Irwinton bulletin. (Irwinton, Wilkinson County, Ga.) 1894-1911, October 06, 1911, Image 8

Irwinton bulletin., October 06, 1911, Image 8

About Irwinton bulletin. (Irwinton, Wilkinson County, Ga.) 1894-1911 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 6, 1911)

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Newspaper Page TextBIRIMTZ o= MEADQUARTIRS B s o SYNOPSIS. i The story opens with a scream from Porothy March in the opera box of Mrs, Missioner, a wealthy widow. It is oc asioned when Mrs, Missivner's necklace gren.kn. scattering the diamonds all over the floor. Curtls Griswold and Bruxton Bands, soclety men in love with Mre. Mis wloner, gather up the gems. Griswold st?s on what is supposed to be the cele brdted Maharanee and crushes it. A Hin doo declares it was not the genuine. An exggr} later pronounces all the stones substitutes for the original. One of the missing diamonds is found in the room of Elinor Holcomb, confis#ential compan fon of Mrs. Missioner. She is arrested, ‘\otwlthstanding Mrs. Missioner’s belief n her innocence. Meantime, in &an u?- kown mansion, two Hindoos, who are in merica to recover the Maharanee, dis cuss the arrest. Detectives.Britz takes up the case. He asks the co-operation of a)r. Titch, Elinor's fiance, in running own the real criminal. Britz learns that duplicates of Mrs, Missioner's diamonds ere made in Paris on the order of Elinm Holcomb. While walking Britz is selzed, bound and gagged by Hindoos. He is fmprisoned in a deserted house, but makes his escape. He is convinced that the Hindoos are materially interested in the case. Pretending to be & reporter, Britz interviews the gwami a8 to the rare diamonds of India. Brits learns of an ime sane diamond expert on Ward’s Island and decides to Interview him. ‘ . CHAPTER XV. ' At Ward’s Island. . “It's rather a remarkable coincl dence, I'll admit,” said@ Britz to Fitch, as they stood on the deck of the little ferry boat that bore them toward the fsland; “but it’s possible your fttle old friend had something to do with the making of the imitation Mahara nee diamond. You realize thoroughly, I'm sure, the importance of that link in our chain of evidence. It may be difficult to fasten the responsibility for manufacturing all the other fraud ulent diamonds of the necklace upon the guilty person, because diamonds of that size can be imitated in any one of several large cities; but the man who made the fake Maharanee is @ past master of his craft; a man so ekiliful that even the most expert artificers of Europe and America do not pretend they can equal him.” _ “What makes you think the curio dealer had anything to do with it?” asked Fitch. “How could it be done? I thought the Maharanee was made quite recently?” | © “T don’t know how long it's been,” the detective replied. “It may have been only a few months, and the dia mond, it is possible, may have been copied any time within the past year. That big office building has been less than a year in construction, and it's well within the bounds of fact that the curio dealer received the commis sion for the work twelve months ago, or possibly more.” “Oh,” gaid the physician, “there is one flaw in your theory. He was not ‘ a fakir. All the information I gleaned about him convinced me he was not‘ engaged In the manufacture of bogus | Jewels. His grand purpose in life was to make real diamonds.” | “Precisely,” said Britz. “It is that fact, much more than anything else, that leads.me to think he may be in the employ of the persons we are trailing. Doesn’t it occur to you that the false Maharanee, in order to de celve Mrs. Missioner and all her friends for so long a time, must have been such a beautiful plece of work that it could not have been intended as an imitation? In other words, didn’t the man who made the imita tion Maharanee believe he was manu facturing a genuine diamond?” ‘ The Ilittle boat grated lits nose against the Island pier, and the two fnvestigators sprang ashore. As soon es they entered the asylum grounds, their positions were reversed. Fitch became the mentor, Britz the willing pupil, for in that abode of darkened reason were medical men whose hour 1y association with that phase of ex istence made them welcome gladly visitors from the ouler world—espe cially members of their own profes sion. Fitch, as he ran up the steps of the wvisitors’ entrance, was received royally in the office by three or four phydicians and surgeons who had ¥nown him in his Bellevue days. There was no jealousy of his success among them. He had shot ahead of several of them, and it was pretty well un derstood among the Island doctors that Lawrence Fitch was rapidly torg ing to the fore as a fashionable physician. What was more important in their eyes was the fact that he had gained real distinction in his profes slon. Several minor but heilpful dis coveries of his had been recorded gratifyingly in the “Lancet,” and more than once his name had been mention ed with flattering recognition at meet ings of the County Medical Soclety. Pitch was now In his element. He grasped warmly the hands held out to him, clapped two or three of his closer e¢ronies on the back, and pre sented Britz to the little group with a few words of Introduction that won respect for the man from Mulberry Street. X “Got a patient here, Larry?” they asked him jokingly. “No,” sald Fitch, “not exactly a pa tient; but it’s possible you have a case here I'm a little hit ilnterested in” He recited the history of the curio dealer, with an urgent request that everything in connection with the old man be revealed to him. Britz, ac customed as he was to glean his facts ‘tollsomely, .was unmistakably sur prised by the readiness with which aach of Fitch's friends promised ald, and hastened to put thelr promise into execution. One of the younger doctors showed himself familiar with the old dia mond maker's case, and seemed thor oughly to understand hls delusion. “He s now in my ward,” he sald. “He has been there six months; rath er unusual caseé; harmless but hope legs. Can't rid thimself of the idea that diamondg are banked up all around him, gnd that all he has to do ; {s to make ene with his own hands to ‘possess the whole of that wealth in jewels. He does hiz best to make It, too. Unfortunately the ingredients he demands include several dangerous chemicals, and of course he cannot be ‘trusted to go pounding away with a pestle and mortar when his brain is so far gone that he i 3 likely to for get the combination.” ] ' The other_medical men looked n terested. & . “What do you do with him, doctor?” ‘ asxed Fitch. “Oh, I substitute harmless things— a little bismuth aund sodium phosphate, and a dash of French chalk, and he“ thinks he has' everything he needs. All the stuff he wants that is not dan gerous I let him have. He is happy enough mixing and mashing the paste and hammering away all day long. He rolls the mass into dirty little gray balls, and thinks they are diamonds.” “Let us have a look at him,” said Fitch. | “Sure thing! You don’t mind if Il don’t go with you? I have an ampu tation on in about ten minutes, and as | there is a green nurse helping me, I don't want to take any chances in let ting her monkey with the ether cone. So you won't mind, will you, if I ask | you to run right along by yourself? Stay as long as you like.” Britz and Fitch were glad enough of an opportunity to question the old man without an auditor, and with a brief, “So long!"” to his colleagues, the doctor piloted the detective through dreary stretches in that home of hopelessness to the ward where the curio dealer was found. : ; In a sunny corner of the long, bleak room, the barrenness of which was re lieved slightly by a few boxes and pots of geraniums and fuchsias on the window sill, seated at a bench cover ed with odd-looking leather, was the little oid man the physician and the Headquarters sleuth sought. In the patient’s face was a rapt look that told them he was as far away from his present environment as if he had been in the little dingy curio shop where young Dr. Fitch first had seen him. His pllant hands had been plunged many times into a dough-like lump plastic as a sculptor’s clay at one end of the bench. A row of jars at the back of the bench was flank ed by a phalanx of vials. An earthern bowl half full of water stood at.his right hand. Directly In front of him, scattered In ,workmanlike: cenfusion, were several palette knives and mix ing brushes. Ceaselessly his fingers plucked tiny pellets from. the plastic lump, rolled and patted them, dipped them in the bowl of wafer, coated them with the many-colored contents of the vials and jars, then trundled them upon the board with industry purposeful of performance, but pur poseless of achievement. At times a spectral smile seemed to glow upon his cadaverous features—a faint gleam like the specter of a corpse-light. The sunlight, reflected from the rows of jars and bottles, play ed queer tricks with the countour of bis face and gave his tireless hands a ghost-like appéarance. He was a poor little shriveled remnant of a man, the dried core of what had been a dab bler in the.ocecult, and “which along normal channels might have been a distinguished scientist. Na one look ing at him could ever have pictured‘ him as possessed of the greed of gain. Britz, though he made no pretense of being a psychologist, comprehended at a glance the outer vision of the( former curiosity shop proprietor con veyed little to his distraught scien tific mind. ,Beyond doubt, the old‘ man, as Fitch had said, had run the shop merely as a means to an end. Fitch and Britz stood fooking at him | for a few moments before he became} aware of thelr presence. When at last he glanced up, a shade of perplex ity flitted across his face, his fingers halted, but they did not stop fn their studious task, and he looked at them inquiringly. With a slight shake of his héad he apparently gave up the attempt to puzzle out their identity, and once more bent his eyes on the bench he firmly regarded as the thres hold to Golconda. : . “Guess you don't remember me, Mr. Martin,” saild the doctor. The old man appeared not to hear, Britz ana Fitch ‘exchanged glances, and the detective took up the attempt to awaken a re sponse from the aged inmate’s mental vacuum. “Pretty busy man, eh?” said Britz. He had touched the right chord. Any reference to the industry that ab sosbed his fading senses was sure to arouse the intelligence of the old curio dealer. He nodded briskly, and went on with bis work more zealously than before. 2 : “Got to finish a contract on time?” the Headquarters man pursued. His Pliant Hands Had Been Plunged Many Times Into a Dough-Like Lump. ed by a swift search of the detective’s face on the part of the old man’s sunken eyes. “Rather interesting work you're do ing,” pursued the detective. Thereupon Mr. Martin rejoined: “It is the only work that can inter est'me. I have given my life to it.” “Find it profitable?” Inquired the sleuth. For an instant those gray fingers paused in their manipulation of the clay pellets. 4 “Well, it depends on what you call profitable, young man,” answered the ward of the State. “There are things more important than monetary gain.” +“Oh, yes, I know, I know,” ‘saia the detective hastily. “I suppose your work i 3 purely scientific?” - “It is more than sclence,” ‘answered Martin. “It is art, philosophy, philan thropy—everything. It is the crystal lization of the beautiful. Love is beau ty, and beauty is life. All mankind needs {8 beauty In greater measure and higher degree to attain perfection of happiness.” “And you are engaged in forward ing that theory?” “Yes,” said the old man simply. *I have. taken upon myself the task of glorifying every home in the world with the prisoned sunshine of the cen turies. Every abode of man, however humble, should be illuminated by the light of diamonds. The diamond is the most exquisite expression of crea tive love we have. The only trouble is that we have not enough of them. It has remained for me—lt has re mained for the poor old student.of mysteries to find the key to the true jewel wealth of the universe. For thousands of years men have been seeking diamonds in the ground. I take them from the air.” In similar vein he ran on, his words betraying the strange groping of a clouded mind that in its time had been neaser the truth than most men’s. There was something extraordinary about the little old fellow’s brain, It had not cracked; rather, it had been attenuated by overstrain. It was after “But | Have Got to Have the Necessary Time" 'a pracess of patient questioning cov ‘ering so long a time that it ended in ‘the twilight, that Britz led the tireless worker back to days before his arrival in the asylum. The protracted inquiry taxed all the detective’s skill in.word ‘handling. Fitch, scientist though he was, long conversant with the phenomena of the mind as he had been, marveled at the Headquarters man’s adroitness. Long before Britz had finished his task, the doctor, in sheer weariness dropped into a chair and stayed theie in silent attention. But the detective remain ed on his feet, immutable as the in carnation of will itself, and slowly, cautiously, persistently piloted that darkened intelligence out of its depths back to at least a gloaming of coher ent memory. So guided, so aided and lifted along the difficult: backward path, Martin’s mind reverted to in stances that hung like stalactites from the cavern ceiling of restrospection, It was in a flash of intelligence, brief ly eliminated as a twinkle of daylight seen from the recesses of a cave, that the old man recalled the great triumph of his strange craft. e “I have made diamonds, yes,” he sald in response to a query from the detective, swift and searching as a rapier thrust, “beautiful enough to hang about the neck of a princess; brilliant enough to glorify the hut of a toiler in the fields; but there was one—ah!” His recollection reveled in widening circles until its force was spent. For a long time, his hands motionless again, he sat gazing into the past. Britz, feeling that he was on the edge of an impoetant disclos ure, waited patiently. Fiichsecdrcely breathed. “I mind wme,” the one-time curio dealer resumed, “of the one great dia mond that came as the grand reward of_all my labor. Ah, that was a dia mond! But though it was a wonderful achievement, I dishonored myself in the making of it for—'" and a faint flush deepened on his parchment face, “I fashioned it for gain!” Without an instant’s warning he pushed away the bench, dropped his face into his hands and gave way to grief that moved equally the man long hardened to dissection of the body and the veteran crime hunter accus tomed to vivisection of the soul. Few things are more terrible than to see an old man weep. It is dual sur render, for tears are the prerogative of youth and womanhood. Britz and Fitch with difficulty controlled their own emotions just for a moment, for tears streamed over the ashen coun tenance of the broken amateurtal chemist, and his wasted form writhed and rocked {n convulsive sobs. “I have had my punishment,” said Martin when at last the tempest had ispent itself; “but, oh, the long years —the long years of remorse! Urged by poverty, that enemy of seekers aft er truth and beauty, I succumbed to the temptation the stranger held out to me. I made the great diamond as he desired—and I gave it to him for his gold!” The doctor glanced swiftly at the detective and started to speak. Britz raised a warning hand, and - Fitch checked 'his exclamation. Seating h”lmselt for the first time the Central Office man—the prober of mysteries— laid -his hand encouragingly on the diamond-maker’s shoulder, and said: “There now; don’t let it distress you so much. Other men have done things far worse than that!” “Nothing could be worse,” screamed Martin, springing from the low stool on which he sat and facing his visi tors in an agony of abasement. “I gsold the delight of my eyes, the light of my life, the star of my soul—the queen of all jewels, the purest, truest, most heautiful diamond the world has ever known!” “Yes,” said the detective, “but don’t forget it was yours to sell. You had a right to do as you pleased with it.” “I had no such right,” cried the al chemist. “That diamond was the product of my laboring hours. I brought it forth from the air, the sun shine, . the sllver water, the milk of the ‘moon, as an Aphrodite Is fashion ed of dew and mist. It was not a mere stone; it had thought and sense and soul; it was a microcosm of the marvelous!” Fitch could not hide his astonish ment at the learning and poetry the fearfully agitated old man displayed. Britz himself, had not his thoughts been focused rigorously on his pur pose, would have stopped to wonder at them. As it was he struck the iron of the alchemist’s remorse at white heat. “What did the stranger want with. it?” demanded the detective. “] don’'t know,” said Martin. His voice still trembled, his features worked, his hands fluttered and knot ted themselves in the intensity of his emotion. ‘‘He came to me a stranger; he went away the same, and with him went my queen of jewels, my beauti ful, beautiful diamond of diamonds! But I will find him,” he shrieked. “For centuries 1 have been upon his path. He thought all things ended between us when he lured me into parting with my treasure. He said because he had suggested the outline and color of the stone he had a right to make me give it to him for his money; but it was I—l who thrust into the center of the glorious gem the fire from heaven. I penned the sun bursts in the priceless prism, and it is mine. It is mine by right of crea tion!” This outburst excited the old man, but in a little while there was an other outburst of his emotions. ‘He fairly shouted: *“I will have him, though. 1 will come up with him yet, and when 1 do, I will give him back his money and make him return the diamond to me. He thought he left nothing to tell me who he is. He thought I never would be able to find him in this big town. He felt sure the old curiosity dealer would not venture far enough away from his shop to track such a fine gentleman. But he forgot one thing, I have kept it all these years, and through it I will find him yet!” Abstractedly he thrust his hand into an inner pocket and fished out a bit of cardboard. Excitedly he waved it in front of the detective's eyes. Briuz resisted for a moment the impulse to snatch it from his grasp, but he gripped himself sharply. Awaiting de velopments was one of the detective’s strong points. As he expected, the old alchemist was in a state of mind to share his knowledge with any body. After a few more flourishes, Martin laid in Britz’ hand a man’s vis iting card, face down. Studiously avoiding any appearance of haste, Britz turned it up and read the single line engraved upon it. Without the tremor of a muscle, and with only one swift significant look, he passed the card to Fitch. The doctor, a little less self-re strained than the detective, looked steadily at a drawing on the back, gazed earnestly at the inscription.on ‘the face, then wonderingly, before the card fluttered from his fingers, he ‘read the line aloud. S MR. BRUXTON SANDS. ¢ CHAPTER XVI. B } The Assistant District Attorney., While Britz was struggling with the ‘tangled threads of contradictory ecim cumstances that constituted the fab ric of the diamond mystery, the dis trict attorney’s office was not inactive. With the slow stealthiness of a cat approaching its prey it combined the disconnected fragments of evidence gathered by the police into the sem blance of a perfect case, and prepared’ to. present it to a jury. The grand Jury had indicted Elinor Holcomb, and: again she was dragged into the glare of a courtroom, this time to plead to the indictment. There remained only the -verdict of a petit jury to open the gates of state's prison for her. fer lawyer was served with the fateful notice of trial, and sne was made to realize the great struggle was about to begin. - Assistant District Attorney = Mott was taking a last survey of the depo sitlons in the case, mentally picturing the curtain of gilt he would weave be fore the jury. To his mind the evi dence was conclusive. It pointed irre sistibly to Miss Holcomb as the thief. And yet, the prosecutor felt there was something strapgely lacking in the structure; something that made it appear hollow and unreal. No other reasonable explanation of the disap pearance of Mrs. Missioner's neck lace offered itself, and still it was hard to conceive Miss Holecomb as the thief. Mott knew that the same um certainty’ in tha minds of the jurors would inevitably result in a verdict of acquittal. The benefit of any reason able doubt as to her guilt must go to her, and he realized he had yet to eliminate that last slim possibility of a verdict favorable to the prisoner. Were it an ordinary larceny case he would be content to offer the testi mony at hand and leave the verdict to the conscience of the jurors. But this trial would fill thousands of news paper columns. The press of the en~ tire country was on the alert for it. It meant much to a struggling assist ant to obtain a convietion in so fa mous & case. To lose, he feared, would reflect on his own competence. The entrance of Britz brought the prosecutor out of his absorption. “Just the man I wanted to see,” he greeted. “And I'm equally glad to find you in,” the detective returned. “I've got the evidence down pat,” Mott responded. “It seems completes; and yet, somehow, I feel that it is not entirely convincing. I want to get something to clinch it. It's a pretty tough proposition at best to get a con viction en ecircumstantial evidence when the defendant is a woman of good appearance, and I don’t want to slip up on this case. We haven’t got much time left. The case is on the calendar for next Monday.” “That’'s what I came to ses you about,” informed Britz. “I want to get you to adjourn the trial a month.” “New facts?” anxiously inquired the prosecutor. “Yes.” “Who do you think did the trick?” suddenly questioned Mott, ‘“Sands, Griswold or the Indian serv ant,” came from the detective's hesi tant lips. The prosecutor’'s hands went above his head in a despairing gesture. “Is that as far as you've arrived? Three suspects, and you've no ldea which one you want! What sort of weak stuff is in your possession that you don’t know whom you're after?” “The circle is narrowing very quick ly,” Britz observed. “In the next few days I'll 'know who committed the robbery, how it was committed, and where the jewels were taken. But I rave got to have the necessary time.” “All right,” agreed the prosecutor. He called a clerk and directed him to inform Miss Holcomb’s lawyer that ~ the case had been withdrawn from the calendar for a-month. The detective was reaching for his hat when Donnelly and Carson burst into the room. Donnelly’s face was flushed with the news of a great dis covery. Carson was smiling approve ingly on his partner. (TO BE CONTINUED.) Bitterly Disappointed. Here’s a story in the week’'s annals of Maine merchants, this time from Portland. A Portland tradesman was visited by-a friend from the country and among attempts to entertain took the visitor to the theater. When the lights were low the merchant qipletly drew forth a pair of opera glasses and handed them to his guest. A con tented “Ah” slipped from the man from the country and iben his arms in the air were faintly discernible. “What’s the trouble?” asked the host. The answer came in a distressingly plain whisper-of disappointment: “Oh, nothing, only the thing’s empty.” Good ldea. Jack Hardup (with unwonted enthu siasm)—"By Jove! I see jthat some fellow is talking about introducing & bill into the house making it a mis demeanor to send annoying lettens te anybody. Very clever idea, that. Il have my _tailor locked. up for .ll_ months, by Jovel” ;