Evening Star Newspaper, May 19, 1922, Page 26

i x X 3 . BY ARTHUR One of The Star's Week-End Fiction Series Complete in three instailments, X Th tors thus far: - I'!l:v -lll{-hll MeCormick goes to Kennedy for help in the case of & series of disastrous fires, presumably the work of firebugs, Who bave written to him saying that some ome who talks to him erery day about fires is nsible for them, and. finally, that next a big department store fire will occur. seem to be directed at some of the i dry goods and garment trade Interests. night there is an alarm from the department store district and Keomedy and McCormick | speed o answer . IKE a red streak in the night we flew up that avenue, turned into 14th street on twq wheels, . and at last we were on Fill avenue. With a jerk and a skid ‘we stopped. There were the engines, the hosecarts, the hook and ladders, the | salvage corps, the police establishing ; fire lines—cverything. But where was the fire? | The crowd indicated where it ought to be—it was Stacey’s. Firemen and policemen were entering the huge ! building. McCormick “shouldered in after them and we followed. “Who ‘turned in the alarm?" he! asked as‘we mounted the stairs with | the others. “I did.” replied a night watchman on the :thifd landing. aw -u light | in the office on the third floor back— something blaging. But it seems to ai lInst to the offiee. ! It was dark and deserted. yet with the | lanterns we could see the floor of the | largest room littered with torn books and Jedgers. Kennedy caught his foot in some- thing. It was a loose wire on the floor. He followed it.. It led to an electric light socket, where it was at. tache crme ‘Can’t_you turn on the lights?” shouted McCormick to the watchman. ‘Not here. They're turned on from downstairs, and they're off for the 'l go down If you want me " roared Kennedy. “Stay where you are until I follow the wire to the | other end.” t last we came to a little office partitioned off from the main room.| Kennedy carefully opened the door. One whiff of the air from it was suffi- | cient. He banged the door shut again. | “Stand bac! with those lanterns, bovs.” ha ordered. T sniffed. expecting to smell illu- minating gas. Instead, a pecullar. sweetish odor pervaded the air. For a moment it made me think of a hos- |} pital operating room. ! Ether!” exclaimed Kennedy. “Stand | back farther with those lights and hold them up from the floor.” | For a moment he seemed to hesi-| tate, as if at loss what to do mnext.: Should he open the door and let this! highly inflammable gas out or should he wait patiently until the natural ventilation of the little office had d pelled it? While he was debating he happened to glance out of the window and catch sight of a drug store across the street. Walter,” he said to me, “hurry across there and get all the saltpeter and sulphur the man has in the shop> ) T lost no time in doing so. Kennedy | dumped the two chemicals into a pan | in the middle of the main office, about | three-fifths _saltpeter and _two-fifths | sulphur, T should say. Then he lighted | it. The mass burned with a bright flame, but without explosion. W could smell the suffocating fumes from it and we retreated. For a mo- ment or two we watched it curiously at a distance. “That’s very good extinguishing | powder.” explained Craig as we, sniffed at the odor. -“It yields a large amount of carbon dioxide and sulphur dioxide. Now—before it gets any worse—I guess it's safe to open the door and let the ether out. You see, this is as good a way as any to ren der safe a room full of infiammable vapor. Come, we'll wait outside the! main office for a few minutes until | the gases mix.” It seemed hours before Kennedy | deemed it safe to enter the office again with a light. When we did so, we made a rush for the little cubby-hole of an office at the other end. On the | floor was a little can of ether, evapo- : rated. of course, and beside it a small | apparatus. apparently used for pro-| ducing electric sparks. { “So that's how he does :it," mused ! fingering the can contem- | platively. “He lets the ether evapo- | rate in a room for a while and then | causes an explosion from a safe dis- | tance with this little electric spark. | There's where your wire comes in, Mc- Cormick. Say, my man, you can itch on the Tights trom downstairs | now. - As we waited for the watchman to turn on the lights I exclaimed, “He failed this time because the electricity: w shut off.” Precisely, Walter,” assented Ken- nedy. 2 - “‘But the flames which the nights ‘watchman, saw—what of them?” put in McCormick, considerably mystified. THE FIREBU ro. v * 2 % spat out of a window, All} And, judging by the charreds pape: B. REEVE. About the g ering up what they could of the moved'as smoothly: it by elock- work. ..Yet we could .nof the mew who had d & hose showing that stil] alive and workin, und fioors the red-he meted galvage corps were busy cov. goods with rubber sheets to protect them trom water. Doctors with black bags the men_ wel and white trousers were working over tarpaulin—what d the injured. ‘Kennedy and I were busy about the engine, and there was =y plcnty for us to do. “He mus Just t| the lights winked up. “Oh, that was before the fellow tried to touch off the ether vapor," explained Kennedy. “He had to make sure of his work of destruction first. them on the floor. There was an ob- Ject in all that. What was it? Hello! k at this mass of charred paper in the corner.” He bent down and examined it caretully. { “Memoranda of some kind. I guess. | T'll save this burnt paper and look it over later. Don't disturb it. I'll take it away myseif.” i Search as we might, we could I\ndl no other trace of the firebug, and at last we left. Kennedy carried the charred'paper carcfully in a large hat 0x. ““There’ll be no more-fires tonight, McCormick.” he said. “But I'll watch with you every night until we get this Incendiary. Meanwhile, I'll see what I can decipher, if anything, in this burnt paper.’ Next @ay McCormick dropped in to %£ee us again. This time he had an- other note, a disguised scrawl, which reay Chief—I'm not through. Watch me get another store yet. I won't fall down this time. ' A. SPARK. Craig scowled as he read the note and harded It to me. “The man's writing this time—liks the second note” was all he said. “McCormick, since we know where the lghtning is goinz to strike, don't you think it would be wiser to make our | headquarters in one of the engine | houses in that district?” The fire marshal agreed, and that night saw us watching at the fir house nearest the department store region. Kennedy and I were assigned to places on'the hosecart and engine, re- spectively, Kennedy being in the hos: cart so_that he could be with McCo: mick. We were taught to descend one of the four brass poles hand under elbow from the dormitory on the sec- ond floor. They showed us how to Jump into_the *“turn-ouls”—a pair of trousers opened out over the high top boots. - We were given helmets. which we placed in regulation fashion on our rubber coats, turned inside out with the right armnole up. Thus it came abou that Craig and I joined the fire department temporarily. It was a novel experience for us both. Now. Walter,” said Kennedy, “as long as we have gone so far, we'll ‘roll' to every fire, just like the regu- ars. We won't take any chances of missing the firebug at any time of night or day." It proved to be a remarkably quiet evening, with only one little blage in | a candy shop on Vth avenue. Most of the time we sat around try- ing to draw the men out about their thrilling experiences at fires. But if there is one thing the fireman doesn’t know it is the English language when talking about herself. It was quite late when we turned into the neat ‘white cots upstairs. We had scarcely fallen into a_half doze in our strange surroundings when the gong downstairs sounded. 1t was our signal. We could hear the rapid clatter of the horses’ hoofs as they were aut matically released from their stalls and the“collars and harness mechan- ically locked about them. All was stir ‘and motion and shouts. Craig 1 had bounded awkwardly into | our paraphernalia at the first sound. We slid ungracefully down the pole and were pushed and shoved into our places, for scientific management in a New York firehouse has reached 100 | per cent efficiency, and we were not to be allowed to delay the game. The oll torch had been applied to the engine, and it rolled forth, belch- ing flames. I was hanging on 'for dear life, now and then catching sight of the driver urging his plunging horses onward like a charioteer in a modesn Ben-Hur race. The tender with Cralg and McCormick was lost in the clouds of smoke and sparks that trailed behind us. On we dashed u; til we turned into 6th avenue. The glare of the sky told us that this time the firebug had made good. | “I'll be hanged if it isn't the Stacey store again!" shouted the man next me on the engine as the horses lunged | up the avenue and stopped at the allotted hydrant. It was like a war game. Every move had been planned | out by the fire strategists. even down to the hydrants that the engines | should take at a given fire. { Already several floors were aflame, | the windows glowing like open-hearth furnaces, the glass bulging and crack- ing and the flames licking upward and shooting out in long streamers. The hose was coupled up in an instant. the water turned onxand the limp rubber and canvas-became as rigid as a post with the high pressure of the water being forced through it. Company after company dashed into the’ blaz. ing “fireproof” building, urged by the hoarse profanity of the chlef. Twenty or thirty men must have disappeared into the stifle from which the police retreate: B ave seen something.” Icoll 1 heard Above the shrill whistle for more & voice shout, “Began with an explosion. It's- the Qrebu; all right.” I looked up. It was Mc- Cormick, dripping and grimy, in a high state of excitement, talking to Kennedy. 2 1 had been so busy trying to make myself belleve that I was really of itself. It was now under control. The sharp and scientific attack had nipped what might have been one of New York's historic conflagrations. “Are you game to go inside?" I heard McCormick ask. For answer Kennedy simply nodded. As for me, where Craig went I went. The three of us drove through the scorching door, vast twisted masses of iron still glowing dull red ih the smoke and steam, while the water hissed and spattered and slopped. The smoke wes still suffocating, and every once in- a while we were forced to find air close to the floor and near the wall. My hands and arms and legs felt like lead, yet on we drove. Coughing and choking, we followed McCormick " to what had been the heart of the fire, the office. Men with picks and axes and all manner of cunningly devised instruments were hacking and tearing at the walls and woodwork, putting out the la. smolderinic sparks. while a_'housur allons of water were pouring In at various purts of the building where the fire still showed spirit. o There on the floor of the office lay a charred, shapelcss, unrecognizable mass. What was that gruesome odor in the room? Burned human flesh? 1 recoiled from what had once been the form of a woman. McCormick uttered a cry, and as I turned my eyes away I saw him hold- ing a wire with the insulation burned off. He had picked it up from the wreckage of the floor. and blackened can that had once been a can of ether. My mind worked rapidly, but Mc- Cormick blurted out the words before B e N N N R e T T P ey A SALE FOR EVERYBODY Not the rich, only—anybody of moderate means can afford to own a car, are very low. are WORTH WHILE. Please don’t forget that. If they were not, we'd not sell them as “great values”’—for our repu- Tt led to a bent | eould f . At In Her A R R e Kenn .-uanmm!.-l_m't.u'o- £ th ut reve of the firemen 1y i covered sheet 'rom t! Tetter B { partms the femains. with t again we|up | bathed our racking heads, gargled our fina parched throats, and washed out our bloodshot e in silénce. The whole adventure, though still fresh and vivid in ‘my mind, seemed unreal, like a | dream. The choking air, the hlssing steam, the llunl{ object under_the d it all mean? Who was she? I strove to reason it out, but eould find no answer. It was nedrly dawn when the door opened. and McCormick came in and It ed wearily into a chair. “ you know who that woman was?’ he gasped. “It was Miss Wend herselfX’ "Whol identified her?’ asked Ke nad‘gc imly. ‘ “‘Oh, several people. Stacey recog- nised her at once. Then Hartstein, the adjuster for the insured, and La- sard, the adjuster for the company, | both of whom had had more or less to ido with her In connection with set- | tiing up for other fires, recognized |her.” She was a very clever woman, | Was Miss Wend, and & very important cox in the Stucev enterprises. And to think she was the firebug, after all. 1T can hardly belleve it.” 'Why believe I1t?' asked Kennedy quietly. | “Why believe 1t?" echoed McCo: mick. “Stacey has found shortages Jin his books due to the operatian of her departments. The bookkooper who had charge of the accounts in her department, & man named Doug- lus, is mibsing.” She must have tried to cover up her operation: fires and juggling the accounts. in that, she tried to destroy Stacey's store itself twice. She was one of the few that dould get into the office un- i{observeda. Oh, it's a clear case now. ‘To my mind, the heavy vapors of ether —they are heavier than air. you know —must have escaped along the surface of the floor last night and Db e ignited at a considerable distince from where she expected. She. w: caught in a vlack draft or some- thing of that sort. Well, thank God, iwe've seen the last of this firebug business. What's that?" Kennedy had laid the letter the tgble. e “Nothing. Only 1 Yound this émbedded in M ‘Wend's breast right over her heart. “Then she was murdered?” } claimed McCormick. “We haven't come to the end of this case yet,” replied Craig evasively. “On the contrary, we have just got our first good ciue. »No, M ick, your theory will not hold water. The ex- le ony real'point {8 'to find this missing book- | at any cost. - You must per- it -he knows. 6 was only. & .those higher ‘was not hard. to con- as he wi he grabbed and -nrt.d.:’! to put the inery in motion ‘to wind chase for the firebug. him te co Offer him immunity. ‘pawn In the hands of "ioeoml vln? i 1 us, first T want to start something to- ward finding Douglas. I shall try to see you about noon.” . ¢ Cencluded in Tomozrow’s Star. .- ——— SMALL'’S ALLEGED LOANS TO ARMOUR INTRODUCED Packers Said to Have Paid Bank 8 to 8 Per Cent and State Received Only 2. By the Associated Presa. WAUKEGAN, I, May 19.—Memo- {Co., by the late Senator Edward C. Curtis, .former banker at Grant Park, Ill, occupied the attention of court, counsel and jury-at the trial of Gov. Len Small, charged with con- spiracy to defraud the state, swung into the close of its fourth-week to- day. Notes amounting to $114800,000, al- leged to have represented what had been state money, were introduced yesterday. It {s sald intefest rates were 6 ‘to 8% per cent, while the state received only 2 per cent. Frederick W. Croll, vice president and treasurer of Armour & Co., was_ still on the stand this morning. SAVED FROM GALLOWS. Move for New Trial on Eve of Ex- ecution. JESUP, Ga., May 19.—Joe Harvey jand Henry Jordan, two negroes sen- tenced to pay the death penalty to- day for criminal attack on a young woman in this county several months ago, were respited here last night by Judge Highsmith of Brunswick, is- suing a rule nisi on an extraordinary motion for a new trial. It is claimed that new evidence dis- covered shows that the wrong negroes have been convicted. randa of loans made to Armour &' Ssssssssssssasssssaas i PTSTS OUTLNE DRVEFORFUNDS Elabufite Program Manoed to Collect Remainder of ' -/ $75,000,000 Total. By the Associated Press, JACKSONVILLE, Fla, May 19.— Plans for completing the $75,000,000 fund of the Southern Baptist Conven- tién will be outlined and an intensive south-wide campaign launched at & conference of Baptist leaders in Nashville Jume 20-21, it was an- nounced at the convention here to- day. Plans call for forming of an or- ganization somewhat similar to the one that obtained the original sub- bers of the conservation commission, including the state and general sec- retaries, the president and secretary of the Women's Missionary Union, secretdries of other auxillary organi- zations and a few representative pas. tors and laymen, invitations also wil be extended to the executive com- mittees of the convention and of the Women's Union, state secretaries of the union, editors of Baptist papers, the executive committee of the lay- men's missionary movement, and others. Frank E. Burkhalter, Nashville, wa re-elected secretary and publicity di- reetor of the conservation commission at a meeting early today. Statistics on Southern Baptist work since the last convention show large gains for the convention vear of 1922, the total contributions amounting to $33.886,982, a gain of $995,099, and, the value of church property $102,404,038, an increase of $4,671,048. Other fig- ures showed continued increases in a dozen more items reported. The convention yesterday instruct- ed its education board to provide text books on science “free from erroneous statements on evolution.” . Praise for President Harding and Secretary Hughes was given in reso- lutions presénted by the Rev. Dr. { Henry-Allen Tupper of Washington. ssssssss DENIES UNTERMYER CLAIM Hayward. \Oaiisd Staten stioene oF ward, es rney for the southern district of New York, declared in & statement that Samuel Untermyer’s criticls of Attorney General Tty prosecutions under the trust act, were ridiculous. He mad & plea that the in the in terest of fair play. “will judge by the results we obtain and not Mr. Untermyer's opinion.” Mr. Hayward said that In connec] tion with the anti-trust cases Mr) Daughert: supported him in| every way possibie. TWO Pbpular New Men’s : OXFORDS -IN TAN AND ‘BLACK CALFSKIN THAT WILL SAVE YOU JUST scriptiogs and in addition to mem- | TXNN RUBBER HEELS ssssssssssssssssssssssane DAYS LEFT!: OMOBILE SALE M for the prices And: the cars tation is at stake. Here are the cars you can from choose Coupes, 3 Touring Cars Oldsmobile Sedmg Reo Chevrolet Ford Dodge Buick . Overland Liberty Oakland Roadsters, Kissel Studebaker Nash ‘one or two lessons. will be furnished minute a car Of Closes Sunday Nigh ANY have profited by this great sale of rebuilt, renewed, used cars—cars we’ve accumu- lated through trading in as part payment on new Oldsmobiles, which we represent in Washington. We've become overstocked on used cars and to dispose of them immediately, we're selling them at astonishingly low prices—in many cases far less than actual worth, but we'd rather take losses than increase our stock of used cars. Every Car You See on the StreetIsa THE driven, it is USED, . and the sales value depreciates. course, this doesn’t make the car “perform” less efficiently, even though you can’t get as much for it as the car is worth.. REMEM- BER THIS—THE CARS IN THIS GREAT . SALE ARE OFFERED AT LOWEST POS- We Teach You ' to Drive FREE I¥'s very simple to learn, you'll “catch on” Only competent instructors teach you and your wife how to handle the car under various conditions. Don’t Wait Until the Summer! Plan your vacation trip NOW.. You can get a whole lot of wholesome pleasure when you've a car—week-end trips, long tours, and jaunts “Used Car” SIBLE PRICES AND THE DEPRECIA- TION HAS BEEN TAKEN OFF. So if you buy a car today, you can use it six months or a year, and when you’re ready to sell it, or trade it in for a new car, you'll not lose much on it. YouNeedNotPayFull Purchase PriceatOnce We'll extend credit—for people of average in- comes can buy cars only by this means, so come with a'little cash, or your check, and make the first payment—the rest in convenient monthly installments. USE THE CAR WHILE YOU PAY FOR IT. Drive it out when your cash payment is made. Enjoy it. The remaining paymerits can be given like rent money.