Evening Star Newspaper, July 3, 1921, Page 49

4 g™ ARTH often suffered from lack of work at headquar- ters, probably because the spector didn’t care tb serd him out on unimportant matters that the ieust-imaginative of hid men could handle. When he had to assign him to, an unpromiving task, either to spare him too prolonged idleness or because no other detective was avail- .able, the big man always assumed an apologetic air. It was so when the started him on the mystifying Taylor case. —xothing ~doing these days™ he grumbled. ¥ must be turning pure, 1 got to give it some- Run up and take s Seems Taylor a recluse. Alone with his mother- v and the servants. Wife's in lifornia. _Suppose you had other Guoth, Anyway, thing for it a look at th « piaps, but I don't see why the city snould pay you to talk moonshine to Nora''~ e grinned understandingly, couragingly. e the Getective nodded, strolled up- town, and with aébored’ air stepped into that curious house \ Garth for a long time stared at the pallid features of the dead man. Ab- ruptly his interest quickened. Be- tween the thumb and foréfinger of the clenched left hand. which dropped en- from the side of the bed. a speck of white protruded. Tire —detective stooped swiftly. The hand. he saw. Secreted a rough sheet of paper. He drew it free, smoothed the crumbled surface. and with a vast incredulity read the line scrawled across it in pencil “Don’t think It's suicide. Killed— There was no more. Until that mo- ment Garth had conceived no doubt of the man's self-destruction. The bul- et had entered the left side of the breast. The revolver lay on the coun- terpane_within an inch of the right hand, whose fingers remained crooked. The position of the body did not sug- gest the reception or the resistance of an attack. In the room no souve- nir of struggle survived. Here was this amazing message from the dead man. Its wording. in- deed, offered the irratfonal impres- sion of having been written after death. I've been ¥ ok ok ok G RTH thought rapidly. Granted its accusation, the note must have been scrawled between the firing of * the shot and the moment of Taylor's death. But a murderer, arranging this appearance of suicide, would have given Taylor no opportunity. On the other hand, the theory that Taylor had written the note before Killing himself, perhaps to direct suspicion to some innocent person, broke down before the brief wording, its patent incompleteness. One possibility re- mained. Garth could imagine no mo- - tive, but another person might have prepared the strange message. A_ number of books littered the reading table at the side of the bed. Garth examined them eagerly. He found a blank page torn from one— the sheet which Taylor had eclenched in his fingers, In another was Tay- lor's signature. When Garth had com- pared it with the message on the crumbled paper no doubt remained. Taylor himself had written those ob- scure and provocative words. Garth found the pencil on the floor beneath the bed, as if it had rolled there when Taylor had dropped it The place at the moment had nothing clse to offer him beyond an abnor- mally large array in the bathroom of bottles containing for the most part stimulents and sedatives. They merely strengthenad ~by. suggesting that Taylor was sn- L~ his ap- pearance of suicide. - The coroner and ~Taylors doctor, who came together, only added to the puzzle. The coroner declared unre- servedly for suicide, and, in reply to Garth's anxious question, swore that no measurable time could have elaps- ed between the firing of the shot, which had pierced the heart, and Tay- lor's death. The physician was satis- fied even after Garth confidentially had shown him the note. “Mr. Taylor,” he said then, “under- stood he had an incurable troub) Every one knows that his wife. who he worshiped, had practically left him by going to California for so long. 1t may have appealed to a grim gen of humor, mot unusual with chronic invalids, to puzzl® us with that ab- surdly worded note. I might tell you, too, that Mr.. Taylor, for some time, had had a_fear that he might go out of his head. Perpetually he question- ed me about insanity, and wanted to know what treatment I would give him if his mind went.” Garth, however, when they had left, went to the library on the lower floor and telephoned headquarters. The in- spector agreed that the case held a mystery which must be solved. Garth walked to the embrasure of a high colonial window. The early winter night was already thick above the world. The huge room was too dark. The Taylor home was a large, colonial frame farmhouse which had eventually been crowded by the mod- ern and extravagant dwellings of a fashionable uptown district. In spite of its geneSous furnishings it pro- jected even to this successful and ma- terialistic detective a heavy air of the melancholy and disturbing. arth sighed. He had made up his mind. The best way to get at the truth was to accept for the present the dead man's message at its face value. He turned on the single light above the desk in the center of the room. He arranged a chair so that the glare would search its occupant. He sat opposite in the shadow and pressed a button. Almost at once he heard dragging footsteps in the hall, then a timid rapping at the door. The door opened slowly. A bent old man in livery shuffled across the thrshold. Tt was the servant who had admitted Giarth on his arrival a few minutes earlier. The detective indicated the chair on which the light fell “Sit down there, please.” * k Kk * S the old man obeyed his limbs shook with a sort of palsy. From his sallow and sunken face restless, bloodshot eyes gleamed. 5 “I understand from the docto: Garth began, “that you are McDonald, Mr. Taylor's trusted servant. The cor- ays death occurred last night or early this morning. Tell me why you didn't find the body until nearly 4 o'clock this afternoon.” The old servant bent forward, plac- ing the palm of his hand against his . ear. “Eh? Eh?" hy On a higher key Garth repeated his question. McDonald answered in tremulous tones, clearing his throat from time to time ag he explained that becanse of his master's bad health his brders had been never to disturb him except in cases of emergency, He drew telegram from his pocket, it across to Garth. passing irs. Taylor is on her way home rom California. 1 don't think Mr. Taylor knew just what connection +he would make at Chicago, but he pected her tomorrow. That tele: gram, sent from the trafn at Albany. says she will be in this afternoon on the Western express. I thought it my duty to disturb him and get him up to welcome her, for he was very fond of Wer, aim. 1* will be cruel hard for her 4 wuch a welcome as this.” Garth said, “you heard no Garth shot 7" McDonald indicated his ears. tugged at his watch chain, T must know.” he said, “‘more about the conditions in this house last night."” He had spoken softly, musingly, yet the man, who had displayed the symp- toms of a radical deaftness, glanced up, asking without hesitation: “You don’t suspect anything out of the way, sir Garth studied him narrowly. “T want to know why the shot ‘wasn’ bheard, You were here and Mr. Tayl BY WADSWORTH CAMP. mother-in-law. Who else>" The bony hand snapped to McDon- “Eh? Eh peak up.” Garth said impatiently. “Who was in the house beside your- self and Mrs. Taylor's mother ““The cook, Clara, sir—only the cook, | Clara.” Garth dismissed him, instructing him to send Mrs. Taylor's mother. While he waited he stared from the window again, jerking savagely at his watch ribbon. - From McDonald he had re- ceived a sharp impression of secretive- ness. & Garth swung around with a quick intake of breath. He Yad heard no one enter. Yet almost with a sense of vibration _ there iud reached him through the heavy atinosphere of the old house an assurance that he was watched from the shadows. Impulsive- 1y _he called out: “Who's that? He stepped to the desk so that he could see the portion of the room be- !yond the light. It was ewnty. He sprang back, turning. A clear, girlish FROM THE laugh had ripped through the dusk. A high, girlish voice had challenged him. “Here 1 am! policeman! He saw, half hidden in the folds of the curtain at the side of the embras- ure in which he had stood a figure, in- distinct, clothed evidently in black. He took It for granted McDonald had sent the girl Clara first. Slowly the dark figure detached itself from the shadows and settled in the chair while Garth watched, his uneasiness drifting into a blank unbelief. He couldn’t accept the girlish laughter, the high, coquettish voice, as having come from the gray, witch-like hag whom the light now ex exposed mercilessl; “I am Mr. Taylor's mother-in-law, she said laughingly. ‘“Everybody's surprised because I'm so youthful. My daughter’s coming home this after- noon. That's why I'm so happy. They wouldn’t let me go West with her. but when one’s as advance ‘1 young people don't bother much,. " Garth experienced a quick sympa- thy, yet behind the mental deteriora- tion of extreme old age something useful might lurk. v “You slept in the front part of the house last night,” he tried. “You probably heard the shot. She shook her head.. Her sunken mouth twitched in a smile a trifle sly. “Once I drop off it would take a cannonade to wake me up." She arose and wfifll & curious ab- sence of sound moved toward, the door. “I must g0 now. i am knitting a eater. It was for my son-in-law. l!\"t;w that he's put himself out of the way it might fit you” * K X % THE door closed behind her slender figure,and Garth tugged at his watch ribbon, wondering. Her actions Yad. been too determined. her last words_too studied. They had seemed Yo hold @ threat. Was she as senile as she appeared., or had she tried to w sand in his eyes? lh‘r{o' rnsng and sent for the cook Clara. The girl, when she came, Was yOuns, tremulou: Donald’s. tion her she burs “1 am going to Before Garth could gques- t out hysterically: leave this );ouse. 1 ing to leave today, anyway.” 't-'!s.lgtoh gitched his voice on a cold, even mote. “For th GRAY WITCHLIKE HA( Hide and seek with the | THE - SUNDAY ST | distorted. His | lips_ thirstily. applied the method | bring the quickest result with such a man. He grasped the stopped shoul- ders. He shouted. hy did you lie when T asked you who was in the house at the time of the murder?" Eh? En?” the old ma1 quavered. “You're not as deaf as that. Where's r now?" the old servant whined. r, si “All right,’ Garth shouted. “If ycu want to go to the lockup, und your tongue moistened his Against his will Garth daug hter, too, stay as deaf as you please.” He wasn't prepared for the revolting success that came to him. McDonald clutched at one of the window curtains and hid his twitching face in the folds while sobs, difficult and sickening, tore from his throat, shaking his bent should d ki »ws! 1 haven' I went to bed last night. !she'd gone out.” 1 thought WHOM THE LK 1 want d, McDonald cried. | But Garth hadn't missed the man's | instinctive gesture toward his watch i pocket. Against his protests Garth took the watch and, as he had foreseen, found u photograph in the case. The picture was not of a Young woman, but the face was still atiractive in an un- compromising fashion. It was this hardness, this determination about the picture that made Garth decide that the original, under sufficient provoca- tion. would be capable of Killing. “For her sake and yours, McDonald.” Garth | her pi “I haven't any. Garth said, “‘answer onc thing truth- fully. Did she fancy herself any more than a superior servant” Had she formed for Mr. Taylor any silly atta ment?" McDonald's reply was quick and as- sured: “To Mr. Taylor she was only a trusted servant, sir, and she knew her place.*™ - The ‘whirring_of a motor suggested that an automobile had drawn up be- fore the house. Garth slipped the pho- tograph in his pocket. “If that is Mrs. Taylor arriving,” he sail with an uncomfortable desire to shirk the next few minutes, “the news of her husband’s death might come easier from you.” “I telephoned Mr. Reed.” McDonald said. “He's an old friend .of Mr. and Mrs. Taylors. [ told him about the telegram, and he's probably met her and brought her, home.” “I will be here,” Garth Said, she wishes to speak to me.” * * K % E heard McDonald open and close | © the front door. Then the widow en- tered, followed by a young man with an abundance of dark hair curling over a,Jow forehead and shading eyes a trifle i deep set. But at first Garth saw only the widow, and he marveled that one 8o young and lovely in an etherial sense should have been mated with the clderly invalid upstairs. As he looked it suddenly occurred to him that Reed, since he had lost Taylor as a friend, might crave more than friendship from the widow. She sank on a divan. “It is dreadful to come home this way,” she said, “dreadful! I had never }dreamed of his doing such a thing.” “It is by no means certain,” Garth said gently, “that he Killed ~himself. There is a curious situation in this e present you'll stay. Mr. |y, s McDonald's daughter, the house- Taylor didn't kill himself. He Was|jeeper, for instance, has not been seen murdered.” She covere‘d her nds, shivering. ba aian’t kill him. I didn’t—" «But,” Garth snapped, “you Kknow id. w’él;ledshook her head with stubborn vehemence. “I don’ swered, house. i ’Why? Because you think the old lady’s crazy, and she frightens you? I want to know about that.” As Clara lowered her hands the in- creased fear, rather than the tears in her eyes, held Garth. “I've only beem here a week. T haven't seen much of her. It {sm't that,” she whispered. “It's because the house is full of queer things. The servants all felt it. They talked about spirits and left. Five have come and gone in the week I've been here. But I've never been superstitious, and I didn't hear anything until last night.” Garth stirred. “What did you hear? When was it?" “About midnight,” she ansWered tensely. “I had had company in the kitchen until then, so I was alone downstairs. McDonald had told me before he went to bed to make sure the last thing that the library fire was all right. I had looked at it and had put the fender up and was just leav- ing the room when I heard this sound —like moans, sir. I—I've never heard svch suffering.” She shuddered. “It was like a voice from the grave —like somebody trying to get out of the grave.” “But you heard no shot”" No, sir. I ran to the kitchen, but, as I told you, there was no one there. McDonald had gone to bed, and so had his daughter.” Garth stooped swiftly forward and grasped her arm. “What's that you're saying? HI. daughfer! You mean to tell me Mc: Donald has a daughter, and she was in the house last night?” She shrank from his excited ges ture. “Yes. He asked me not-to tell you, but I'm frightened. I don’t want t. get in trouble. She’s the hause- keeper. She engages all the servants and runs the house.” “Then where is she now?” “She must have gone out early this morning, sir, for I haven’t seen her afl day. I wanted to be fair. I've only been waiting for her to come back so I could te§l her I was leaving.” “Send McDonald back to me, said, “unless he's left the house, to The butler, had deliberately lied to shield his daughter, and had asked secrecy of this girl. It was turning out an interesting case after. all—pos- sibly an gbnormal one. McDonald slipped in. He was more agitated than before: His face was face with her know_ anything,” she an- xcept that I must leave this ! trusted him. There's no use. since a short time before the crime.” | " Her lips Vwitched a little. He fancied hope in her eyes. “If you are able,” Garth said, “T would ‘like you to tell me something about her.” “I have mever seen her,” she an- swered. “She came after I went west, McDonald had a good deal of influence over Mr. Taylor, and I never auite ou might as well know the truth about Mr. Taylor and me. You've probably heard. We were never quite happy. He was so much older. We never quite_beldnged to each other. But that is all. It-isnit true all this gos- sip that I went West for a divorce, and I don't believe he was the man to kill himself. 1If there has been a crime against him 1 want the world to know it. I want his memory clean.” Quickly the man Reed touched her shoulder. For the first time since en- tering the room he spoke. His voice possessed a peculiar, aggressive re- sonance. “Helen, you shouldn’t take this man’s suspicion that he was murdered too seriously.” Garth motioned him to silence. “At such a ‘time,” he said to-Mrs. Taylor, “L dislike to bother you, but ¥'d like to ask one or two questions. Your mother? Her mind?’ He caught a flash of pain across her white face, “She has always been peculiar.” she answered, “but she isn't out of her head, if that's what you mean, I've always thought it's a habit of hers to hide her real thoughts behind apparent absurities." 1 had wondered about that,” Garth tsaid, with satisfaction. “One more | thing. There has been talk among jthe servants of spirits, of. moans. i She shivered. | _“I know nothing about that,” she isaid, “except that the house is un- earable. My husband, I think, be- ieved in it a little. I've heard him nd my mother talk about a flgure who_sometimes walked. I've never iked fit_here. It depresses me too !much. That's all.” | “Thanks” Garth said. “You will | want time to accustom yourself. Rest assured I will do everything I can to get the truth.” As they went out the resonance of Reed’s undertone reached Garth. “Helen! You are giving this man's suspicion too much weights He seems to have no evidence.” After the door had closed Garth telephoned the inspector, suggesting that the house be guarded in order that he might have McDonald, Clara, and the old lady at hand. Garth hurried to the kitchen. The night was nearly complete there, but as he entered, he caught a swift, silent movement from the servants' stairs. He walked to the entrance. “T thought so."™ trop§bim in The girl Clara shrank he knew would | seen her since | the: shadows. She wore a hat and cloak. She carried a handbag. “If you don’t want yourself locked up. churged with murder, take those things off,” Garth said, “Take me to the room occupled by the house- keeper.” Shaken and uncertain, Clara les! him ’to a, room at the head of the stairs, which, Garth found, had a sec~ ond door opening into the upper hall of the front portion of the house. The jroom displayed a taste seldom found mong servants. The bed had been occupled last night, but to all appear- ances for only a brief period. Some clothing and a pair of shoes lay at one side, and <lothing, shoes and hats twere neatly arranged in the closet, but nowhere could he find a dressing gown or a pair of bedroom slippers. If Mc- Donald's daughterghad fled from the | house in slippers and dressing gown it was strange she hadn’t been heard of long ago. It became increasingly lear to him that the woman re- mained hidden ™\ the house. He would search every corner for the one | whose brain, he was now convinced, {held the solution of the mystery. Dut on the lower floor he found no trace. He paused in the lower hall, intend- ing to ring for McDonald to guide him through the rest of his task. All at once his hand, which he had raised to the bell, hesitated. He braced himself against the wall. Through the heavy atmosphere a stifled groan had reached him. followed by a diffi- cult dragging sound. But as he sprang up the stairs he knew he | hudn't’ heard the cause of Clara's | fright, for the groan had sufficiently S HAVING COME |defined itself as having come from a man. In the upper hall there was no light beyond the glow sifting through the stair well. It was enough to show rth a dark form huddled at the foot of the stairs leading to the third ¢, He er and stooped. What's the matter? \R, WASHINGTON, D. C. —————————r—'—-————_——_,_———— Mrs. Taylor, staring upward, trembling, | tried to tell me that; A NOTE FROM THE DEAD Another of the “Gray Masic” Stories JULY hysterical, a violent fear in her eyes. T—I heard her moan, she said. opened the door, and there she was —a black thing—bending over him like—like a vampire. I couldn't Seem to see her face. She ran up these stairs, and 1 could see through the banisters that she went in the big at- tic room—the room they always talk- ed about where the woman- = “Just the same, she's in this house,” Garth said, “By every rule of logic| she’s in this attic. But I'll go through every nook and cranny. Nora. you and Mrs. Taylor take the bedrooms. | T'll go through the cellar and try the| lower floor agiin.” On his way down he saw the doc- tor bending over McDonald. “The wound is nothing,” the doctor said, “but he's had a slight paralytic stroke from the shock.” ‘When will he be able to talk? ertainly not for several days. * ¥ K K A S Garth went on down he heard the old woman's jibing laugh. It assumed the quality of a threat as he searched unsuccessfully the cellar and the back part of the house. He!l met Nora in the library. Mrs. Taylor and she had found nothing. As they| talked Reed appeared in the doorway. Garth had supposed the man had gone home. vhat are you doing here?" ‘Mrs. Taylor and this young lady woke me up searching through the They were after a woman | That sounds rather silly, do&sn’t it tic by jealous husband. I see you're surprised to find me still here. I thought it was understood 1 should stay and be of what help I could to Mrs. Taylor and her mother.” 1 “Then I'm afraid you'll have to stay for some time,” Garth answered, dryly. “The house Is guarded. No one will be permitted to leave until I have found or accounted for McDonald's dawgh- ter. \ora followed him into the hall. | I'm thinking about the room where | Taylor's body lies,” Garth said. “From | the first attempt seems to have been made to color the case with the super- natural. The wording of Taylor's note, for instance. An illusion is fur- nished us that it was written after the man's death. That is followed by another illusion that his cold hand wounded McDonald with the Knife. And this crying! 1 grant you it's a tur B Sterling Heilig Describes Use of the “Mule Kick" in Contests Be- tween French and Americans, BY STERLING HEIL PARIS, June 26, 1921. u hurt?” st, in response to Garth's ef- whimpering came from McDon- throat. Garth recalled the medi- cines in Taylor's bathroom and started jdown the hull, aware that the black, huddled figure crawled after him with the sublime and unreasonable courage of a wounded animal. * ok * ¥ Taylor's bathroom, where he poured |a stimulant into a glass. As he stepped Iback to the bedroom he faced Taylor's ibody on which the light shone with jpeculiar reflections. They gave to the pallid face the quality of a sneer, and on the counterpane, as near the crooked fingers as the revolver lay, now rested Ia long and ugly kitchen knife. With a graver fear the detective glanced at the door of the hall. Me- Donald had dragged himself that far. He raised his trembling hand, stretch- ing it toward the bed in a gesture, it seemed to Garth, of impossible accusa- tion. Then the crouched figure toppled and fell across the threshold, while from somewhere beyond the door a high lish laugh rippled. Garth sprang forward and knelt by the old man, reluctant to search for what he expected to find. There it was lm the back of the coat, a jagged tear whose edges were stained, showing where, the knife had penetrated the shoulder. The wound didn't look deep or dangerous, and in his unconscious- ness Mcbonald breathed regularly. So Garth hurried back to the bed and ex- amioed the knite. There was no am- biguity about the red stains on the blade. The knife, resting close to the dead hand, had wounded McDonald, who had seemed to accuse the still form whose notes projected the impression of h;\(\‘:inxhbeenfl:vflucn after death. arth smothered his morbid thoughts. McDonald's daughter was the lving force, probably at large in this house, that he wanted to chain. But the es- centric had laughed. Was that merely coincidence? Garth ran across the hall and listened at her door with an in- creasing excitement. He heard the running water, regularly interrupted. as if by hands being cleansed under an open faucet. He tried the door and found it unlocked. He entered, staring at the daring indifference of the old woman who stepped from the bath- room, calmly drying her hands on a towel. hiocome in; policemag.;‘ she said in her igh girlish voice. “Don't suffer in black hall.” the “Let me have that towel,” he cried. Without hesitation she offered him the piece of linen. It showed no stains, nor were there stains to be found about the wash basin, but the slab of marble in which it was set was damp as if it had just now been carefully cleansed. She watched, her wrinkled face set in an expression of contempt. “You know,” he said, “what happened out there in the hall. I heard you laugh.” She started. Her voice was lower, At last it wag as old as herself. _ “Things always happen out there. It is crowded with the people who have lived in this house before us—unhappy and angry people. Often I have seen and heard the black thing out there. 1 would never laugh at her.” ““You can’t impress me with that,” he said, harshly. “I am talking about Mc- Donald. He was stabbed out there a few minutes When did you last see McDonall's daughter?” “Maybe at dinner last -might,” she said. “Nice girl, in spite of her father. I must go back to my knitting, police- man."” Garth left her. He called a police- man, instructing him to go for a physician. As he gllve the directions he saw Nora cross the street and come up the steps. He was surprised to' see her now, and a little worried, for a grave menace existed for every one in this house. o “Father told me about the case,” she sgidy glancing at his frayed watch rib- bon. “I see you haven't found the an- swer yet. Tell me everything you have learned while you have been torturing that poor ribbon."” E; \ “‘Ghosts or not,=Nora,”” he answered, “the house isn't healthy, and) I'd rather you didn't stay.” She laughed and walked in. He fol- lowed her and told her what had hap- pened since he had telephoned the in- spector. Her face had grown pale and a_troubled look had entered her eyes. He was familiar with her superstitious sensibility. As he started to laugh at her, Nora, with a quick movement, shrank against the wall. “What's that?” she whispered. Garth strained forward, listening, too. He had heard what Clara had de- scribed, a ing, smothered and scarcely audible. Across the moaning cut a shrill feminine scream. “Stay here.” Garth calied to Nora, a8 he-startedpup the stairs. He heard her voice, like an echo behind him: “T am_afraid.” At the foot of the attic stairs he saw Hl') snapped on the light and ran toj ANY French boxers have a secret. It is highly to their honor that it never comes out. I refer to their secret and their foot. Like a mule! We all know what instinctive move- The mule has them, apd ments are. Lm have French boxers trained in the saviite. Doubtless, it must be admitted, more than half the young” pusilists of France today have never practiced the In their honorable ardor to be like Americans, they scrapped their Inl‘n French system of self-defense, let tus say, around the year 1905, in Paris, {but in French provincial towns the boxe francaise lingered in the schools and on the stage, at country fairs, in ports, Oldl tow-path and in_mining regions, ant oD Who learned it young have merit in not letting loose, at"times. a kick. Now, this old, obsolete French Kicl has been much discussed. Perhaps you Toink that you know all about it, but 1PWill tell you two tough tales. to show that the dispute is still undecided. nor 18 dikely to be, for lack of disputers as S| 'asons, and considerations Lo e tegal esthetic and humani- savate. sporting, legal. tarian. o i ys, in S for Carpentier. he simply says, A his *“Memoirs,” that “toward the he arrival of Willie invasion of Ameri- ‘the moble end of that epoch (tl Lewis) a veritable | can boxers in FParis gave art’ a sudden vogue ‘which it had never i y oyed in France. It was previously Slipse the favor which la ncaise ha S accuiea, Descamps and myseif, to Completely. qu&;:'-‘;e:“g; e C ‘But_if any_ one should propose such a match, would not 1 go up! e llh‘g"uas'olhn the French kj ¢, for the kick. O ae” will tell you ;m: ;; & led out at the famous boul Tias pelican Club in London. T was there, S0 you can take this story as first-hand. w ¢t the French professors nll.fl!!lo%guel the English bruiser was P aghue, a party selected, naturally, Decause they _thought him good, ever seen . Dopaghie ba%er ‘man nor_demon. either dog, g;'?:’:eyd ;‘old him to look out for turned him loose on the kicks and tu who wore canvas jum shoes. “’1‘:“‘1;‘:;: days—as today, if any still exist—the more cclenllflc‘ French practitioners were called “profes. sors” and, while not exactly high- brow, affected the gentility of fencing masters, with whom they grouped sochally. . 1ok in the stomach und 1. aennto Donaghue flying before );: ed what he was up against. Tl olar-plexus Llouch. but the hoes were ligh Y pat would have finished Don- aghue,” the Frenchmen sald, “if our Professor_had been wearing heavy Shoes, as he ought to do in justice. Round 2. The Frenchman feinted with the gloves and, although the Fuglishman retirsd seemingly out of distance, the professor, swinging round on one leg, caught, him un- awares on the point of the chin with stinging kick. And down~ went Donaghue. There was some conversation. Round 3. Donaghue’s seconds told him to get close and stay there, bu Dona- ghue was still at sea about the methods of the distinguished visitor and went down like McGinty. There was some more conversation. Round 4 (and last). Continually warned by a hundred Pelecans to “get close and stay there,” the English cham- pion rushed in and so punched the pro- fessor around the ring that the latter asked permission to put on his heavy brogans. : That settled the match. - A_general flapping went up from the Pelicans. Thtey gave the fight to Donaghue, which was all right enough, but, look- ing back, I cannot for the life of me see how the famous match proved the inferiority of a la boxe Francaise as a system of self-defense. Yet you will constantly hear ‘“the af- fair of the Pelican-Club” referred to as Such proof. And the majority of Eng- Jishmen have their ideas of the savate it. from axE “/E ‘Americans of Paris have our ideas rather from the much more publicly ‘witnessed Charlemont-Driscoll match. p It had a serious influence on la boxe Francaise, in that it abolished as a “great” blow the previously dreaded ck is So. Englishmen W “low kick” on the shinbone -of your " told that *mmu could ¥y adversary. ‘1 was 3, 1921—PART 4. spare bedroom in which I was resting. jand drew it clear of the bed. beneath I've heard Taylor drool about his pet!in folds to the floor, and he saw it had A 3 guest—lady in black, strangled in-at- | pleeves and was a long garment with- {471 d been enjoying, md| / ! tried to warn|things hidden beneath the bed and!Donald or nis daughter. the old lad: me, perhags, thut the murderer would | back of that large screen. 1 know |exaggeration of her eccentricitios 10 ’urn again to the body. 1 didn't|now, too, that it wasn't you who [draw my attention from Mrs. lor— 21l Reed the truth. 1 am going to|washed your hands this afternoon. Ilany of these clues ought to have re- that room about which nearly every- | know that you fooled me with a clean |minded us, Noru. of the hundreds of thing centers. Before the night is|towel while the person who had tried |similar cases in New York of fond over it may fell me what Mcbonald |to kill McDonatd slipped through the|relatives —who, through a mistaken tried to say. Since the house is|communicating door from your bath-jpride, hide and treat in their own clearly dangerous, Nora, I want you to Homes ses of mental disorder.” / go_home.” screamed to stop him. Shef He needed to outline for her “I'll see it through, thanks,” she|commenced to laugh again, but there |the filled in by the old lady, of satd. “I'll watch with you.” were tears in her eyes. and he that black hour last night in the melan- They went to Taylor's room. Garth!that all along her lau; fing beein |SHOLy bouse. winn Mrs Taylor hed Closed the door and snapped his light | grief. Still without time to analyze, | ricked McDonuld's daughter=a com; on “Immediately strange reflections | he received from the old lady a per=) Brtt, traiied . oo Ry Dlayed again over the face of theifect corroboration. He whispered toqe™ (00, WIHC SOCT0OT unf i Jroc Qead man. Its sneering expression | Nora, instructing her 1o bring the bo-|1o0. ould fancy Taylor i and seemed to follow Garth as he moved | liceman from the front door self-respect as he lay Tond help- about. | “Who is it?" asked Mrs. Taylor.jes . knowing < i ’ “Game's up,” Garth said. “I've got!“Why’do you speak to my mother like | forcsecing inevitably much the sort of you. Turn around and let me have a | this? Not she— e ey e look at your pretty face” i caught me, Helen,” Reed said. s his mistake, Then with a gesture of repulsicn! “What do you mean? Oh, my Cod! e his wife ! the hand let the piece of black cloth;What do you meun? . possibly, dangerous. fall. It trailed across the floor, one! “Iverything accounted fo 't give him_time to end,still Taught beneath the mattre arth policemdn, who had | write enough,” Garth said. “She fol- Slowly the figure turned until a pro- | entered. “Make your arrest.” lowed 100 quickly her ruling impulse to file cut against the shaft light. Nora | Ree stepped forward, offering |punish the man she blamed for her cried out her surprise. Garth sprang | himself. | tragic situation. Morcover, the realiza- erect, covering with his revolver, not; "l admire you. Reed® Garth said, tion of what she had done, as is Mebonald's daughter, but the friend | “but your devotion can't do any more | COmmon in such c returied her to of Taylor and his wife, the man Reed,|for her. Mrs. Taylor! I don't want|approximate sanity, suggested, even “You killed Taylor o you might You to get excited. This man must|Without her mother's prompting, Tay- maery his wife?” Garth shot at him.|tike you—just a form. you know— 0f'S CaIOERE SURC Us b R o did a rotten job for the murder of your husband and ere's his daugh-ifor the attack on McDonald. |’1 The violent rage Garth had feared u “Fortunately, you with McDonald. W ter? 1 don’t get that “I won't answer. me say any more.” Garth stooped, lifted the black cloth, d in her eye did kill him. He kept me locked up for more than two months, because 1 didn’t love kim." You can't make d i , She commenced to struggle in the the mattress of which it hud patentiy ed 1o been hidden, As he held it up it feil | Basb of the policeman. Abruptl iwent limp and her cfforts ceused nodded with satis “That's better. She’s fainted. Carry er to her room. We'll have a doctor out shape. But it recalled the black |, - | taken ald’s daughter, through her fright and a promise of money, could be persuaded to avoid arousing her father or Clara, to throw on one of Mrs. Taylor's ¢ dresses, to hurry with her to Albany. | Evidenfly the girl lost her nerve, for {she was 10 have come back as if noth- {ing had happened. She was to have are of Mre. Taylor. Eventually was 10 have placed her in explaining her breakdown, any pre: peculiarities, nat enough through the shock of her figure that had vanished from the at- | 17 f0 Ber roors SO SERE & 10 tic. He ran his lamp over the gown. | B! g . ! 5 In spjgof the coarse. tough material| wped touched hix arm timidly. = it wa¥¥orn here and there, and on the | U0 SRACESIang nove - Once, o e right hand sleeve there were blood ! p ; o " ac {told me that Taylor had lied, that sh staips. ‘That wag why the zown hud Y Citora ha been hidden in the t place, th A ause prisoner her, cay he was jealous se 1 would have done first place ut hand. That undoubte explained Reed's daring intention ¥1in his sick, 10 of me. In any get the gown and destroy it before the anything to help her over the next day body should be moved and the «vi-|or two, for vou must understand I've dence discovered. Garth's hangd, hold- {loved her very decply and for a Hing the telltale mown. commenced to | time—~" tremble too, for it had offered him | P solution of everything. Garth stepped | . o 10 the hall. where he met Mrs. Taylor | [ ATER the humilits of Noras in- coming from her room < tere d Garth. He told her 'What is it?" she asked, I know who murdered your hus- nd.” he answered, gently. frankly how the pivotal piec of the puzzle had been within reach long be- forg Reed had tried in Mrs. Taylor's ser- vice to recover and destroy the tell- moldy: unhealthy house. buj it cant But the opening of her mother's door shelter such miracles. T'havdto work interrupted her. : tale black gown. on physical lines. The black figure| “What's the matter out here?| wThose sedat sdiorE bt proves that the woman is actually Helen! What's happened?” roulee sedasiven T Tfn.’f"m_,p’l’,"l:)‘a‘ Dieden here. The knife on Taylor's| “I want to examine your room a lit-| questioning of his doctor about the | bed means that the murderer was in | tle closer.” he said. “I wondered at the | symptoms and the treatment of insan- tne Toom. this evening. McDonald’s|stant that there was so much furni-lity, the moans which frightened the instead of accusing, probably lture in it. and I'll wager th other servants without affecting Mc WH TIER, W SAVATE, THE FRENCH METHOD OF BOXING. PROF. CUN IN SEVERAL OF THE EARLY FIGHTS OF GEORGES CARPEN BOXING. BEEN BEATEN nd's suicide. 1t was McDonald's i s to know what had happened | 110 his daughter that made Mrs. Ta {turn on him finally If he had been jable to speak then T think he would ve bro faith with his dead mas- ter and told us the truth about her any hope for her? Nora i 4 the doctor,” Garth ane | He that {manner in which she threw us | track when we caught her ersing | MeDenald. and her failure to los [ plete control of herseif when arressed indi r troy 1 Tt « been brought this to curable. ms on by her intolerable life in gloomy house with invalid whom she didn’t love, while her affection for Reed_inereased hopelessly. Her illness was broken by such periods of appar- ent ¢ ax she had last night and 11 Ppy ra | today. think Reed and she may iled wistful | “Then" s aid. slowly, “T almest wish we had kept Taylor's secret bet- f ter than he did himself” SAVATE, FRENCH WAY OF BOXING WITH FEET, HAS REALLY NEVER HTING TOGS, WAS REFEREE EORGES USED HIS FEET IN ITE ¥ HEN This was exactly not' let him do. The round ended in fiftcen seconds, but | what they would a bit of a fight and | the first_round.” told break my leg that I could h then lie down, in a riot among i onE his admirers | spectators. Charlemont having clinci- fl;&"'c.;"-f.‘&?’;'“ AmOng avice | showed | ed and thrown Driscoll heavily. It and consolers. ce. because those who | was agreed that wrestling rough- French Cwere leading Paris sports. in | house Le barred, fhe style of Dr. Henri de Rothschild, xmiae Alfred” Capus and Paul Poirel, the| npyr jook you, wrestling rough- ressmaker: came off in a private rid- house is an essential part of the ing academy, and half the gilded | savate—for recovery against a pugil- Youth of Paris were present. The iis wnen e Big, i same Henri de Rothschild acted as o5 or Is dedged. Those who pre- doc!tlnr. dxsr:l:y:‘!l'g a;full line > tend that foot bail desperadoes could setting materials. S easily_beat it, might discover that Charlemont wore ordinary streeti . “prepchmen know some handy shoes, heavy enough to satisfy him., but not crushing brogans. Wang! the sharp-edged., compac heel came down on Jerry Driscoll's shinbone. _Wang and biff: ~Three times in the first round, yet there was nothing broken. . ““The man has a wooden leg!” cried Prof. Victor Casteres. And Castercs, an intransigent, always maintained this afterward. The knee-cap kick had been barred. So much was barred! Indeed, a brief account of the Charlemont-Driscoll match has al- ways served, in ring literature, to give the best possible idea of what the savate is not—because its most eftective kicks were barred. 1 do not say its most spectacular kicks, for 1 have seen Bayle kick a man's head off, and the man stood six feet tall. As’a fact, my photographer, who was present with me at that horse-play, got a snapshot of that knock-out, Wwhich had purposed to be a mere «“fanning” of the victim's side teeth, but the professor miscalculated his strength. The kick at the head has never been barred, probably because not “believed in. To return to the Charlemont-Dris- coll match, it'is true that the French- man has always been blamed by the English because, in the last round, their man, Jerry Driscoll, was laid out by a disputed blow in a forbidden spot. They seem to forget that the blow could and would, in self-defense, have been delivered in the first round, as thé “low kick” was in fifteen seconids. Round_1. Jerry Driscoll, an expe- rienced English heavyweight, one time “Pride of the British Navy.” and familiar, in this travels, with ail kinds of rufan attacks, took three heavy shinbone kicks and himself landed only once, his first on the Frenchman's heart. . Both wore eight-ounce gloves. After receiving the punch on the heart, the Frenchman, clinching, got Driscoll by the neck, in a peculiar hold. . “Break away! cried the English spectators. “Break his neck French. The men were parted. According to the protest of Dr. Henri de Roths- child ané others, this was~ another injustice to the savate as a system of self-defense. Round 2. When the Frenchman launched his.kick, Driscoll dodged it and rushed in, planting some blows with his eight-ounce gloves. The professor took them well, because, in spite of a title which tempts tosmile, he was a hard-trained hegvyweight son of a hard-trained heavyweight teacher of the &kicking system. Cer-| tainly, Charlemont had never been in a fight like.this before, and his boxing with the hands was mediocre. For all these considetations, he was a good man to show off the savate Tor self-defense. falls and snatches. Round 3. The referee, who had re- signed his functions, agreed to let himself be re tated. Charlemont k ed Driscoll a nasty one in the stomach, but the solar- plexus had i fingers crossed: and then, while kicking Driscoll just be- low the left knee, he received some heavy punching, in return, from Dris- coll. But Driscoll was almost unable to walk when time was called. 1 tell this as an eyewitness. Look- ing back on the fourth, fifth and sixth rounds, it is hard to judge rightly the backwardness of Dris- coll (claimed by the English) other- wise than on the admigsion of severe punishment. No one dPeamed of cryt ing “Hippodrome!" ing which Charlemont took was great. His face was swelled out of recog- nition and, naturally, covered with blood, but the body biows which Dris- coll dealt him were even more severe. At times Charlemont was Visibly groggy and the English could not understand why their man did not step in and finish him off. One ex- planation, of course, might be that Driscoll was nearer yet finished off himself. Driscoll said afterward, when he had time to think it up, that *“‘the howling of the French mob” had intimidated him when he might have landed a de- cisive blow, but Charlemont claimed that “the howling of the English mob™ had likewis¢ put hifh off at hic best moments. In any case, It is quite pos- sible that kicks had seriously disabled Driscoll. - Round 7. At the bdeginning of this round, in any case, Driscoll received the nasty toe-pointed Kick in the chssl, which made him worthless to the end. Round 8 (and last). Charlemont rush- ed Driscoll, as if to show what he cotld do offensively with his hands. Imme- diately, nobody could agree what hap- pened. It was years ago, but I heard Frenchmen and Englishmen quarrelling about it yesterday. It may have been an accident. With a howl, Driscoll dropped his guard and doubled up on the floor. “Ow! gentlemen!” he moaned, “will you allow that, gentlemen? The blighter’s kicked me in the groin." The referee accepted Charlemont's statement that his knee had done the damage accidentally. The judges con- curred—because there were judges also. a mixed tribunal. The doctors disagreed as to the seriousness of Driscoll's hurt. Driscoll had asked ten minutes to re- cover from the foul. and at the ev- piration of that time, the fight was given to the Frenchman. I say they were fighting this old fight over again, yesterday, in Paris, and it is quite possible that you will find, in | some year books, that Charlamont fin ished off his man. by a perfectly leg Trmate chdsse croise in the stomach. Be it as it may, Driscoll was less and less in @ Stage to fight. And there you compact exclaimed the and the punch- | been been around FParis anything had proved H*s H MeCa those Immediately after h | tory CI mont received McCoy's cable challenge to do a similar match for 000 a side. Charlemont replied that he was not a fighter, but a professor instructing gilded youth to defend itself | against night attacks. The day after the match, one of these pupils, today the richest duke in France mmed # up for me the whole affa n his Charlemont-Driscoll harlemont was only a el French boxing master who had never previously fought a battlc, He was 80 nervous that he did not do himselr Justige: and habit and his instincts of a gentleman held him back from giving full force to his kicks. How ¢ could it be otherwise? During the 2 he had b n giving lessons. practice had been to kick | pupils gentl The Parisians hunted up another champion. This man was Bayle, called “the French Jeffries,” & powerfully built | heavyweight. 1 saw him. by chimce, yesterday. near the Are de Triomphe, Still husky. prosperous and with i war decoration, but no longer in the pugilistic g He had practiced American boxing as superior to tI savate. When a lod of eighteen, he had dcfeated the experienced negro pugilist, Juck Lewis of Philadelphia. So, it was only by degrees that Bayle combined straight pugilism and the savate as the best possible art of | self-defence. | _In the academy of the Avenue | Wagram,. Bayle fought Dave Mey Bayle wore light street shoes they had the usual combat gloves Again, the leading sports of Vari: were present—milliners, confection- ers, academicians, corset makers and poe Round 1 (and last). The parties shook hands and backed off. Bayl let out the kick they call the chasse croise and landed on Dave Meyer's knee-cap. - Our representative sat down. His knec swelled. That was all. ! “Kid" Lavigne was much in Pas in those days. He was a great friend of Bayle's, ande talked of matching him, with heavy street shoes, against any first-class American. “Will you give muh a hoss-shoe in muh glov interrogated Bob Scan- lon, the negro nighter, who had just arrived. At other times Lavigne was doubt- ful, citing Young Griffe, who, in his gay moments, would spread _his handkerchief on a barroom floor and bet that nobody could hit him in the face while he stood on it. Such was his quickness in dodging. Fer- thermore, footwork is the Americmn foundagion. The American fighters eyes are on yvour feel. Why, then, did they mention lum- berjacks and foot ball desperadors asi | material in which to find n cham- “sion_against savate? “Kick him’in the knec-cap!” mur- mured Scanlon “There the problam,” {laughed “Kid" Lav! “Couta get an audienge to witn lumber- jacks cripple cach othe 1t would {not be sport. It would not be toler- ated.” | . But don't suy that the sawate I been beaten. All this was before fhe war. The A. ¥. found nothing new. The savate has not been beaten!