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Show THE IAYSON CHRONICLE, FAYSON, UTAH ENN1 By S. S. Van Dine JL Miimdem Case SYNOPSIS Philo Vance, crime expert, Investigates the supposed suicide of Archer Coe. With District Attorney Markh.irn, he goes to Coe's house. They ttrid Wrede, a friend of Coe's, there; also Blgnor Grass!, a guest. The door of the death chamber Is bolted from the inside. They force It. Coe Is seated, a revolver In hla right hand and a bullet hole In hls temple. He Is clothed In a dressing gown, but wears street shoes. Markham thinks it Is suicide. Vance says It Is murder. Medical examiner Doremus declares Coe had been dead for hours when the bullet entered bis head. A wound, made by a dagger, Is found on the body, and there Is proof that Coe was fully dressed when he was stabbed. The Investigators tlnd a wounded Scottish terrier In a room of the Coe house. Vance declares the animal will prove an Important connecting link. Brisbane Coe, Archer's brother, Is believed to have left for Chicago the previous afternoon, but hla dead body Is discovered In a closet In the Coe home. Vance Interrogates the Chinese cook, Liang. Brisbane died from a stab In the back, as In Archer's ease. Vance, searching Brisbanes coat, finds waxed thread attached to a bent pin, and a darning needle. A lipstick, discovered In Archer Coes wastebasket. Indicates that a woman called on him the night of the murder. CHAPTER VII 1 Continued 0 But I dont gee the connection. Markham was puzzled. Brisbane was the victim not the murderer. Suppose you elucidate If possible. I live In opes," Vance grinned. Let me question Miss Lake a bit further. I could bear a hit of amplification as to Brisbanes drivings Into He sobered and criminological lore. went toward the door. What do you say to using Archers bedroom as the scene of the Interrogation? Markham gave a resigned sigh, and we went upstairs. Heath sent Gamble to ask Miss Lake to Join us there; and a few minutes later she came In, swaggering but chilly and, I thought, suspicious. Vance pushed a chair forward for her. We wanted to ask you, Miss Lake, he began gravely, Just what you meunt when you spoke of your Uncle Brisbanes having dabbled In criminology I believe that was your phrase. What form did hls Interest In criminology take? Only reading. Criminal cases, court cases, court records, detective stories the usual thing. There are hundreds of volumes In hls room. Were yoq, too, Interested In your Uncle Brisbanes books? Oh, yes. Theres nothing else Interesting In the house. Then you, too, have dabbled In criminology? She shot Vance a quick look and gave a forced laugh. You might call it that. Ahl Then perhaps you can help ts. Vances air became Jocular. We crave to know how this door could have been bolted on the Inside. Obviously Archer couldnt have done It with a bullet In hls head. Or a dagger through hls lungs, she supplemented, and became suddenly serious. But he might hnve done It before the bullet entered hls head. But he was dead at that time. Vance, too, had become serious and was watching the woman closely. Have you never heard of cadaveric spasm, or rigor mortis? she asked Men, with revolvers contemptuously. In their hands at death, have been known to fire them hours after they were dead, as a result of muscular con- were approuchiiig something particularly pertinent ami, at the same time, sinister. Vances cool Did anyone else voice brought me back to reality "ever bear these discussions?" No one but Unde Archer. Hilda Lake bad become frigid and indifferent again. He always ridiculed our speculations. What of Liang?" Vance asked casually. The cook? Oh, I suppose he heard our Idle chatter. I believe we ftilked over our dire plots at dinner occasionally. And now the problem that troubled Vance all of you has been solved. rose and strolled meditatively toward the door. Very sud. . . . He opened the door and held It ajar. Thank you, Miss Lake. I say, you wont mind remaining In your room till dinner time, will you? If I did mind. It wouldnt do me any good, I suppose. She spoke with obvious resentment as she walked toward Vance. May I be permitted to get a book from Uncle Brisbanes room to while away my hours of detention? Her eyes were narrowed, and her lip curled In an ugly arc. Vance's calm gaze did not alter. Im dashed sorry, and all that sort of thing, he said politely, but Ill send you up any book you'd like later. Ive a bit of browsing to do first." The woman turned on her heel and wulke-away without a word. Vance waited until he heard her door close with a bang; then he turned and came back Into the room. Not a sweet, Victorian clinging but a lady of he lamented; vine, parts, none the less. . . . Curious, her telling us of her discussions with Brisbane about the possibilities of bolting this door from the outside. There was something back of that, Markhain. The young woman had Ideas. Now, why should she have tried to be so helpful? And that suggestion about rigor mortis and the revolver. . . . Amazin. If you want my candid opinion, Markham commented, she knows, or suspects, more than rhe's telling us; and shes trying to throw us off the track. Vance considered this for a time. Yes Its possible, he agreed at length. On the other hand . . . Markham was patently puzzled. Any suggestion? he asked. Whats our next move? Vance sighed Oh, that's indicated. deeply. Painful as It may prove, I simply must run my eye over Bris- banes books. Markham also sighed deeply, and rose. We went Into Brisbane Coes room, which was at the front of the house on the west side. On the north wall beside the window was a series of s simple built-iextending to the celling. There were, I estimated, between three and four hundred volumes on them, all neatly and meticulously arranged. Vance went to the window and threw np the shades, and began running bis eye systematically over the volumes. For so small a number of criminological volumes Brisbane Coes collection was unusually complete. In surveying the titles one got the Impres- n book-shelve- traction. Vance nodded, without changing hls expression or shifting hls gaze. Quite true. There was the famous case In Prague of the suicide who later shot the police Inspector. And there was a more recent case In Pennsylvania. . . . But I hardly think that condition applies here. Archer, d ye see, died of a stab in the back. And the position of hls hand holding the revolver was not such as would Indicate that he himself pulled the trigger. Perhaps youre right. I was surprised at her ready acceptance of Vance's dismissal of her suggestion. Some one else must have bolted the She spoke with cyulcal lightdoor. ness. Its quite a problem, Isnt It? Are you sure you can't help os? Vance gazed at her steadily. She became thoughtful; a curious change came over her, and she looked at Vance with a questioning steady stare. Tve been thinking about that door for several hours, she said tensely; and I cant find an answer to it. Uncle Brisbane and Mr. Wrede and I often talked about these tricky criminal devices. We worked out various ways and means of doing seemingly Impossible things; but bolting this door from the outside was something we could never figure out. Vance took hls cigarette from hls mouth with slow deliberation. You mean to tell me that you and Brisbane and Mr. Wrede actually dismissed the possibilities of bolting this 'rom the outside? She appeared 'es. quite ' times. But we decided 'essfully done. ind a strange kind e. I felt as If we V Then You, Too, Have Dabbled Criminology'? In slon that, had he gone In for crime, he would have been highly practical rather than subtle. Vance glanced over the books rapidly but carefully. It should be here, y know, he murmured, as If to himself, unless Its been taken away. . . . He got up and began to check the volume numbers of the various sets d of books. When he came to a red set of the Aussenselter der he gave a nod and Gesellschaft stepped down to the floor. A volume missing, he announced. He scanned the upper book shelves I wonder. . . . Then he carefully. dropped on hls knees and began going more thoroughly over the section of fiction. When he had come to the lowest shelf he reached forward and took out and-gol- a thin red and gold volume. He glanced ut it and leaned forward again to Inspect the books on either side of the space from which he had extracted the missing volume of the Aussenselter der Gesellschaft scries. Oh, I say! he exclaimed. Thats deuced Interestin'. Markham, It's significant that the missing volume of the Aussenselter der Gesellschaft should he found cheek by Jowl with a book dealing with a pin. Markham took hls cigar from hls mouth, stood up, and faced Vance with a serious face. he said. I see what you mean, You think that Brisbane, by the help of these books on criminology, worked out some way of bolting Archer's door from the outside, by the use of those pins and string. Vance gave an affirmative nod. Either Brisbane or some one else. It was quite a technical operation." He picked up the "Aussenselter der Gesellschaft volume. I think I'll do a bit of pryln If you could bear to wait for me a short while. Markham made a gesture of acquiescence. The sergeant and 1 will wait downstairs Ive some telephoning to do. The three of us left Vance alone in Brisbane's room, and as I closed the door, I saw Vance stretch himself out on the davenport vlth the two books. An hour later he came to the head of the stairs and called down to us. We Joined him in Archer's bedroom. "I think Ive found a solution to one phase of our problem, he announced seriously, wheL we were seated. But It may take a bit of working out. He opened the eook. The tale, as I a at hasty reading, relates of gather a dead man found locked In a vault with a key to the door on the table before him. The vault door was locked from the outside, of course. . . Here's the explanatry passage; No other word he spoke, but took something from hls pocket; It was a reel of stout cotton. Then from his waistcoat he produced a new pin, and with great care and solemnity tied the thread to the end of the pin, Tab watching him Intently. And all the time he was working, Bex Lander was humming a little tune, as though he were engaged In the most Innocent occupation. he Presently stuck the point of the piD In the center of the table, and pulled at it by the thread he had fastened. Apparently he was satisfied. He unwound a further length of cotton, and when he had sufficient he threaded the key upon It, carrying it well outside the door. The end he brought back Into the vault, and then pushed It out again from the Inside through one of the airholes. Then he closed the door carefully. He had left plenty of slack for his purpose and Tab heard the click of the lock as It was fastened, and hls heart sank. lie watched the door fascinated, and saw that Lander was pulling the slack of the cotton through the airhole. Presently the key came In sight under the door. Higher and higher came the sagging line of cotton and the key rose until It was at the tables level, slid down the taut cotton, and came to rest on the table. Tighter drew the strain of the thread, and presently the pin came out, passed through the hole in the key, leaving It In the exact center of the table. Tab watched the bright pin as It was pulled across the floor and through the ventilator. . . . Thats the way the author worked hls locked door." But, There objected Markham. was an open ventilator In the door, and space beneath the door. These conditions are not true here. Yes of course," Vance returned. But don't overlook the fact that there was a string and a bent pin. At least they are common Integers In the two problems. . . . Now, lets see If we can combine those Integers with certain common Integers of another case." He opened the other book. Konrad," Vance explained, "was a truck driver In Berlin nearly fifty years ago. Ills wife and five children were found dead In their cellar room; and the door--a ponderous affair without even a keyhole or space around the molding was securely bolted on the Inside. The case was at once pronounced one of murder and suicide on the part of the mother; and Konrad would have been free to marry hls Inamorata (whom he had In the offing) had It not been for an examining magistrate of the criminal court, named Hollmann. Hollmann, for no tangible reason, did not believe In the suicide theory, and set to work to figure out how Konrad could have bolted the door from without. . . , Heres the revelatry passage if you'll forgive my rather sketchy sight translation of the German; 'Hollmann determined, as a last resort, to give the entire door, both Inside and outside, a microscopic examination. It required hour9 of labor, but in the end he was rewarded. Just above the bolt he found on the Inside, close to the edge of the door, a very small hole which was barely discernible. Opening the door he Inspected the outside surface directly opposite to the hole on the Inside. But there was no corresponding hole visible. Hollmann did find on the outside of the door, however, a small spot on which the paint seemed fresher than that on the rest of the W. H. Copyright by WNU Wright Service Jr door. He borrowed a hatpin from one of the tenants in the building and healing It, ran it through the bole on the inside. With but little pressure the enetrated the door, heated hatpin coming out on the outside exactly In the center of the newly painted spot. Moreover, when Hollmann withdrew the hatpin a piece of tough horsehair adhered to the pin ; and on the pin was also discernible a slight film of wax. It was obvious then how Konrad had bolted the door from without. He had first bored a tiny hole through the door above the bolt, looped a piece of horsehair over the bolts knob, and slipped the tw'o ends through the hole. upHe had then pulled the ward until the horsehair loop was dis- ... bolt-kno- b engaged, withdrawing the horsehair through the hole. A piece of the horsehair had, however, caught In the hole and remained there. Konrad had then filled up the hole with wax and painted It on the outside, thereby ellmloating practically every trace of hls criminal device. He was later convicted of the murder of hls family, sentenced to death, and hanged. . . Heath, as Vance finished reading, leaped to hls feet. "Thats a new one on me. He went swiftly to the door and bent over. Vance smiled. "Theres no hole in the door above the bolt, Sergeant, he said. No need, dont y know. Theres a keyhole. Heath squared off and looked at the the knob and pulled through the keyhole Into the hall. Markham, Heath, and I had been bolted in the rooip from the ball as neatly as If we ourselves had shot the holt and locked It. And there was no evidence of any kind save the Int hole In the crack discernible of the wall to show that It had not actually been bolted from the inside! The sergeant, after a moments stupefaction, threw back the bolt and opened the door. It worked? asked Vance, coming Into the room. It worked," mumbled Heath laconically, lighting the cigar he had been chewing on viciously for the past half hour. pin-poin- ch,t7hoThT7' often to patronize home indcstbt HEWLETT? CHAPTER VIII The Dagger Strikes. Markham sat for several minutes In a brown study. As you say, Vance, he remarked without looking up, the technique of the bolting of the door from the hall explains one phase of the problem, but Drawn and Quartered An old punishment for treason was the offender be drawn Place of execution on a hurdle- - that he be hanged by the neck and d emboweled, usually while yet that his head be severed from hi. body, and that the body be divided into four parts or quartered. ali-.-- OMiF GRAINS THE WHOLE WHEAT CEREAL Makes Cream Taste Better Western door. Still and all, the keyholes only halfway over the bolt, and eight Inches below it. No string fastened to the bolt and run through that keyhole would lock the room from the outside. nodded. Vance "True, Sergeant, Hut thats where the modification of the trick comes In. The person who planned bolting this door carried the Idea to a few more decimal points. Dont forget we have two pieces of string and two pins. Well, I dont get It." Heath still stood scowling at the door. The cases In those two books are easy enough to understand but neither of em will work here. Maybe the two together will work suggested Vance. Look at the wall Just to the right of the Jamb and opposite to the bolt. Do you see anything? I dont see much, he grumbled. Right In the crack of the Jamb and wall theres what might be a pinhole." "Thats It Sergeant!" Vance rose and went to the door; and Markham and I followed him. I think Ill try the experiment I have In mind. We all watched him with fascinated Interest. First he reached in his pocket and drew forth the two pieces of string and bent pins and the darning needle he had found In the pocket of Brisbane Coes overcoat. By means of hls pocket knife he straightened one of the pins and inserted It In the hole Heath had found in the wall at the edge of the Jamb, giving It several taps with the handle of his knife to drive It In rather securely. He then threaded the other end of the string in the darning needle and passed It through the keyhole Into the hall, removing the needle and letting the string fall to the hall floor. After this operation he bent the other pin securely round the upright knob of the bolt, passed the string over the pin he had driven Into the wall, and, threading this second string into the darning needle, passed It also through the keyhole to the hall He then opened the door about 18 Inches, drawing the two strings partly back through the keyhole in a loop to permit the door to swing Inward without disturbing hls mechanism. Let us see If the device works, he said, with an undercurrent of suppressed excitement You stay in the room while I go outside and manipulate the strings. He bent down and passed under the two strings Into the hall Then he closed the door gently, while we remained inside, our eyes riveted to the two strings and the two pins. Presently we saw the string which was attached to the bolt knob go taut, as Vance drew It slowly through the keyhole. Passing over the pin In the wall, which acted as a pulley, the string described a sharp angle, with the pin In the wall as the apex. Slowly Vance drew the string from outside and the bolt, getting a straight pull around the pin, began to move into ita socket on the Jamb. The door was bolted! The next thing we saw was the tightening of the other string the one attached to the head of the pin In the wall. There came several jerks on the string the pin In the wall resisted several times and bent toward the source of the pull Finally, it was disengaged from the wall; and it was then drawn upward from Its depending position, disappearing through the keyhole. The other string, still hooked about the bolt knob, was then drawn taut through the keyhole, describing a straight line from the bolt knob to the keyhole which was almost directly below it. Another slight pull by Vance on the string, and the knob fell downward Into its groove. Another pull, and the bent pin was disengaged from Fashion. in style Made For Western Tradi Ask Your Grocer THIS WEEKS PRIZE STORY The business outlook for oor nation Is constantly growing brighter. Better time, ire ahead for everyone. And I wonder when Prosperity has full, returned, if w. will have forgotten the economic lessons the Depression should have taught us. Have we learned that It la wise, as well M thrifty, to patronize la. dustrrea? nave we acquired the habit of demand. In Made Goods! I only hope to. I have! LEW M. CADE, Hinckley, Utah. At 400 Utah Slowly I Vance Drew the From Outside. String cant see that were any further along toward a solution of the double murder. Brisbane, after all, was a victim. Why should he have been Interested In bolting Archer In this room? Really, I couldnt say. Vance appeared as puzzled as Markham. It might not have been Brisbane at all. The fact that the pins and the string were In hls overcoat pocket means little. . . . and yet . . If you want my opinion, put In Heath, It was that Chink. Chinamen are full of tricks. Look at the puzzles those yellow babies think up. At this moment one of the detectives that had been sent out to check Miss Lakes and Grassis alibis returned to report. His report verified Grassls alibi, but left a three-hou- r period unaccounted for. Heath made a grimace at Markham. What I wanta know Is where he was between eight and eleven. He wds shuttling to and fro over our complicated transportation system according to his tale, smiled Vance. I Then he turned to the detective. say, did Doctor Montrose give you any titbits of gossip regarding Grassls call? Nothing, sir. Except that the Italian was called up on the phone during dinner. When the detective had gone Vance went to the telephone and called Doctor Montrose at hls home. After a few minutes conversation he hung up the receiver and paced up and down. That phone call to Grassi, he murmured, very strange. Doctor Montrose says It upset Grassi terribly. Hardly finished hls dinner, and seemed In a hurry to get away. The phone was In the hall Just outside the dining room door and Montrose couldnt help hearing some of Grassls end of the conversation. Montrose says he protested bitterly against the message he received called It an outrage, and Intimated strongly that he would take steps. . . . Steps now what could that mean? And who could have called him and upset him? Who knew he was going to Montrose's for dinner? . . . or Archer. . . Perhaps Brisbane ... TO BE CONTINUED. Deserts Are in Two Zones Deserts, In the popular sense of the word, occur mainly In two zones encircling the world, and corresponding to regions of minimum rainfall. 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