New Britain Herald Newspaper, October 24, 1924, Page 24

Copyright, 1920, HAD seen nothing of Screed for a ] month or more when he knoched at my don Palm Tree Court one norning hefore 1 was up. | got out of ed to let him in, and then got ba o bed again, quite ynmoved by I rowling statement that 1 was a lazy evil “Constitutional,” T replled. “Where ave you been? Ts tha crimina rhood taking a well-earned holiday rave been trying to ‘o earth without my vou assistance, and now you are In a mess and come to me to help you out?" “No, that's not the trouble. Tt is vour iariness which worries ma just when [ had got a real it ot Work 10 offer you % is a job with pay attached to it.” “Sounds all right,” I answered "A plckle factory,” eald Screed "That doeen't sound &0 pleasant, Pickles do not appeal to me. What #hould T have to do—make the heastly things > “I don’t supposa vou'd be aqual to that T expect they would put vou on to some menlal job, packing or clean- ing up, something you could do if you put your mind to it.” “Come to the point, Screed’ I laughed. He gat down on the edge of my bed. “It's not my case, nothing to do with me; it {s in the hands of Rawson Know him?" “Heard of him that {s all %004 man, isn't he?" “Sharp as a newly ground razor." “And wou are being generous and lending me to Rawson, eh? T do not think I am inclined to be let out on Nire.” “It you had heard Rawson talk ahout the folly of a detective taking anyone Into his confidence, and then ask me if T hadn’t got a friend I treated in that way, yon wouldn't suggest such a thing. It happens that this cases in- tereats me a lithle because of another wse I have had to do with, and I hought—" “Don’t explain, Screed,” I said. ‘Tou Yave mever yet told me the truth at he beginning of an adventure, and I 1o not expect you are going to begin What do you want me to d “Get into old clothes early tomorrow rning, tie up a few belongings in to He is a ow. rown paper, and travel third clas ‘halworth in Essex. Ask for the pickl actory and apply for a job. 1 believe ‘re finding labor @ bit difficult at iresent. If you didn't shave today You aight look more the part tomorrow. Cell them you are on the tramp for vork, have come from Cambridge way, and if you get a job be jolly thankful nd ready to do anything to show your eratitude. Get pally with the hands men and women, and I think you wil! be gble to get a lodging at that ad- dress without any questions being asked. She has one lodger already, an 214 lady.” “Mrs, Worral, 2 St George's h Cot- tages® 1 read from the paper he bhanded me. *“Ang how long will this last?™ “T heard Rawson say he would finish I & week, but that may be optimistic.” “And what am I to look out for?” “Don’t T tell you it isn't my case® How can I tell how Rawson is working 1t? Yom will get the facts from the hands, and you can tell me later.” “Any other instructions?" “Yes, be as little like Burford Yates As possible” As T looked at mysel! in the glass wext morning I came to the conclusion that in this direction T had made a good start, Clothes make the someone said, and my tramping suit brown paper parcel, and unshaven chin seemed to remove me a long way from the cirele in which T usually moved I looked miserable, it was a miserabl; dirty ecarrisge in which T presently traveled, anq when I got out at Chal worth it ws raining. About ten uteg rain in this part of E the whole country side into a marsh ssex turns and a3 more depressing scene it would \ave been difficult to find. At tie pickle factory 1 was inter iewad by a foreman, a weasel of a man who looked as if the atmosphere | 3¢ pickles had turned his blood to o tar, and by the searching questions he nut to Mme one wouid imagine the mak- and ng of pickies was a fie art re juired years of elaborate training Well vith brains, newered monotonously yes and no to vou are mot overburdened he remarked after I had 1is questions, norrow morning. We are short handed but you can come in to- o you get your chance There was some resentment that the irm had taken on a tramp, but w ‘he handa discovered 1 was a foo ameit a willing fool, and ready to he they wers friend lieve anything, Retore I had been In the place three | run someone man | The McClure Newspaper Syndicate, lays T had heard the story of the | | fuctory from half a dozen points of [ view ‘ & e meskniearlior hers fhadihaan fyyon ieoord cYiaYen i ny T nanslt s 0ould FALC ORI AN e R0y em e e 6 2l roL iy v Ben sLupkiaedl hed ploved In the packing department, had he spoken to me, because it was quite s some compinlnkitontitareman o e S He e WL hat, Baceea hid s sally Riniesand Quiessiindlzcneiingtofthell e S o e s eh e ’K”“ :WK'””\» e “‘"‘:I to have Kh'”l'“ detectiva was wrong in not trust- UApie castlied, | Alr/ Mo, the RRAliny 4 o on feharite on soonalen.. Rew. BE T R sd Rihiem Fand Ranldl 3o ool ing maticaloliras ialinalnti he ifterwards that the complaint was "i””“x about the factory most of the [trivial matter regarding the system of | ga, BEskinE R e mextiday, (Rintests bodit Emp ot et Exera: Lo hiesler b 0ldt e mas{ound in the ctyariwhich Tan besidy)| onic hac 8o the feotiager Hat! s SRR IR T IR s e e s e R peared. Finley had been killed, there [1owed her to see where she worked. | out that, and there was [ g oo 'me evidence that he had heen killed | [in the factory, but when the case came | into Rawson's hands he w: “'\ doubt this. It | tkely | was no doub! of laboring When she returned the helieve her story the Jand next evening with a tale of long hours Inclined |y, weeding a fleld, yet looking as full was extremely un- would have been in | the factory after closing hours on the that Finley vounger than she was, even Mrs. Wor- ral remarked that she was a very won- in love with a girl who H\.»d fere | UAReI" said Mra. Wheeler; “age has i nothing to do with it; it's the way | nelkhborins villase Rand Falthongh Nell cope s o0 it Al i IS B8 B0 hac not actuallvinucithe ierime domniltoa e i L e e to rivairy, there was little doubt among |, BicilalTestons! sould|ba eaalan the hands this was the line he had | g womders taken. 0f course it would. Why are you “They were both gond chaps, man told one and 1 can't see Hardy there, young man?" e, For bread anq cheese and a shake- killing a man" s The men and women In the factory | “Don't believe it," she said shaking had another theory. Most of them |her © “T've ~ot an idea that you're were natives of the district, and when |interested in this murderer Hardy. | some old woman remembered that the| I was on my guard in a moment factory was on the site of Moat tell you my secret,” she went on they won't give me a place in the factory. arm T once occupied by a notorious evilyloer, |1 am Har aunt; that is why who was said 10 he in league with the devil, and who ended his career by [1 made a mistake. 1 mentioned who | committing enicide, his ghost, suddenly [was to one of the partners when 1 rampant was accorded a place in the [applied for a Job. He was as sym- mystery. The devil was in the affair, |pathetic as if I were his long lost they said. Not a soul would go near |mother, hut thers was no job for me. the factory at night, and those who |They were afraid 1 should find out were able to do #0 had found employ- | things." ment elsewhere. Hence my getting a| “What things?” job. “Lord, if 1 knew what things, Screed had given me no definite line |Shouldn’t I be telling them to the to follow, but since he had told me to |Pelice got friendly with the hands, 1 presumed | “Have you talked to the detective this ghost theory interested him. More- | #ho has the case in hand?" over, he had made rather a point of | ‘“Rawson. No. He's sure my nephew, telling me that Mrs, Worral had an- other lodger, and T concluded that she interesteq him. 1 had also been at Chalworth three days before I saw her, and Mrs. Worral's statement that she was eccentric appeared to be justified. She was an elderly Jady, was inclined to resent another lodger, and it was e chance of my being able to do her a small service which reconciled her to my presence in the cottage. “In the pickle factory, are you, Mr. Smith?" 1 had called myself Smith. “I tried to get work there, but they wouldn't have.me." I tried to be sympathetic, but T may She was ve smiled. quite elderly, not to say old, with side curls over her ears, and always wore her bhonnet, in the house and out. did not look equal to the hard work of a factory | “You that 1| am not strong enough,” she returned. | She certai think they were right “Lord, I'm doing harder work to keep | body and soul together than making | pickles. Land work, that's what I'm doing. That ho.'s} always at night; have to stav near my | work for a day or two together. I've only got odd jobs %0 far. How do th make pickles, young man? *1 am only in the packing depar: s why 1 am not e w Well, how do they pack them? Don't vou take no interest in vour foh? Anxious draw her out | |about the work, and she showed an talked i terest in and some knowledge of fac- | | ory methods, T convinced that 1 was right in concluding that Screed was interested in her. m Hardy, did it, and he's the kind I may get promoted to the actua] |Of man that doesn't change his opin- manufacture in time, Mrs. Wheeler," |ion. Haven't got much use for detect- 1 said {1ves, 1 haven't. T brought young Jim Tord 1 be tired of and on (P and he was less likely to kill any- the tramp again before that happens,” |0N€ than I shouid be, much less. I she returr might If T got annoyed enough. Be- be. ere's the girl, Jessie Banner- e dona something to bring you | I've seen her, and it was my Jim down in the world, that's what yoy've |<he was in love with, not Finley. My done, young man. And Tl tell yoy a |Jim knew it, too; so what reason had | secret: they didn’t shut me out of the he for killing Finley® If Finley had ory hecause T n't strong ed Jim there might be more reason there was another reason.” n the idea | She was not to he persuaded to te 3ut in a fight— | me the reason. Hugging her secret she | “Lord, that's Rawson's argument, went off to bed. 1 wondered if she|she said contemptuously. slept in that bonnet of hers The hands believe in a ghost you | The next day I saw Inspector Raw- |know | son for the first time. One ‘Do you ™ she asked told me who he was. He v closetad | “I've just got a job there, and that's | wlth Mr. Moss all I'm interested in.” | tor And voure ia the packing depart- tour one or {ment, same as my Jim. Lord, I wish I wo questions to foremen here your chances, Sends their beastly nd there, and glanced keenly at one |pickles ail over the world, don't they? {or two individual workmen. Remem- |Chalworth A.l. Pickles! A.l! Some ‘ot ering Screed’s advice | became as yn- [them is that T watrant, and Detective |of heans as if she were thirty vears | The Chronicles of Jerem FIRST AMERICAN PUBLICATION By PERCY JAMES BREBNER V.—PICKLE FACTORY Rawson—sooner he retires from a ‘usiness he deesn't understand the better." That night 1 wrote to Screed, ad- dressing the letter to Betty's teashop. There was a lot in the old lady's argu nent which 'l thought he might like 1o know, and it certainly influenced me. I had alWays found it advisable to stick to the letter of Screed's instruc- tlons. hut in this case fe had practic- ally given me none, It standable because he was only inter- ested in a side issue, not in the main facts, indeed he didn't know much about the main facts, T felt justified, therefore, in guiding my investigations Fby Mrs. Wheeler's arguments. Her deductions amounted to this. Rawson was under- was sticking to a theory unsupportéd | by the available evidence. Hardy had |no reason for killing Finley, therefore |someone else with a better reason had | ®ot to be found. Her manner of speak- ing of the pickles suggested that the factory might be used for something else besides the manufacture of pickles, and herein mi~ht lie the reason of Fin- lex's death. It was possible, but the weak spot in her theory was Hard: himself. Why had he disappeared? This was a etrong point in Rawson's view of the case. Mrs. Wheeler had made a point of my being in the same department a: her nephew had been at the time of the tragedy, and next day I concen- trated on this fact. 1 noted particu- the method of transfer from the manufactory to packing depart- ment. Mr. Moss had stated at the in quest that the difference between the two men had to do with the system of checking. 1 did not see how any dif- ference on this score could occur, it was so simple and straightforward. The actual packing was mere routine, and every hottle I handled was evi- arly the dently a bottle of pickles, a familiar object because | had seen them at many restaurants. In the lunch hour I brought the cghversation round Hardy. What had led up to his quarrel with'Finley? The man I talked to said there was no Guarrel ‘What actually happened?” 1 asked “Hardy was moving some hottles | ready to be packed and dropped one. He cleared to tell Finle [eause Fi ip the mess, and then went Tle had to tell him be being foreman, would {know he was a bottle short. They {talked for a few moments, and then went in to Mr. Moss.” | 1t was the first time T had heard of |& hroken hottle. but there was nothing {against Mr. Moss's statement that the | difference concerned the packing sys- {tem. Hardy may have argued that he ought to have been able to put another bottle in its place and gaid nothing about it, workmen do quarrel with | necessary routine gometimes, but surel |there was nothing to lead up to a and Rawson came from the office. “There is nothing more to be done, 1 heard Rawson say. ‘“Coming down here is no good, is it now?" ‘I am not satisfied,” Moss answered “The hands are still jumpy, leaving when they can, and “Does my being here help matters”” ‘t think it does. 1 think vou should MOSS WHIPPED AROUND AS IF HE HAD BEEN SHOT. tragedy in this, That afternoon I was setting in order some packing cases when Mr. Moss | 0 about until the affair has blown over. | am not suggesting that any- hing more will be discovered, but it might be, Your mind is trained fo deal with these matters, mine isn't™ 1t makes all the difference in the world." “Well, T will be here on Thursday at iy rate,” sald Rawson. fter” that we must see. [ cannot neglect my other work. By the way, [ see that old | woman Wheeler is still in Chalworth. I have been speculating whether she may not know where Hardy is hiding." Moss looked at him as if he ex- pected a revelation “I caught her up on the road last evening and had g talk with her,” Rawson. said “T didn’t tell her who I was .|t first, but afterwards T did, and told her | wasn't sure’ the police ought not to watch her closely.” What did she say?" “Sald she was anxious to find her nephew, and when [ explained what finding him wowld probably ‘mean, she seemed to think that would be hetter {than the suspense she was In. She's in her dotage.” “I wish she would ciean ont of (hal- worth,” kaid Moss, “Her presence here keeps the affair alive.” “If she interferes with your people in any way vou can inform the policetand they will take action. Personally 1 don't think that will be necessary.” Rawson went out, and turning back 1o the office Moss noticed me, 1 was very busy. ! YoW'seem a bit clumsy my man,” he your name?" “New at the job?" “Not very, sir.” | Tater in the day T heard he had | questioned my foreman about me, and had been satisf] less kind of idiot d that 1 was a harm- | Mrs, Whecler did not mention to me that she had seen Rawsog, but as I | talked to her that night I came to the conclusion that she must have fooled ;Vha detective onsiderabhl: 1 have |iever met an old less trul dotage. Attem g to draw told at 1 had heard R W d would not be ady of whom it could be said that she was in her fidence 1 “1 don't know Ts it a specia at tr ory. the | day raw material comes in or anything | of ‘that sort It is a day we usually send stuff out | “Ah. and it was on a Friday that my | Jim was missing and his friend Finley |found in the river. I wonder what | happened on the Thursday.” She looked at me curiously as if she | were trying to compel my intellizence [to work. It d no compulsion | A bottle had been broken on Thursday. This fact suddenly siood out in my mind as if there were nothing else sworth rememberi “Perhaps 1 might find out.” T said “Perhaps vou have already,” she re- torted. “Lord, you may be on the wson say | y Screed Author of “Valenfine West,” “The Turbulent Duchess, threshold of discovery," “It's much more likely that I am as sig an idiot as they think me.’ “Keep it up, young man, you cannot tell where it will lead you," she said. and then afttr a pause she went on: “Next Thursgay. If the same thing happened again next Thursday, Friday might find another man missing.” “Or floating in the river,” I sald, “That would depend on the foreman,” she returned quickly, with which cryptic remark she left me and went to hed. She had a tiny room on the ground floor, mine was upstairs, but not over hers. As a rule my unaccustomed labor sent me early hetween the sheets and made me sleep soundly; tonight 1 was very wide awake, I drew the one chair which the room contained to the window and sat down to think, It was g falrly concentrated effort I im- agine, because 1 was not at first con- scious of the sound which roused me, T #tuck my head out of the window cautiously. Mrs, Wheeler was getting over the sill of her window, heavily and ungracefully, but with an agility re- markable in a woman of her age, She went cautiqusly across the little garden at the hack of the cottage, and through 4 break in the fente into the field be- vond. Tt did no! take me a moment to make yp my mind. Trusting that Mrs Worra] was too fast asleep to be dis- turbed, T went down the stairs and left by the door. 1 was determined to see where Mrs, Wheeler's night prowl took her, She kept under the hedge of two or three fields making in the direction of the factory. Arriving thers, she passed around to the river side and cautiousl; | inspected windows and doors. She was Ipar'ir‘ularl,\‘ interested in the spot | i whera Finl body had heen found, and seemed to pace put distances be- tween this spot and ‘points in the fac- tory wall. Then she seateil herself on |the bank and stared into the water. i”“" any of the hands scen her thay | well might have thought that the ghost | walked tonight. Evidently Mrs. Wheeler was not suspicious, p 7 followed her back to the cottage and next evening heard from Mrs. Worral that she had gone off to some |work at a distance which would keep | her away for a day or two. She did not return until the. Wednesday night, and I must confess that I had missed her. [ wanted someone to talk to, a safety valve as it were, because I had | determined to try an experiment. Her cryptic remark that ‘it would depend on the foreman whether a man were | foung missing or floating in the river, should the same event happen which had occurred in Hardy's case, had set my mind running in a groove, The weasel-faced man who had interviewed tme when I applied for the job was at present foreman of the packing depart- | ment. He had apparently given me a good character when Moss had ques- tioned him about me, and in spite of his unprepossessing appearance he was |inclined to be jovial and friendly with those under him. Possibly he was car- rying out the firm’s instructions in or- der to prevent other workpeople leay- ing. “Have you discovéred what happened in the packing department the day my Jim disappeared?* Mrs. Wheeler asked me on the Wednesday night. 1 nodded. “I thought you would.” “And it is going to happen again this Thursday,” T said “Adventurous young fellow, ain't [vou? Well, if I was your age, and a man, I should be like that myself, Maybe you'll want all your wits about you when you've done it, and—" “And a shooting iron in my pocket, eh?" Lord, i that the kind of young fel- low you are? Not working with Raw- son, are you “No. It is an idea of my ow Brain: she remarked, 1 watched to see if she slipped out of her window that night, but she didn't, and while I watched I wondered whether 1 had been a fool to say so much. Whatever villainy thete was she might be the center of it About noon next day a small barge coming down the river managed to get wedged between gome piles on the fac- | tory side of the stream, and nothing Jut a tug would get her free. One man went off to get a tug, the other sat on the barge and waited. He had spent a good deal of bad language on the mis- hap, and appeared to have exhausted all his energy. My work took me con- {stantly by a window from which T far as I could see, A > part of our goods left the river, but the stranded barge did not interfere with the work, although Moss seemed annoved at the |accident. He went out to look at it {more than once, and fussed about the |tactory all the afternoon. He seemed to get on Rawson's nerves, who had turned up during the morning. They were both in the packing department when 1 let a bottle of pickles fail. It smashed well -vith a lot of noise, and the contents spread out in an un- sightly mess,” Moss whipped around as if he had been shot. “What the devil—" “Sorry, sir,” and I put down the tray of other hottles with the intention of clearing the stuff up. “Leave it alone,” he said, “and knock off your work.” Rawson went to the tray which T had put on the floor. up, and put it on a bench “Accidents will happen?" he said Moss called' tlfe weasel-faced fore- man, “Put this mar on to some job where he can't do any harm. We've got no use for his sort. Let him come in to | me at the end of the day and I'll pay thim oft.” of bottles lifted it could gee him, and he never moved as ) “Christopher Quales” “It was only an accldent” T heard Rawson say to Moss, but the head of the firm geemed to think,I had done it on purpose. This was Interesting, and it was quite evident that the foreman kept a sharp eve on me. T wondersd what would happen if I attempted to leave the factory, + It was not unti] all the hands had gone that the foreman told me to come with him. We didn't go to the ordi- nary office, but to the private ofice of the firm, where the secret recipes for the making of the pickles were kept, and where new ones were discyssed and tried. Moss, the two other part- ners, and Rawson were there. It was a dreary room, the two windows being higher than one's head. Only by standing on a bench could you eee out of them, “You dropped that bottle en pur- pose,” said Moss, glaring at me savage- Iv. “Why? What's your game? Who are you? Out with it,” I felt pretty safe with Rawson there The rest of them looked rather a formidabls proposition, “Why should I drop it on purpose?” “That's what we mean to find out.” Moss answered, Rawson wag looking at me search- ingly, and with a sudden wave of his hand he took command of the situation “You know who I am my man?" I said 1 did. “Speak then. Did you drop that bot- tle on purpose 7 “Yes." “Why " “I thought it might help vou to clear up the mystery here” I suppose it 'was the foreman wha threw his arm across my throat from behind, and intuitively 1 must have been prepared for the attack, or the backward ferk might have broken my neck, At this moment pandamonium was let loose. ‘There was a blood curdling yell in the passage without, and at the same moment a fierce smashing of glass. Half a dozen heads appeared at the two windows. The men must have been standing on a bench on the path outside, “Stand where you are or we'll shoot the lot of you,” came the command, The next instant the door was burst open. T saw the bargee who had sat waiting for the return of his mate with the tug literally hurl himself across the room at Moss. Then Mrs. Wheeler rushed at Rawson, “It pays to have a confederate some- times,” she cried. It was Mrs, Wheeler, out not her voice. The voice was Screed's, In spite of a Turkish bath, Betty de- clared that I smelt of pickles when | went to the teashop next day to meet Screed, “The barge was a good idea,” he chuckled. “It enabled me to have my men waiting on the spot.” “Oh, you are always full of ideas, Jerry,” Betty said, “but why didn't you take on the factory job instcad of Mr. Yates?” 4 “Because I was feeling for evidence. and eould not be pound to one spot. There have heen bif jowel robberies for some time past. Sometimes men have been caught, but the jewels have gone, Quite a small incident in a recent case turned my eyes on Chalworth. Almost directly afterwards came the tragedy at the factory, Rawson had the case in hand, curiously enough he had handled several of the jewel cases. I notea the fact in passing only until T founa out how he was handling this case. He was far too sharp a man to be so futile 1 thought it possible that Moss's mon had tempted him not to be too sharp on this occasion. I tested my main idea by zoing openly to the factory as Hapdr's aunt ang asking for work. | let Moss know I was anxious to fing out the truth. T was refueed a job, a< I expected I should be, s0 I got Mr Yates to go. It was o good telling him what to look for, | could not be definite, hut as he told things to the old lady. lodger she did her best to sugzest subtly what his line of action shouid be. Mr. Yates. was quite smart. He discovereqd that the key to the traged. was the breaking of a hottle of pickles Rawson, Moss, and half a dozen othe: men were in it. Certain pickle bottles dispatched abroad have had jewels ir them. Quite a clever method of get- ting them out of the country. Hardy broke a hottle by pure accident, an in cleaning up the mess found some |stones. He showed them to Finley and together they took them to Mose He saw that discovery was imminent and communicated at once with his partners, Rawson heing one of them.” ' "Rawson g4, partner! exclaimed Betty. “Yes, and he showed himself a very smart man indeed. Both men were murdered to save the secret. Finley was alloweq to float in the river; Hardy was in the river, too, at the bottom heavily weighted. His bodv has beén drazged up this afternoon. When Raw- son had the river dragged that partieu- lar spot where there Is a deep hole wag carefully left out. Hardy had dis- appeared. Tt was natural to assume he was the murderer. Oh; Rawson is clever.” “t seems dreadful that 3 man like Rawson— My dear, there are villains in every profession, even In the church.” “You must make a comic woman, Jerry.” “Comis! Mr., Yates thought me a dear old soul, and never suspected me, not even when he followed me to the factory that night.” “You knew!"” I exclaimed, “Part of the game, Mr. Yatet Spurred you on to action. T very mucl doubt if Chalworth A.l. Pickles wili continue to by on the market.”