The Bismarck Tribune Newspaper, April 26, 1930, Page 4

‘he Bismarck Tribune x 1.2 (Official City, State and County Newspaper) Foreign Representatives SMALL. newport (ncorporat Formerly G. Logan Payne Co. CHICAGO NEW YORK BOSTON The Fascination of Sherlock Holmes In actual life crimes are solved in a very awkward » if not actually by beating confessions out of the ) perpetrators by savage third degree methods, often of ‘Pctual assault. Key clues, which are the end of the figurative ball of yarn to be unraveled in the solution of crime, may come from sources lacking altogether the veneer of cleverness. A stool pigeon, an ignorant laborer, a pig woman riding ger mule home in the dark, a moron even may furnish the key to unlock a mystery to which a whole continent whrills, It is only in fiction that crime solution becomes actual- ¥ and thrillingly dramatic instead of a boresome, tedious process often as prosaic as hand labor, in the real police recesses. Crime is not solved usually by intuitions and sy occult reasoning. In the Courtenay murder it was dhe chance observation of one farmer that led to sus- | 2icion falling on another, who finally confessed the com- nission of the deed. The processes by which he was led # confess were without strategy, except as he was led to tontradict one story with another and was kept under questioning until he broke down. In fiction this all is different. Things can be done on paper by Sherlock Holmes that can not be done in real fife. Novels often, in fact, present life as we would rave it? All of which, perhaps, is part of the explanation for the enormous popularity of the detective story in recent years, The detective that we find in books is a far more omnis- sient person than any detective that ever really existed. No case ever quite baffles him. He may be at loose ends vemporarily, but by the last chapter he is always sure to some bobbing to the surface with the guilty man in his laws. His cases never peter out into failure. His crim- nals always thoughtfully leave just the right clews, and ae always knows just what to make of them. And we, luckless inhabitants of a world where police- nan are “ever quite that clever, spend thousands of dol- frs a week to buy these books. For it is becoming more obvious all of the time that wr real-life detectives fall terribly short of the detec- ive-story pattern. ‘What happens in this workaday world when a murder 8 committed in a big city? Well, first of all, a squad-car dashes to the scene and » bevy of plainclothesmen tumble out. Ten minutes later he reporters arrive, accompanied by the photographers. The detectives find what clews they can and tell the re- sorters about them. Then the newspapers appear, print- ng all that the detectives know, in great detail. The de- ective chief announces that an arrest will be made in ‘€-hours. It fails to come off, but similar announce- ents are made from time to time, as the days pass, and werybody is kept in a state of pleasant anticipation. Sventually, however, some other sensation comes over “he horizon, the murder is forgotten and the murderer jleefully goes on to new endeavors. But it is-never like that in fiction. The ordinary police somehow. Cops and Communists New York’s police have not shown much intelligenct in their handling of communist demonstrations, But maybe, after all, they are learning. The other day the communists held a great mass meeting to protest against police brutality. @ big crowd, and took up a large collection to aid their cause. The collection was so large, in fact, that the communists were afraid they might be robbed. So they asked for—and got—a police guard to look after it. Thus, -vhile the communists shouted their abhorrence of the police, a squad of uniformed cops stood by and guarded the communists’ money bags. There is something rather funny about that story, If the police had had sense enough to act that way at all the communists’ recent demonstrations, everything tha. happened since 1914, continue to do them. But, as President Hoover points out, the road to world peace is not built by such actions. If we want Peace we must work for it—even, perhaps, to the extent of throwing away a few battleships. They drew the agitators’ guns would have been very effectively spiked. old story; always effective. the other day. that was left. Paratively near future. thing to worry about. that is important now. be allowed to spoil his life. ‘tficers may fumble their work, of course; but The Detec- ive—Philo ‘Vance, or Charlie Chan, or Dr. Thorndyke, © Hercule Poirot—always knows what he is about. He | 8 secretive and thoughtful. Patiently he puts his clews Ogether—and finally, just as everybody else has de- paired of success, he lands the criminal in jail—al- vays, be it noted, with so much evidence against him hat it is quite impossible for the scoundrel to fight the | Sse successfully in court. | So we dote on detective novels, and make best-sellers wut of them; and, meanwhile, wonder why it is that our soor policemen cannot duplicate, in actual experience, he miraculous deeds of the novelists’ invention. Time Now for Seed Loans It was a wise step on the part of the Grand Forks seed Ts who are in need of seed but whose local credit is tied Judge say, ‘Di or both of the An Old Story Reversed We're all familiar with the sad story of the mother, weeping before the judge so that her erring boy might not be sent to prison for his misdeeds. It's a tolerably Sometimes, though, it gets reversed. It did in Boston A 16-year-old boy was in court for some misdeed. The Prosecutor urged that the lad be given another chance. But the youngster’s mother then got up and asked the judge to send him to the reformatory. She herself, she said, could not do anything with him. Jail was all As it happened, the judge heeded the prosecutor rather than the mother, and the young prisoner was lectured and given another chance. But isn't the whole business & queer reversal of the old story? Transatlantic Air Service It begins to look as if regular commercial airship serv- ice across the Atlantic were to be a reality in the com- According to plans announced at Washington, Ger- many will build a new:ship to go with the Graf Zeppelin and America will build two more, making a fleet of four. Service going east will provide two-day trips, with three- | T¥er In Col day trips for the westbound line. Passenger fares will be about double steamship fares, This announcement may be the beginning of a new kind of traffic of enormous importance. It seems foolish to suppose that the steamship will ever be displaced as the carrier of bulk freight, but the dirigible may very well be about ready to give the fast passenger liner some- Justice for a Boy Irene Shrader, Pennsylvania's “blond gunwoman,” and Glen Dague, her associate, have been duly convicted of murder and sentenced to death; and Mrs. Shrader’s 4- year-old son, Donnie, has been legally adopted by Mr. and Mrs. Victor L. Schoenian of Wheeling, W. Va. Mrs, Shrader and Dague seem to have gotten their Juvt deserts. It is the case of this innocent youngster With his mother sentenced to the electric chair, the boy is starting life under a considerable handicap. The courts have seen to it that he is placed in # good, whole- some home, where there is another lad of about his own age who can be his playmate, Let's all hope that little Donnie ts allowed to forget the whole dreadful business as fast as he can. The echoes of this tragedy must not News {20m i-orth Caroiina indicates that even judges are carrying whiskey flasks these days. | Editorial Comment | The Terse Age (Omaha, World-Herald) It happened in Denver. A couple stood in front of bishop. They joined hands. The bishop said, “Married —that and nothing more. Denver attorneys say the mar- riage was legal. Possibly, sometime, this same couple stand before a judge seeking separation, and possibly ivoreed.” Then may come a time wi interested parties will die and ficiating personage may merely remark, “Dead,” earth will begin to fall into their resting place. hen. the and We reaching quite a terse age, aren’t we? Empty Uppers (Time) Pullman travel in 1929 took its worst slump in five years. Though the company operated more cars (8,842), more miles (1,206,767,059) than ever before, the number of passengers (33,434,268) fell off 2,638,943 from the five- year peak. The average Pullman passenger traveled 420 miles on each trip last year, twenty-five miles further than he did in 1925. But where thirteen psople rode cach Pullman car in 1925, only eleven people rode in Result: Many more empty upper berths. Pullma: Last week in company announced help compensate itself for the loss of pan office of the Department of Agriculture to wire | berth from. Present secticn rate New section rate: $12.60. (Philadelphia Henry Ford's $100,000,000 tly announced he empty. profitless uppers. ‘York-Chicago: $16.20. Mr. Ford’s Schools Public-Ledger! trade - ) schools, which he re- along Anniversary of DIXIE’S MEMORIAL DAY On April 26, 1866, a group of women meeting at the of f Fu && if HE i | H E | | é E i ! if : i ae t li Hd i Hy Hi z i i HH i a a vi fi af EE of respect on the graves of dead com- rades, Ultimately the day became a legal, holiday. Alabama was the first state “Invention is the mother of em- Quotations ‘ ) ployment.”—H. B. Butler, fit i F I HY “I have,” came the voice of the city chemist over the wire. “And my report is negative.” “Negative!” Dundes echoed. “Yep,” Dr. Jennings assured him. x * * “Ambition is, I suppose, a very fine characteristic. At least, I have been whirling with new possibilities. “But since wood alcohol evaporates so quickly, how can you be sure that none was resent?” eee 667 CAN'T be absolutely certain,” the chemist admitted, “If the perfume had contained perfectly ure wood alcohol, no trace would have remained. But that commod- ity is hard for the layman to ob- tain and the purchase of it -would be traceable. On the other hand, ordinary commercial wood alcohol, used for many purposes, is easily obtainable and has a strong odor due to the presence of small amounts of several impurities, in- cluding pyridine and furfurol; Fur- furol is not very volatile and hence would. remain behind after the evaporation of the alcohol proper. Tt can readily be detected even in small amounts by sensitive color tests. I found none of these im- purities in the ecented handkerchief you gave me for analysis.” “But if the commercial alcohol has a strong odor, would not a Derfume addict detect it and be re- pelled?” Dundee asked. “Not necessarily,” the doctor an- swered. “The odor of the very con- centrated perfume would be the ‘more powerful and tend to conceal almost entirely the unpleasant odor of the impure alcohol.” “T see,” Dundee assured him very thoughtfully. “An ingenious way to murder an enemy.” i The chemist chuckled, “Unfor- tunately, few of us have enemies who are perfume addicts.” - “That's true. . . And you found no trace of any other kind of poi- son?” ' “None whatever.” “Thank you very much, Dr. Jen- nings,” Dundee said, and was a lit- tle surprised to hear the faint click “I tested for wood alcohol first—"|S#id sood-by. “Wood alcohol!” the detective ex- shee sn rie 3 cE ij i Hi i 5 E r* iE E i iF é i E i cnt into pad detective’s frowning concentra- Li “Exit Mr. Seymour’ Crosby as @ wicked old Borgia!” : Gressing that = given to understand that it is. Per- yaar ane sonally I have never had any.” and again I have had this ex- Arliss, actor. perience—patients who were enjoying see Perfect digestion for after being i | “I am opposed to mirth control. Nellie Reville, first woman press agent in the world. | I j é I 3 Es i Hi ! : ; [ i i se * “I like writing. I can mi ll one word five or tix aliterent a —Tom Mix; movie star. sess “Parity is the latest form of verbal narcotic to be widely used.”—Nicholas Murray Butler. eke “It is not being dead but the cess of dying that frightens dh Dean William rand Inge. * ® “Time is no good solvent for in- Justice.”"—Heywood Broun. x *k & “Beauty is the flower of abundant health.”—Maria Jeritza. i 7 il ; gif Hi E g He @ ring on each extension?” fo. Only here and in Wick- ett’s pantry, but had it oecurred to you that Dad or Mother might have taken off the receiver to call out, found that the line was busy, and hung up? Or that Wickett may have neglected to hang-up the receiver in the pantry until you'd nearly finished your conversation? I suppose Wickett did answer the phone in his pantry and send you Maybe he's avolding youl® . - “I shouldn't be a bit surprised!” olegermern pet 5 ve you wait ere ¢ 0 uD. change my shoes? I see you @ressed with ten- ais in mind.” i “Yes. Tish was going to play with me, but Abbie had a sudden yen for spiritual- consolation this morning and nothing would do but that Tish and end Mr. Crosby should go with her to chureh ++ + Oh, don't get a grouch on!” she commanded, as Dundee frowned at her news, here to take ee cam. didn’t her” . “yes,” Dundee answered short- ly. He was not satisfied, but there was clearly nothing to be gained now by trying to trace the eavesdropper. “Poor old Sherlock!” Gigi sym- pathized. “Was he all hot and bothered because his grand little hunch about poisoned perfume didn’t pan out? Did he just yearn to clap nice Mr. Crosby on the shoulder and say, ‘Cr-rosby! The jig is up! I arrest you for the murders of Phyllis Cro&by and Doris Matthews'?” 3 “Shut up, Hellion!” Dundee for “spiritual consolation” was the real reason for her attendante at church this Sunday meraing, or whether it was a more carnal need show off her socially - guished visitor, since she had been oa of her big party in his mor, growled at her. What a capacity the ttle devil had for hitting-the nail upon the head! “I confess I'm disappointed,” he told her abruptly, “Not that I wish Crosby any harm! But my only ray of light on this confounded case proves to be mere- ly a reflection cast by my own dazzling stupidity!” - with dear old Johnson, the expert safecracker?” The ringing of the telephone sezed blee tp nogenelin ot 6 samme reply. 4 “No, ‘thanks,”. Dundee said and hung up the receiver. “Bad news?” Gigi asked with real concern. uty Ht crite Hee ip ri i if E : i Hy i tt i i H 4 | ki F 3 € g Hl | EH ‘ifs tf | BE. § 2 i i ie i i i i 8 BE Fe i § | s 4 3 Z F ER ff i 8 fe : : i | f i i : | g F i | i 5 bs i ee i Hi wen t 4 “ ¥ { ! ioe 4 { at ‘ ~ ” ‘ a ‘ A a . a oS @ s iy! N,