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About The frontier. (O'Neill City, Holt County, Neb.) 1880-1965 | View Entire Issue (June 14, 1923)
S y . CHAPTER 7. fj The Armored Man. Speed called on us early the following morning, and Kennedy •t once took advantage of the thance he had wanted in order to question the young man alone. “There’s one thing I’d like to fcsk you,” said Kennedy, “Last .night when we came to that pri >Kte dining room where we found Iktwhkaya I noticed that she rec ognized you.” Speed met the question fjank ly “Yes, I know her, but not in timately,” he replied. “You see, •ae might, when some friends of Koine who were former dass Xnatea at college were here, we had a theater party. Some of the follows knew her, and I was in troduced along with the rest.” “But what'do you know about “‘Very little,” replied Speed, "She seems to be very popular— always has plenty of friends, with money to spend. I can find »ut more for you if you wish.” Just then Ravenal dropped in, witting off further private ques tioning of speed. Kennedy nodded to Speed, and he departed, quite delighted at having something to perform. Glad of the Job. "Since you told me last night of that gambling den out on Long Inland,” suggested Ravenal thoughtfully, *‘1 wonder whether I couldn’t get in there without exciting suspicion? I’ve many society friends. Will you let me try it?” Kennedy considered a moment. "By all means,” he assented. Ravenal seemed glad of the commission and departed eager ly to make such inquiries as might lead to his introduction to the de luxe gambling joint that fciffbt. Evidently the Black Menace Was waiting to see how after the failure of the strange attack in the field, the devlish germ letter might work. Nothing further took place during the day though we kept in close touch with Clare. “Having failed to get Clare, perhaps lie’s content to rest awhile,” I remarked. Kennedy shook his head doubtfully. “At least we must give him no chance. Between us all, I thing wo ought to be able to get something.” As evening approached I could see that Kennedy was get ting restive for action. Speed bad not returned: Clare seemed to be safe for the time being at least; and Ravcual was busy. •So far we had nothing to show for our day’s work. We had made very little better progress than Speed and Ravenal alone. What of the mansion of mys tery, the society gambling joint Out at Heaton Hills? Had the •trange figure in the field any connection with it? The same though must have been in the mind of Kennedy as he paced up and down the lab oratory considering what was to be his next move. '“I think I’ll take my own tepeedster, Walter,” decided Craig finally. “We’ll do some •routing about tonight on our own responsibility. Perhaps the thing will put in an appearance. I’d like to see it myself.” And so, alone, we retraced the drive which we hiv'l taken the night before, going over the same roads that Clare ami Speed had taken on their return. Dark at the Hills. It was quite dark by the time that we arrived at. Heaton Hills. But there seemed to be many cars out. The wealthy colony out there were much given to fast and reckless driving, and we had to exercise caution especially when we came to crossroads down which some scion of wealth was likely to be tearing in sheer " ymeut of speed, ennedy had brought a road map and we began an apparently aimless tour of the country, hop ing that by chance our way might oroes that of the strange figure. There seemed to be nothing else to do. We kept in the neighborhood of the mansion of mystery, pass ing and repassing it any number of times. Early in the evening there did not seem to bo many people there, but as the night advanced the ears began to pull up, I wradered vkether RaveJi al had been able to gain admit tance, and if so, what might be 6 taking place inside. Nothing happened as the night wore on, but there were fewer and fewer headlights that passed us on the roads. We did not go very far away from the society gambling den, but stuck close to it, hoping that something might turn up. At last after the play at the place had become frenzied and high, we might repeat our performance of the evening before and per haps a half mile away from it, a tion worth while, outside, while Kavenal was at work inside. Once, when we had passed the front of the place and were per hapsra a half mile away from it, a roadster loomed up, coming from the direction of the city. For a moment our own lights played I on it. In it, there were two people. Not a Good Look. “ Breshkaya 1” I exclaimed. “Who was the man with her?” “I didn’t have a very good look at his face,” returned Craig, “but it looked to me like our I friend Werner.” “They had not seen us. Ken nedy stopped. It seemed as though there were no use in try ing to trail them, for by the time we could turn around in the nar row road they would be gone. However, it was a chance. Up and down the roads we had been trailing, now and then all but lost, and frequently getting out to study signposts and the road map'in the light of ur own head lights. This was at least a chance, and we turned and fol lowed. It was long past midnight, and I had for. sometime been con vinced that it was a wild-goose chase upon which Kennedy had taken me. We had been running almost continuously for a mat ter of some hours and our engine was missing badly. As we approached the man sion of mystery, Kennedy pulled up at a point where the road widened out and crawled oxxt from under the wheel, raising the hood to give the engine some ad justment. As he stood there he looked out over the big field near the gambling house. “Look!” he exclaimed in a whisper, pointing. I followed the direction of his finger. There, in the field, I could just make out the indistinct outlines of a moving figure. It was a strange thing, inhu man, like nothing I had ever seen before. Its head was, as Speed had described it, pointed; its body unwieldy, almost clumsy. Laboring Slowly. oiowiy me luiug whs mooring into the field. We watched it. Wkat was it—man or beast? “Shall we go after it?” I asked, reaching mechanically for my automatic. “Just a minute,” cautioned Craig. Quickly he leaned over and turned the adjustable electric spotlight just above the wind shield. It flashed full across the field. “Halt?” he cried, as the beam of light revealed the uncanny monster, none too distinct at the distance, even yet. There was no answer. Instead the figure turned, leaped out of the spotlight rays and began zig-zagging with sur prising agility. At the same time Kennedy fired, emptying his revolver af ter it. Together we dashed forward it off the wirepand began exam Thaugh we were unencum beredTit had to® great a stUrt on us and by the time we came to the trampled place it had crossed the strip of field that separated it ,from a clump of woods, had gained the shadow of the trees and was gone. We followed, although I felt pursuit was useless. Suddenly we stopped sharply. A barbed wire fence separate the field from the clump of woods. Quickly Kennedy flashed a light up and down the fence. There sticking on one of the barbs of the wire he could see something fluttering. He pulled i toff the wire and began exam ining it. I too, felt of it. It was a piece of cloth of most pe culiar texture. “What is it—a beast” I asked, “Beasts don’t leave traces like this,” he returned, fingering the cloth. rt ot a Cdioou. "A phantom?" "Shadows don’t stop bullets." "Then what is it?’*' "This is some of the newly in vented armor-cloth," he ' re turned. We let ourselves through the barbed wire carefully and started into the woods, but there was no trace. At least we had part of the ex planation. It was an armored man who had made the attack on Clare and Speed the night before. Who had it been? There was only one thing to do and that was to wait for the report of Ravenal on his investi gation at the mystery house in the morning. CHAPTER 8. The Tear Bullet. Ravenal was bursting with in formation when he met us at the laboratory the next day. I got into the place, all' right,” he reported eagerly. “And such a place you nevei^ dreamed of. I was introduced properly, too—found a friend at one of the clubs who knew about it. It cost me some money before I got away, but I think no one suspected me. I can get you in, now I think, if you want to go.” “I shall want to go there lat er,” replied Kennedy. “Tell me —what happened? Did you see Breshkaya.” “Yes,” replied Ravenal in sur prise. “How did you know, she was there?” Kennedy did not answer at once. “And did you see Werner?”• “Werner?” “Yes, that tango tout, you re member—at least that was the name they gave him at the Crys tal palace.” “No,?1 returned Ravenal. “I didn’t sec him. Indeed, I don’t believe he would fit in such a place as that. He might be a capper for it, I suppose, but hardly anything more. “What of Breshkaya?” asked Kennedy. “Between you and me,” re plied Ravenal slowly, “it’s my opinion that she has been going the pace at a pretty lively clip. I don’t believe she can afford to lose money at the rate I saw her lose it last night—not at least, unless there is someone with un limited resources backing her.’* He had scarcely finished when the door to the laboratory opeed and Clare and Speed entered. Anything New? is mere aiiyunng new j in quired Clare eagerly. “Not much, except what Mr. Ravenal has discovered out at Heaton Hills,” returned Ken nedy. Clare turned to Ravenal, and soon they were chatting with ani mation as she drew from him the story of his experiences of the night before. “What did you find out about BreshkayaV” inquired Kennedy the moment he was able to speak alone to Speed. Speed east a swift glance over at the corner where Clare was talking with Ravenal, and low ered his voice. “Not very much,” he replied, “but enough, perhaps. She seems to be very popular with some of the fast set. I tried to find out something about that gambling place. She must be a constant visitor—and they say that she has been a heavy loser, too. Of course, that may be only gossip; but I found out something else that bears it out. Evidently things are not so prosperous with her, as I thought. She’s going to take an engagement to dance in the new revieu at the Crystal pal ace. I don’t think she’d leave the stage for that if she didn't need the money badly.” Kennedy considered. Bresh kava prosperous was one thing. Breshkaya in debt was quite an other. What might she not be capable of doing to recoup her losses at the gambling palace? An Ominous Silence. “Do you know,” remarked Speed, still under his breath, but nervous, “this silence on the part o-f the Black Menace, who ever it is, is ominous? I’ve been wondering whether it may not mean some new deviltry. I wish we could forestall it. Why can’t you and Jameson and myself go out there and watch tonight?” he ■whispered, glancing over at Clare to make sure that she did not hear. “Good,” agreed Kennedy. “Then tonight we watch to gether. Don't tell a soul about it—not even Clare.” Speed odded. A few moments later Kennedy executed himself and left us. Ravenal left a few moments later to go to his studio-office and fl* bally with a ueeru.. to me, f-peed persuaded Clare to return lorae, urging her to remain there vhere it now seemed she was nost safe. I did not see Kennedy again vntil after dinner that night. It vas dark when Speed joined ns lief ore the laboratory door. “Does Clare suspect any thing?’' Craig asked. Speed negatived. “I don’t think she heard,” he replied con fidentially. “The last thing I jia.de her promise wa3 that she ’ivculd not leave the house.” As we three crowded into the seat that had been built for two I felt something bulging in Ken nedy's pocket. “What’s that?” I asked. “A new gun I succeeded in finding after looking all over the city,” he returned briefly. We shot out over the town; across the bridge and again through the splendid road to Heaton Hills. Once more we found ourselves in the neighborhood of the man sion of mystery. “I think,” decided Kennedy, ‘‘that here’s a good place for ob servation.” * We pulled up in the shadow of a bend in the road on a rising spot of ground. With Lights Dimmed. Here we waited with lights dimmed. Our senses alert to catch any unwonted sounds. Each of us concentrated his attention in a different direction. It was a quiet night, which seemed to add to our suppressed excitement. The sound of the wind in the trees added to the tenseness of the country dark ness. Once the quietness was broken by the purring of the motor on the road beside us. A car shot past containing only a single figure, a woman. “Clare!” exclaimed Speed in voluntarily. “She can’t be kept away. We might better have brought her with us.” Kennedy jammed on the star ter. It would never do to let this girl be alone in this neighborhood at night. It was foolhardy. We gathered speed. The moon was just rising, and there was sufficient light to see the car as it wound along the road, now and then coming into the moonlight. Clare’s car turned off the road to another between two fields. It dipped down over the brow of a hill ahead and we followed. As we nosed our way up to the crest we could see that she had stopped, and was looking about as though not quite sure where she was. “Look!” exclaimed Speed, leaning forv ird. • We straii ed our eyes in the blackness, where the moonlight had not yet struck. In the field to the right was the very figure we had seen the night before. A hundred half-formed ideas rioted through my head. Had there been some new plot? Could Clare have been clever ly enticed here in our absence for the purpose of being lured into danger while those who must have helped her were supposed to be safely sidetracked ouuuen Grasn. Speed shouted, as Kennedy stepped on the gas and sent the car hurtling along for every , ounce of power in it. As he shouted I leaned over and looked again. The weird figure was advancing menacingly full at Clare. There was a crash. Kennedy had driven the car right through a rail fence and into the ploughed field the short est cut, as the road wound down the hill. In the still night I heard the crack of a pistol. There was a spit of fire in t’he darkness. Clare had fired at the incoming fig ure. But her bullet had no more ef fect than if it had been a pith ball. Still the thing advanced on her, evidently oblivious of our approach. Another moment and it would be upon her. Speed shouted. But it was of no use. In spite of everything, it was evident that we could not get to Clare in time. Nor was it any use to shoot against the thing in its bulletproof cloth. (To Be Continued Next WeekT) The European poj Is boiling. Ask in your prayers that we be kept out of it. ^The Greek fleet threatens the Dardanelles. Yesterday the British Admiral Broca, command ing the MediterranAn fleet, started for the Dardanelles, a flotilla of de stroyers following. Mustapha Hemal, with 50.000 men, is ready to start another war if the Greeks cross the Mariua river. I»% I wltiVM I Uy . w. ^ UA«</ A NO BOOZE. THE federal supreme court has ruled that foreign ships may not bring beverage alcohol within the ihree-mile zone. Five foreign gov ernments, Britain, France. Sp«an, Italy, and Holland, have protested to the American department of state. Britain asserts that under interna tional law the United States supreme court has- not the power to interfere with the stores or rations of foreign ships even in American ports. • The British view would limit the court’s jurisdiction to commodities designed, or perhaps reasonably likely, to be imported into the United States. The other four nations base their pro tests on the inconveniences caused them fcy the court’s ruling. The American treasury depart ment, which makes the regulations for the enforcement of the prohibi tion act, has hit upon a solution by constituting itself an interpreter of the supreme court—an Interpreter of the interpreter, so to speak. The treusury department decides that the liquor among the stores of foreign ships is to be considered part of the medicinal supplies of the ships, itnd 80 permissible under the Volstead law and the supreme court’s under standing of the purport of that law. Obviously this is an evasion, though helpful, and like «:11 evasions partakes of dishonesty. It is an anomaly to enforce prohibition, a great moral experiment, in a man ner tainted with dishonesty. Ob viously, too, the supreme court decision creates a difficult situation, Involving international complications. Taking it for granted that the supreme court’s interpretation of the law is correct, the trouble must lie with the wording of the law itself. Why not eliminate possible dis honesty in the enforcement by amending the law’ so as to obviate tbe grounds for the supreme court’s ruling? It would be but a simple undertaking. Mr. Forbes, who undestands fi nance, says the American people no longer object to the “billion dollar corporation.” He names $1,000,000, 000 concerns, the Pennsylvania the New York Central railroad, the big steel company and the telephone company. We haven’t any $1,000*000, 000 bank yet, but the National City of New York is close to it.' The people would like to see one first-class $20,000,000,000 concern with an absolute monopoly. That would be the combined railroads of the United States, owned, by thei people, honestly purchased with re munerative emulation replacing the present basis of grafting competi tion. A new drug, developed in the Rockefeller institute, cures the Afri-r can sleeping sickness. The tse-tse fly bites the gums, tongue, or lips of the crocodile sleeping with its mouth open. Then the fly bites human be ings, implanting in them germs from the crocodile’s blood that cause sleep ing sickness and death. While the tse-tse fly was biting the crocodiles in Africa, John D. Rockefeller was gathering oil and a comfortable fortune in America. With the money his trained scien tists prepare the remedy, called for short ’Tryparsamide,” its real name being "the sodium salt of rhenyig lyclnea para-arsenic acid.” The crocodiles and all the tse-tse flies in Africa will die without un derstanding any more of John D. Rockefeller’s oil business and plans that govern this universe. One big carpenters’ union, having arranged for $1 a day extra, gets a minimum of $10 for eight hours for the next six months. At that n«ws, expected to stabilize carpenter work, many will raise their hands to heav en and ask what we are coming to. For their comfort it may be said that if this republic doesn’t fall until destroyed by high wages for work men, it will last a long while. The Scientific American invited spiritualists to demonstrate the genuineness and sincerity of their spirits, under scientific observation. Houdini, the magician, was there and promptly demonstrated the fact that the medium and his ghosts were “fakes.” * • There are mediums ,that deceive themselves and the public; there are mediums that deceive the public only. There are no mediums that talk to ghosts, or bring messages from dead people. Spiritualists say It wasn’t fair to have the magician there to expose the tricks. No scientist would ob ject to the presence of any magician. You couldn’t prove the radio a fake with all the magicians of the world. Truth operates, no matter who is watching. One European correspondent says Belgium is getting tired of her trip into the Ruhr, hand in hand with France. It is costing too much; there Isn’t enough in it—money or coal. Another correspondent says a Bel gian statesman suggests seizing and operating German railroads and oth er natural monopolies. The people will have to use them and pay the fares demanded. That sounds rea sonable, but it isn't. They would pay in marks, and the higher the fare the lower the marks would go. If you want a hen to lay eggs, make her physically healthy. If you want a nation to pay repara tions, make it economically healthy. You can’t squeeze eggs out of a hen by squeezing her neck. • _ A Sugar Cura. From Philadelphia North Am<*"ioarv. What Wall street’s "Rug:> tat>y needs is someone to sing “£v»cet an4 Low.” I I ' Sofia, Bulgaria, June 9.-The Bul garian government was overthrown at three o’clock this morning by an organization of reserve officers sup ported by the active army. All the ministers were placed un der arrest. A government has been formed by all the opposition parties, with the exception of the commulsts. < The movement is suported by tha! provincial garrisons. The Bulgarian peasant government [ headed by Alexander Stamboullsky [ as premieh, was first formed in Oo- ' tober, 1919, and has continued in of- J fice since that time, with some chang-', es in the cabinet personnel. The pre- \ sent movement originated in tho* popular resentment throughout tho! country against the war policy pur- t sued by former ,Klng Ferdinand, who i threw the country in on the side of Germany and the central powers. , The Stamboullsky government took j a strong stand against the member* of the former ministries whom it ac cussed of aiding in the war plans of! the ek-king, and brought a number ; of the former ministers to trial. Considerable sentiment however, developed in favor of the imprisoned statesmen and some of them were re turned to parliamentary seats in th* last election. The political situation has been In i an unsettled shape for some time and several revolutionary attempts hav*: been reported, the latest only last THOSE FOCAL INFECTIONS , F By H. Addington Bruce » Impressive evidence of the great variety of human ills that may re sult fronf so-called focal infections; of the teeth, tonsils, nose, and! sinuses of the face is presented; by a -Boston physician, Dr. Oliver) ^.mes Lothrop, in a paper contri-; buted to the Boston Medical and; Surglca) Journal. Ift the trope ofi assisting thereby to the alleviation' of suffering, I gladly give addition-;. al publicity to Dr. Lothrop’s find ings. rs-j They are based in the main on the experience of persons long bur dened with disease symptoms that; remained unrelieved because, until they consulted Dr. Lothrop, there: had been no suspicion that focal i infection might have something! to do with their troubles. And certainly in several instances it is not surprising that the possibility;! of focal infection was overlooked. ‘ Dr. Lothrop tells, for example, of a man of sixty who, for nearly forty years, had been hard of hear-; ing. There were times when he was Btone deaf. It was during one of these times that examina tion by X-ray and translllumina tion showed that both antra—the! large sinuses of the cheeks—w;ere seats of Infection. Treatment by drainage and ir rigation of the antra was at once begun, and immediately an im provement of the hearing set in. Several years have passed and1 there has been no return of the deafness of forty years' standing. In another case, a middle-aged man was troubled, not by deaf ness, but by a chronic eruption of the skin. This was aggravated by the eating of certain foods, notably lobster. But abstention from such foods only mitigated the eruption instead of completely^ clearing it away. No remedies gave more than temporary relief until, it being found that the patient’s tonsils were in poor condition, an opera tion was performed for their re moval. "Within twentyjour hours after the removal of his tonsils,” Dr. Lothrop reports, "his skin was all cleared up, and has remained so for over a year.” Also the) once offending foods offend no longer. A woman, blind In the left eys for more than a year, regained her' vision following an operation fo» the removal of pus from an in fected frontal sinus. In two other coses failing eyesight was restored! through, in one case, a tonsil op eration, and, in the second, drain age of an infected antrum. “Neurasthenia,” characterized by chilly sensations, fatigue, obschre, aches and pains, and general ner vousness, was overcome in the casa of one woman by extraction of teeth having apical abscesses. Even' more spectacular were the results obtained through tonsillectomy per-! formed on a woman twenty-two) years old. For a long period this young , woman had been afflicted with ep ileptic attacks, occurring both by day and by night. Her general; health had failed markedly, and altogether the outlook for her v,*8s dismal In the extreme. The discovery that her tonsils eqj peA-sd pepejuj Aiptq ojoav rnent meteorologist. ! SIOUX CITY SHRINERS TO 1 RETURN SATURDAY MORNING) Sioux City Shriners who attended j the anual conclave at Washington ■ this week are scheduled to arrive at } the Milwaukee depot here at 11:30 j o'clock Saturday morning. i -—-, VALUABLE NECKLACE MISSING, London, June 8.-A necklace said to ) be valued at 25,000 pounds, the pro perty of Mis. William E. Corey, for merly Mabells Gilman, an American acthess. disappeared from her apart ment In the Carlton hotel Wednesday evening. Scotland Yard detectives bellevo the necklace was misplaced or tost, and that it was *tot stolen.