THE DESERT MOON
MYSTERY
BY KAY CLEAVER STRAHAN
“Because," she went on, still
unconcernedly, “If it didn’t
burl too much, I’d much
father confess to the mur
ders, and get-it over, than to
keep on living like this. I am
going insane. I think that I
can't stand another week like
pals one. Every, hour, now, is
worse than a quick, painless
death. Too, I’m afraid of what
t might do, if I go clear mad,
irith all these horrors in my
nlnd. Though, perhaps, I have
riready gone mad. Do I seem
> you to be insane, right now,
try?"
|] field her no. But it was a
At lie. At that moment I was
ert&in that everyone on the
lace was more or less insane,
ccialiy Miss MacDonald. I
nink yet that I was right
about the others. I know, now,
;hat I was wrong about Miss
ylaiDonald; but she had
:ertainly given me plenty of
•easons for thinking either
hat she had lost her senses
mtirely, or else that she had
aever had any to lose.
Apparently, after Sam had
agreed to keep her on the
case, she had at once given up
all interest in it. She had a
khort talk with me, and told
fcne that she would no longer
heed my help, and expressly
istructed me to stop watcn
>g Danny and the others.
As far as it is humanly
^jssible," she said, “I want
yon to go about the business
pf living as if nothing at all
unpleasant, even, had hap
pened. I don’t want this to be
■in appearance. I want it to
be a fact.”
I Then, as if she knew I
cowidn’t follow those fool in
tirfections, and as if she were
bound to have them followed
jilt any cast, she began to fol
Kw them herself. She got
rt of childish about it.
| On Tuesday evening she
produced a bunch of paper
innd some pencils. When we
had all thought that some
thing important was going to
happen, she suggested that
we play that old, silly game
tot ‘ Consequences.” And when
Sire one and all had other
things to do, she was none too
pleasant about it. Said that
Bln was tired of reading, every
evening, and that the radio
made her nervous. She fussed
about, until Danny, feeling as
Bhe did, got John and Hubert
Hand to make up the four to
play Bridge.
| Ail week I could see Sam
watching her and growing
jnore and more impatient. On
Thursday he said to me that
Bho was too busy flirting with
John to have ‘time for any
thing else. That was not fair.
Bhe didn’t flirt with John—
she wasn’t the sort who would
^lirt with anyone. But she
Bwrely did begin to notice him,
and his attentions to her. It
,was not that she treated him
|too well, in any way. It was,
only, that she did not treat
bini quite according to our
Standards for the way unen
gaged girls should treat en
gaged or /named men. Not
once did she encourage him
(to neglect Danny; but after
'John had neglected her, Miss
JMacDonald seemed to be,
psually, right on the spot,
ready, waiting and willing, to
be pleasant and friendly to
bim.
r JL 111CU VVi iJumv. v av/Uoi.u
John. Poor littlQ Danny wasn’t,
t tried to admit, much like the
girl he had fallen in love with.
She had lost practically all of
her prettiness, and she looked,
all the time, too white and
wan and generally dragged out
to seem quite wholesome. Like
the rest of us, tlie strain of
Xear and suspicion was too
much for her; .but she was
trailer than any of us. so the
strain told harder on her.
She had explained to John
About the reference to her and
to her doll in the code letter.
He had taken it all right, and
. ——— -
Time to Buy.
From Christian Science Monitor.
American savings banks are show
ing increased deposits, co-operative
banks have greater amounts to lend
prospective home owners than In
years, commercial banks were never
better supplied with funds to foster
business demand, large corporations
In ginergl ere rich In cash. Insur
ance sales have been breaking rec
ords and the Federal Reserve Sys
tem is in a position to advance tre
mendous credits to member insti
tutions.
Yet In the face of a steadily ris
ing tide of surplus money in the na
'%*> danartment store sales are
had been, as she said to me,
“sweet" about it, and about
never doubting her word at
all. Stili, I sort of thought that
a grain of suspicion might
still be bothering him. And I
knew that he had not been
quite able to forgive her, not
for telling of her suspicions
concerning Sam, but for sus
pecting Sam in the first place.
Yes, I could make some
excuses for John. But the pro
cess of trying not to blame
him, personally, resulted in
my opinions of men in general
being forced down several de
grees. As I may have suggest
ed, that took them just about
to where the thermometer
stops registering.
On Friday morning, when
Sam came zigzagging into my
kitchen, ordered Zinnia out of
it, his voice all thick and
husky, and fell down into a
chair, I did not doubt for a
minute that he was dead
drunk. I knew that he had
not touched a drop of liquor
for forty years; but what men
could do, men might do, and
worse.
“Mary,” he said, ' we’ve got
the report from the ’Frisco
chemists.”
CHAPTER LV
The Third Murder
Miss MacDonald had
thought It necessary to have
Martha’s body exhumed and
sent to San Francisco. That is
what the coroner and the
undertaker had been about on
their second trip to the ranch.
Sam had not wanted any of
us to know about it, partic
ularly he had not wanted
Mrs. Ricker to know. That had
suited Miss MacDonald better,
too; so they had had the men
do the work while we were all
at dinner that day. They had
been careful to fix the grave
so that it would not show that
it had been disturbed; and
then, being men, they had left
their shovels right here in the
cabin for the first person to
find. As you know, the first
person had been Mrs. Ricker.
We had been waiting ever
since for the chemist’s report.
Sam’s looks and actions, now,
kept the question from my
lips. I thought that the report
must have contained some new
horror. In a way, it had; but
Sam’s first words were re
assuring.
"It is too good to be true,”
he said, and repeated, dazedly,
"too good to be true. Miss
MacDonald had her assistants
trace the prescription from
Doctor Roe. The powders were
harmless. I didn’t cause my
girl’s death. The report proves
—Miss MacDonald says—The
report proves—”
"Take it easy, Sam. What
does the report prove?”
"Somebody gave her a dead
ly poison. The chemists found
two traces. One they Can’t
analyze. That’s why they’ve
kept us waiting so long for the
report. They are still working
on it, hoping for results. The
other was nitrobenzene. Miss
MacDonald says that, in small
doses, induces coma and takes
as long as twenty-four hours
to act. But it is apt not to be
deadly by itself. It was com
bined with this other drifg—
the one that must have made
death certain.”
miss MacDonald came hur
rying into the kitchen. She
was holding the monkey
charm bracelet in her hand.
“See here,” she said, “this
bangle thing opens. I think
! we can be certain that the
! poison she took, or was given,
came out of it. There is a
trace of the odor. Smell it.”
She handed it to me. It
smelled a little like shoe
polish, with sort of a faint
almond flavoring, underneath.
I gave it to Sam, who had
been reaching out his hand
for it. He smelled it, and then
knotted it up in his fist.
Remembering, I can’t think
I of anything that he said which
slow, freight car loadings are below
normal, earnings of most Industrial
corporations are smaller and the
stock market has been receding more
or less steadily since the middle of
April. The nonstatistical person Is
moved to ask, “Why? Is not the
United States as rich in material
posessions as a year ago or two
years ago?"
The answer to the question.
"What is wrong with business?” can
probably be given by the veriest
tyro fully ss well as by the recondite
economist. There can hardly be any
dispute that the answer is: Fear.
Industrialists and manufacturers
are afraid of n»t hainar able U> dis
would do to quote. The gist
of It was, that if Gaby had
given Martha the poison, he
was not sorry that Gaby had
been killed, because Justice
had been done. He went on to
say that, if she had not given
! it to Martha purposely, but
I only carelessly, forgetting its
deadliness, he reckoned that
things had turned out for the
best, as far as Gaby was con
cerned, anyway. Not satisfied
with that, he expressed,
violently, his regrets that ven
; geance had been taken out of
his hands.
“It isn’t vengeance you
want, Mr. Stanley,” Miss Mac
Donald reminded him, pretty
sternly, “but Justice. That is
within our reach. I am prac
tically certain that the person
who poisoned Martha, who
strangled Miss Canneziano
and her father, is right here
on this place—”
“Hold on,” Sam interrupted.
“Considering that this person
is a poisoner and a strangler,
and that he is around loose
and careless, and that we may
all be murdered in our beds,
or out of ’em, or poisoned at
our meals, it seems to me the
next move is to telephone to
the sheriff, and have him out
here in a hurry, with some
men—”
“Nothing of the sort,” Miss
MacDonald snapped at him.
“I have told you before, and I
tell you again, that as matters
stand now I am the only per
son on the ranch who is in
the least danger. I did not say
that I was certain. I said that
I was practically certain. I
can’t be certain until I have
some proof, some evidence. At
present, I have not one scrap
of either—”
“Then you can’t know who
the guilty person is.”
“Exactly what I have just
said. My work from now on is
to get that proof. If you would
help me, instead of—”
Sam interrupted, his whole
body straining forward with
his eagerness. “Tell us who he
is, and where he is, and we’ll
help you, right enough.”
“I can’t tell you. Not unless
you want to have still another
murder on the Desert Moon
Ranch. But you can help me.
First, by keeping the discovery
of the poison a secret. Second,
by allowing everyone else on
the place to suppose that I an?
still in a state of entire baffle
ment concerning the crime.
Third and most important,
perhaps, by having patience
with me.”
“Ye’a,” Sam said, “and while
we are sitting around, having
patience, this bird will walk
off to some green hill far
away. I think the boys are
doing their best to guard the
place, but this bird’s a slicker.
What’s to keep him from, say,
dressing in my clothes some
night, and riding merrily away
on Bobbie Burns or Wishbone?
All he’d have to do is to give
the boys a high-sign and
they’d let him ride to hell, if
they thought he was me. An
other thing—I can’t trust all
my punchers. Some of them
are greasers, some half-breeds.
I Money, and not much of it,
1 talks pretty loud to some of
I those boys.”
“At present, the person I
suspect has no intentions of
leaving the place.’ ’
“When you don’t know any
thing else, how can you know
I that.?”
“I didn’t say that I didn’t
know anything else.”
“Do you know, and will you
tell me, why you can’t put
this fellow where the dogs
won’t bite him, while you are
collecting the proof, evidence,
and so on that you think you
need?”
“For one reason, because X
am not a police detective.
| Sometimes it is necessary to
I use their methods of arresting
i each suspect and getting the
evidence afterward—third de
grees, so on. That method, by
the way, accounts for the
number of criminals who are
able to make complete eGcapes.
It is a stupid, bungling method
i —and a brutal one. 1 detest
i it. I have used 4t only twice
in the seven years that I
have been in this work. I
used it then because it was
necessary. I will not use it
pose of their products at a profit
to wholesalers ot retailers, who in
turn are afraid that people will not
buy goods on the counters. And what,
are workers afraid of? Only that
their pay envelopes may become
thinner or their jobs be rendered
i precarious. So, they pare their pur
chases to the bone. This slows up
operations all £ round, and thus the
‘‘vicious circle” to which statisticians
! are so fond of referring is started.
It would seem that the business
community is picturing its present
status and prospects as falsely dark
as they wfcre absurdly brilliant in
the boom days of last year. Senti
ment makes or unmakes business.
now, because it is not neces
sary. This case will come to
the grand Jury complete, with
indisputable proofs. If I had
known— suspected I mean,
before Mr. Canneziano war
killed, v.nat I now suspect—"
She stopped short, evidentl)
, afraid of saying too much.
“Ye’a," Sam argued, “but
1 nothing has happened since
I then. What I can’t get, is hoa
! you think you are ever going
j to find the proof—the evi
dence."
“Well—” she began. “Be
cause,” she finished, quite
tartly, and walked out of the
room.
“ ‘Because,’ ” Sam mimicked,
almost before she was out o 1
hearing distance. “It was a
black day for me, and for the
Desert Moon, when I put this
thing up to a ‘because’ wo
man."
I more than half agreed
with him, but I was not going
to let him know it. “Did you
notice," I questioned, chieflj
to turn his mind from the
subject of “because" women
“that she kept saying that she
thought the person she sus
pected was on the place? 1
mean—she didn’t say that ho
was living in the house."
“House! Hell! Of course she
didn’t say house. Why should
she say house? Haven’t we
been over and over it? Aren’1
we fair frazzled out, every Iasi
one of us, from climbing up
' those front and back stairs
with our minds, all day long
and half the night? Counting
minutes, counting seconds;
going to the barn and back,
over and over. Nobody whe
lives in this house could have
done it. That is settled. That
is fact. Not unless some one
of us was able to be in twe
places at the same time be
tween four and five o’clock
that day.”
Something clicked in
mind. I declare to goodness, ]
felt the click, plain as b
twinge of toothache. It scared
me. I put both my hand.*
over the place in the front ol
my head. I felt as dazed, and
as shaken, as if I had beer
sleep-walking, and had
bumped into a door, in the
dark, and wakened to find my
self in a strange, brightl>
lighted room.
“No sir-ee,” Sam went on,
too busy with his own ideas, J
suppose, to notice my actions
which must have been
peculiar, “if the murderer if
still on the place, he is skulk
ing around here in hiding. It
is that strangler fellow, al1
right. I’ll bet my last dollar
on it. For some reason, he if
trying to clean out the Canne
ziano family—all of them
I’ll bet he told Martha to give
the poison to Danny, not
knowing what a child Marthr
was—or, maybe, knowing it
Martha, supposing the poison
was candy, or somehting nice
ate it up herself. I tell yov
what, I’m going to do some
proof hunting, now on mj
own hook. If I find some
stranger hiding out on thi;
place, that will be good enough
proof for Sam Stanley, and
for any jury in Nevada.
“Of course, Mary, it hasn’t
been so hard on you—not hav
ing to feel the responsibilitj
the way I have. But I’ve come
to the end of my rope. I’m
going to use my own head
now. I’ve got to get an expert
here, for one thing, to watch
and guard over Danny. . .
Say, what’s the matter with
you, Mary? You look so funny
Do you feel sick, or some
thing?”
“ ‘Something,’ ” I said, but
| at that, I suppose it isn’t near
as bad as feeling responsi
bility.”
If I’d stayed there listening
to him for one more minute
I’d have burst. I left him, and
went running, like the crazy
thing I was, up the back stairs
to my own room.
(TO B» CONTINUED)
CONTROLIJED BY HAND
Berlin—A new plane to appear in
Germany is the "Arado” which, it
is said, is entirely controlled by
hand. Two pilot seats are arranged
side by side in the plane. A dual set
of controls is provided in the single
cockpit and these are all hand
operated, there b?ing none of the
regulation foot controls found on
planes of today.
Isn't it time that the American busi
ness man and worker made use ol
common sense to check pessimism?
There are obstacles to be overcome
but difficulties have been magni
fied out of all proportion. Unfavor
able news has been exaggerated and
good news thrust into the back
ground.
A Painful Request.
Prom Der Brummer, Berlin.
Harold (dancing): I wish I were
in your shoes. You’re such a clever
dancer.
Girl Friend: Perhaps so! But 1
wish you would refrain from at
i tempting to ret Into them no®
YOUi'H WINS TRIP TO
CHICAGO EXPOSITION
Walthill. Neb. — (Special) — Rex
Barada, son of Mr. and Mrs. J. T.
Barada, living in Dawes precinct
between Rosalie and Decatur has
been selected as the best all around
4-H club member in Thurston coun
ty for 1930. He was in the pig club
this year and was a member of the
Progressive Pig club of which Row
land McCleerey is leader. As a re
ward he gets a free ticket to Chi
cago to attend the National Boys
and Girls Club congress the first
week in December. His ticket is do
nated by the C., St. P., M. and O.
railroad. T'his was his second year in
club work. He is an enthusiastic
breeder of Hampshire hogs.
METEORS SEEN
BY NEBRASKANS
Men.bers of Norfolk Or
chestra Witnessed Un
usual Sight in Skies
Norfolk, Neb. — (Special)—While
returning from Spencer, in early
morning, Lewis Bishop and his or
chestra witnessed a sight of aerial
fireworks seldom seen.
They saw about 200 outriders of
the Leonid meteors, which are said
to visit the earth three times in ev
ery 100 years.
The meteors seemed to fall in
clusters of five, said Bishop. He also
stated that the sky put on a pale
green color during the time that
the Leonids were putting on their
exhibition.
AN OIL FIELD
NEAR LINCOLN?
Oklahoma Driller* to Work
in Field Pointed Out
by Geologists
Lincoln, Neb.—(UP)—With geolo
gists confident there is an oil pool
beneath the soil of four Lancaster
county precincts, south and east of
Lincoln, an Oklahoma oil concern,
headed by John Simms of Okla
homa City, is leasing thousands of
acres of land in that vicinity.
Nearly 4,000 acres of land al
ready has been leased and the
George W. Plumb Oil company, also
of Oklahoma, is making plans to
begin drilling December 1.
According to E. J. Burkett, Lincoln
attorney, who is drawing the leases
for the various land owners in that
locality, between 10,000 and 15,000
acres will be leased within a week.
Approximately 40 land owners have
leased their land on a basis of one
eighth royalty provided oil is found.
According to the geologists who
have been making tests on the land
during the last two months, the
sand strata in which it is believed
oil will be found, lies between Hol
drege street. Lincoln, on the north;
the south boundaries of Grant and
Stockton precincts to the south;
Stevens creek to the east, and the
west boundary of the Shrine Coun
try club grounds and the east lim
its of Bethany on the west.
NEW BUS LINE
BEGINS OPERATIONS
Rushville, Neb. — (Special) — A
bus line from Hot Springs, S. D„ to
Chadron, Neb., and extending east
to Merriman and joining the Win
ner-Hot Springs bus line at Martin,
S. D., has been put in operation by
a Winner, S. D. company.
DEFENDANT IN DIVORCE
ACTION KILLED IN CALIFORNIA
Fremont, Neb. — (Special) —Mrs.
Allen Kollmeyer, well known Fre
mont young woman, was accidently
killed in an automobile accident in
Los Angeles, Cal., Friday according
to a telegram received by her father,
Ed. Ackerman, delivery clerk at the
Fremont postoffice.
Mrs. Kollmeyer went to California
in August taking her 5-year-old son,
Jean, with her.
Last week an action for divorce
was started by her husband, who is
representative in Nebraska territory
of a rubber tire concern. The pe
tition charged desertion.
Two sisters of Mrs. Kollmeyer,
who was formerly Lillian Ackerman,
reside in California.
BUT FEW PRAIRIE CHICKENS
EXCEPT ON PRESERVES
O'Neill, Neb.—It will be impossible
to wipe out prairies chickens in Holt
county, where private game reserves
are numerous, but in sections thin
iv settled and open to hunting, the
bird practically is a thing of the
past, according to veteran sporfej
men.
The result of both chicken and
grouse hatches in the last season
have been encouraging in some
quarters and disappointing in oth
ers. Chicken cholera, a disease that
killed many prairie chickens last
year, failed to appear this year.
Prairie fires have been few. The
Waltonians have asked the state
game commission for a two-year
closed season. Additional refuge
protection expected is said to guar
antee the survival of the bird.
ADDITION COSTING $145,000
FOR NORFOLK HOSPITAL
Norfolk. Neb. — (Special) — Ac
cording to Postmaster H. L. Wich
man, Norfolk is to have a new ad
dition on the postoffice.
The rearranged plans call for a
three-story addition extending
northward from the present struc
ture. It is expected that about $145,
000 will be expended on the new
structure. The addition will be about
38 by 73 feet in size.
Construction on the project will
probably start earlv In the snrin*
STATE HAS NO
RIGHT IN CASE
Dismisses Action to Secure
Possession of Wayne
County Estate
Lincoln, Neb. — (Special) — The
state has dismissed its motion in
the county court of Wayne county
to reopen the will of Steven Nichols,
which already has been probated,
in order that the estate, which is
estimated at $100,000, escheat to the
state in the abscence of heirs.
The state alleged undue influence
was exercised and that Nichols was
incompetent at the time the will was
made, but a special investigation
conducted by the assistant attorney
general revealed that Nichols was of
sound mind until his last illness and
that there was no evidence to sus
tain the motion.
Tha will gave $1,000 each to three
churches and a lodge at Wayne, $500
to Samuel Barley, $2,000 to an os
teopath, Dr. T. T. Jones, who cared
for Nichols in his last illness, 80
acres of land to George Fox, a
tenant.
The remainder of the estate was
to be divided share and share alike
among three of Nichols’ friends,
Rollie W. Ley and Herman Lund
berg who had looked after Nichols'
business interests for a number of
years, and O. S. Roberts, with whom
he made his home for the last ir>
years.
ASK $§0,000
MORE IN CASH
Regents of Nebraska Uni
versity Make Demands
Known to Governor
Lincoln, Neb.—(UP)—An increase
In appropriations for the Univer
sity of Nebraska during the next
biennium of $900,000 was requested
to Gov. Arthur Weaver by the board
of regents of the university, it was
made known Monday.
The recommended appropriations
from the state gneral fund and for
capital improvements for 1931 and
1933 show a grand total of $5,752,
000 as against $4,852,000 appropri
ated by the last legislature.
In the statement accompanj:ng
','ne itemized list of requested appro
priations, it is pointed out that th*
university, under the proposed ap
propriations, would receive 75 cent*
of each $1,000 assessed valuation or
would require a levy of .75 of one
mill. The last legislature allocated
.08 of a miil for the university for
1929 to 1930 and .71 of a mill for the
second half of the biennium.
The requested appropriation call*
for a:i increase of $465,000 in the
maintenance budget of the univer
sity and pn increase of $435,000 for
capital improvements.
The latter sum would enable the
university to begin a building pro
gram which will extend over a peri
od of years, the university regents
point out, and would permit prog
ress at a rate that would complete
a definite program within the next
10 years.
FARM PRODUCE FOR
TELEPHONE SERVICE
Lincoln, Neb.—Farm produce Is
being taken in exchange for tele
phone service, Ole Christenson,
owner of the Wolbach Telephone
company, told Railway Commis
sioner Hugh Drake, who went to
Walbach to investigate complaints
of poor service. Christenson said
the service was not good but he
could not collect his accounts be
cause patrons won’t pay until he
improves the service and he cannot
improve it until he collects what
is due, about $2,500.
Christenson has had to take com,
potatoes, chickens and even a goat
in satisfaction for bills, he said. The
other day a lineman came in with
10 bottles of catsup for a bill. It
was divided among the force.
Later it was found to be all
spoiled. “Howfever, it was not a total
loss,” said Christenson, "we still
have the 10 empty bottles.”
The company was badly hit a few
years ago when it had to pay $6,000
damages to a man injured by a
company truck. It was without lia
bility insurance.
OPINION SAYS BINGO
AN UNLAWFUL GAME
Lincoln, Neb.—Bingo is an unlaw
ful game in Nebraska, Attorney
General C. A. Sorensen told T. A.
Grimes, of Erirkson, who inquired
as to its legality. He proposed
Bingo to be used at a high school
carnival.
Sorensen also has given an opin
ion to Minor F. Eaird, of Superior,
that it is lawful for a school board
to have a schoolhouse : lsured in a
mutual company if the company
provides in its approved articles
that such company may write that
kind of insurance. In Nebraska a
mutual insurance company is not
an assessment company.
LIGHTED MATCH SHOWED
GAS BARREL WAS LEAKING
Pender, Neb.—(Special)—Satur
day evening the son of Joe Marks
meier, living five miles southwest of
Pender, thought the barrel of gaso
line was leaking. So he lighted a
match to find out. It leaked. Now
the young man has to be taken to
the doctor each day to have his leg
treated. More than 3,'300 bushels of
corn, 1,000 bushels of cats and a
few pieces of farm machinery
burned. There was little insurance
on the erain.