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Show , I DR. FURNIVALL'S SOLUTION OF I ! THE COLTER "CABIN" MYSTERY : J By DR. GEORGE F. BUTLER and HERBERT ILSLEY I ; 1 Insane Hospital Houses Lad PVIiile Unjustly Accused Are Released f rom I : 1 Jail on Findings of Great Detective, I ni i ii i I" " J VERY Bliort, stout, Bailor- a I appearing man, c 1 o n n- shaven and wearing a M- I less slop-shop suit of bltio, PT""Ci'" with a rusty stovoplpo hat 'WSj' on his bend and a canvas sssbfj hag In his hand, came -"Ofil rolling up the street, und lAfiwi aftcr lool'nB hesitatingly fc3??jtvj around at the numerous Ci -Vt lodglng-houso signs In the rMi.;iJ windows of the neighborhood, neighbor-hood, Btnrted briskly up tho steps of No. 112 and pressed the button. "Muni," he said to the oldorly wom an who opened tho door, "I boo by '.heso hero notices that you hov rooms to let, and as that's what I'm arter I kinder cul'lated I'd gin ye a call. How much ho they?" Ho abstracted a hugo roll of bills from his trousers pocket and thriiBt them bungllngly Into her hand. "Do what yo can for me on thot," he continued. "Count it out und sco what's In It. 'Twas 300 when I skinned her over, and I cal'lntcd 'twould do. Stow tho ditty-box under tho borth and 'long 'bout eight bells I'll drift back and kinder tidy things up a bit for night. Good-day, mum!" Ho gavo his hat an awkward pull nnd waddled off hurriedly, leaving tho lodging-mistress red In tho face and short of breath with tho surprise of her life. "Savo us, thero's wan mnn for yousol" sho gasped, following hlni with amazed oyos ns ho stumped down the street on his short legs, tho huge trousers Hopping In tho wind, tho rusty hat pulled down to his cars and tho coatslcovcs dangling to within an Inch of tho tips of his stubby fingers. At noon tho queer lodger returned, rocelved his key and was shown to his quarters. Pausing on tho threshold ho turned to Mrs. Tull, tho flesh of his faco packed like hard putty, as Immobile Im-mobile ns a board, his unwinking oyes staring Into her own. "Mum," ho said In voice llko a foghorn, fog-horn, "my name Is Coltor, Cap'n Joshua S. Colter. This hero Is my cabin. D'yo seo? TIs mine for ono twelvemonth. Ontll thct time Is up I cal'late I'm the size myself to load It clean to tho skylight, and I don't novor 'low to hov no petticoats fussln' up any vessel o' mine. I'll swnb the docks and trim Balls inyBclf, and now you c'n go below and stay there. Show your Ilggerheod on my companions compan-ions ay agin without orders and I'll shove yo plumb overboard through the porthole." At 11 o'clock tho next morning, whon she heard him bulklly descending descend-ing tho stairs, sho stood In tho back-parlor back-parlor doorway to obsorvo him, but had tho doughty caplnln chanced to look that way he could have seen nothing but tho tip of an Inqulsitivo noso and tho too of tt largo boot. It was tho samo on tho second and third mornings, but on tho fourth the cup-tnln cup-tnln did not nppoor U o'clock as usual. Sho felt some uneasiness ovor this fact, which grow greater whon tho next day also ho remained Invisible. Invis-ible. For more than IS hours not a sound hud Issued from his room. Sho waited until tho next noon, and then, nil remnlnlng as quiet as tho houses of tho dead, sho ventured up to the head of the stairs and Htood a moment mo-ment gazing steadfastly at the closed door of the mysterious "cabin." AlwuyB ot this stago of rollectlon. with persons of Ann full's grade of mind and oxporlonco, tho pollco begin be-gin to figure. And within ten minutes nftoiwnrd sho was standing on tho stairs pointing out to an Inspector and a plaln-clolhes man the door behind which lurked some dark secret, she wns suro. I "Looks to mo ns if ho had run," said ' tho Inspector. "How much was ho Into you, Mrs. Tull?" "Not wan clnt. I know mo business. TIs In ndvanco 1 always do bo gottiug It from strange wans." "Well, I don't sco as thoro's any-Jlilng any-Jlilng for us hero," remarkod the Inspector In-spector taking a last look nround. "Lock up tho room nnd keop tho koy till his time is out, or till ho conies back. Hut If anything mnro turns up let us know nt tho station." Then ho went nwoy with his mnn. At olght o'clock a young lithographer, lithograph-er, who with his brother, a house-pajhtor, house-pajhtor, occupied tho room directly over tho captaln'B, came Jumping down Iho stairs, and tearing tho kltchon door open rushed upon Mrs. Tull, and putting put-ting hlB hands on hor shoulders bogan to sob, crying brokenly: "Oh, I am sorry, I am sorry! It was Jim und mo that dono It. I told itu we'd be found out, nnd now It's como. What shall we do? Can't you hldo us, Mrs. Tull, nnd suy nothing? Thon It will bo all right, for nobody will over know tho difference. Ho had no friends to come asking for him." "hurt's sake nllve. what's all this?" "The the cap'n!" he stammered. "Wo was playln' cards In his room me nnd Jim. He said Jim nigged on purpose, and Jim hit him." "Was ho looking, Jlst, whin Jim struck?" sho asked, cynically. "Wo didn't think at first ho wns hurt much," ho replied whlnlngly. "Hut ho didn't get up, nnd when wo went to lift him wo saw he was gone and" "Stop!" Sho put out one of her great raw- boned powerful hands nnd forced him Into a chair. Thon sho nolsolossly closed tho kitchen door nnd returning stood ponderous nnd threatening before be-fore him. "Whnt at all d'yeos mano by 'gone?' " sho nsked In a volco that frightened him with Its strength of repressed ferocity. "I m-menn ho ho was dead!" he stammered, his face us whlto as chalk. "What did ycos do wld It?" Her body was (rumbling now, hor volco broko huskily, and tho black eyes blazed. "We took him down stairs and and ovor to tho tho rlvor " With grim-sot Hps and without n word sho throw a showl over her head and marchnd tho Holf-coufesscd criminal to tho pollco station. Thcro ho told his story again, In greater do-tall, do-tall, hut essentially as liu hnd given it to her. As ho was finishing Jim wns btought In by tho two ofllco men who lind been hastily dispatched for him. Physically ho was n good duplicate dupli-cate of his brother, of slight build, falr-complexloncrt, with n face of nvcr-ago nvcr-ago intelligence now distorted with fear. He looked at tho speaker shrluklugly. and ns the last words of tho confchslon left his lips and ho bccnine silent, said to his brother: ' 'Tor God's sako, llrltt, what have you been snylng?" "I couldn't help It, Jim," answered llrltt, miserably. "1 was goln' crazy, and hnd to let It out. Something forced mo to, I don't know whnt. I hnd to speak. Hut I thought sho'd hldo us. I didn't suppose she'd go back on us this way and get us into trouble." Tho brother turned frantically to tho desk-mnn. "We didn't do It!" ho shouted nt'tho top of his voice. "It is all u Ho. I never snw tho man In my life. I don't bellovo llrltt over did olthor. Wo never was in his room. We didn't know he was missing until tn-nlght when wo came home. They told us on the strcot, and ho wus as much surprised sur-prised as I was." llrltt shook his heud sorrowfully with a fill in smile. Ills brother gnzed at him In terror, his face as whlto as a Bhcet. His Hps began to twitch, his hnnds opened and shut upnsmodlciilly, his body trembled violently, His knees bent suddenly, und ho fell to tho floor In n dead faint. "ISpllepsy!" said tho desk-man. "That sottlca It. He's nn epllectlo, with homicidal tendencies, very likely, Just tho kind to do n Job llko this one,'' The next day u small, (lurk, nervous man of CO, with shrowd black and snappy eyes, evldoutly a farmer In IiIb Sunday clothes, called on Dr. FurnI-vail. FurnI-vail. "Wnl," ho said, his oyes searching tho floor as If for words, "my namo Is Alfred (Ireely, and I live In Winchester. I've got two boys In this horo city, nnd one on 'em says they they killed a man, and t'other says they didn't. It don't look noways reasonable to mo thnt either on 'em could do sech n thing, they bed eech n good brlngln' up by their mothor, but thoy'vo ben nwny from homo a purty considerable time now, and p'nps they got lntor bad comp'ny. I rtunno. They was nllers goods boyB to homo. Anyways, mother has sent mo hero to kinder look out for 'em, nnd llnd out tho truth of whnt they dono, nnd stnn' by 'em whatever It was." He paused, lifting his head with a shade of sternly stern-ly repressed shamo In his oyes. "Tho world Is wicked," ho wont on, with nn effort, "and I rtunno. Mono of us ain't perfect. P'aps thoy was led wrong by somebody. P'nps thoy wns wrong tlioli selves. Hut I got to do whnt 1 cnn. I reckon It'll cost a mnstcr sight of money but thoro's tho farm, wuth sunthin' llko four thousnn', nnd thero's a llttlo In tho bank" "Ii Is the caso of Capt. Coltor, Isn't It," afllrmud rather thnn naked Dr. Furnlvnll, eying tho visitor Interestedly Interest-edly through his colored spectacles. "Yes, sir." , "Was thoro ovor a caso of opllopsy In tho family, that you know ofbuck to, say, your grandparents or great-grandparents?" "Not ns over I heard on," ho answered. an-swered. The bars of tho cell-door loomed Inexorably In-exorably between them, but tho old mnn advanced, strengthened pcrhnps by a thought of tho gray old mother and wife nt home, and stoutly thrusting thrust-ing his nrm to the elbow between tho cold Iron rods wrung his boy's hand. "You needn't open tho door, O'Loary," said Dr. Furnlvnll to tho lurnkoy." "At any rate not yet. Ho-main Ho-main hero and remember what passes, llrltt, If that Ik your name, como for-wnrd for-wnrd whore wo cnn sco you. Thcrcl Now toll us when you first snw Capt. Colter?" "I saw him Tuesday night, tho first time nnd then again Frldny night. Thnt was when wo dono It." "How did your brother como ro strlko him?" From tho moment when his eyes first became settled In those of Dr. Furnlvnll tho expression of his fnco begnn to change from self-consciousness to nervousness, to perplexity, to surprise, to earnestness, nnd finally, as ho Interrupted himself to nsk tho question, to deep nnd absorbed though. And nlmost Instnntly ho- continued, In tho innectionless tones of n long-deaf long-deaf man: "I novor sav Cnp'n Colter In my life!" Tho fnthcr uttered nh oxclamntlon of eagerness mingled with nmazo-mcnt, nmazo-mcnt, but Dr. Furnlvnll motioned for silence. "Toll mo," ho said to tho prisoner, "why you Bald you nnd your broth'or hnd dono this thing?" "I don't know." "Did you ever do violence to any body, you or your brother either?" "No sir we never hurt nnybody." "You llko to read about pcoplo being hurt, In the uccldent columns, und In stories, don't you? ' . . ') such thing! distasteful to you?" "I read all I cart poi ubout them." "Do you ever feel quser In tho head depressed or confined, or ns If you wanted to got nwny from yoursolf?" "I'm whlrly-hended often, nnrt I enn't think sometimes. My head aches a gocd deal . go out In the night and run It oft ' "That's all. Come, Air. flreely, we'll hnvo them out of horo sooner or lntor Thero's a largo ball nf red tnpo tc unwind and we'll begin at onco." "Hut." fnltored tin- luwlldeied old man, his mind torn bi yn -n rellof nnd puzzlement, "If they never dono nothln' of tho kind how In nniur' how whnt dirt ho Bay so for?" Dr. Furnlvnll did not wish Just yet to Inform this loyal old father that his son was nllllcted w'th Insane orrabuml tendencies, of n clnss' to wl' li solf-Inculpntlvo solf-Inculpntlvo confessions, wholly false, aro so common thnt Qulntllaln held a suspicion of Insanity to bo Inherent In all confessions. He wished to see the boy ngntn und decldo whnt would best bo dono with him. He hail suspected from tho first thnt this brother and not tho other wns tho afflicted ono, If either of them were, tho fit of Jim In tho pollco stntlon being merely a natural fnlnt Induced by tho horror of his position. Two nights later Ann Tll was startled out of her slue) In tho back parlor by a sound In tho room over-heud, over-heud, the cnbln of mystery. Hor feet struck tho floor with the suddenness of thought, nnd gooded by the multitudinous multitudin-ous superstitions honestly Inherited from gonorntlons of wlld-hendcd ancestry, an-cestry, sho plunged Into hfy clothes nnrt llow around tho corner to tho pollco station. Two officers honrd hor news nnd hastily nccompnnlcd her back. Thoy crept softly up tho stairs, tho door of the "cnbln" was wldo open ami tho citptntn stood shaving beforo the mirror, s Tho cuplnln looked at tho policemen Ho showed no surprise. On tho contrary con-trary ho begun to address thorn at once ns if ho hart been expecting this visit, explaining In short, vigorous nnrt forceful phrases that his daughter wished him to live on tho farm with her nnd her husband, while ho wished to contlnuo going to sen n llttlo longer. A compromise hnd been effected by his taking this room near tho watsr whero ho could get a sight of It when he liked, and Inhale Its odors, and novnrtholoss might bo whirled In n hnlf hour by train to his daughter In tho country. Thnt wns whore ho had Just been. Tho next morning Dr. Funlvnll cnllort on tho captnln nnd accompanied him to tho district nttomoy's olllco. The result was that beforo night the (Ireely boys wero released. ' llrltt, howovor, only exchanged tho Jail for nn Insane hospital, where he remains todny. (Copyrliftit, IMS, ly W. 0. Chapman.) (Cupyrlulit in Ureut Drltuln.) |