Show tad r 9 adventurers CLUB HEADLINES FROM THE LIVES OF PEOPLE LIKE YOURSELF vanishing corpses by FLOYD GIBBONS famous headline hunter H HELLO ELLO EVERYBODY you know boys and girls ive often noticed in these adventure stories how bow in a good many cases one mishap leads to another probably because the first thing that goes wrong so upsets the fellow it happens to that well he just loses his head and plunges right smack into another danger its bad business when a man loses his head in the face of danger but at the same time it has produced a lot of red hot double and triple adventures and the story im going to tell you today is a mighty good example paul moore of chicago is distinguished adventurer the events this yarn deals with happened to him and two other lads in sep 1923 at that time paul was just a kid of twelve living in grand y rapids mich paul had just been given a 53 22 caliber rifle for selling perfume and one saturday he and his two friends art fc V kohles and archie eastman started out on a hunting bunting trip JS art and archie had air rifles paul had bad no cartridges tor for his 22 but art rt said he knew where he could get some they started out early taking otheir thear lunches with them and after walking a couple hours came to a j patch of woods four miles from the outskirts of town art pounded the cartridge there seem to be any game in sight so they sat down on the bank of a small creek to eat their lunches paul had put down his gun jand and was just starting to untie the package that contained his grub when art spoke up saying there was a wild canary on the other side of the creek lets have your gun whispered art 1 I 1 cant get it with mine paul passed over his rifle art had the cartridges in his own pocket he took one out and tried to put it in the chamber it fit young art know that the cartridges he had brought from home were the wrong caliber he thought this one go into the archie pitched forward on his face chamber because the gun was new he tried to force it in in with his fingers and then in his haste to get a shot at the bird before it flew away he picked up a stone that happened to be lying at his feet art hit the bullet two or three times with that stone and then suddenly there was a loud crack the bullet exploded art dropped the gun crying im shot then he fell to the ground and lay still I 1 the other two kids stood speechless art had killed himself paul had an uncle who lived about a mile away on the other side of 0 the woods and the first thought that popped into his mind was to run there and get help he told archie to stay behind with art but archie insisted on going along with him they started off on a short cut through the woods running as fast as their legs would carry them on the other side of the fhe woods they came to the tracks of the interurban line that runs out of grand rapids there was a third rail along the right of way set up a foot or so above the ground paul knew about it he was well up ahead of archie and he went over it with a flying leap but he be think to warn archie about that electrified rail his mind was too full of the thought of art lying back there by the creek bank archie stepped on third rail the next thing paul knew archie was stepping on an that rail he just lit on it for an instant then he pitched forward on his face and he too lay archies archias Ar chies body was lying between the two tracks 1 I 1 took one look at him says paul and decided he be was dead then I 1 turned and ran as if the devil was after me it was a long way to his uncles house and by that time paul was all but out of breath but he dare stop running he stumbled on at last he reached the house and burst in panting uncle abe quick arts killed himself with my gun and archies archias Ar chies been electrocuted electrocute di 1 everyone in the house including two old ladies who were visiting 9 pauls aunt dropped whatever they were doing and started for the tracks they hurried through brush and corn fields to the spot where archie had fallen and when they arrived there was no sign of archie uncle abe turned on paul young man he said sternly are you sure this a joke of some kind but it was no joke to paul he thought maybe a passing interurban had stopped to pick archie up he crossed the track and started started through the woods toward the stream where they had left art both bodies had disappeared the women turned back but uncle abe followed along after him they ran through the woods in breathless haste tore up to the spot where art had shot himself and then paul stopped dead in his tracks art was gone tool too it was too much for paul his uncle was looking at him suspiciously and he hardly knew what to say how could paul ask him to believe that two dead boys had both disappeared one right after the other he stood there silent a minute and then he heard beard sounds of splashing water and of voices coming from some point down the stream together they walked toward those voices and there they found art and archie it was all explained easily enough archie had been knocked out by the shock from the third rail he had a big bump on his head but that was all the damage that had been done to him when he came to he went back to where axt art had fallen and found him bathing his leg which had been grazed on the calf by a bit of the exploding shell together they had moved down stream a ways and where paul found them and all there is to this story except that a short time after that art and archie and paul took that 22 rifle and pitched it in the grand river copyright service |