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And Reproduced in Motion Pic tures the Pathe Players, Including f ' x -V'T I ■ ■ | V , K v ' ;■ J. .*V ■" ■Jr* Bs»g§r . ':•< , v:-' : v. 'i ws&&%£ V- ' *MP*. * qgS ■ Arnold Daly Who Plays "Craig Kennedy’’ in "The Exploits of Elaine.’ (Continued from Preceding Page.) man, he turned to Elaine, and in a low voiee exclaimed: "The Clutching Hand did this. I shall consecrate my life to bring this man to justice!’’ He spoke tensely, and Elaine, looking np into his face, as if imploring his help in her hour of need, unable to speak, merely grasped his hand. Kennedy, who, in the meantime, had stood apart from the rest of us, was ex amining the telephone carefully. "A clever crook,” I heard him mutter between his teeth. "He must have worn gloves, Not a finger print—at least here.” had already attached a voltmeter to the wires he had installed, waiting. Just then could be heard the tinkle of Dodge’s telephone, and the old man rose to answer it. As he did so he placed his foot on the iron register, his hand taking the telephone and'the receiver. At that instant came a powerful electric flash. Dodge sank on the floor, clutching the in strument, electrocuted. Below, the mas ter criminal could scarcely refrain from exclaiming with satisfaction as bis volt meter registered the powerful current that was passing. A moment later the criminal slid silently into Dodge’s room. Carefully putting on rubber gloves and avoiding touching the register, he wrenched the telephone from the grasp of the dead man, replacing it in his normal position. Only for a second did he pause to look at his victim as he destroyed the evidence of his work. Minutes were precious. First Dodge’s pockets, then his desk engaged his atten tion. There was left the safe. As he approached the strong box, the master criminal took two vials from his pockets. Removing a bust of Shakespeare that stood on the safe, he poured the con tents of the vials in two mixed masses of powder, forming a heap on the safe, into which he inserted two mugnoshrm wires. He lighted them, sprang back, hiding his eyes from the light, and a blinding gush of flame, lasting perhaps ten sec onds, poured out from the top of the safe. It was not an explosion, but just a dazzling, intense flame that sizzled and crackled. It seemed impossible, but the glowing mass was literally sinking, sink ing down into the cold steel. At last it burned through- -a* if the safe had been of tinder! Without waiting a moment longer than necessary, the masked criminal advanced again and actually put his hands down through the top of the safe, pulling out a bunch of papers. Quickly he thrust them all, with just a glance, into his pocket. Still working quickly, he took the bust of the great orator, which he had removed, and placed it under the light. Next, from his pocket he drew two curious stencils, as it were, which he had appar ently carefully prepared. With his hands, still carefully gloved, he rubbed the stencils on his hair, as if to cover them with a film of natural oils. Then he deliberately pressed them over the statue in several places. It was a peculiar action, and he seemed to fairly gloat over it when it was done and the bust returned to its place, covering the hole. As noiselessly as he had come, he made Kis exit after one last malignant look at Dodge. It was now but the work of a moment to remove the wires he had placed and climb out of the window, taking them and destroying the evidence down in the cellar. A low whistle from the masked crook, now again in the shadow, brought his pal stealthily to his side. "It’s all right,” he whispered hoarsely to the man. "Now you attend to Limpy Red.” The villainous looking pal nodded and, without another word, the two made their getaway, safely, in opposite directions. up on Park Row. There he might have been seen drinking with anyone who came along, for Limpy had money—blood money—and the recollection of his treachery and revenge must both be for gotten and celebrated. Had the Bowery "sinkers” not got into his eyes he might have noticed among the late revellers a man who spoke to no one, but took his place nearby at the bar. Limpy had long since reached the point of saturation, and lurching forth from his new found cronies he sought other fields of excitement. Likewise did the new comer, who bore a strange resemblance to the look-out who had been stationed out side at the Dodge house a scant half hour before. What happened later was only a matter of seconds. It came when the hated snitch for gangdom hates the informer worse than anything else dead or alive— had turned a sufficiently dark and de serted corner. A muffled thud, a stifled groan followed as a heavy section of lead pipe wrapped in a newspaper descended on the crass skull of Limpy. The wielder of the im provised but fatal weapon permitted him self the luxury of an instant’s cruel smile—then vanished into the darkness, leaving another complete job for the Coroner and morgue. It was the vengeance of the Clutching Hand—swift, sure, remorseless. And yet it had not been a night of com plete success for the master criminal, as anyone might have seen who could have followed his sinuous route to a place of greater safety. Unable to wait longer, he pulled the papers he had taken from the safe from his pocket. His chagrin at finding most of them to be blank found only one explanation of foiled fury — that menacing clutching hand—-the real When Limpy Red, still trembling, left the office of Dodge earlier in the evening, he had repaired as fast as his shambling feet would take him to his favorite dive Kennedy had turned from his futile ex amination for marks on the telephone. There stood the safe, a moderate sized strong box, but of a modern type. He tried the door. It was locked. There was not a mark on it. The combination had not been tampered with. Nor had there been any attempt to "soup” the safe. With a quick motion he felt in his pocket as if looking for gloves. Finding none, he glanced about and seized two pieces of paper from the desk. With them, in order not to confuse any possible finger prints on the bust, he lifted it off. I gave a gasp of surprise. There, in the top of the safe, yawned a gaping hole, through which one could have thrust his arm I "What is it?" we asked, crowding ■'about him. "Thermit,” he replied laconically. "Thermit ?” I repeated. “Yes—a compound of iron oxide and ; ■' :.#k j ' •„> . .. ■ if ,.J> ■■ ■ ■ -4>vjj|'HI ■. '• g? {ft u y < ' ■ ' ' it&ti' * >&<■ tVn • .« V **?*$■$+ 1 ■' '*• • 0 ■ ' • * •* f| - <■■■:•.-••’ «■’ - •' ' h a % ■ • •• *. •; t ; - - ■ v- , - Wm -f>■«;»:.*■>'-; v ( ... jg. ,,T <*' '' . ’■ !>J: ’ 0 '•r' . r ■ r ■ ■ ■. .. . -•■" a.. ■Mi J vXv**' <■< k ; JiMm. . I .. & Peirl WTnte, Who Plays "Elaine Dodge,” the Heroine of “The Exploits of Swire.” powdered aluminum, invented by o chemist at Essen, Germany. It gives a temperature of over five thousand de grees. It will eat its way through the strongest steel.” Jennings, his mouth wide open with wonder, advanced to take the bust from Kennedy. “No—don’t touch it,” he waved him off, laying the bust on the desk. “I want no ohe to touch it-—don’t you see how careful I was to use the paper, that there might be no question about any olue this fellow may have left on the marble?” As he spoke, Craig was dusting over Perhaps I can do no better than to re construct the crime as Kennedy later pieced these startling events together. Long after I had left and even after Bennett left, Dodge continued working in. his library, for he was known as a prodigious worker. Had he taken the trouble, however, to pause and peer out into the moonlight that flooded the back of his house, he might have seen the figures of two stealthy crooks crouching in the half shadows of one of the cellar windows, one crook, at least, masked. The masked crook held in his hands carefully the ends of two wires attached to an electric feed, and, sending his pal to keep watch outside, he entered the cel lar of the Dodge house through a window whose pane they had carefully removed. As he came through the window he dragged the wires with him, and, after a moment’s reeonnoitering, attached them to the furnace pipe of the old-fashioned hot-air .heater, where the pipe ran up through the floor to the library above. The other wire was quickly attached to the telephone where its wires entered. Upstairs Dodge, evidently nneasy in his mind about the precious Limpy Red letter, took it from the safe along with most of the other correspondence and, pressing a hidden spring in the wall, opened a secret panel and placed most of the important documents in this hiding place. Downstairs tue masked master criminal Read It Here Now—Then See It All in Motion Pictures Craig Kennedy, the detective, already famous among the myriad readers of the Cosmopolitan, who solves crime by utiliz ing the latest discoveries of science, at last meets a foe worthy of his great attain ments, a real “Master Crook,” in Here are the prince of all detectives and the cleverest of all malefactors, work ing out the destiny of a rich and beautiful girl. It is fascinating fiction, made into a wonderful moving picture by such famous Pathe players as Arnold Daly, Miss Pearl White and Sheldon Lewis— The Exploits of Elaine the surface of the bust with some black powder. “Look!” exclaimed Oraig suddenly. We bent over. The black powder had, in fact, brought out strongly sonar pecu liar, more or loss regular, black smudge*. “Finger prints f” I cried excitedly. “Yes,” nodded Kennedy, studying them closely. “A elue— perhaps.” “What—those Tittle mark*—« elncT” asked a voiee behind ns. I turned and saw Elaine looking over onr shonkliirs, fascinated. It was evidently the first time she had realized that Kea- ned.v was in the room.. “How can you tell anything by thatf” she asked. “Why, Hftsfly/* he answered. ptcJfcSsg up a glass paper weight wtthsh lay on desk. “Yon see. I place my ffrrw on tins weight—so. I dust the porarri ■■ r ovur (fine ' mark—an. You eould nr* ft even -vidsoart the powder on this glass. Do vrm tm those lines? There are varioiis type* markings- four general types—<5scah person's markings are dfffrrentL, ®v«t a a4 the same general type—loop, wfcoKi^y arch or composite.” no continued working as 2te Salfaed. “ Yortr thumb marks, for exaiapSn iTiss Dodge, nre different from mine. Me. Jr.menon's are different from both <nf qp And this fellow’s finger pjrtnts are different. It is mathematically imyoasiMh to find two alike in every respect.’’'' Kennedy was holding the ;viper weight near the bust as he ta!ke<L I shall never forget the look of bfatask amazement on his face as he bent cmer closer. “My God’’’ be exclaimed ex>ritefflfc “this fellow is a master erimitial! He baa made stencils or something of the sort on which, by some mechanical process, he has aetnally forged the hitherto infallible finger prints 1” I, too, bant over and studied the marks on the bust arid those Kennedy had made on the paper weight to show Elaine. TOE FINGER PRINTS ON THE BUST WERE KENNEDY’S OWN. (Continued Next Sunday.)