solving a crime which occurred nearly ten years ago It required less than an hour of ot digging dig dig- I ging in n the e garden of the e house sped sped- tt i lied fied in t te e c codeS code letter tt to b bring seto to sYi light t the gruesome solution of ot the Houet disappearance dis dIs- disappearance dis- dis appearance The body of ot the old woman still tUl with a rope about the throat was found lound practically concealed in a bed of lime But the men who had hd buried burled it had neglected to throw water on the lime which instead of consuming the body had preserved it during the Intervening intervening inter Inter- years The arrest of ot Robert and Bastien who I had been his partner in the murder was followed by the securing of a full tull confession confession confes conIes sion ston of how bow the old widow had been lured from her home throttled and burled buried in inthe Inthe inthe I the lonely garden gaiden the letter from her beIng being being be be- be- be ing subsequently forged as had suspected On account of this confession confession confes conIes sion Bastien and Robert escaped with life sentences to penal servitude but theS the francs was turned into the national nation nation- S al treasury and received an official of of- ot- ot S commendation for his persistency S in following the crime for nearly ten tea years Copyright 1921 by the Wheeler Newspaper Newspaper Newspaper News News- S paper Syndicate |