anaheim-gazette 1931-10-15

THIRD INSTALLMENT SYNOPSIS Six people, Horace Johnson (who tells the story), his wife, old Mrs. Dane, Herbert Robinson and his sister, Alice, and Dr. Sperry, friends and neighbors, are in the habit of holding weekly meetings. At one of them, Mrs. Dane, who is hostess, varies the program by unexpectedly arranging a spiritualistic seance with Miss Jeremy, a friend of Dr. Sperry and not a professional, as the medium. The sitting opens with the customary table rapping and other inconsequential and humorous happenings. Then the medium goes into a trance and gives disjointed details of a murder. After the sitting breaks up and the members go home, Sperry telephones Johnson and tells him Arthur Wells had killed himself. NOW GO ON WITH THE STORY I told him he was right. "Then that fixes the time at which Miss Jeremy told us of the murder," he came back over the phone. There was silence at Sperry's end of the wire. Then: "Weils was shot about 9:30;" he said, and rang off. I am not ashamed to confess that my hands shook as I hung up the receiver. As I stood there, I wondered for the first time whether there might not be, after all, a spirit-world surrounding us, cognizant of all that we did, touching but intangible, sentient but tuned above our common senses? I was shocked by the news, but not greatly grieved. The Wells had been among us but not of us as I have As I sat alone in the library, the house was perfectly silent. But in some strange fashion it had apparently taken on the attributes of the deed that had preceded the silence. It was sinister, mysterious, dark. Overwrought as I was, I was forced to bring my common sense to bear on the situation. Here was a tragedy, a real and terrible one. Suppose we had in some queer fashion, touched its outer edges that night? Then how was it that there had come, mixed up with so much that might be pertinent, such extraneous and grotesque things as a hurt knee, and throwing watches and pens about. I remember moving impatiently, and trying to argue myself into my ordinary logical state of mind, but I know now that even then I was wondering whether Sperry had found a hole in the ceiling upstairs. Suppose Sperry came down and said Arthur Wells had been shot above the ear, and that there was a second bullet hole in the ceiling? Added to the key on the nail, a careless custom and surely not common, we would have conclusive proof that our medium had been correct. There was another point, too. Miss Jeremy had said, "Get the lather off his face." Would a man stop shaving to kill himself? If he did, why a revolver? Why not the razor in his hand? one for each day of the marked. Sperry stood thoughtful way. "The servants are out," cording to Ellinor's state dressing when he did it. "And yet some one has impulse for tidiness, here pended. Not a towel out." It was in the bathroom me Ellinor's story. Accent it was a simple case of she was honest about it, way. She was shocked, not pretending any wi hadn't wanted him to do longer together. There quarrel other than their ing. They had been going that night. The servants out immediately after divvants' ball and the gover for a walk. She was to r thirty to fasten Ellinor's g with the children. Arthur, she said, had for several days, and a hardly spoke at all. He had objected to the dance. He seemed strangely determined though she had pleaded nine o'clock he went upstairs to dress. There was silence at Sperry's end of the wire. Then: "Wells was shot about 9:30;" he said, and rang off. I am not ashamed to confess that my hands shook as I hung up the receiver. As I stood there, I wondered for the first time whether there might not be, after all, a spirit-world surrounding us, cognizant of all that we did, touching but inangible, sentient but tuned above our common senses? I was shocked by the news, but not greatly grieved. The Wells had been among us but not of us, as I have said. Of the two, I myself had preferred Arthur. His faults were on the surface. He drank hard, gambled, and could not always pay his gambling debts. But underneath it all there had always been something boyishly honest about him. He had played, it as true, through most of the thirty years that now marked his whole life, but he could have been made a man by the right woman. And he had married the wrong one. Of Ellinor Wells I have only my wife's verdict, and I have found that, as is the way with many good women, her judgment of her own sex is rather mercelles. A tall, handsome girl, very dark, my wife has characterized her as cold, calculating and ambitious. She has said frequently, too, that Ellinor Wells was a disappointed woman, that her marriage, while giving her social identity, had disappointed her in a monetary way. There was no doubt, by the time they had lived in our neighborhood for a year, that a complication had risen in the shape of another man. Our street has never had a scandal on it, except the one when the Beringtons' music teacher ran away with their coachman in the days of carriages. And I am glad to say that that is almost forgotten. Nevertheless, we had realized for some time that the dreaded triangle was threatening the repute of our quiet neighborhood, and as I stood by the telephone that night I saw it had come. More than that, it seemed very probable that into this very triangle our peaceful Neighborhood Club had been suddenly thrust. The street, with its open spaces, was a relief after the dark hall. I started for Sperry's house, my head bent against the wind, my mind on the news I had just heard. Sperry was waiting on his doorstep, and we went on to the Wells house. Although the Wells house was brilliantly lightened when we reached it, we had difficulty in gaining admission. "We might try the servants' entrance," Sperry said. Then he laughed mirrlessly. "We must see," he said, "if there's a key on the nail among the vines." I confess to a nervous tightening of my muscles as we made our way around the house. If the key was there, we were on the track of a revelation that might revolutionize much that we had held fundamental in science and in our There was another point, too. Miss Jeremy had said, "Get the lather off his face." Would a man stop shaving to kill himself? If he did, why a revolver? Why not the razor in his hand? "It was 9:30 when Miss Jeremy told us Wells was Shot," Sperry wrote. I knew from my law experience that suicide is either a desperate impulse or a cold-blooded and calculated finality. A man who kills himself while dressing comes under the former classification and will usually seize the first method at hand. But there was something else too. Shaving is an automatic process. It completes itself. My wife has an irritated conviction that if the house caught fire while I was in the midst of the process, I would complete it and wash the soap from my face before I caught up the fire-extinguisher. Had he killed himself, or had Ellinor killed him? Was she the sort to sacrifice herself to a violent impulse? Would she choose the hard way, when there was the easy one of the divorce court? I thought not. And the same was true of Ellingham. Here were two people, both of them careful of appearance, if not of fact. There was another possibility, too. That he had learned something while he was dressing, had attacked or threatened her with a razor, and she had killed him in self-defense. I had reached that point when Sperry came down the staircase, ushering out the detective and the medical man. He came to the library door and stood looking at me, with his face rather paler than usual. "I'll take you up now," he said. "She's in her room, in bed, and she has had an oplate." "Was he shot above the ear?" "Yes." I did not look at him nor he at me. We climbed the stairs and entered the room, where, according to Ellinor's story, Arthur Wells had killed himself. She was in her room, shut, when she heard a sound in and found him lying of his dressing-room with ver behind him. The girl still out. The shot had children, and they had cooled the nursery above. She but she had to soothe the nerves, however, came in meditately, and she had sailed telephone to summon Sperry first of all, and then "Have you seen the asked." "Yes. It's all right, applone shot had been fired." How soon did they get it? Must have been gone gave up telephoning, and ess went out finally, and then while she was on "Possibly," Sperry said with the hypothesis that ing." If she cleaned up here son," I began, and commuted sultory examination of this why I looked behind the mouth to an explanation I loath to make, but which a rather unusual proceed time my wife has felt heavily, and out of her me has limited me to or dinner. But as I have been smoker for years I have great-hardship, and have a reserve store, by arriving at the housemaid behind my defense I must also state have recourse to such sures. TO BE CONTINUED Although the Wells house was brilliantly lighted when we reached it, we had difficulty in gaining admission. "We might try the servants' entrance," Sperry said. Then he laughed mirthlessly. "We must see," he said, "if there's a key on the nail among the vines." I confess to a nervous tightening of my muscles as we made our way around the house. If the key was there, we were on the track of a revelation that might revolutionize much that we had held fundamental in science and in our knowledge of life itself. If, sitting in Mrs. Dane's quiet room, a woman could tell us what was happening in a house a mile or so away it opened up a new earth. Almost a new heaven. I stopped and touched Sperry's arm. "This Miss Jeremy—did she know Arthur Wells or Elinor? If she know the house, and the situation between them, isn't it barely possible that she anticipated this thing?" "We knew them," he said gruffly, "whatever we anticipated, it wasn't this." Sperry had a pocket flash, and when we found the door locked we proceeded with our search for the key. "Here's the key," Sperry said, and held it out. The flash wavered in his hand, and his voice was strained. We admitted ourselves. "Look here, Sperry," I said, as we stood inside the door, "they don't want me here. They've sent you, but I'm the most casual sort of acquaintance. I haven't any business here." That struck him, too. We had both been so obsessed with the scene at Mrs. Dane's that we had not thought of anything else. "Suppose you sit down in the library" he said. "The chances are against her coming down, and the servants don't matter." As a matter of fact, we learned later that all the servants were out except the nursery governess. There were two small children. There was a servant's ball somewhere, and with the exception of the butler, it was after two before they commenced to struggle in. Except two plain-clothes men from the central office, a physician who was with Elinor in her room, and the governess, there was no one else in the house but the children, asleep in the nursery. I had reached that point when Sperry came down the staircase, ushering out the detective and the medical man. He came to the library door and stood looking at me, with his face rather paler than usual. "I'll take you up now," he said, "She's in her room, in bed, and she has had an oplate." "Was he shot above the ear?" "Yes." I did not look at him, nor at me. I climbed the stairs and entered the room, where, according to Ellinor's story, Arthur Wells had killed himself. It was a dressing-room as Miss Jeremy had described. A wardrobe, a table with books and magazines in disorder, two chairs, and a couch, constituted the furnishings. Beyond was a bathroom. On a chair by a window the dead man's evening clothes were neatly laid out, his shoes beneath. His top hat and folded gloves were on the table. Wells lay on the couch. The house was absolutely still. When I glanced at Sperry he was staring at the ceiling, and I followed his eyes, but there was no mark on it. Sperry made a little gesture. "The detective and I put him there. He was here." He showed a place on the floor midway of the room. "Where was his head lying?" I asked, cautiously. "Here." I stopped and examined the carpet. It was a dark Oriental, with muck-red in it. I touched the place, and then ran my folded handkerchief over it. It came up stained with blood. "There would be no object in using cold water there, so as not to set the stain." Sperry said thoughtfully. "Whether he fell there or not, that is where she allowed him to be found." "You don't think he fell there?" "She dragged him, didn't she?" he demanded. Then the strangeness of what he was saying struck him, and he smiled foolishly. "What I mean is, the medium said she did. I don't suppose any jury would pass us tonight as entirely sane, Horace," he said. He walked across to the bathroom and surveyed it from the doorway. I followed him. It was as orderly as the other room. On a glass shelf over the wash-room were his razors, a safety and, beside it, in a black case an assortment of the long-bladed variety, Because of the added year in the problem of small connection with orchard special field demonstration held in Orange county, an announcement by Farm E. Wahiberg. The demos held as follows: November 12, 9:00 a Central Lemon Packing November 12, 2:00 p Grove Citrus Association November 13, 9:00 a Citrus Association House. Several types of orchard be tested at these demos; smokeiness of operation and control made by W.R.Schoenion citrus specialist, California, and J.P.Faun mechanics specialist, on it at the university this summer; combustion performance on the market at that instruction on heater manpower; smoke control will be offered at these meetings, to which are invited. Floyd Young, meteorologist Weather Bureau, will plan for frost prediction and when to light the cases much fruit has been layed heating and in other fuel has been wasted by lighting. In July of this year 386 employed on Federal and work. ONE FOR EACH DAY OF THE WEEK, AND SO MARKED. Sperry stood thoughtfully in the doorway. "The servants are out," he said. "According to Ellinor's statement he was dressing when he did it." "And yet some one has had a wild impulse for tidiness, here, since it happened. Not a towel out of place!" It was in the bathroom that he told me Ellinor's story. According to her, it was a simple case of suicide. And she was honest about it, in her own way. She was shocked, but she was not pretending any wild grief. She hadn't wanted him to die, but she had not felt that they could go on much longer together. There had been no quarrel other than their usual bickering. They had been going to a dance that night. The servvants had all gone out immediately after dinner to a servvants' ball and the governess had gone for a walk. She was to return at ninety to fasten Ellinor's gown and to be with the children. Arthur, she said, had been depressed for several days, and at dinner, had hardly spoke at all. He had not, however, objected to the dance. He had, indeed, seemed strangely determined to go, although she had pleaded a headache. At nine o'clock he went upstairs, apparently to dress. Affairs of Week at Nation's Capital (Correpondence to The Gazette) Washington, D. C.—A series of agricultural conferences in various parts of the country have been called by Secretary Hyde of the Department of Agriculture. In order to discuss the advisability of having the farmers cut down on the number of acres they are now tilling. It is said that the basic idea Mr. Hyde had in mind when he called the meetings was to devise a plan to induce farmers to plant trees on many of their fields in place of grain. Foreign governments have a method of sounding out public sentiment which they call by the name of "pourparlers" meaning informal talks which commit nobody. They are, in essence, the same thing as the discussions around the stove in general stores at cross-roads throughout America. At these informal meetings all kinds of ideas are broached and hashed over by the officials until an idea takes form. Then this is adopted as a policy by the Administration. It is understood that such informal talks already held by leading agriculturists, have resulted in the formulation of a plan whereby the government may aid to farmers by lending them money on reforested land. It has been figured that trees increase in value five percent annually, in the early years of their growth, during which they require practically no attention. Young trees, three to five years old, can be bought from the many state governments at nominal prices. If a financial arrangement can be made whereby farmers can get part of this increase each year as a cash loan, millions of acres will be turned back to forest, the backers of the idea assert. While each individual farmer will make money out of his wood-lots, the entire country will benefit by the additional trees and future generations will reap a reward far On the Sidewalks of New York By OBSERVER (Correrespondence to The Gazette) CITY MIRACLES Long time residents along Broadway become hardened to everyday happenings, just the same as people in small towns become used to the whistle of the noon train. To anyone still gaited to live in a small place this town possesses innumerable wonders. O. Henry never ran out of amazing tales. Just for instance visualize a subway train rushing through the bowels of the earth at a speed of sixty miles an hour with 3,000 people packed in its ten cars to the point of suffocation. There is no danger to them, but still it is the height of modern travel. One motorman, sitting up alone in a stuffy little compartment, controls the lives of vast hordes of his fellow-citizens. He gets about $0 a day for carrying-all that responsibility. SUBWAY CURIOSITIES The subway is a mysterious piece of engineering. At one station one rides up five floors to take the train. Three miles away, on the same line, one leaves the train, enters an elevator and rides up six floors to the street level. The engineers must have had some bad days trying to figure out how they could run trains up and down hill at sixty miles an hour. Even the switchback railways at county fairs would have been tame beside such a road. In fact it couldn't have been done. And so one is rushed home or a track that crosse valleys at treetop heights, and burrows below ground between 70 and 100 feet. ACROSS THE TRACKS Most small towns have the poorer section of the town on the "other side of the tracks." That's where the sec- Wells was Shot," Sperry reminded me She was in her room, with the door shut, when she heard a shot. She ran in and found him lying on the floor of his dressing-room with his revolver behind him. The governess was still out. The shot had roused the children, and they had come down from the nursery above. She was frantic, but she had to soothe them. The governess, however, came in almost immediately, and she had sent her to the telephone to summon help, calling Sperry first of all, and then the police. "Have you seen the revolver?" I asked. Yes. It's all right, apparently. Only one shot had been fired." "How soon did they get a doctor?" "It must have been some time. They gave up telephoning, and the governess went out, finally, and found one." "Then while she was out——?" "Possibly," Sperry said. "If we start with the hypothesis that she was lying." "If she cleaned up here for any reason," I began, and commenced a desultory examination of the room. Just why I looked behind the bathtub forces me to an explanation I am somewhat death to make, but which will explain a rather unusual proceeding. For some time my wife has felt that I smoked heavily, and out of her solicitude for me has limited me to one cigar after dinner. But as I have been a heavy smoker for years I have found this a great-hardship, and have therefore kept a reserve store, by arrangement with the housemaid, behind my tub. In self-defense I must also state that I seldom have recourse to such stealthy measures. TO BE CONTINUED TO BE CONTINUED Demonstrations Orchard heaters Because of the added interest this year in the problem of smoke control in connection with orchard heating, three special field demonstrations will be held in Orange county, according to announcement by Farm Advisor Harold E. Wahlberg. The demonstrations will be held as follows: November 12, 9:00 a.m. m.-Tustin, Central Lemon Packing House. November 12, 2:00 p.m. m-Garden Grove Citrus Association House. November 13, 9:00 a.m. m-La Habra Citrus Association House. Several types of orchard heaters will be tested at these demonstrations for smokiness, rate of combustion and ease of operation and control. Reports will be made by W. R. Schoonover, extension citrus specialist, University of California, and J. P. Fairbank, farm mechanics specialist, on the tests made at the university this summer on the combustion performance of all heaters on the market at that time. Practical instruction on heater management and smoke control will be offered growers at these meetings, to which all growers are invited. Floyd Young, meteorologist, U. S. Weather Bureau, will speak on the plan for frost prediction this season and when to light the heater. In some cases much fruit has been lost by delayed heating and in other cases much fuel has been wasted by premature lighting. In July of this year 386,659 men were employed on Federal and State highway work. Growers of corn and oats are to be aided by the government, if Representative Haugen of Iowa, chairman of the Committee on Agriculture, has his way. He plans to introduce a bill in Congress providing for loans to these growers at a low rate of interest. Haugen declares that present prices of these two crops are less than half what it costs to grow them. He also intends to press the adoption of the equalization fee, as contained in the original McNary-Haugen bill which was vetoed by the President. Some 14,000 rural high schools were made the basis of a government survey recently, the Department of Education reporting that it found that education in general is being seriously hampered by the existence of so many small schools. It says that many of the schools are staffed by only two teachers, who are manifestly incompetent to teach all the branches of higher education in a satisfactory manner. Graduates from these small institutions are said to hold back class work in colleges during the earlier years, causing a general lowering of the standards of education. The government intends to bring pressure to bear upon all the states to abolish many of the smaller schools and concentrate the pupils in fewer and larger institutions, where the teaching staffs are paid better salaries and are more competent. A pillow may be washed just as it is, but a better method is as follows: Transfer the feathers to a larger cotton bag by sewing the edges of its opening to the opening of the tick. Shake the feathers from one to the other. Sew up the opening and wash in luke-warm water, using a neutral soap. Rinse well. Press as much of the water out as possible and place on a cloth in the sun. Turn often and beat up from time to time. Wash the tick separately, and starch it on the inside with a stiff starch mixture, applied with a brush or sponge. Transfer the feathers again when dry. Poison in Your bowels! Poisons absorbed into the system from souring waste in the bowels, cause headachy, sluggish, billious condition; coat the tongue; foul the breath; sap energy, strength and nerve-force. A little of Dr. Caldwell's Syrup Pepsin will clear up trouble like that, gently, harmlessly, in a hurry. The difference it will make in your feelings over night will prove its merit to you. Dr. Caldwell studied constipation for forty-seven years. This long experience enabled him to make his prescription just what men, women, old people and children need to make their bowels help themselves. Its natural, mild, thorough action and its pleasant taste commend it to people of all ages. That's why "Dr. Caldwell's Syrup Pepsin," as it is called, is the most popular laxative drugstores sell. DR. W. B. CALDWELL'S SYRUP PEPSIN A Doctor's Family Laxative Somebody found that the air along the East River was just as pleasant as that along the Hudson. An experiment was tried and a high-priced apartment house put up. Tenants, whose social position was beyond question, flocked to the new building. Others followed rapidly and now there are miles of expensive apartments, all full and paying well, located "across the tracks." QUEER NEIGHBORS Greenwich Village, which used to be bordered on one side by the residences of H. H. Rogers and his friend, Mark Twain and other noted wealthy families, and on the other by Italians recently from the old country, is another part of town that has been changed from a place of evil-looking houses to a section of high rents. The penetration of the wealthy residents into the cheap districts is continuing. There are streets yet where one house will have eight or ten residents to a room and the next block will be filled with tenants paying $150 to $200 a month for three rooms. The two classes of tenants pass on the street without any feeling of class distinction. A $10,000 auto often parks just behind a borrow from which some foreigner is selling overripe bananas or even fish. BEAUTIFYING ROADS Large land owners in the vicinity of Long Beach are aiding in a beautification plan there which contemplates tree and shrub planting along 30 miles of streets. It is pointed out that this example might well be followed by many towns of the Southland in view of the general movement to improve and beautify roadsides for Olympic Year, when tens of thousands of visitors from all parts of the world will be touring through the state. Restless CHILDREN CHILDREN will fret, often for no apparent reason. But there's always Castorial As harmless as the recipe on the wrapper; mild and bland as it tastes. But its gentle action soothes a youngster more surely than a more powerful medicine. That's the beauty of this special children's remedy! It may be given the tiniest infant—as often as there is need. In cases of colic, diarrhea or similar disturbance, it is invaluable. A coated tongue calls for just a few drops to ward off constipation; so does any suggestion of bad breath. Whenever children don't eat well, don't rest well, or have any little upset—this pure vegetable preparation is usually all that's needed. Fletcher's CASTORIA Atwater Kent FEARN— Easy Parking Golden Voice Compact $72.50 273 E. Center St., Anaheim Atwater Kent FEARN— Easy Parking Golden Voice Compact $72.50 273 E. Center St., Anaheim A. B. C. BUSINESS DIRECTORY For Quick Reference Look Under Alphabetical Classification of the Business or Profession You Are Seeking. You'll Find This Anaheim Gazette Business Directory Reliable, Convenient and Profitable. USE IT. BIG AUCTION Every Saturday at 2 and 7:30 p.m., at Jack Martin's Auction House, 137 S. Lemon, Phone 3220. Private sales all the time For Cash or Easy Terms. Buy Anything—Sell Anything. "The Bargain Spot of Orange Co." Jack Martin, Prop. IRISH AUCTIONEER Automobile Wrecking Curran Auto Wrecking Co. L. A. at Palm, Anaheim 3101 Battery Business M. D. Hushman, Willard Batteries, 419 W Center St., Anaheim 3503 Chiropractors The Pintlers, Chiropractors 108 E. Broadway, Anaheim, Ph. 3413 Funeral Directors Ambulance Service—Day or Night Phone 3209 Backs, Terry & Campbell FUNERAL DIRECTORS H. P. CAMPDELL, Resident Director 251 No. Lemon St., Anaheim, Calif. DeLuxe Ambulance Service Telephone 4105 HILGENFELD'S FUNERAL HOME Optometrists Dr. Loerch Jr. 222 N. Broadway, Santa Ana 2886 Homer A. Nelson, Opt. D. 114 N. Lemon St., Anaheim 3104 Paint Business When You Want—a good painter, or paper hanger; good paint, varnish, lacquer or wallpaper, call the National Lead Co. OF CALIFORNIA Successors to BASS-HUETER PAINT COMPANY 121 East Center St. Anaheim Phone 2703 Fullerton Paint & Paper Co. 212 N. Spadra, Fullerton 477 Photographers Betzsold Studio 119 E. Center, Phone Anaheim 2590 Physicians & Surgeons Phone 3212 Open Evenings Sunday by Appointment DR. OSHER PHYSICIAN AND SURGEON Eye, Ear, Nose and Throat Dentist—Painless Extraction. Ocullus—Glasses Fitted. 10715 E. Center St., Anaheim, Calif. Resident Director 251 No. Lemon St., Anaheim, Calif. DeLuxe Ambulance Service Telephone 4105 HILGENFELD'S FUNERAL HOME South Lemon at Broadway Anaheim, California Funiture—Used J. P. Glenn 124 W. Wilshire, Fullerton 51 Hospitals Johnston-Wickett Clinic ANAHEIM, CALIF. Hours: 8:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. Phone 3212 Open Evenings Sunday by Appointment DR. OSHER PHYSICIAN AND SURGEON Eye, Bar, Nose and Throat Dentist—Painless Extraction. Ocullus—Glasses Fitted. 10745 E. Center St., Anaheim, Calif. Office Phone 3218 Residence 887 S. Los Angeles St. Residence Phone 2610 Hours: 11-12; 2-4; 7-8 J. W. Truxaw, M. D. Physician and Surgeon Golden State Bank Bldg. Cor. Center and Los Angeles St. Anaheim, California Sash and Doors Nagel-Gohree & Co. 418 S. Lemon St., Anahelm 2403 Used Cars Glen A. Peck, Used Cars, 333 W. Center, Anahelm 4102 ANAHEIM FEED AND FUEL CO. Dealers in GRAIN FLOUR SEEDS WOOD COAL HAY Phone 3210 W. D. GRAFTON, Prop. Public Weighing Scales It Pays To Advertise In The Gazette