The Oriental Progress (Blair, Okla.), Vol. 12, No. 36, Ed. 1 Wednesday, February 9, 1916 Page: 4 of 4
This newspaper is part of the collection entitled: The Blair Progress and was provided to The Gateway to Oklahoma History by the Oklahoma Historical Society.
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I
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■
*! '*
The Exploits of Elaine
A DrrtdiM AW*/ and a Mot urn Fictur* Drama
By ARTHUR B. REEVE
TlttWrl-kixx.M Novrkl and iHeCiealu J
m <'allabe»a*tea Wa*. «K* r«lW. Plaxesa mmi
lU k «U«Im r*lm Cempaap
r.—a* t*«.» **»»*<•-»•«»♦ » *
■Tai •*« Wt<( |Mi«* Wim M»f», * r*®» TW» Mar* M*4 H lk* '
"Mere (Htlng »* «h»a rn»*mm»ot to HonWaa b-4» u* the IW u4 I»c«aIW
fiVNOPft'8
Tt1# Nr« v ** * |»*l » •»» *"*•' C .1 fc* <• j
M. | ffef |*MJ# •!**»* Ml* *'f • •t** * k 1
immm i|»l . » •*» • •*»* • ««>»*•» '• »•**
I,IJ( »,{»,» »M. h I* Ow I
♦.III. * I#»*..* I » •*> 1 U,r* *>
tlm «l «!»• «•*»' I <*»»• U l
the imuI«ih' |»rv*Vde«« • j
rieug’ w*r I (»«***», nopltn* i ' * • nri»n*<J»
the f»m* <• hi im»‘ «•* ’ ••%#. J'* ' 1
hkiatrl |h* tm•»•>!* "ha* k#a«*«B •
•MMitahM i» ii*M t*v »>'•
• »*•*•-.|er «»*»»' ■* 1 ‘, r j
tnlt«o.l rlt.'fl »< -» M«lii- •• I • Mil* Kp»i
t»*s1v »r* avaMitg »*• l*'»' *"»***•
,,l»,e. l hr Clutching 11 *«*.» a* B»‘a
»liai>k< trimll»*l la In*'* "* *• 1 •
a**rt* of ihr ltw«at dish
|uit ll>* m i il i*l Ih* a**. I >> ' * *1*
• • ' • • I
t
«
ty girl ami hla.aalf fr*1 a .i*4*l.
Mary. Ah* U>oWr*d a< II null inlrrrai.
at ono woman always 4ora at the pte
lura of another pretty woman It waa
a newspaper rut of tClalBe, uudef
a hi. Ii *M
h»ip i ha i let giant and •• ha. a apian
4Ml ha. king Jwal 14 n»a ikn* yog
n*hh* of tha name* on oar commit
laa “
Uka handed irtalna a Hat
**t*ve )<i*t brag teal to aaa If t can
not persuade too to Join the commit*
tao an4 aitrnd n meeting nl Mra lllv
erton a.** aha wrnt on
"Why er,“ con»l4cra4 Maine,
thnugbifully, “at yea It moat be
nil right »nh noth people in It.**
"fan yon go 4o«n nlth me now*" j
"Jn«t at wall a* later * ngraa4
horrified
KUine nottoeg aoma apota an her
hanUa, nag, arcing that they were
aUiaeg fey the hlood of ta»ag A*a.
wiprg iha apota m! on her headker
Chief, dropping It to the Roof
"l ah*- • acini mag a gwtural »»ua
behind i ham
It wu the servant who bag come
la
"Yon hill him with hut***- laain
uateg the I'hlBaan
Elaine wan dumb The servant did
not wnlt for an nnaaar. hul bnalllr
**ffLAINC OOOCC. TNC MflR-
m WHOSE hATTLe WITH
THE CLUTCHING HAND It CHE*
AT iNu WORLDWIDE INTER*
EtT."
TWELFTH EPISODE
THE BLOOD CRYSTALS.
"On your right la the residence of
Miaa Kin Hu* I'-nlge. who la ptirau.ng
the famous tnnatar criminal htioati »»
the notching Hand "
The barker hud teen grandlhxiuenl
ly pointing out the reaidcucea of noted
New Yorker* a* the big right teeing
car lumbered along through the
at recta
No one had paid nny attention to j
tho unobtrualvc t'htuatnan v.ho aat In-
conaplcuoualj in the middle of the car
He was Mr Won; long Sin. but no j
one aaa anything particularly tny*-
tertoua about an Oriental flatter, more j
or leas, viewing New York city
Wong a»* of the mandarin type,
with long drooping muatache. well j
dresred in American clothes and con- j
forming to the new customs of an Oc-
cldentallred t’hir.a
Anyone, however, who had be. a j
watching Long Sin would have se\*n
that he showed much Interest when-
ever any of the wealthy residents of ,
the city were mentioned The name
of Elaine lV>dge seemed particularly j
to strike him He listened with subtle j
Interest to what the barker said and
looked keenly at the Dodge house.
The sight seeing car had passed the i
house, w hen he rose slowly atnl mo- j
tinned that he wanted to be let off.
The car stopped, he alighted and slow- ;
ly rambled away, evidently marveling
greatly at the strange customs of these
uncouth Westerners
Elaine was going cut when she met
Perry Dennett almost on the steps of
the house.
“I've brought you the watch." re- ;
marked Bennett. “Thought I'd like to
give It to you myself."
He displayed the w atch which he |
himself had bought a couple of days ;
before for her birthday He had called
for it himself at the jeweler's where it j
had now been regulated.
“Oh. thank you." exclaimed Elaine
'Wont you come in*''
They had scarcely greeted each other j
when Long Sm strolled along. Neither j
of then* however, had time to notice |
the quiet Chinaman who passed the
house, looking «t Elaine sharply out of j
the corner of his eye. They entered j
and Wong disappeared dow a the j
street.
“Isn't It a beautyT" cried Elaine, j
holding it out from her as they entered
the library, and examining it with
great appreciation. “And. oh. do you |
know, the strangest thing happened
yesterday! Sometimes Mr. Kennedy)
acts tcu queeriy for anything "
She related how Craig had burst in
on her and Aunt Josephine and had
almost torn the other watch off her
wrist.
“Another watch*” repeated Bennett,
amaied. "It must have been a mis-
take. Kennedy is craiy."
“I dou't understand it. myself." mur-
mured Elaine.
Sow." he began at last, breaking
the alienee, “I II show you Just what I
want you to do."
He went over is the wall and Isok
dowb a curious long Chinese knife
front a stabburd which hung there
conspicuously
"Bee that?" he added, holding It up
Before she could say a word he had
plunged the knife, apparently. Into hts
o* n breast
"Oh”’ cried Mary, startled
She expected to see him fall But
nothing hari*ened Wong laughed It
was an oriental trick knife, in which
the blade telescoped into the handle
"lawk at It," he added, handing It
to tier.
Long Sin look a bladder of water
from a table near by and concealed It
under his coat. “Now. you stab me,"
he directed.
Mary hesitated But he repeated the
command and she plunged the knife
gtngerly at him. It telescoped He
made her try It over, and she stabbed
him more resolutely. The water from
the bladder poured out.
“Good!" cried lautg Sin, much
pleased. “Now." he added, seating
himself beside her, "1 want you to
lure Elaine here."
Elaine j opened the hall door ■
They weal out loaelher, and aa To Ktaiae II seetnrg lhal something
they were lea*lag the house a man must In-gone uuukly A moment and
wh,i had been loitering outside looked all Ihe house would be In uproar.
• • * a* her comma* Instead, he placed his Anger on bla
No sooner had they gone than he
sped off lo a car waltlna around the
corner, In Ihe dark depths was a sin-
ister ngure. Ihe master rrtminal him
self. The watcher had been an em-
issary of the Clutching Hand
“Chief." he whispered eagerly, "you
know Adtrnturous Mary* Well, she s
got Klaine 1 tndge la low*"
"The deuce'" cried Clutching Hand
"Then we must leach Mary Carson,
or whoever she Is working for. a les-
son No one shall Interfero with our
affairs Bellow them'"
Elaine ami Mary had gone down-
town. talking animatedly—walking
down the avenue toward Mrs Hiving-
ton's apartment
Meanwhile. Wong Bln. still In his
Chinese costume, was explaining to
another male servant Just what he
wished done, pointing out ihe dagger)
on the wall and placing the bladder |
Bps 'Uuich no word. b« said, lead
ln« the way to tb« hall door, "and oh.
you must not b-avo ihat—ll will be
a clue." he added, picking up tbs
bloody handkrrehlef and pressing It
Into Elatnoa hand.
They quickly ran out Into ihe hall.
"Do quick*** he urged again, "and
hide the handkerchief In the bag Let
no one see it'"
He shut the door As they hurrlej
away Klaine breathed a sigh of relief
They had reached ihe street Afraid
to run, they hurried ns fast a» they j
could until they turned tho first cor* i
ncr.
They pressed each other's hands and I
part**d
Meanwhile In the front room l-ong
Sin was on his feet again, brushtng I
himself off and mopping up the blood
“It worked very well. Sam,' he said )
to the servant.
They were conversing eagerly and i
laughing and did not hear a noise in
ft* »—< tho h«« and dtsphtywf
Iks blood spotted handkerchief It*
took It and summed •» carefully
Klein*." ke said e*»aru«lv. md at
all die pi eased I **uld see. lhal tome
thing bad com* up lhal might blot owl
lha past unfurl mat* mlauadefsiaad
lag. there simply, must be something
wrong bore L-si* lh»a baadhefthi«f
with me I'U do my best '
Thaab you." she said umpiy as
she left Ihe laboratory
Craig weal to a orb abruptly without
a word
On the laboratory table be placed bis
tph ndid microscope nag several cases
of slides, as well as innumerable ml
rro photographs He had been work-
ing for some time when he looked up
“It Is dog's blood not human blood.*'
ho said simply, "hut what's lb« game
back of ail this—lhal s ihe mala ques-
tion bow,"
s s s s s s
under hts Jacket. A box of opium | tho bac k room.
.. 7
«n on tho table, and ho was glv* j A sinister figure had made its way
iug most explicit directions. It was , by means of a fire escape to a rear
into such a web that Elaine was be- j ___
ing unwittinly led by Mary.
Entering the hallway of the apart-
ment. Mary rang the bell
The servant opened the door and -
Elaine and Mary entered, lie closed ,
tho door and almost before they knew
it was gone into the back room.
Elaine gazed about It In trepdlatlon.
But before sbo could say anything, j
Mary, with a great show of surprise, J
exclaimed. "Why. 1 must have made
It was A»t mu* h tatrr that KUine
received a second visit frutn Mary.
"llo you know why tho servant al-
lowed us to leave the apartment?**
whispered Alary with a glance about
fearfully, as If ihe walls had ears
• No—why?" Inquired Klaine anxious*
IT
"lie's a long man who has been
chosen to do awuy with the prince
Ho followed me. and says you have
done his work for him If yuu will
give him t«*n thousand dollars fur «-g*
penses he will attend to biding the
body."
litre, at least.was a way out.
"It Is tho safest way out of the
trouble. Y'es. I'll do It. I'll slop at the
hank now- and get the money."
They rose and Mary preceded her.
eager to get away from ths house.
At the door, however, Klaine asked
her to wait while she ran hack on
some pretext.
Our telephone rang In the mldrfiw
1 had been amusing myself by rig
gitsg up a contrivance by which I
could make it possible to see through,
or, rather, over, a door.
Kennedy, who had been busy at the
other end of the laboratory, happened
to look over In my direction. "What's
the big Idea. Walter?" he asked.
It was, 1 admit, a rather cumber-
some and clumsy affair.
"Well, you see, Craig." I explained,
"you put the top mirror through the
transom of a door and—"
Kennedy interrupted with a hearty
burst of laughter. "But suppose the
door has no transom?" he asked,
pointing to his own door.
1 scratched my head thoughtfully. 1
had assumed that the door would
have a transom. A moment later
Craig went to the cabinet and drew
out a tube about as big around as a
putty blower and as long.
Now. here s w hat I call my de-
tectascope.” he remarked. "None of
your mirrors for me."
"I know." I said somewhat nettled,
"but what can you see through that
Long Bin was revolving some dark
and devious plan beneath bis impas-
sive Oriental countenance. He »as no i
ordinary personage la fact, he was i
astuts enough to have no record. He J
left that to hi* tools
This remarkable criminal had estab-
lished himself in a hired apartment
down town.
Long Bin cow in rich Oriental cos-
tume. was reclining cn a divan smok-
tng a strangedookmg pipe and playing
with two pet white rats. Each white rat
had a gold band around his leg. to
which was connected a gold chain
about a foot in length, and the chains
ended ta rings which were slipped
over Wong s little fingers Ordinarily
he earr d the pets up the capacious t
sleeve t«f each arm
a mistake. This Isn't Mrs Hivlng-
ton's apartment. How stupid of me."
They looked at each other a mo-
ment. Then each laughed nervously,
as together they started to go out of
the door. I' was locked 1
Quickly they ran to another door.
It was locked also.
Just then the Chinaman entered and
stood a moment gazing at them. They
turned and Elaiiw* recoiled from him.
Wong bowed.
"Oh. sir." cried Mary, “we've made a
mistake Can t you tell us how to
get out*"
"No speke Enclis," he said, gild- |
Ing out again from the room and j
closing the dcor.
Elaine and Mary looked about in
despair.
“What shall we do'" asked Elaine. >
Mary said nothing, but with a hasty j
glance discovered on th« wall the
knife which Wong had already toll)
her about. She took it from its scab- j
burd. As she did so the Chinaman re- j
turned w ith a tray on which were queer -
drinks and glasses.
At the sight of Mary with the knife
he scowled blackly, laid down the j
tray, and took a few- steps in her di- j
rectlon. Bhe brandished the knife
threateningly: then, as if her nerve
failed her. fainted, letting the knife
fall carefully on the floor so that it ■
struck on the handle, and not on the j
blade.
Wong quickly caught her as she ■
fainted and carrying her out of the
room, banged shut the door. Elaine
followed in a moment, loyally to pro-1
teet her supposed friend, but found :
that the door had a snap lock on the j
other side.
She looked about wildly, and in a 1
moment Wong reappeared. As he ad-
vanced slowly and Insinuatingly, she
drew back, pleading. But her word*
fell on seemingly deaf ears.
She had picked np the knife which j
Mary had dropped, and »hea at last
Wong maneuvered to get her cornered
Eiaine. Too Horror-Stricken
Even to
Over
Scream, Dropped the Knife and Bent
Him.
window that was not barred, and si-]
lently he had stolen in on them.
They turned at a slight noise art-1 I
saw him. Genuine fright was now cn !
their faces as they looked at him. !
open mouthed.
"What's all this*" he growled. "1 j
am known as the Clutching Hand. 1 I
allow no interference with my affairs. [
Tell nie what you are doing here with 1
Elaine Dodge."
Their beady almond eyes flashed j
fear. The Clutching Hand moved me-!
nacingly. There was nothing for the
astute Wong Long Sin to do but to 1
submit.
With a low bow. Wong spread out j
his bands la surrender and submission.)
“I will tell you, honorable sir." ha
sai-i at length.
"Go on!" growled the criminal
Quickly Wong rehearsed what had j
happened from the moment the Idea |
of blackmail entered his head
“How about Mary Carson?” asked |
Clutching Hand. ‘ I saw her here."
Wong gave a glance of almost so-,
perstitious dread ax '.he man.
“She will be back—is here now." he :
added, opening the door at a knock !
and admitting her.
Adventuress Mary had hurried back ;
_________| to see that ail was right. This time I
and w as about to seize her. she nerved Mary was genuinely scared at the for- j
herself up and stabbed at him rcso- bidding figure of which she had heard, j
lutely. j "It is all right." pacified Wong.!
Wong staggered back—and fell. j "Henceforth we work with the hon-j
As he did so. he pressed the orable Clutching Hand."
bladder which he had already placed
under his coat. A dark red fluid,
like blood, oozed out all over him and
ran in a pool on the floor
Eiaine. too horror-stricken at what |
had happened even to scream, dropped
the knife and bent over him. He did
not move. She rose quickly and ran
through the now open door As she
At home at last. Eiaine sank down :
into a deep library chair and stared
straight ahead. She saw visions of
arrest and trial, of the terrible elec-
tric chair with herself in it, bound, j
and of the giving of the fatal signal
for turning on the current.
Were such things as these going to
Elaine Took Out the Package of Bills*
did so. Wong seemed suddenly to come happen to her. without Kennedy s
A htt e Ct—.ese gtrL a'so in native
costume, entered and bowed deferen-
tially.
“A \!!<s Mary Carson." she lisped in
aeft Etg’.Uh
"Let the lady enter.1* xraeed Long j
Sin. with a sni e of subtle sat.s.aetior.
The g-r’ bowed again and s'Sectly
left the rvvax. returning with a haad-
•euse. very well d*eseed white woaiar
It xrxHxki be difiralt to analyse Just
what the fascinat.cn was that Long
Bi« eairciaed ever Mary Carson. But
as the servant left the mean. Mary ,
bowed almost as deAsreeUatty as the ■
htt’e Chinese girt Wong merely aod-
4. d fa reply
After a a«Mt he slowly rose asi
bock frn a drawer a newspaper clip-
ping Wttkeat a weed ke handed tt to
patty blower? A keyhole is just as
good.”
“Do you realize how little you can
really see through a keyhole*” he re
plied confidently. “Try it over there.”
I did. and. to tell the truth. I could
see merely a little part of the halL
Then Kennedy inserted the detecta-
acope.
“Look through that." he directed
I put nsy eye to the eye piece and
gazed through the bulging lens of
the other end. I could see almost
the whole hall
FUune was playing with Rusty when
Jennings brought in a card oa which
was engraved the name. "Miss Mary
Careoa." and underneath in pencil was
written “Belgian Relief CofEuxitfee"
“Hew Interesting." coastsented
Elafna. rising and accompanying Jen-
nings into the drawing room. "I w un-
der what she wants*”
"Very pleased to greet vow. MSsa Car-
son.* She greeted her visitor.
to life. He raised himself and looked
after her. then with a subtie sm'.ie
sank back Into his former assam-. \
posture on the floor.
When Elaine reached the other room
she found Mary there with the Chi-
nese servant who was gfving her \
glass of water At the sight of h«r *
the servant paused, then withdrew in-
to another room farther back. Mary,
now apparently recovering from her
faintness, sm led wanly at Elaine.
"It s all right.” she murmured. "He
is a Chinese prince who thought we
were callers.”
At the reassuring nod of Mary to-
ward the front room. Elaine was over-
come.
"!—I killed him'” she managed to
g»*P
"What?" cried Mary, starting up and
trembling violent, j. "You k ;..ed
help? Why had they quarreled' she
buried her face in her hands and wept, j
Then she could stand it no longer
She had not taken off ter street
clothes. She rose and almost fled
from the house.
Kennedy and I were still in the la-
boratory when a knock sounded at
the doer. I went to tie deer and
opened it. There stood Elaine Dodge. I
It was a complete surprise ta Craig. -
"What is the matter?" he asked.
She hesitated, then suddenly hurst
out. "Craig—I—I am—a murderess! *
I had never hefere seen such a look
cn Craig s face as sad deni y came over
tt.
Then she poured forth the story sub-,
staanaily as 1 have set it down, but
j without the explanation, wkick at that i
time was not known ta any of us.
"Oh." expostulated Cratg. there m tst j
be sc me mustaka It s
“Tsw.” sc Sbed Elaine
an*—had the kn.fe—i
him—"
The two girls ran ts‘.j tho
"Ho came at
■track a:
"Lock—here s !
a- spotted wut
of our conversation on blood crys-
tals. and Kennedy himself answered it.
It was Elaine asking Craig's ad-
vice.
"They have offered to hush the
thine up for t**n thousand dollars," she
said in a muffled voice.
She seemed bent on doing It. ar.d no
amount of argument from him could
stop her. She simply refused to ac-
cept the evidence of the blood crys-
tals as better than w hat her own eyes
told her she had seen and done.
"Then wait for half an hour." he
answered, without arguing further.
"Y'ou can do that without exciting
suspicion. Then go with her to her
hotel and hand her over the money."
"All right—111 do it." she agreed.
“What is the hotel?”
Craig wrote on a slip of paper what
she told him—"Room 509. Hotel La
Ccste."
Hastily he threw cn his street coat.
"Go into the back room and get me a
brace and bit. Walter. ’ he said.
I did so. When I returned I saw
that he had placed the detectascope
and some stuff In a bag. He shoved
in the brace and bit also.
“Come on—hurry!” he urged.
We must have made record time in
getting to the La Coste. It was an or-
nate place, where merely to breathe
was expensive. We entered, and by
some excuse Kennedy contrived to
get past the vigilant bell-hops. We
passed the telephone switchboard and
entered the elevator, getting off at
the fifth floor.
With a hasty glance up and dew-n
tie corridor, to make sure no one was
about. Kennedy came to Room 509.
then passed to the next room. 511,
opening the door with a skeleton key.
Quickly Craig went to the door
which led to the next room It was.
of course, locked also. He listened a
moment carefully. Not a sound. Quick-
ly. with an exclamation of satls'ac-
tion. he opened that doer also and
went into 509.
This room was much like that In
which we had already been. He
cp-ened the kali dorr.
“Watch here. Walter." he directed.
“Let me knew at the slightest alarm."
Craig had already taken the brace
and bit from the bag and started to
here through the wall In Room 51L
selecting a spot behind a picture of a
Spanish dancer—a spet directly back
of her snapping black eyes. He fin-
ished quickly and inserted the detecta-
scope so that the lens fitted as an eye
in the picture. The eye-piece vu la
rjen 511. Then he started to brush
up the pieces of piaster on the floor.
"re-aig” I whispered hastily as I
heard aa eievan.r doer, "acmeooe s
ccmiag'"
Ke harried to tie door and locked
There they are.” he said, as fee saw
Fame and Mary r eading the terser
Arrme the ball attboaff* ** **
feaue It at lb# tla*. •• nmm A*
,—dr Wmw *“> bad ep bu «•>
link. J»»t Is be Brads The** be bed
U**r> a tilt bu n*r*anl. hUnae aMb
bis tao trained a kite ala
bou traced tbeia up bis rape*tons
•leave* and opaaeg ihe d«* r
la look out fnfumnaleljr be aa#
)u»i in Have to ••• tbe dnuf of MW
open and dlerlo*# a*
We burned tala lit and *bat tb#
door
Kennedy nn>uni«*d a rbair and *p
Piled hi* aye la Ihe d«t«le»co|* fu*t
then Msrr #I*4 Klein# entered H»#
nett r»>utn. Mary vpatlttg tbe doos
a lib a regular bey,
•Want yau step taf •*># asked
Klslae did an and Mary hesitated
In tbe ball Wong Bin bad slipped
out. on n<*tee!r>» feet and isken ref*
uge behind earn# rurtalns A« be eaa
her alone, he beckoned, to* Mary
There* a stranger la the next
mom.” be ahlspered **t don't Ilk#
him Take the money and as quickly
as possible *•« •>«« »n<1 *° *° mr
apartment **
At the neas that them a as a nus
plrlous stranger about Mary shoaed
great alarm Everything an so rap-
id non that the sllghiest hesitation
meant disaster I'erhsps by quick
ness even a suspicious stranger could
be fooled, she reasoned At any rate.
Wong Bln was resourceful. She had
better trust him
Mary followed Elaine Into the room,
where she had seated herself already,
and locked the door.
• Have you tho money there*" she
naked.
"Y'es." nodded Klaine. taking out
the package of bills which she had got
from the bank during the half hour
delay.
All this an could see hy gazing al-
ternately through the detectaacojie
Elaine handed Vary the money.
Mary counted it slowly. At last she
looked up
"It s all right," she said ‘Now. Ill
take this to that tong leader lie’s la
a room only Just across the hall "
She went out.
Mary had Just succeeded in getting
on the elevator as Kennedy hurried
down the hall The door was closed
and the car descended. He rang the
push bell furiously, but there was
no answer.
He dashed hark to the room with
us and Jerked iLe telephone receiver.
“Hello—hello—hello!” he called.
There seetned to be no wav to get
a connection. What was the mat-
ter?
He hurried down the hall again.
Down in the hotel lobby, with his
follower, the Chinaman paused before
the telephone switchboard, where two
girls were at work.
“Y'ou may eo." ordered Wong. and.
as his man left, he moved over close
to the sw itchboard.
Just as a call from 509 flashed up.
Wong slipped ths rings off his little
Angers and loosened the white rats
on the telephone switchboard Itself.
With a shriek the telephone system
of the Coste went temporarily out of
business.
Kennedy had succeeded in finding
the alcove of the floor clerk in charge
of the fifth floor. There on his desk
was an instrument having a stylus on
the end of two arms, connected to a
system of magnets. It was a telauto-
graph.
Unceremoniously Craig pushed the
clerk out of his seat and sat down
himself. It was a last chance, now
that the telephone was out of com-
mission. )
Downstairs in the hotel office, where
the excitement had not spread to ev-
ery one. was the other end of the elec-
tric long-distance writer.
It started to write, as Kennedy
wrote, upstairs: j
“House Detective—ouiek—hold wom-
an with blue chatelaine tag. getti-g
out of elevator."
The clerks downstairs saw it and
shouted above the din of the rat-bait-
ing:
"McCann—McCann!"
The clerk had torn off the message
from the telautograph register and
handed it to the house man, who
pushed his way to the desk.
Quickly the detective called to the
bell-hops. Together they hurried af-
ter the well-dressed woman who had
Just swept out of the elevator. Mary
had already passed through the ex-
cited lobby and out, and was about
to cross the street—safe.
McCann and the bell-hops were now
la full cry after her. Flight was use-
less. She took refuge In indignation
and threats.
But McCann was obdurate. She
passed quickly to tears and pleadings.
It had no effect. They insisted on
leading her back. The game was up.
“Here.” cried Kennedy, "take her up
in the elevator. I ll prove the case."
“Now—not a word of who she is in
the papers. McCann." Kennedy con-
cluded. referring to Elaine. “You
know, it wouldn't sound well for the
La Coste. As for that woman—well.
I've got the money back. Y'ou caa
take her off—make the charge."
As the house man left with Mary I
handed Craig his bag We moved to-
ward the door, and as we stood there
a moment with Elaine, he quietly hand-
ed over to her the big roll of money.
If he had been lesa of a scientist, he
might have understood the look on
her face. but. with a nod to me. he
turned and went.
As she looked first at him. then at
the paltry tea thousand ta her hand.
FTaiue stamped her little foot in vea-
Ta glad I didn't say anything
■sore." she cried. "No—oo—ha ahaii
beg my pardon first—there*"
cro ss ouraxmu
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Beaver, Dennis. The Oriental Progress (Blair, Okla.), Vol. 12, No. 36, Ed. 1 Wednesday, February 9, 1916, newspaper, February 9, 1916; Blair, Oklahoma. (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc956944/m1/4/?q=j+w+gardner: accessed June 22, 2024), The Gateway to Oklahoma History, https://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society.