The Key West Citizen Newspaper, August 14, 1936, Page 3

FRIDAY, AUGUST 14, 1936. MURDER BY LAURENCE napter 37 THE ANSWER po INSPECTOR,” the Ser- geant’s letter began, “I am sor- ry for all the official flapdoodle there Will be about this business. “I don’t know whether you are be- ginning to guess {t or not, but £ killed Arthur Burdett; an action for which I wasn’t sorry at the time, but which I am inclined to regret now. “Burdett was not only a miser but @ roué as well—I had reason to think some time ago that he got various ‘women up to the Court on one pre- text or another, but it had nothing to do with me and so I didn’t take much notice. But lately he had his eye on my wife; twice he rang her up when he knew | was away and asked her to go up there to take a message for me. | thought, until to- day, that that was why she went up there, but I know differently now. “It so happened that the second time she was there (or at any rate the second time I know of) I was on some of his land beyond Nyeton, see- ing about @ tree that had blown across the road and that had to be cleared away. | called at the Court on my way back end as luck would have it ran into Alice just as she was leaving. “She looked a bit upset and flushed, and 1 suppose she was frightened at seeing me there. Any- way when we got home that . vening she told me that he had: rung her up on an excuse of having some mes- sage for me and asked her up, and when she had got there there was no more talk about any message, he ended up by trying to make love to her, I suppose now that she told me all these half-lies because she was thoroughly scared by my turning up there unexpectedly and was afraid that I already knew something. “I thought it over a day and de- cided to go up on Monday, when I knew his man would be out, to thrash the whole thing out with him and see where we stood. So as not to worry Alice, I told her I was going out on my usual Nyeton round after Poachers, “Actually I went up to Enderton Court; I used the back drive. I got to the Court at about five minutes to seven, I should think. | knocked on the front door and the old miser came shuffling across the hall just like Lumsdale described. He opened the door as far as the chain would admit and peered out. I said ‘I want a word with you Mr. Burdett about a little matter. “He hesitated a moment and then took the chain off and told me to come in. I followed him across the hall into that little study sort of place where he always used to sit. We sat down and he croaked out, ‘What do you want at this time of night?” “I asked him straight out what he was doing with my wife. WeMEYN ELL leaned forward and opened that scrawing mouth of his I hit him with- out knowing that I did it. “It killed him at once. I hit him on the head which I didn’t mean to do. In @ sense you may say that I didn’t mean to hit him at all, it all hap- pened quickly and under the stress of temper. However, all those things don’t matter. I did hit him and killed him and it was murder. “I lost my head for a few minutes, and damned nearly turned tail and ran, leaving everything just as it was, but, of course, that soon passed. I knew nobody could have heard any- thing and I was certain no one had | seen me going up the back drive. My truncheon was the first snag. I thought I would provide a weapon to make it easy for everybody. “Those two Indian Clubs took my eye so | jumped up on a chair and got one down (the second fell down with a hell of a clatter, it made me jump a foot, and I realized how nervy I was). “When that was finished I put the chair back in its place (the one I had stood on to get the clubs) care- | fully brushed off any evidence of it having been stood on and had a good look round. “One club was on the floor and 1 picked it up and hung it on a nail on the wall. It just shows how mis- taken a man can be about the state of his mind and how easy it must be for murderers to make silly mis- takes; I could have sworn | was per- fectly cool and collected and yet I never realized that 1 was putting that club back on its wrong nail; it just didn’t enter my head. ALFWAY down the back drive I did exactly what you thought the murderer did. 1 stuck my trun- cheon well into the grass at the foot of the hedge and wiped all the mess off it. Then I slung it in place again and went on. There was no one about so I turned left and made off sharp- ly through the lanes to Nyeton vil- lage. “I was back home by half past eight and sat there pretending to read with my ears nailed to the door ag you may say. “Just after nine Lumsdale knocked, I let him in and he told me his alarming news. I hope my face looked serious and official enough, I tried to make it so anyway, and | walked up with him to see the first murder of my life (but my second view of it). “I want to make it clear, Inspec: tor, that I didn’t want anybody else to be charged with the crime, but | didn’t se@ how there could be any evidence to charge anyone else. 1 don't pretend to know what I should have done if the ¢ircumstantial evi- dence had gone on mounting against Shipley the way it did. “However, you feel a damned fool, Inspector, when you've jumped into the river to rescue someone and it turns out to be a dummy. | found out today that what Arthur Burdett said about my wife was absolutely true—so I needn't have killed him at all really, which is a pretty good joke on both of us when you come “LTE burst out into the usual tor- rent of abuse which he used whenever he lost his temper. What the hell did I mean, and how dare I have the bloody impudence, and all that sort of thing. “Of course I took no notice of that, except perhaps that it made me even angrier than | was already. When he had run short of breath f told him quite quietly that my wife had com- plained of being decoyed up there under false pretenses and of having been molested, and that unless he had some satisfactory explanation to give | intended to make an official case of it and prosecute him. “It was then that the whole at- mosphere of the thing changed. | didn’t speak at all for the next ten minutes, he had it all his own way. He told me, amongst a lot of other things, that if I really imagined my wife went up there unwillingly it was about the richest thing he had ever heard of; that his great diffi- culty had been to keep her away once he had first got her up there; that he knew well enough what 1 was after, that the whole thing was a plant—that 1 wanted money. “I couldn't stand it anyway and when he said that about Alice I lost control of myself (damned fool that I was). I had my truncheon out be fore I knew what I was doing. When he had said what he did about Alice he leaned across the table and spat at me. I had my hand on my trun- cheon as I’ve told you and when he Anniversaries 1786—John Tipton, Indiana pioneer, farmer, soldier, U.S. senator, born in Sevier Co., Tenn. Died at Logansport, Ind., April 5, 1839. 1809—Park Benjamin, noted Amercian poet, editor and critic of his generation, born in British Guina. Died in New York City, Sept. 12, 1864. 1816—Ann Pamela Cunning- ham, founder, in 1853, and first »Regent of the Mount Vernon La- dies’ Association, born in Laurens to think of it. “Well, Inspector, that’s the way of it. I knew it all before; shut my eyes to it and have had it proved abundantly again: Go your own way in life and trust yourself, nothing else is worth while. If you hadn't come in when you did this evening I should have killed Alice, You saved her, and much good that will do the world. I shan’t kill her now, 1 couldn’t very well hope to get away with that, and yet if I let her live she'll get me caught over the other thing, somehow or other fn the devil- ish way women have in their minds she knows. “Well, she won't have that pleas- ure. I've always lived life my own way and I'll go out of it my own way. James Clewley White.” Inspector Hylton read this re- markable and eminently lucid docu- ment through slowly and with a eeries of mingled feelings such as he had seldom, if ever, before ex- perienced. When he had finished it to its last syllable he gathered the loose sheets together and took them into the office, not caring particu- larly to share the company in the | kitchen any longer. “Poor devil” Hylton thought with compassion. Then lifting up the re- ceiver, he asked in a weary voice for the Morechester Police Station. (Copyright, 1936, Laurence W. Meynelt) THE END Co., S.C. Died there, May 1 1875, | 1834—Henry Clews, New York ifinancier, author of a noted book jon Wall Street, born in England. | Died Jan, 31, $923. 1836—Sir Walter Besant, Eng- lish author, born. Died June 9, 1901. TONIGHT | SPORTS I THE KEY WEST CITIZEN BY JOVE GIANTS GAIN ON LEAGUE LEADERS i ‘ ONLY TWO GAMES PLAYED| IN EACH CIRCUIT YESTERDAY | (Special to fhe Citisen) NEW YORK, Aug. 14.—The New York Giants gained a half-; Bayview Park. game on the leaders in the Na- tional League race yesterday. Both the Chicago Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals were idle. The Giants are now within three full| tration vs, Bayview Park. | Teams from Hollywood, Palm} games of the league leadership. The New Yorks’ victory yester-! vs. Sanitary Department. day was over the Philadelphia Phillies, 6 to 4, Cincinnati Reds lost to the Pittsburgh Pirates, 5 to 4, No other games were played in the senior circuit yesterday, ithe Amertat tenes, the| RAIN POSTPONED — | "oossin cca ns prem St. Louis Browns defeated the! strong Chicago White Sox, 7 to 3.| Cleveland Indians again beat World Champion Detroit Tigers. The score was 8 to 0. | Other teams were not scheduled yesterday. The summaries: NATIONAL LEAGUE At Pittsburgh R. H. E.j. Pittsburgh Batterie: and Campbell; Hoyt and Padden. At New York Philadelphia . New York G 2 Batteries: Bowman, Benge and! Wilson; Smith and Mancuso, RW E. 64d 0! Boston at Brooklyn, to be play- ed at later date. Chicago and St. Louis, not; schedulde. AMERICAN LEAGUE At Chicago Ra. E.| St. Louis - F 10 Chicago or a ae Batterie: Thomas and Hems- ley; Whitehead, Shores and Grube. At Cleveland R. H. E. Detroit ... O42 Cleveland 818 0 Batteries: Rowe, J. Sullivan, Phillips and Myatt; Allen and Sul- livan, Washington at Boston, to Pel played at later date. New York at Philadelphia, to be played at later date. CLASSIFIED COLUMN v5oove WANTED WANTED—Cash Register. Box S, The Citizen. augl4-1tx ,WANTED—Adding Machine. Box X, The Citizen. aug14-1tx WANTED TO RENT : WANTED TO RENT: Moderate! size Apartment House, furnish-j ed. Will buy furniture if good. | Give location, size, price and condition in first letter. W-13,; cjo The Citizen. augl3-4tx LOST | . LOST—Small roll money, secured ‘with rubber band. Reward if returned to Box A, The Citizen. aug12-3tx FOR RENT FURNISHED HOUSE, Garage, modern conveniences, 419 United street, one block from beach, Apply Valdes Bakery. jlyl4-1mo FIVE - ROOM FURNISHED APARTMENT — Modern con- veniences. 511 Simonton street. augl0-6tx ROOMS THE MUNRO, 128 N. E. 4th street, Miami, Florida. ROOMS: single, $2.50, $3.00 weel 1867—John Galsworthy, famed English novelist-playwright, born. Died Jan. 31, 1933. Wilfred W. Fry, Phila- 's noted advertising execu- tive, born at Mt. Vision, N. Y. Died July 27, 1936. double, $3.50, $4.00 week.| Close in. aug4-1mo; NOTICE WE WILL PUMP OUT YOUR CISTERN and clean it for the water therein. State Plant Board. Phone 701, augi3-ct' 'LIST GAMES FOR | during the second-half of the WILL ENTER TOURNAMENT Senior League split schedule fol- low: tion vs. Sanitary Department. | vs. Administration. Administration. ship. partment vs, Bayview Park. wuled for yesterday was postponed LE GU ST DINGS on account of rain. A E ‘AN Sanitary Department. SOFTBALL GAME COMING WEEK} MONDAY NIGHT, Games scheduled for next week; FOR BENEFIT OF TEAM THAT IN HOLLYWOOD Monday, 5 p. m.—Administra- ; Games will be played at nignt | beginning Monday for the berefit |of the team that will enter tl jtournament at Hollywood to de-| termine the outstanding club on} Wednesday, 5 p. m.—Adminis-|the east coast of Florida. Monday, 8 p' m.—Coca-Cola vs. Tuesday, 5 p. m.—Coca-Cola Thursday, 5 p. m.—Coca-Cola | Beach, Miami Beach, Key West} ‘and at least three from Miami! riday, 5 p. m.—Cuca-Cola vs. | will compete for the champion- j Friday, 8 ». m.—Sanitary De- The winning club will meet the at Orlando for diamondball su- premacy of the state. ed new uniforms for the local GAME YESTERDAY and will be on the field Mon- {day night in their new togs of j black and white. The Senior League game sched- ! { | i Today, Bayview Park will play AMERICAN LEAGUE Batteries will be Johnnie Walk-| Club— WoL. 4 7 Over, Jr, and Hopkins for the Park New York 3 72 36 sessneeeeee 5 8 2} boys and C. Gates and E. Sawyer Cleveland ..... . 63. 49 Hollingsworth, Frey|for the Healthers. i os 59 52 The contest will start at 5 p. m.} Detroit . 58 52 SSS oe Boston . . 57 5 TODAY’S GAMES [Washington 54 lk St. Louis 40 Philadelphia . 37 NATIONAL LEAGUE Club— Ww. L. |St. Louis ..... --- 66 44 Chicago : . 64 43 |New York 63 46 | Pittsburgh . 56 54 Cincinnati . 52 56 Boston . 51 57 Brooklyn . 42 66 89 | ‘Philadelphia ..... 69.361] AMERICAN LEAGUE Detroit at Chicago. Cleveland at St. Louis. Washington at Boston. New York at Philadelphia. NATIONAL LEAGUE Boston at Brooklyn. Philadelphia at New York, Chicago at Cincinnati. St. Louis at Pittsburgh. ‘!champion outfit of the west coast | 5 LEGALS LEGALS PaGz TERE LEGALS NOTICE, OF ELECTION WHEREAS, the Legislature 1935 under the Constitution of 1 of the State of Florida, did two Joint Resolutions ; amendments to the Cons the State of Florida. and greed to by a vote yeas and nays y did determine and 4 the said Joint Resolutt mitted to the elect at the eneral E) ber 1936 NOW | TH GRAY, Sec ary State of Florida, d notice th: GE will be held in ¢ ida on Tuesday ne first Monday in Ni the said Tuesday THIRD DAY © for the ratificatic orr the said Joint Resoluti ing amendments to the Consti of the State of F A JOINT R Froposing to Amend Sect the Article XIII ef t tion of th f lating to F Florida, relating to Provis the Aged, Infirm, and Unf be and the same is hi and as amended is shall be submitted t of the State of Flo: general election t t Tuesday aft in Novem The respective State shall provid manner prescribed by law the inhabitants whe e, infirmity or y have claims upon the and ‘sympathy of society; provid however, the rislature ma neral law State-wic fits, and for; but no provide benefits t shall not have nor shall such genera for benefits to any per: count of age Who has not ed the age of sixty-five ye }vided, further, that where law of the United States r different period of resic citizenship shail r for the Ste licipate in any Fed might be made 4 the Legislature requirements a and residence as will t With and not in conflic Federal Law.” Approved June 4 A JOINT Proposing an Aq VIL of the Constitut { Florida Relative t Be It Rese of The St Buy me some peanuts and cracker jack I don’t care if I never get back Buy me some Chesterfields too..OH MY They've got what it takes to © 1936, Liccerr & Myzxs Tosacco Co,