Bemidji Daily Pioneer Newspaper, August 23, 1922, Page 2

THE BEMIDJ1 o SYNOPsIS s CHAPTER L—During the helght of the New Orleans carnival season Jachin Fell, 'lallhy though somewhat myllarlfl!ll cit- and Dr. Ansley, are discussing a ufltl of robberies by an lndlvldull known “ -thé Midnight Masquer, who, iavariably as an aviator, has long defied the ?ollce Joseph- Maillard, weallhy banker, giving & ball that night, at which the Yidiquer has threatened fo appear and Tob the guests. Fell and Ansley, on their ‘WaYy to the affair, meet a girl dressed as Columbine, seemingly known to Fell, but mASKed, WHO accompanies them to the CHAPTER IL—Lucie Ledanois, recent- ly the ward of her uncle, Joseph Mall- lard, is the Columbine. CHAPTER 1IL—In his library Joseph Maillard and a group of friends are heid up and robbed by the Midnight Masquer. CHAPTER IV.—Lucle Ledanois, the last of an old family, is in straitened circum- stances. Joseph Maillard’s handling of ber funds has been unfortunate. Fell is an old friend of her parents and deeply interested In the girl. Henry Gramont. really the prince de Gramont, son of & French father and an American mothen but who spurns the title of prince, Is qnamored of . Lucie and believes himself & not unfavored suitor. CHAPTER _V.—Gramont's Hammond, sergeant in the American army in France, and there known to Gramont, lives with him. He was the original Midnight Masquer, and Gramont, for & particular purpose, ‘after discover- g - Hammond's activities, assumes the- rale.” Where Hammond had been a rob- for financial gain. Gramont, of -course, 18 not. IHe arranges to return the “loot” to those whom he has robbed. ‘The jewels and money. in individual pack- ages, are got ready for delivery next day 0 their original owners. That night they are stolen from Gramont's auto. CHAPTER VI—Ben Cacherre, an In- dividual of unsavory character, appears to be assoclated with Jachin Fell, He has a peculwr interview one Mem- phis Izay Gumberts, notorinus influential crook, In which there is significant refer- enge to a mysterious “bosa." " CHAPTER VII.—Lucie summons Gra- mont to her home and shows him the packages from his auto. He admits he 4s. the Mi ht Masquer, but_ convinces her mn he had no thought of robbery. e refuses, however, to explain his pur- pose. The packages are returned to ‘their owners. —— e (Continued from last issue) T “we have about eighteen cars left,” he said to Gumberts. “Charley the Goog can attend to them, and the placeis safe enough. They’re up to you. T'm drifting back to Chi.” “Drift along,” and Gumberts nod- ced, a leer in his eyes. His face was broad, heavy-jowled, filled with a keen and forceful craft. “It's a cinch that nobody in this state is goin® to Inter- fere with us.- About them cars from Texas—any news?” “T've sent orders to bring*’em in next week.” Gumberts nodded again, and the man departed. Into the chair which he had vacated dropped Ben Cha- cherre, and took from his pocket the money he had obtalned at the bank. He luid it on the table before Gum- Dberts. “There you are,” he said. “Amounts you want and all. The boss says to glmme a receipt.” “Wouldn't trust ‘you, eh?” jeered Gumberts. “Why ~wouldn't the boss leave the money come out of the tak- 10’s, hey?” “Wanted to keep ge lrnte accounts,” 8ald Chacherre, e i Gumberts nodded and produced twe large sealed envelopes, which he pushed across, the table. | “There’s n. xakeoff for week before last,” he auntunced. “Last week will be the big business, judgin’ from early reports." ' Chacherre pocketed the envelopes, lighted a cigarette, and leaned for- wazrd. | “Say, Tzzy! You wgot to send a new man down to the. Bayou Latouche right away. Lafarge was there, you know; a nigger shot him yesterday. The nigger tbreate ned to squeal unless he got his ‘money back—Lafarge was 2 fool and didn't &now how to handle him, Ti¥: boss says to shoot a new man doy:n there.,, Also, he says, you'd bétter ‘watch oat about spreadin’ the lottery; iuto Texas and Alabama, ace coun’c of the govermment rules.” ne heavy. featwres of Gumberts clfsed in a scowl. “' “You' tell your hoss,” he said, “that when it comes to :steerin’ clear of fed- eral-men, I don’t ‘want no instructions fromj mobody! Wje got every man in u:l state_ spottexd. Every one that ! ¢ tifed is fixed—and that goes tor the legislators and politicians clear up the line! Tell your hoss to handle ‘the local gov'ment as well as I handle other fhings, and he'll do all that’s necessary. What he'd ought to attend to, for one thing, is this hare guy who calls himself the Midnight Masquer. Ive told him before that tem! ' This Masquer gets no prote:s. tion,isee? The quicker Fell goes aft gr, him.the better for all concerned—" ' Chacherre laughed, not withou,/a swagger. “We've. attended to all that, Tuzy — we've dropped. on him and fsetf led chauffeur, this guy was playing h—1 with my sys £ We've Attended to All That, lzzy— We’ve Droppedion:Him and Settied Him!" him! The guy*was iloin’ it for a car- nival joke, that's alL His loot is all goin’ back to the owners today. It needn’t worry you, anyhow! There was nothin’ much to it—jewelry that couldn’t be disposed of, for the most part. We couldn’t tiike chances on that sort o’ junk.” 3 “I should say mnot.”} garded him with a scow the stuft?” ““The boss has. Look here, Izzy, I Want you.to use a hm%nnuence with headquarters on this keal—the boss’| doesn’t want to show flls\ hand there,” and leaning forward, ‘Ben Chacherre spoke in a low tone. 'Then, Gumberts ‘heard him out, dmckw)gand nodded assent. At two that afternoon flenry Gra- mmont was summoned to the\ telephone. He was greeted by a volce‘ which he «did not recognize, but wlflch an- nounced itself promptly. H . “This s Mr. Gramont? Poilice head- quarters speakin’. You laid| a charge this morning against a fellwvy named Chachesre?” *Yes,” answered Gramont., * *Must ha' been gome mistake, then,” carhe the response. “We thoujtht the prisots fitted, but found late* they didn't. We looked up the, Chg cherre guy! and found he was v:mrkin'\stpnd_v ancf strictly 0. K.~ What's mqre to thej point, he proved %p a dead\ sure all bi for the other nifsht.” S ‘*Oh!” said Gramort. “Then\therel nejthing to be dene?)’ !“Not yet. We're workin’ on itjsand niaybe we'll havej some news l‘wr Cloodby.” Gramont hunggvip the re«elverhn puzzled frown cr{a.limg his brow. Blut, after a minute, he laughed softly--a ‘trace of anger i tlie laugh. “Ah!” he mnrmhred “1 crmgrnm3 late you on yonr a‘nclencv Mr. Fell!} But now wait s little—and ‘we'll meet] again. I think I'my getting somewhere: at last, and I'l} lm\E\a surpl?ise for you[ one of these days!'® Gumberts re- “You've got e e e e e * 'CHAPT[ER VII, \ .= v ¥ In thp Open. In New Orleans | the clnfival:\senmn s always openedy by the ball of the Tweltth Night Revelers soor! Jafter Christmas, and 15 closed by'that ofi the Krewe of Comuj on Mardlk!ra!nlxht.. Upon this eveping pf “Fat Tueisday.” indeed, both .Rex and Comus hold forth. Rex s the populsr ball, the affair of the people, and is held i1 the Athenaeum. F¥rom here, about imid- night, the Y[ng and queen proceed to Comus ba¥:, Comus is an assembly of” Siach rlrid exclusivg ness that even the tickets \to | the zvf lery are considered social prizes. ' The personae of the. Krewea on thiy particular, ip &l preyi- ous " nes, ' ‘wotld" xsr:;; ‘{'fl: nknown & thercy is no unmasking at Comus. This inst: ftution, a tremendous social power an 4 potentially a financial power also, h gld absolutely above any taint of fa- ‘soritism or commercialism. Even the families of those concerned might not always becertain whether their sons and brothers belonged to the Krewe of Comus. Henry Gramont did not attend the hall of Proteus on Monday night. In- stead, he sat in his own room, while through the streets of the French quarter outside was raging the carni- val at its height. Before him were maps and reports upon the gas and oil fieldg about Bayou Terrebonne— e I S R B b ‘| all night at Proteas! @' ring decades of the city's lite, is t"‘"‘“’ flelds. where, great dowmes_of nutural gas were already located and in use, and where oll was being found in some quantity. Early on Wednesday morn- ing Gramont intended to set forth to his work. He had been engaged to make a report to Bob Malllard’s com- .pany, and he would make it. Then he would resign his advisory job, and be free. A smile curled his lips as he thought of young Maillard and the company. “The young gentleman will be sadly surprised to discover that I've gotten out from under—and that his respect- ed father holds my stock!” he reflect- ed. “Thati#a@¥.a good deal; I lost a housand .to_old Maillard in order to nve the b-l ce of thirty thousand!” A knock' #¢ his door interrupted the thread ¢22:his: thought. Gramont opened, to:find: the conclerge;with a note which had been left at the door below by, a masked Harlequin, who had_then sappeared without await- ing any reply. Gramont recognized the wrmnx on the envelope, and hastened to the note inside. His face changed, however, as | he read it: “Please call promptly at eleven to- morrow morning. I wish to see you ;| upon & matter of business. “LUCIE LEDANOIS.” Gramont gazed long at this note, his brows drawn down into a harsh line. It was not like Lucie in its tone, somehow ; he sensed something amiss, something vaguely but mostly decided: ly out of tune. “Eleven tomorrow morning, eh?” he murmured. “That’s queer, too, for she's to be at the Pro- tens ball tonight. = Most girls would not be conducting business affairs at eleven in the morning, after being up It must be something important. Besides, she’s not in a class with anyone else, She's a rare girl; no nonsense ‘in her—full of a deep, strong sense of things—' He forced himself from thoughts of Lucie, forced himself from her per- sonality, and réturned to his reports with an effort of concentration. When Gramont went to bed that night it was with a startling and auda- clous scheme well defined in his brain; a - scheme whose first conception seemed ludicrous and impossible, yet which, on second consideration, ap- peared in a very different light. It de- served serious thought—and Gramont had made his decision before he went to sleep. The following day was Tuesday— Mardi Gras, Shrove Tuesday, the last day before Lent began, and the final culminating day of carnival. Henry Gramont, however, was destined to find little In its beginning of much personal pleasure. At eleven in the morning Hammond drove him to the Ledanois home, where Gramont was admitted by one of the colored servants and‘shown into the parlor. A moment later Lucie her- self appeared. At first glance her smiling greeting - removed. the half- sensed apprehensions of Gramont. ~Al- most immediately afterward, however, he noted a perceptible change in her manner, as she led him_ toward the rear of the room, and gestured toward a mahogany tilt-top table which- stood in a coroer. “Come over here, please. I have something which I wish to show you.” She needed to say no more. Gra- mont, following her, found himself staring blankly down at the symbol of consternation which overwhelmed him. For upon that table lay all those boxes which he himself had packed with the loot of the Midnight Masquer —the identical boxes, apparently un- opened, which had been stolen from his automobile by the supposed thief, Chacherre! For a moment Gramont found him- self unable to speak. He was thun- derstruck by the sight of those unmis- takable boxes. A glance at the calm features of the girl showed him that there was nothing to be concealed from her, even had he wished it. He was further stunned by this realiza- tion. He could mot understand how the packages had come here. Recov- ering his voice with an effort, he man- aged to break the heavy silence. “Well? I suppose you know what is In those parcels?” She nodded. “Yes. One of them was opened, and the note inside was discovered. Of course, it gave a gen- eral explanation. Will youn sit down, please? I think that we had better talk it over quietly and calmly.” Gramont obeyed, and dropped Into & chair. He was absurdly consclous of his own confusion. How had Lucle come into the affalr? This staggered him above all else. Was she behind the theft of the loot? It must be. How long had she suspected him, then? He had thought Jachin Fell the sole dan- ger point—he had never dreamed that this gray-eyed Athene could be tracing | down the Masquer! He tried to vis- lue the situation more clearly and brain whirled. He knew, of course, thu she was fairly intimate with Fell, but he was not aware of any particu- Iax connection— He glanced up at her suddenly, and { sgrprised a glint of laughter In: her eyes as she watched him. “You seem to be rather astonished,” ske observed. 4l am.” Gramont drew a deep “You—do you know that those boxes were taken from my car?” She nodded again. were brought to me. “Then you had someone on my trail?” Gramont flushed a little as The put the question to her. “No. I have beem chosen to settle ‘affairs with you, that is all. It has been learned from the note in the opened box that you were not criminal :in what you dicl.” She leaned forward, her deep eyes; searching him with a steady. mun; (Continued in Nm Issu “Certainly. They DAILY PIONEER Impulse brought you to all this? Was it a silly, boyish effort to be roman- tic—was it & mere outburst of bra- vado? It was not for the sake of rob- bery, as the note explained very clear- ly.. But why, then? Why? There must have been a definite reason .in your mind. -You would not have taken such dangerous chances unless you had semething to gain!” Gramont nodded slightly. A aulht smile touched his lips. “You're not going' to send me to prison,.I trust?”’ “I ought to!” The girl broke: into a laugh. “Why, I can hardly yet be lleve that- it was really you who were guilty of those things! It mortified me, it stunned me—until I realized: the truth from the note. Even the fact that you did not do it for criminak ends does not relieve the sheer folly: of the act. Why did you do it? Come, tell me the truth!” Gramont shrugged. “The truth? Well, my chauffeur, Hammond, was the original Masquer. I caught him in the act—you remember I told you about him? After taking him into my employ, I became the Masquer.” “Why did you do it?” persisted the girl. “Call it bravado, my dear Lucle. Call it anything you like—I can't lie to you! I had a motive, and I refuse to admit what it was; that's all.” “Aren’t you ashamed of yourself?” “Not particularly.” He smiled. “I had a good end in view, and T accom- plished it. . Now that I'm all through, now that I've finished playing my » GranMiewhat mad . I think you've been very sllly,” she | CLYDE PETRIE sald with a disconcerting calmness. He regarded her for a moment, stead- fly. “And you have displayed a fear- ful lack of judgment!” “Silly! Well—perhaps. What are you going to do with those boxes?” “T'Il put them in the mail. - I'm go- ing downtown for luncheon, and will do it then. They'll be delivered this afternoon.” He nodded. “I had meant to have them delivered tomorrow; it makes no difference. You're the boss. It will give the good people & little more reason for jubflation tonight, eh?” A sudden laugh broke' upon his lips. Lucie—and I know': to me. It was Jpchln yell h fox! I suspected that he: mon ‘m tratl, and I thought' that’ & Dad 1 aged the theft of those'boxéy. Tn'fact; T was preparing to give him's’ big sur- prise this afternoon. ' But tell me, Lu- _cie—are you angry?” She looked at him steadily for a space, then a swift smile leaped to her lips and she extended a pardoning hand. Her gesture and words were impulsive, sincere. 3 “Angry? No. 1 tmnk yon 've some good reason behind it all, which you won't confide to me. I can read you pretty clearly, Henry Gramont; I think I can understand some things in you. You're no weakling, no ro- mantic, filibustering crackbrain. And I like you because you won't lie to me. ‘You've & motive and you refuse to tell it—very well! Tl be just as frank and say that I'm not a bit angry. So, that's settled! little game, you happened to dis- com.l[-'—— - \Uontinuea m Next lssze) | bo\‘ 'f:‘”’ 785 ux‘:r’” 3 % g™ o PLAEC 108 [ Read the third paragraph of the above letter again and note that Red Crown has proved‘its superiority over’all brands of gasolifie sold in the Twifi Gities:’ The wthatRedCrownGmhne“ lsmadebymeSmndardOII .21 brs RED .:M 3 ol ¢) . ae cfl‘xfl‘d\:fl KU CoclC 3 0e® B e Ty Xl o \J 3 ! d'“’ Joape ifse ¥ g ey WEDNESDAY EVENING, AUGUST 23, 1922 O, OBEN i |SEERESS SPENDING FEW s STOREIN PINE RIVER DADYS IN BEMIDJI ClydetPetrié, who has been con- 'Miss. Ida Cline, St. Paul Seeres nected with the Bemdji ‘Hardware o di company since it opened for busi- nsttonomer.nnd ,P"’fph“ is spending ness in this city has purchased a|a few days in this city. She has quar- hardware store in Pine River, where | ters at the Markham Hotel and will he will enter business.. 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