New Britain Herald Newspaper, January 16, 1922, Page 9

‘Jlle STEPonthe STAJRS o Professor Semyonov, the celebrated chemist whose profound knowledge of toxicology had more than once been placed at the disposal of the authori- ties in the solution of crime, tugged at his bushy white side-whiskers and gnzed at Sergeant John Barry from the Hdmicide Bureau. The professor's head with its shock of white hair nodded slowly and his shrewd eyes twinkled, “You tell me that there Is now calmness upon the waters? No crime of more importance than the average petty misdemeanor engages the at- tention of your bureau? 1Is that why you have honored me tonight with an unexpected but most welcome call, and In your civilian clothes?" “You've got me, Professor Semy- onov!" The detective laughed again frankly. “There's no crime wave threatening to break over us that I know of, but a rather curious case has come to our attention at head- quarters.' The roll of distant but approach- ing thunder broke in upon his words, !'We are going to have a storm.” ‘The professor rose from his chair and waddling over to the windows pulled down the shades. He moved with astonishing rapldity and aigor. “I do not like to wateh it ap- proach; it fills me with a sensc of suspense, of foreboding. Tt is the electricity in the air, T suppose. You shall tell me all about your case, but first you must see my apartment, My laboratories are quite on the other side of the city, you know, but here on this old square where the aris- tocracy of forgotten generations lived once upon a time I find the absolute- ly different atmosphere which brings relaxation.” Barry followed his, hiost through a spacious, old-fashioned dressing room and bath to the bedroom at the back. Here, too, the professor paused to pull down the shades and then open- ing a door at the right displayed a modern kitchenette, “This house, you perceive, must once have been a fa:nily mansion but it has now heen made cver, an apart- ment to each ficor,” Professor Semy- onov explained. “A shop of hammered brasses and other atrocities occupies the strect level, a young gentleman whom I do not know has but lately arrived on the second floor. His apart- ment Is larger than mine, however, for an extra room is built out over the strip of garden but the extension ends on the floor above his in a studio with a skylight. It is occupied, that third floor, by a woman who paints por- traits, Mrs. McGrath tells me. “The fourth apartment, that direct- iy below mine here, houses a crotchety gentleman with no ear for music; lie raps on his ceilirg when I play niy violin at unseasonable hours, “Above me in the attic studio lives one of the feminine freaks peculiar to the neighborhocd in its declining years; a smocked, t , wraith-like creaturc with bobbed halr and a pointed chin. She might be 20 or 40 and it is understood that she writes for the eccéntric little magazines which spring up sporadically here- about. So now, my dear, sergeant, you are acquainted with my home and surroundings. What do you think of it?" He chuckled as he led the way to the lving room and Barry lowed, at a loss what to reply. The professor was known on three con- {inents, his sclentific discoveries had made him'rich; he might have lived in solitary state in a house of his own or occupied the most expensive bache- lor apartment in town. Why had he chosen to hide himself away in such dingy, dreary quarters? “You seem to be mighty comforta- ble, Professor Semyonov.” The de- tective spoke as heartily as he could and his host laughed outright. “That is the point!" he exclaimed. “I saw that you were surprised when you came, but my wants are simple and here, you see, I am just a queer, old foreigner named Semyonov, who minds his business and goes his way in peace; I am not Professor Semyo- nov, the chemist, to whose laborator- ies all the world comes. No one knows of my abode except the few like your- self to whom I have given my address and I am undisturbed. But now you must tell me about your case. Is it an affair of poisoning?” Before Sergeant Barry could reply another flash of lightning as keen as a Kknife thrust swept beneath the edges of the window shades and for an instant dulled the electric lights into an angry orange glow. Professor Semyonov started, shrugged. i “That was nearer, eh? I am as bad perhaps as a hysterical housemaid but does it not seem as though the very atmosphere waited for the breaking of the storm?"” “It is like the report of guns!" The professor pulled his worn, gorgeously- hued dressing gown more closely about him as he sank once more into his chalr. “I have heard them in my own country many years before the late war and the memory of them is with me always. But let us forget the storm if we can. The case you mentloned; is it murder?” “Frankly, I don't know,” Barry re- sponded. ‘It is similar to that 'rudor affair at Sandy Cove last summer—" A sudden, sharp detonation burst crackling upon their ears and both men leaped to their feet and stood for the fraction of a second staring at each other. The professor's nervous- ness had fallen from him and he spoke with the calmness of fatalism: “There was no Mghtning. That was not thunder, but a shot! Come!" back fol- then L WA 5 The realization of the truth had plerced the detective's consclousness even before his host vojeed it and he sprang for the door, 8 he flung it open, with the rotund figure in the tattered dressing gown close at his heels, he heard unmistakaply the sound of hurrying gotsteps helow and plunged for the head of the stairs, The narrow hall was but “dimly lighted and in the unnatural silence which followed the echo of the shot, their own feet as they clattered down the matting-covered stairsy drowned out the lesser sound which had come up to them. The hallway directly below was de- serted and the door leading into the apartment was closed and blank, Pro- fessor Semyonov paused to hammer upon it but Barry hastened on down- ward, his eyes striving to pierce the gloom, Was that a fleeing figure be- low him or just his own distorted shadow advancing before his reckless descent? On the third*floor he halted. The door of this apartment also, which his host had told him was occupied by a woman portrait painter, was closed, but from the line of the sill streamed a peculiar, bright light like a beam of sunshine, The professor ceased his fruitless efforts and rejoined his com- panion just as there came a soft thud and then from the street level a vio- lent ringing and pounding. “Perhaps we were mistaken, 3arry remarked. “It might have been 2 fracas out in the street—" THE TO HIS EYES TRAVELED TO FOOT OF THE EASEL AND WHAT LAY THERE. The professor shook his head decid- edly and then pointed to the line of light from beneath the door before them. “Someone is in here, at any rate. We will knock." Suiting his action to the word, he rapped smartly, waited, and rapped again, but there came no response, only the steady glare of that garish light and the banging from the en- trance on the ground floor. Professor Semyonov shrugged and urned to descend still further, but the sergeant grasped his arm. “That's only someone who heard what we did—the officer on this beat, perhaps-—and wants to investigate. Let him walt. If anything is wrong in this house it is behind that door! I'm going to assume responsibility for breaking in it, professor. Stand back!" The door itself was a massive one but the lock evidently old and flimsy @nd at his third onslaught it snapped with.such suddenness that he was al- NEW BRITAIN DAILY HERALD, MONDAY, BIBLE CLASS MEN ROMP ABOUT Y. M. Sporting Events, Rifle Matches and Other Entertainments Between 386 and 400 men of the class crowded the Y, M, C A, Saturday night. They shot rifle matches, played pool, checkers, basketball, bowled, had tugs of war, battle royal and in general had a glorious time, In fact so thoroughly did they enjoy themselves that it took K. M. Preble, industrial secretary of the Y, M, C. A, who was host and secretary of the Every- man's Bible Class, whose members formed the guests, an hour past his usual time to lock up and go'home, Reds Outclassed The games were in charge of 8. 'M, Brewster, who was chairman of the general committee, and J. G. Herg- strom, who was chalrman of the athletic committee. The performance opened wfth a pool shooting contest, in which four tables were kept busy. This contest was waen by ‘“‘sharks" from the Red army. Bowling, which followed was awarded to the Blue army, as were In turn the rifle shoot- ing, handball and checker playing con- tests, Battle Royal It was not until the crowd reached the gym that lilarity reach- ed its height. The battle royal, of a different type than the pillowed glove variety, opened the, program there, Iach team was given a specified num- ber of men, and each man was given charge of one Indlan club, which he was instructed to guard. The club was to be kept standing on’ the floor like a ten pin. Volley balls were distributed to the men and the game and the game was to knock down the other fellow's pins. The Blue urmy won two straight, The tug of war almost hroke up the party and it was not until after the contest was over that anyone knew who really won, It finally was declar- ed forfeited to the Blue army because | of certain irregular proceedings on the part of the Reds. The Blue army to show that its men were on the square, Selected the northeast corner of the room, while the Reds took the corner iagonally opposite. And the selection of the corner mdde all the trouble, A 1 1-2 mantila rope, about 100 feet long was procured and each team took hol;l. At a slgnal, the men began to pull. finally Mysterious Change. The blue arn after considerable straining, with a number of men be- coming somewhat red in the face, (they would not admit the color, however) gained slowly but surely, until the red army suddenly found it- self 18 inches nearer the north t corner than it was when it started. Then something mysterious happened. Not even the spectators could under- stand it. The reds appeared to have gained renewed strength and faster than the blues had pulled them, they returned to their corner, taking their opponents with them. Looked Suspicious. The whole thing looked suspicious, kat it was out in the open gym and 11 plain view of hundreds of specta- tors on the balcony. Nobody could sse anything wrong. Two blue leaders hecame very much excited all ot a sudden. S. M. Brewster was seen groping about the red corner with a pocket knife in his hand about the time Dr. J. 1. Conger jumped into the contest and with both hands in the air, signalled to stop the ‘'show.” Put One Over The cat was out of the bag. There were 18 men on a side, but in the red corner was a trap door, with a hole through the cover just large enough to admit the rope, and downstairs in the locker room were 12 additional men pulling on the rope and straining all their might to pull the blues off their feet. The game was forfeited to the blues. Basketball games were won by the blues and the volley ball and hockey masquerade games were won by the reds, giving the blues a final score of most precipitated into the apartment. A single glance sufficed to show the outlines of daintily carved furniture and cushions shattered about in pro- fusion by an obviously feminine hand but the room was empty and its only illumination was that strange ray of counterfeit sunlight which streamed through an opened door in the oppo- site wall, a door which led evidently to that studio built out over the strip of garden of which the professor had spoken. The still, heated air was heavy with a subtle, cloying perfume but mingled with it was a harsh, acrid odor that was not new to the detective and he sprang across to the doorway of the studio and then paused. FFacing him upon a large easel was the portrait of a woman in a gray evening gown poised on the third step of a staircase with one slippered foot slightly advanced and a hand of start- ling whiteness upon which a huge emerald Dblazed rested on the dark, polished wood of the balustrade. The painting was only half finished, but it was indicated iy broad splashes of color and with the bold, sweeping lines of the cartoonist which ren- dered the likeness unmistakable to anyone famillar with the lineaments of those in the city's highest society. R T T ) WHEN IT I8 SHELLFISH YOU WANT THEN IT IS HONISS’S TO VISIT 20-30 State Street Hartford $—3. The hockey masquerade caused considerable laughter as two teams. of hockey players drove the ball about the floor, clad in pajamas and night shirts decorated with the colors of their team. In honor of D. McMillan, recently elected marshal of the red army and All this Barry took in with one darting glance and then his eyes traveled to the foot of the easel and what lay there. It was the huddled body of a woman with masses of tawny hair scarcely dishevelled by her fall and a spreading stain upon the breast of her paint-daubed smock. Kneeling beside it he gently raised the head, which rolled backward in his hands and the curiously long, nar- row, half-opened eyes stared up sud- denly into his with a dull, unwinking gaze. “Dead!" the professor announced beside him. “She was at work when the shot plerced her breast. See, her thumb s still thrust through the to Bérmuda, | to the I8 on his way Was BUNE, ete: from the who now the following song alr of “My Bonnie The marshal has gone country, The marshal is out on the sea, Oh, who will go out on the acean, And bring baek the marshal to me? A wireless mewsage telling of the | events and the attendanece yesterday morning was sent to Mr. McMillan on the steamer Araguay, which sailed from New York Saturday morning. | In figuMng the final scores, 8. M. | Jrewster, a8 officlal scorer, did not | count the four checker games as part | of the contest, fnasmuch as the pla ers had not registered. This makes the final and official score 7 events out of 10 in favor of the hlues The official score follows: Ofricial Score, Checkers—No deciding win was reg- istered as most of the players went to the gym to watch the activitigs there. Dowling—Won by the BIu¢ Army. lues, 528 points; Reds, 514 points. Pool—Won by the Red Army. Reds, 277 points; Blues, 267 points. Hand Ball on by the Blue Army. Best two out of three. 21-7 and 21-12, Rifie Shoot—Chairman dipk. Total score, Blues 551, Individual scores out of a possible 25 Lies," J. M. Bur- 930, Reds 1 Blue Army. J. M. Burdick G. M. Levitt . Berry Warner . Falrbanks Hall Phillip . Leede Leavitt Hoffman .... 108 102 101 100 100 88 87 58 81 80 I 930 Red A R. J. Dixon . R. Schilling A 1. Stowell F. L, Baly A. Johnson H. W. Rice CGeorge Dun N. Provost A. N. Thor R. James 109 105 | 102 97 94 There were many others who shot, but the ten highest on both were taken to represent their respec- tive side. Gym. Floor Activities. 1.—Battle Royal—Won by the Blue Arm) Best two out of three, 2.—Dasketball—Won by the Score, 28 to 15. 'ug of War—Won by the Blue 18 men on a side. Time two minutes pull. (Red . y Plus). 4.—Volley Ball—Won by Red Army. Score, 31 to 6. (One 15 min. period). Basketball Relay—Won by Blue Blue Army. 5. Army. 6.—Hockey (masquerade)—Won by Red Army. Score 5 to 4. (Hard fought game). Trophy. Loving cup—awarded by First Vie President J. M. Burdick to Gen. Iletcher of the Blue Army. Badges—Blue and red hows. Lunch served at 10:10 p. m. HAVE THEIR 15TH CHILD Liberty Couple Puzzled to Find Name For Seventh Boy. Middletown, N. Y. Jan. 16.—Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin R. Gerow of Lib- erty are the parents of another child, their fifteenth. Fourteen are living. The latest makes the seventh son. Fero who is a business man of Liberty, says it is puzzling to find a name for the last child. Some time ago he had to enlarge his house to make room for his increasing family. [ s S o] astfi Q Because the milh and sugar are already blended a smoother, anore delicious g:dding can made with EAGLE BRAND Condensed Milk FOX’S Thursday, Friday, Saturday WHAT Y palette and the maulstick and brush have but just fallen from her hands." N ( Continued in Our Next Issue). (Copyright, 1922, NEA Service). want Z MHELLO, PANSY! DID MRS, DUFF GO ouT Topay P Telephone 3374—3375 o e e e ] CROWLEY BROS. IN PAINTERS AND DECORATORS 267 Chapman Street TEL. 155-12 Estimates cheerfully given on all fobs VYAS SAH, SHE. WENT DOWNTOWN AN’ AIN'T BACK DOINGS OF THE DUFFS HER 1T°S JUST GINGERALE AND K sides | JANUARY 16, Conn At The Janu noun fare, by L Conn Atate cond taker Th “h press last of a rates cost expe year, as m Tt the y duce thus (i) teen on a | toker or te ment | pr fer y toker at th chas agen T nizes | GUESS, V'LL MAKE PANSY A LITTLE HIGHBALL AND TELL 1D HER A LITTLE BIT! 3 RIDES FOR 25 CEN IF YOU BUY TOKENS favor; reduection in revenue accompanying lower rate of ual rider, 1922 [_t Mezsures Up in Tea Quality 100% of its Selling Cost I ecticut Company Announces Iie- duction in Fares, Effcctive On March 1, !’ " a meeting of the directors of Connecticut Company held on ary 7th it was decided to an ce a peduction in the rates of , according to a statement 1,«:mm1 ucius 8, Storrs, president of the ectlcut Company. | his had been anticipated in al ment made in November that If | itions during t} winter were | able, such action would b e statement continues: | T Xl A “STANDARD” THE WORLD OVER iy while he on 8 the also continues trip within who will, ny‘ rate token the single fare for | entire city area." morning lay asleep conch According to a confession which the | police say Mrs, Ligging made to shem, hushand started @ qua==el last hecause supper was not ready, continued until mid- o[ night when liggins lay down on the ware Woman Attacks Him White | MER SWICH T houtiiar aoRtihnod It e For Life. | jon and pouna him until she was Made | he was dead. hecuuse Mrs. | Killed erday for INFANTS ana INVALIDS ASK FOR Horlip!t’s o st and th course than |1t patron, industrial d reducad are less but by reason | one reduction in | ises In the | ue to the present fon the revenue year at this time, n eight per cent, of wages and decr of coal and other materials the nses are slightly than last | although still more than twic uch as in pre-war ye may be that present cash rate an Increased use offset, to a certain | her | night The CHOPS HUSBAND TO DEATH quarrel loss [ He Sleeps, ring Del., satisfied told the med to 38 ye with Jan, 16 police, kil her, rs old, ¥ Wilmington, of fare will in- | desperate, she of the cars and |he had extent, the | Robert reductions from of the United cent the 40 per mined in Approximately world's coul Is States. o a|her husband noaxe n March 1st a reduction of six- per cent. will he made effective | 1l lines through the sale of three 18 for twenty-five cents. A token n cents will be accepted in pay- for one fare within any of the | nt flat farc 15 with all l'lv‘;xnvj Hol"u.’ks srivileges as at present, i ns will be sold by all conductors | ,' 3 - -~/ ree for a quarter or may he pur- | at the company offices and | cies at twelve for one dollar. iis method of reduction recog- the difference between the | who will pay ten cents, | Porlnfants, Invalidsand Growing Children | Rich milk, malted grain extractin Powder The Original Food-Drink For All Ages [No Cooking = Nourishing = Digestible Ladies’ Shoes 5c A PAIR On Sale Tomorrow Morning At 9:30 This astounding offer is made in good faith and we’ll back up our advertisement by deeds—Tuesday morning at9:30 and until the entire lot is gone. Ladies’ Shoes will sell at 5¢ a pair. Here you will find shoes and oxfords of every description in all leathers and styles and values ranging up to $8.50 a pair. - HERE IS OUR PLAN ONE PAIR Will Cost $345 | TWO PAIR $3 50 Second Pair For 5 CentsJ FOR Come Early And Get Your Choice of Styles And Sizes, As Shoes At This Price Will Not Last Long THE BEST SHOE VALUES INTHE LiTY EXCIAUSIVE AGENCY -FOR W L.DOUGLAS SHOES He Didn’t Fool Pansy PANSY, WOULLD You LIKE AN |CE COLD GLASS OF GINGERALEP I\ q’“"?" ST ALLRIGHT ? PANSY WONT TELL NoBoDY ! v OH THANK You MISTAH