Pictures and the Picturegoer (Jan-Dec 1924)

32 Pictures and Pict\jreOver Jim Hartigan's " mother!' pleaded to see her erring " son " with such effect that the governor of the jail icould have given her almost anything he possessed into the bargain. working) and admitted himself to his suite. A couple of minutes later his hoarse shout was arousing the bell-boys and making even the manager stir in his sleep. "Robbers!" he cried, as loudly as his tired voice would allow. " Thieves ! Stop thief !" Despite the fact that there was no thief to be seen. In little more than a minute or two all the sixth floor (and some of the others) was gathered in that corridor. The manager was purple in the face and incoherent in speech. He apologised and he swore and he sent the bell boy for the house detective and the house detective for the police and generally got in the way and made himself a nuisance to all He took particulars and he took names and then he lost his pencil, much to everyone's relief. Tt appeared that seven people had been robbed, beginning with the festive gentleman in Suite 37 and ending with Miss Elizabeth West in 43. Miss West, protesting against this abomination appeared at the door of her suite in a mauve dressing gown that made quite a number of the surprised onlookers there forget the importance of the burglary. When the police arrived there were several things that the manager had to repeat to them two or three times. " The room was all right when I turned in at eleven o'clock," she said. " And look at it now." They did. They looked, too, at all the other rooms on the unhappy line; and the more they looked the more they scratched their heads and were puzzled. A search was made, but no trace of the loot could be discovered. " There's a smart hand in at this," said one of the detectives. He went from room to room, inspecting everything closely, the babbling manager at his heels. And then, having inspected the disordered rooms, he turned his attention to their occupiers and finally came to an ominous stop in front of the occupier of 43, Miss Elizabeth West. "What you say your name is?" he demanded. " Elizabeth West," she replied. "Why?" "It wasn't never Bessie North, by any chance, was it?" " Bessie North?" She flashed an indignant glance at him. " I have already told you my name. What is the meaning of this cross-examination?" " In 'Frisco, in '17?" the detective went on. " I don't know what you're talking about !" The detective laughed. "Come, Bessie!" he said. "You can't bluff me. I'd got over bein' bluffed before you was born. Why, I knew you the minute I got the light on you. I never make a mistake about a face — 'specially a pretty one like yours. Hop inside and get dressed and come along with me." " You mean — " " 'Course I do. You're arrested, Bessie. Surest thing." And she was. Ten minutes later she had been driven away from the Superbe in a taxi-cab, and all her bewildered fellow guests could do was to sit up talking about it till breakfast time. \Y7hen she was brought up before Judge Westcott it was admitted by a good many people besides the spry detective that she was a good deal cleverer than she looked at the first glance ; and some said that perhaps the spry detective was not quite so clever as he looked at the first glance, or as he imagined himself to be. For instance, it is always wise, when catching a thief to catch a little evidence along with him. In the present case the detective had caught nothing but the thief. He had caught no proof that she was one, even if he had plenty of proof that she had been one, once upon a time. The consequence was that within fifteen minutes Miss Elizabeth West was discharged for lack of evidence. Very JUNE 1924 nice for Miss West. But the detective was rather pink about the cheeks. " A pretty girl," ventured Richard Templer, leaning across the judge's desk between cases. Templer was the district attorney, and the best the town had had in a generation. Even the defendants respected him. Now the judge turned to him with more consideration than he gave to some district attorneys. " Yes," he said, " but she's more than that." Templer looked at him. " She's a clever girl," the judge went on. " There's flashes of cleverness in her work sometimes that make you think she's got something akin to genius. That girl's got a million-dollar mind. But she won't go straight." He shuffled a few papers on his desk and turned to Templer once more. " Have you got a line on that drug gang yet?" he asked. " It's about that I came to see you now," said Temple. " I've got things moving at last. I've got to know one or two things. In the first place, I've found out that the control of this drug industry is in the hands of a very small gang indeed — five men, to be exact, with Judson Osgood at their head. In order to make the game water-tight they've each put a signature to an agreement, which Osgood holds, to prevent any breakaway on the part of a possible traitor. The agreement incriminates them all, you see , and they've got to .hold together. Very well. If I can get possession of this paper the gang is automatically broken up and the drug traffic shut down." " I see. And what do vou want me to do?" " I want you to issue a search warrant." " Osgood's house?" " Yes." " H'm . . ." For many moments the judge was thoughtful ; and then at last he shook his head. " It wouldn't do," he said. " There's powerful interests behind Osgood and only the surest proof would succeed. If he doesn't keep the thing at his house and the search falls flat we'll have a nest of hornets round our ears. Is there no other way you can go about it?" " Yes," said Templer, " there's one way." "Well?" " And I am resolved to take it. It is the only way. I shall relinquish mv attorneyship and take up the hunt myself." " H'm. Well . . • You know your own business best, my dear boy. If anybody can pull it off, you can. But it'll be a hard fight. You'd need someone on the inside to pull the ropes for you. And that — well — h'm . . ." " Yes," said Templer. " I know." A little later one of the strangest interviews of Templer's life was taking