Evening Star Newspaper, February 14, 1932, Page 80

Dhilo ELLIS PARKER BUTLER Hllustrated By ETHEL HAYS In This New Story of Philo It Is Proved That “a Deteckative Had O.ught to Put Himself Totally Into the C/zuru-r'/fr of the Suspected Criminal If He /17onts Not to Be CW///"/(‘/( /_1’ B{{f:f/('(/. ” HE police of Riverbank had been working on the Paverty murder case three days when Chief of Police S-hultz climbed the stairs to the headquarters of Fhilo Gubb, the cele- b .d paper hanger and graduate of cun Correspondence School of Bubb,” said Chief Schultz, “you know it what for I do come up, huh?” “Wwith the surest of possibility,” declared Philo Gubb. “What you come up for, Chief Schultz, is to ta about the murder of Rufus Paverty, into which case you ain't making no adivance of progress whatever. Do you want me to find the murder of Rufus Paverty?” “vou could find him?" asked Chief Schultz, ; at Mr. Gubb unbelievingly. “To find him is what I am into the detecka- tive business for,” he said simply, and then id ‘What is there into it? " said Chief Schultz, “the City Coun- cil would for the murderer a reward of one thcusand dollars offer.” “Into them circumstances,” said Mr. Gubb, “and seeing that the paper hanging business is rottenly bum at the present moment of time, I am glad to ofier my complete detecka- tive services to the securance of justice into the Rufus Paverty case. What clues have you got up to so far in this case, Chief?” 'HUS asked point blank, Chief Schultz had to admit that the police had as yet made but little progress. The murger of Rufus Paverty was a most baffling one. The murder had occurred between 11 and 12 o'clock at night. The body had been found in a vacant lot in East Riverband just before 12 oclock, and at 11 o'clock Amos Tucker had called at Paverty's house, where Paverty lived alone, and had paid him for digging a well. Henry Burgmeister, a perfectly respectable but<her, who sang in the German Lutheran choir. had gone to Paverty's house with Tucker and had seen Paverty alive. Robbery had not seemed to be thé motive, for when the body was found, Paverty's watch was in Paverty's pocket, together with $19.45. The indications were that Rufus Paverty, who had been born in Scotland and was a well-dizger by profession, had been murdered in his little house. He had been strangled. The only person Chief Schultz could call to mind who might hate Rufus Paverty sufficiently to want to kill him was Rufus Paverty's wife, and it was understood that she was in Scotland. Rufus Paverty, it seems, had wanted a house- keeper and had written home to Scotland for one. Janet had agreed to keep house for $25 a weck, plus board and lodging, and had done so for eight months and six days, when Rufus mariied her. Naturally her wages stopped when she be- came a wile, but as Rufus had married her on the seventh day of the month at noon there was no question that he owed her six days' pay. The trouble arose when Janet, in her thrifty Scotch way, demanded pay for another half- day, the morning of her wedding day. She claimed she was still Rufus Paverty's housckecper until noon, but Rufus insisted that she had spent most of the morning getting ready for the wedding and that she was there- fore a prospective bride and not a housekeeper. The amount in dispute was one-half of 83 cents As Rufus did not want the scandal of being left so soon by his bride he finally, with con- siderable agony, agreed to pay Janet for the first half of her wedding day, and all would have been well if they could have agreed on what half of 83 cents was. Janet claimed 42 cents and Rufus said he would pay only 41 cents, and they became so angry that Janet put on her hat and left him then and there and went back to Scotland. 1 A ND Janet never returned back from Scot- v land?” asked Philo Gubb, who was step- ping into what seemed to be a short plaid skirt. “1f she ecomes back she don't told me any- thing aboudt it,” said Chief Schultz. “You vos dressing oop like a lady, yes?” *“This ain’t a lady’s dress,” sald Philo Gubb . THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, FEBRUARY 14, 1932, sbb & haughtily. “This is Disguise Number Nineteen, Scottish Highlander, and this skirt petticoat is a kilt. Into a case like this, which has got a dead Scotchman into it, it is appropriately right that I should be disguised up like a Scoichman.” “Sure, yes!” agreed Chief Schultz. “Only don't you take off your pants before you put such a kilt on yet?” “Normally in usual I do so,” said Mr. Gubb, “but into the months of January and February I leave my pants on on account of the reason that when my pants are off, my legs get cold.” The result was that Mr. Gubb presented a rather odd appearance when he went down to the street with Chief Schultz. The gay kilt above his unpressed trousers gave his lower half a bizarre look which was not entirely can- celed by the bright red jacket and jaunty Scotch cap, while the bagpipe he carried made him seem rather like something that had strayed from a circus band. It was not unnatural that this should attract quite a few citizens of Riverbank who had nothing else to do, and as quite a few of these were in automobiles, and as the sidewalk was too narrow for automobiles to drive on, Mr. Gubb took the middle of the street. In this way the procession proceeded toward the scene of the crime, Detective Gubb leading with the bagpipe, followed by Chief of Police Sciultz, and after Chief Schultz the citizens of Riverbank. Half way to the home of the murdered man a worn and weather-beaten black taxicab pulled up alongside of Mr. Gubb. “Hoot, Gubb,’ called the driver. wi' you, Gubb.” The speaker was Sandy MacGuilliguish, owner and driver of one of the few Riverbank taxicabs. “Hoot, Gubb!” MacGuilliguish ejaculated. “Quit yon distressin’ yowls on the bagpipe or ye'll be havin’ Paverty poppin’ out of his cof- fin. 'Tis no way to play the pipes, mon.” Mr. Gubb stopped and looked at Sandy Mac- Guilliguish. “Into the first place, MacGuilliguish,” Mr. Gubb said haughtily, “I am into disguise as a Scotsman and nobody is supposed to know I am Gubb. The rightly proper way to ad- dress me is Donald MacDonald. And into the second place these here bagpipes is part of my disguise, and it don’t make no difference how I play onto them.” “Verra weel,” said Sandy MacGuilliguish. “Ye'll have it your own way, na doot, and if * ye'll no let me play th’ pipes for ye how aboot takin’ my taxi? Feefty cents is the rate.” “Too much,” said Philo Gubb. “I'll give you 25 cents.” The taxi driver looked at him darkly. “Feefty cents is my rate,” said MacGuilli- guish, “Feefty cents is what I always get. If not sooner,” he added with a dark scowl, “then later. I'm an honest man, Gubb, and I take nothing that does na belong to me, but what is mine I get.” With that MacGuilfguish swung his cab around and drove off, little thinking that his careless words remained lurking in Philo Gubb’s wonderful brain, sooner or later to lead to the capture of Rufus Paverty’s mur- derer. “A word the Muraerer In this toward the scene of the crime, the procession moved Half way way to the home of the murdered man a black taxicab pulled up alongside Mr. Gubb . .« . “Hoot, Gubb.” called the driver. “A4 word wi’ you, Gubb.” PON reaching the home of the murdered man Mr. Gubb handed the bagpipes to Chief Schultz to hold and got down on his hands and knees and went over the floors with what was practically a fine-tooth comb. Thus he discovered on the floor a Bible, much worn, and between the pages he found a receipt or acknowledgement of money paid. The receipt was written in pencil on a scrap of waste paper and was for a transaction for which receipts are not often issued. It was for, as a matter of fact, a taxicab ride: “Received from Rujus Paverty 45 cents for one taricadb ride. MALCOLM MacGUILLIGUISH.” “Hah!" said Mr. Gubb when he had studied the receipt for 15 minutes. The crowd of citizens who were gathered in the doorway stretched their necks, peering at Mr. Gubb. For several minutes more Philo Gubb sat on the floor, moving only once or twice to pull his kilt more modestly down toward his knees, and then he arose to his feet. Getting a pencil and paper, he did a little figuring. Then he summoned Henry Burg- meister and Amos Tucker and learned from them that Amos, on the night of the murder, had paid Rufus Paverty precisely $20 in bills, and that Paverty had taken the money with eagerness, remarking that he had not another cent in the house. Then Philo Gubb wrote this bit of arithmetic on his paper: $20.00 .05 ) $19.95 “How much,” he asked Chief Schultz, “was the money that was found onto Mr. Paverty when he was found in a deceased condition out onto the edge of town in the form of a corpse?” “Nineteen dollars and forty-five cents,” said Chief Schultz without hesitation, and Mr. Gubb glanced at the figures of his scrap of paper. “Baffled!” he muttered, scowling, and Chief Schultz whispered, “Gubb is baffled,” and the word passed back through the crowd—“He’s baffled! Gubb is bafled! Detective Gubb is baffled!” The great detective knew well that he was close upon the track of the murderer of Rufus Paverty. More—he knew, he was positive— the murderer and the reason for the crime. The receipt he had found in the Bible point- ed straight at Sandy MacGuilliguish, and Mr, Gubb could easily imagine the anger of the sandy-haired taxicab owner when the rather parsimonious Mr. Paverty refused to pay more than 45 cents for a taxicab ride for which Mr. MacGuilliguish demanded 50 cents. Mr. Mac- _ Guilliguish had murdered Mr. Paverty. “Is Sandy MacQGuilliguish out there, Chief?” asked Mr. Gubb. “Gubb wants MacGuilliguish,” Chief Schultz called. “He's not out here,” some one shouted. “Go get Santy MacGuilliguish, quick!” eor- dered Chief Schultz. “Gubb vants him!” and a moment later the popping of two motor cycles was heard, growing rapidly less in the distance each moment. N a short time two motor cycle patrolmen appeared with the taxi driver. Mr. Gubb rolled up his pants legs until they vanished beneath his kilts, took from Chief Schultz his bagpipes, and looked. in fact, as much like & Scotchman as a paperhanger who resembles & flamingo could be expected to look like one. “Ye have got me, Gubb,” said MacGuilliguish with resignation. “I admit I went a bit too far in collectin’ the five cents Paverty defrauded me out of, and I confess that in the argument I was a bit rough when chokin’ him, forgettir? to take my hands from his neck before he stopped breathin’. “Not that I would kill any man for a cent, ye onderstand,” he added, ‘“for I am no that close, Gubb, but a nickel is a nickel.” In the silence when MacGuilliguish paused any one could have heard a penny drop. “I came to the house ‘to ask Paverty to pay me the five cents he rightly owed me,” cone tinued MacGuilliguish, “hearin’ he had received $20 from Tucker yon. and th’ skinflint refused, sayin’ he had a good and proper receipt from me, and the argument went beyond all bounds of reason. “So you can do what ye will wi' me, Gubb, and not the deevil I care, for I got the five cents, but there is one thing I would ask of ye as one mon to anither.” “What is the request you want to ask?™ asked Mr. Gubb, and then, remembering that he was disguised as a Scotchman—or Scot o Scotsman, as some prefer the name—he cor= rected himself and asked, “Wha' is't ye wud be askin,’ MacGuilliguish?” “Don’t play the pipes, Gubb,” said Mac= Guilliguish; ‘“’twould be more than I could bear to hear the noble instrument mishandled at the present doleful moment.” “] dare say I am no grand hand wi' the pipes, MacGuilliguish,” said Philo Gubb, “ng mair than wi’' the Scots language talk, and ¥ have no deesire to torture you, but I am al} baffled up with 50 cents and I give you notice of warning that if you don’t unbaffie me right away at once I will play this here - MacGuilliguish. When the dead corpse of Paverty was found there was onto it $19. “Correct,” said MacGuilliguish. “And you are no malefactor thief,” sal Gubb. tively. “Then why did you take the other half dol= lar?” asked Mr. Gubb. “Weel,” said MacGuilliguish, “I unlumm.: caused the decease of Mr. Paverty while ool lecting’ the 5 cents he rightly owed me, ye s¢e, Gubb, and my thought was to bear away the body” in my taxicab and dispose of it it would not be found, lettin’ the folk Paverty had gone awa'—to Scotland, mayhap—e but I had no chance to hide the body, do ye see? I had to leave it where I could.” “Where it was found,” said Mr. Gubb. “Even s0” agreed MacGuilliguish. “So 3 Omidtinued em Twelfth Page