The
Black Box
of Silence
By Francis Lynde
Illustrations by
O. Irwin Myers
(WNl: SerTics)
(Copyright by William Gerard Chapman.)
i m
SYNOPSIS
Owen Landis, young: inventor, in
the little town of Carthage, has de¬
veloped an extraordinary “silencer,”
which is stolen from a safe in his
laboratory. Landis tells Wally
Markham, his chum, the only per¬
son, beside himself, knowing the
combination of the safe, is Betty
Lawson, daughter of a college pro¬
fessor, with whom the inventor is in
love. Markham takes a plaster cast
of a woman's footprint, found be¬
neath the window of the labora¬
tory, and takes an opportunity to
fit it to one of Betty’s shoes. They
are identical. Betty tells Markham
Herbert. Canby, a stranger, posing
as a ”promoter, ,, had driven her
home the previous night, and that
she had dozed in the car. Mark¬
ham does not tell Landis of his dis¬
covery. Vaguely suspicious of Can
by’s honesty, he searches his hotel
room, in his absence, finding two
loaded automatic revolvers and a
complete set of burglar’s tools.
Canby brings the revolvers and
burglar's kit to the hotel clerk,
claiming to have just found them
in his room. That night the safe in
the bank of the small town of
Ferthdale is blown open and looted,
the noise of the explosion being un
hftard. Satisfied that his “black box”
is in the hands of crooks, Landis,
with Markham, goes to Perthdale.
Three strangers, claiming to he
business men of Louisville, are the
only possible suspects.
CHAPTER V—Continued
—5—
“No; not wasting their time or
mine. Those I’erthdale people didn’t
have a thing on these chaps; nothing
more than that they happened to he
driving a car that looked like one
somebody had seen going through
their town. With fifteen or twenty
million cars chasing round over the
country—”
“Sure,” said Markham; then, “Did
these men say which route they were
taking to the West?”
“No; I didn’t ask ’em. But if
they're making for Colorado they
probably took the National to St.
Louis and Kansas City."
Entirely at a loss as to what to do,
other than to wait for the news of
another mysterious robbery, Markham
and Landis spent the greater part of
the forenoon making guarded in¬
quiries at the various garages and
filling stations in the hope of hearing
something which might indicate the
direction taken by the black touring
car in leaving Terre Haute, but black
touring cars passing through, in all di¬
rections, were as plentiful as failing
leaves in autumn.
“Well,” Markham announced, “I’ve
got one more shot in the locker. I’ve
just remembered that I know the tele¬
graph editor of the Chicago News and
I’ll wire him to let me know if any¬
thing breaks. He’ll do it, I’m sure.”
Markham wrote his message and
dispatched it, and within the next
half-hour an answer came. Early In
the morning, too late for the news of
it to pet into the morning papers, a
bank had been blown up In tlie small
town of Smithbury, III., and nobody
had heard the noise of the explosion.
A hasty examination of the route
map located the small town three
fourths of the way across Illinois, and
a start was made at once. By hard
driving the scene of the new devasta ;
tion was reached a little before dark,
and inquiry proved that the Perthdale
raid had been repeated, this time,
however, with a murder added. The
body of tlie town watchman had beeri
found in the debris of the wrecked
bank with a bullet through his heart.
Again, as in Perthdale, the accepted
theory seemed to be that a hitherto
unknown and noiseless explosive hdc|
been employed. At this, Landis, with
a growing sense of his culpability as
the inventor of the box of silence, in*
sisted that it was no more than right
that he should tell the story of his in¬
vention and its loss, regardless of the
consequences to himself. But to this
Markham objected strenuously.
“It wouldn’t help matters in the
least, and it would most likely mear^
all sorts of trouble for you,” was hid
emphatic protest. “You are no more
responsible than is the inventor of
the nitroglycerin or dynamite these
yeggs are using."
“But am I not withholding informa¬
tion that the authorities ought to
have?"
“They would doubtless say you were
—and give you the third degree to try
to get more out of you. No; thus far;
we have the only clew that promises
anything at all, and these city sleuths
would only make a hash of it if we
should pass it along to them. lVe’U
get a bite to eat and go on.”
“Where to, from here?" Landis
queried.
“I’ll show you, after we get a lunch
put up. We can eat as we go."
It was still early in the evening,
and, driving out of town to the south¬
ward, Markham made a half circle,
cutting all the roads leading to the
westward. At each intersection he
made Inquiries at the nearest farm
house, and by this means they were
once more upon the trail of a black
touring car answering the description
given them by the Perthdale banker.
An early rising farmer had seen such
a car; it had stopped opposite his
gate to change a tire. Markham
questioned the farmer closely.
“How many people were in the
car?”
“Couldn't tell. There was two men
changing the tire, and another in¬
side. That was all I saw."
“Could you see them well enough to
describe them?"
“Not all of ’em—just one. Tall fel¬
ler, smooth-faced, pretty well dressed.
Had somethin' the matter with one
ear—looked like what you read about
them prize fighters’ ears; I forgit
what you call it.”
“Cauliflower ear,” Markham sup¬
plied. "What kind of clothes was he
wearing?"
Here the farmer was at' fault;
couldn’t remember about the clothes
except that they were neat and citi¬
fied.
-Markham let the clutch engage and
tlie blue roadster sped on to the west¬
ward.
Throughout the evening they had
little difficulty in tracing tlie black
touring car. A garage keeper had
talked with one of the men, and he
had said he and his companions were
from Louisville and were on their
way to Colorado on a business trip.
Asked if lie had heard of the Smith¬
bury robbery and murder, the garage
man said he had; that the tire buyer
had told him about it.
“Some nerve, and it chimes in pretty
well with your notion of a bold, bad
bluff,” was Markham's comment, as
they drove on into tlie night. But
now Landis was beginning to admit
a doubt.
“We are taking an enormous lot for
granted, Wally, don’t you think? The
men are not acting like robbers.”
“You may be right, at that,” Mark¬
ham conceded. “It is all a raw
chance, I’ll admit. But now we are
on tlie way. we’ll keep going until we
catch up with them and give them the
onee-over.”
At Hannibal they learned the num¬
ber of the black car with the Ken¬
tucky license plates,
Their stop for tlie night was made
at a late hour at Ohillicothe, and as
Markham drove into the garage near
the hotel he was assigned a space be¬
side a dark-colored touring car, dusty
and wayworn. As he was giving the
garage keeper directions about put¬
ting tlie blue roadster in condition for
an early start in the morning he
chanced to glance at the number plate
of the dusty car.
“That car standing beside mine;
who owns it?" he demanded.
“I don’t know," said the garage
owner; “bought it today from two fel¬
lows who drove through from Louis¬
ville. I got a bargain off ’em.”
“Two, you say? Weren't there
three?"
“No, only two. It’s all straight.
They had a bill of sale, giving the
motor number and all. To make sure,
I wired the Louisville dealer who’d
sold ’em the car, and got his answer.
They gave me the dealer's name and
address.”
“You say they took the train. Do
you know where they were headed
for?"
“Somewhere nut in Colorado, they
said. They took the four o’clock—or
I s'pose they did.”
“Can you describe them?”
“Why—I don’t know as I could;
nothing unusual nbout ’em except that
the tali one, tlie one that did most of
tlie talking, had a queer looking bunch
on one ear. Excuse me, but what are
you two, anyway? Detectives?”
“Not exactly. But we are inter¬
ested in these men."
“No chance that this is a stolen car,
Is there?"
"Probably not, since you have traced
it to the Louisville dealer who sold
it. Did the men have any hand bag¬
gage?”
“Suitcases-—couple of ’em.”
“No other baggage?" Markham
pressed.
“Nothing but a camera. One of
'em, the short one was carrying that
in a shawl strap."
“What kind of a camera?"
“I didn’t notice, particular’; only
that it looked too big for a kodak and
not big enough for a movie machine.”
As they left the garage Markham
said, “Well, Owen, maybe it isn’t such
a wild goose chase after all. What
do you think now?”
"There have been three men in that
car all along; I’m wondering what be¬
came of the third man.”
“So am I. Also, I am wondering
why they sold their car.”
Landis was silent for a moment and
then he burst out excitedly, “I’ve got
it, Wally—I'm almost sure I’ve got
it! It was a bluff—it’s been one all
the way along. These men are tlie
men we want, and they’re going to
stop off at some small place and
wreck another bank! That’s why the
third man didn’t show up. He w-as
left behind to either buy or steal an¬
other car!”
“Too late to prove up on that guess
tonight,” Markham said. “We’ll find
out bright and early tomorrow morn¬
ing if your guess is right.”
They were up betimes to go in search
of the proof or disproof of Landis’
guess- At the place to which they
had been directed they found the auto
dealer just opening his door. Mark¬
ham introduced himself and asked his
question.
“Do you mind telling us if you sold
a car yesterday?”
“I sold two of them; one on the
installment plan, and one for good,
hard cash on the nail.”
“It is the cash sale that we are in¬
CLEVELAND COURIER
terested in,” said Markham, with his
most engaging smile. “Did you know
your purchaser?”
“Never laid eyes on him before. He
just blew in and said he wanted to
buy a car. I showed him a new eight
we'd Just got in. and lie counted out
the money, climbed in and drove off,
just like that," with a snap of his
fingers.
“Could you describe the man?”
“Yes, in a general way; medium
sized and height, somewhere along in
his thirties, I’d say, light complected,
sandy hair, smooth face, fairly well
dressed. Nothing wrong, is there?”
“Er—we don't know—yet,” Mark¬
ham said. "You say he drove away
at once? How about the license
plates?"
“I lent him a pair of m.v own—
dealer’s plates, you know. He said
he’d he in his home state in a day or
so and didn't want to buy a Missouri
license for such a short time. Said
he’d send my plates back to me when
he got home.”
“Well, where are we now?” Landis
asked, as they returned to the hotel.
“Up in the air again,” Markham re¬
plied shortly. "If your guess is right,
there was probably another bank
smash last night, somewhere; but if
there was, it may have been either
east, west, north or south. We’re
stuck again until we can get hold of
a news wire.”
Landis’ inspirational prediction of
the night before had a startling con¬
firmation. The night operator at one
of the railway stations had just come
in, and he brought the news. A bank
in a small town some fifty miles west
had been blown up early in the night;
and again, so the wire report said, the
explosion had not awakened people.
“Well, I guess that knocks the last,
lingering doubt for the count,” was
Markham’s comment upon the rail¬
road telegrapher’s story of tlie latest
foray. “The two who took the train
dropped off at the agreed-upon place,
and tlie other drove the new Fleet¬
wing. Finish your coffee and we’ll
check up on tlie guess.”
A ninety-minute run brought them
to the scene of the latest raid, the
market town of a farming community.
At the railroad station they ques¬
tioned the agent. The man’s answers,
confirmed Markham’s guess. Two
men, carrying suit cases and some¬
thing that tlie agent thought was a
camera, had arrived on tlie local train
of the previous afternoon, and, instead
of going uptown, took a waiting auto
and drove away.
“This was late fn tlie afternoon,
wasn’t it?” Markham asked.
“Along about dusk. Forty-three was
held up by a freight wreck and she
was away late.”
They took their leave. When they
were again whipping the miles to the
rear, Markham said, “Simple enough,
isn’t it?"
“Perfectly. They drove away and
waited until the town was asleep.
Their job done, they went on west—
for a guess. That’s tlie way they’ve
been heading all along. We’ve been
missing one bet as we came along,
Wally; the names of these three men.
We conld have got them from tlie
Terre Haute sheriff, or from the auto
dealer in Chillicothe.”
“Nothing to that. If they’re the
crooks we think they are, they’d use
aliases, of course; and different ones
in different places.”
"No, you’re wrong there. So far as
we’ve been able to learn, they have
been posing consistently as three
business men from Louisville rigid
from the beginning. And you’ll re¬
member that two of them gave the
Chillicothe garage man a Louisville
address to which lie could wire.”
“That’s so; I’d forgotten that. It's
either a clean slate, or the nerviest
bluff that was ever put up, Owen—and
I'm still believing it's a bluff.”
Inquiring as they went, they heard
no word of a Fleetwing Eight until
they reached St. Joseph. But here
l tie submerged trail came to the sur¬
face again. A garage man’s mem¬
oranda showed that a new Fleetwing
Eight had stopped for gas. Driving
od into the city, and to a hotel, they
found that three west-bound tourists,
hailing from ^Louisville, had come In
shortly after midnight and had gone
Immediately to bed. They had
checked out after breakfast and had
resumed their journey.
Looking up the names signed In the
register, Markham made a note of
them; and a little later a wire of In¬
quiry went to the cashier of a Louis¬
ville bank. The answer was in the
nature of a sudden bucketing of cold
water.
“Here’s where we get it in the
nose,” said Markham with a sheepish
grin, as he handed the telegram to
Landis.
Landis read. the few typewritten
lines:
“To Walter Markham,
“St. Joseph, Missouri.
“Parties named are prominent busi¬
ness men this city stop They left for
Colorado, driving, some days ago stop
Understand they are interested in
Western mines.
“A. J. Westover.”
He was watching Markham's grin
when he passed the square of yellow
paper back across the table.
“I guess that settles it definitely.
You said, in the beginning, It might
turn out to be a wild-goose chase, and
it has.”
“I’ll say it has!” Markham grunted.
“Just the same, there are still a few
things that need explaining. These
men started from Louisville for Col¬
orado; why are ‘they taking this
roundabout route?”
“There may be a dozen good rea¬
sons.”
(TO BE CONTINUED.)
IMPROVED
UNIFORM INTERNATIONAL
CUNDAY Dchool I Lesson
(By REV. P, B. FITZWATER, D. D„ Mem¬
ber of Faculty, Moody Bible
Institute of Chicago.
©, 1932, Western Newspaper Union.
Lesson for October 30
THE CHRISTIAN AND LAW
OBSERVANCE
(World’s Temperance Sunday)
Romans 13:1-7; l Corinthians 9:19-27;
Galatians 6:1-10; 1 Peter 2:11-17.
UOLDI'IN TEXT—Be not deceived:
God is not mocked: for whatsoever a
man soweth, that shall he also reap.
Galatians 6:7.
PRIMARY TOPIC—Laws tor Me to
Keep.
JUNIOR TOPIC—Why We Have
Laws.
INTERMEDIATE AND SENIOR TOP¬
IC—Observing the Law for the Sake of
Others.
YOUNG PEOPLE AND ADULT TOP¬
IC—The Church and Law Observance.
I. The Christian Obligation to the
State (Homans 13:1-7).
Tlie believer is a citizen as well as
a Christian. The instructed Chris¬
tian will be loyal to tlie state as well
as to the church.
1. Obedience to rulers (v. 1-4). This
obligation is upon all Christians. The
civil government is ordained of God
and rulers' are his representatives.
2. The spirit in which tlie Christian
renders obedience to rulers (v. 5). lie
should regard it as Iiis obligation, not
only because it serves a good purpose
but because it is morally right.
8. Method of expressing this obedi¬
ence (vv. G, 7).
a. In payment of taxes. The citizen
who enjoys its benefits is morally
bound to support tlie government.
b. Payment of duty upon merchan¬
dise, and license fees. The business
exchange between nations must be
regulated, and for this the citizen
should pay.
c. Veneration to magistrates, “fear
to whom fear.” Those who have the
fear of God in their hearts will ven¬
erate their rulers and representatives.
d. “Honor to whom honor” is due.
Civil officers should be honored be¬
cause of tlie ministry they perform.
II. The Christian’s Self-Control (I
Cor. 0:19-27).
The true way to get- people to lie
free from intemperance is to help
them gain self-control.
1. Paul’s own life and example (vv.
19-23). Though free from all men, he
made himself servant unto all.
2. The Isthmian games (vv. 24-27).
Paul uses those popular games to il¬
lustrate the need of self-control.
a. Life is a race (vv. 24-2.1). In or¬
der to win a prize there must lie self
denial and definite exertion. Tlie
Christian obtains life by contact with
Jesus Christ through faith (John 8:16;
3:36; 5:24). This he must possess be¬
fore lie can begin Hie race.
b. It is a fight (vv. 20. 27). The
Christian has a real antagonist—Ids
carnal nature.
III. The Christian Life and Walk In
the Spirit (Gal. 6:1-10).
Those who are freely justified In
Christ will live and walk as follows:
1. Restore tlie sinning brother (v.
1). “Restore" Is a surgical term
which means the placing back of a
dislocated member to its place. We
are members of tlie body of Christ
and the sinning of a brother ought as
really to give us pain as the disloca¬
tion of a member of our body.
2. Bear one another’s burdens.
3. Bear our own burdens (v. 5).
4. Support teachers of Qbd’s Word
(vv. G-8D it is incumbent upon those
who are taught ill tlie Word of God
to give of their means for the support
of the teacher (I Cor. 9:14).
5. Be not weary In well doing (v.
9). Some fail of the reward because
they quit even when the goal is near.
6. Work for tlie good of all men.
IV. The Christian's Behavior as a
Sojourner and Citizen (I I’eter 2:11-
17).
1. As a sojourner or pilgrim (vv,
11, 12). Christians are pilgrims on tlie
earth. They are journeying to their
eternal home in the heavens. Such
citizenship demands
a. That they abstain from fleshly
lusts (v. 11).
b. Behave so as to glorify God be¬
fore the world (v. 12). The word
"conversation” means behavior.
2. Behavior as citizens (vv. 13 17).
He has a responsibility ns a citizen on
tlie earth. As such he should
a. Obey all requirements of civil
rulers (v. 13). His duties as a citi¬
zen he’ performs as the laird’s free
man, not through servile fear.
b. Honor all men (v. 17). We should
see in, every man the image of God,
and in that sense give honor to him.
c. Love the brotherhood (v. 17). |
The brotherhood Is composed of those
who are children of God by faith in
Jesus Christ.
d. Fear God (v. 17).
e. Honor the King (v. 17). This
has a peculiar significance because in
all probability the wicked Nero was
then reigning as emperor.
GEMS OF THOUGHT
Many a man lives as though he
thought God was afar off.
* * *
You may understand love, but you
cannot overestimate it.
• * «
For the faithful man the way to
heaven is right straight ahead.
* • »
When Faith goes fishing it takes a
frying pan. Doubt carries a box of
sardines.
Light in Darkneai
A state health officer in Virginia
relates in the Survey the story of a
farmer who was delivering vegeta¬
bles to tlie public sanatorium. A
patient salutes him.
“You’re a farmer, ain’t yuh?”
Tlie farmer allowed that he was.
“I used to he a farmer once," said
the guest of the state.
“Did yuh?”
“Yes. Say, stranger, did yuh ever
try bein’ crazy?”
The farmer never had, and start¬
ed to move on.
“Well, you oughta try it," was the
former farmer’s parting shot. “It
beats farmin’ all hollow.”
Reads Own Death Notice
In August, 1919, Mrs. Addie Cline
felter, then of Coldwater, Mich., re¬
ceived notice that her two sons, Rob¬
ert O. and Clyde C,, had been killed
In action in a drive on the Germans,
But Clyde was not killed, and the
War department never has retracted
its death notice. He was captured.
When he returned home, his mother
presented him with Iiis death certifi¬
cate. Now each year he looks over
his “death notice." — Indianapolis
News.
Errors are seldom irremediable.
Mother of 7—Still Young
# T'HE woman who gives her
1 organs the right ' stimulant
need not worry about growing old.
Her system doesn’t stagnate; her
face doesn’t age. She has the health
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liver and strong, active
When you’re help, sluggish don’t take and the lot
system needs a
of “patent medicines.” There’s a
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Take a little every day or so, until
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The next time you have a
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If we don’t judge ourselves favor¬
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Americans are all for equality, but
not necessarily intimacy.
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“Why do you speak of your hus¬
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“Because lie so seldom works.”—
Life.
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Misfortune is good for genius; but
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