Edward S. Sears

“ Ross is the idealistic type—he would be more apt to give money away than try to get it by murder.”
“Who else is there?” queried the inspector, indifferently, for he could see no mystery in Craighead’s death.
“Then,” continued the doctor, “there is the girl to whom Ross is engaged, a perfectly innocent creature who simply adored Jim—he treated her as if she were already his daughter-in-law. She is an orphan, Tessie Prettyman.”
“Tessie Prettyman!” exploded Inspector Craven, “Good Lord, Doctor Jarvis, do you know who Tessie Prettyman is?” ”

“ The pursued rarely are ignorant that they are pursued. As the lawyer concluded his announcement, Tessie half rose to her feet, but an officer forced her back into her chair. She realized then, that she was in custody. She had indeed, divined before that the inquest had taken a threatening turn. Ross dully watched the progress of events thinking how he might shield her from persecution. Lovers are impersonal. The world is outside. To him, Jim Craighead was still alive. Suspicion did not enter his mind. It did not occur to him that he might be suspected of murder. ”

“ This is such a clear case of a man dying from the shock of an operation that the police have no more interest in it than the public. Of course Craighead was a big man. I knew him well myself. He used to stop here to pick me up sometimes, so I got to know what an impatient chap he was. He told me that he’d sprint for a car, whenever he had to ride on a street car, like any kid of seventeen. The insurance company would grab at anything suspicious but nothing has come up. We all know the story. Craighead got too cocky in his sprinting ability, and was run over. ”

“ Doc Lawson seems positive that it was the shock of the operation.”
“That is just why I don’t feel satisfied,” said Dr. Jarvis. “Lawson is an old practitioner, a good surgeon, but very apt to make up his mind what killed his patient. The more you might show him the probability of some other cause, the more stubbornly he would believe in his own theory.”
“There are quite a few of us like that, Doc,” smiled the inspector. “But, you knew the whole family. Is there anyone who could profit by Craighead’s death?”
“Well, there is Ross, Jim’s adopted son and his nephew. ”

“ Inspector Craven, despite his wound, took the stand. He described their journey in complete detail, verifying Tessie’s story. Calls for order failed to check the applause for the girl.
Dr. Jarvis followed the inspector. He identified the prescription, and gave its hideous import so vividly that the spectators shuddered. The jury took but a few minutes to render a verdict.
As the verdict was announced, a finely dressed woman murmured audibly:
“What a monstrous injustice! That young man inherits all his father’s wealth, although he helped to kill him.” ”

“ In a second or two the door opened, the driver mumbled a few words and we were ushered into a strange room by a misshapen dwarf.
“It was fitted up as a drug store—counters, shelves filled with bottles, all labeled, graduate glasses such as you see in the hospital, rolls of bandages, first aid kits and instruments. The druggist was a hunchback, who filled me with aversion. But he merely held out his hand for the prescription, turning his hand to his bottles and glasses as soon as I had given it to him. It was easy to see that he was a skilled apothecary by the way he handled everything. ”

“ Jarvis, “is invisible under the most powerful microscope. The molecule is larger, but defies the microscope. But, having gone thus far, science had to go further. The next larger mass after the molecule, is the colloid. A colloid is a formless substance classified as a slime. It never takes a definite form like the crystalline substances. Solutions of gold can be made in the two forms—there is a colloidal gold and a crystalline gold.”
A look of stupefaction was on the faces of the inspector, the coroner and all that vast throng in the courtroom. ”

“ An officer grasped her arm to force her back into her chair, but the inspector motioned him to release her. He spoke to her across the room.
“Whatever you say, Tessie, will be used against you,” he said. “Do you want to take the stand again? Perhaps you had better talk to a lawyer?
“No, no,” she cried wildly, “I will tell you everything I know. I did not understand what it all meant until Dr. Jarvis had explained. Now I see it all and it is too horrible. That boy you accuse, Ross—you do not know him. He couldn’t kill a rabbit. He would run his car off a bridge to keep from hitting a stray cat. ”

“ Inspector Craven himself removed the handcuffs from the boy’s wrists. He drew the girl to a chair beside him.
“Mr. Coroner,” said Inspector Craven, rising, “I am prepared now to make the extraordinary request which I mentioned before Miss Prettyman had completed her testimony. There is but one way to test her story fairly. Assuming, as I do, that her story is true, she would be placed in jeopardy, if the men who tricked her were allowed to escape. It is possible to trap the druggist, who doubtless, with mind warped by affliction, is capable of aiding assassins who use poison. ”

“ A photograph of the heavens will sometimes reveal something which the eye could not see. So, a photographic plate will sometimes catch the smaller particles as well as the largest stars, too far away to be seen.
“If you consider the light as moving in waves it is easier to understand what effect light waves have on these discoveries. Artificial light travels in waves farther apart than in the case of natural light. The waves of this kind of light are so far apart that the colloid or small microbe can lie between the waves and make no impression on the eye or on the photographic plate.” ”

“ Craighead had not requested it. He sent me out a couple of times to a druggist with an old prescription for narcotics—morphine—and the druggist refused to fill it. He knew Dr. Lawson had forbidden it and was afraid. Then the pain got so bad that Mr. Craighead tossed about moaning all the time. His tossing only made the pain worse, so he called me early in the morning.
“‘Tessie,’ he said, ‘do you mind going to that no account stepfather of yours? Ask him if he can tell you where to get some morphine. Those fellows always know where it is to be had. ”

“ Dismay, horror and unbelief strove alternately for mastery. It was impossible—Heaven would not permit such a crime. “Craighead inquest perfunctory” read the streamer. “Well-known banker dies of shock following operation.” Craighead, it appeared, had slipped while dashing for a train. The platform was wet—the train was already in motion—he missed his footing, one leg going under the wheels. Amputation became necessary, fatal blood poisoning having set in.
The inquest had begun that very day. Very little testimony had been taken when the edition Dr. Jarvis was reading went to press. ”

“ To this Ross made no reply. He pressed Tessie’s hand in farewell, then the trio left the courtroom, hundreds of curious eyes following them. Some women whispered as Tessie passed them:
“Good luck, dearie!”
Inspector Craven, not daring to trust himself, as he remarked to the doctor, took one of his men along as chauffeur. He feared that he would drive too fast for safety. So he said to the officer:
“Tarrytown, Beronio, at the best you can get out of her.”
The automobile had a riot car siren, but it is safe to assert that no riot car ever ran like that one. ”

“ During the world war, things were learned which were mothered by necessity. Surgery had to be not only quick but effective. While what is known as the shock of an operation is due to a toxic condition, it is not what is technically known as blood poison. It is definitely the shock of the operation. In the world war it was learned that the shock of the operation was due to the absorption or infiltration of certain toxic or poisonous substances which belong to the colloid family. ”

“ You mentioned fastening the haemostats yourself. Will you tell the coroner and the jury what you mean by that?”
“Why, yes,” answered Dr. Lawson, “to use layman language, haemostats are little clips which are applied to the ends of all the severed blood vessels when we amputate, thus closing them so tightly that no foreign or toxic substances can find their way in.”
Dr. Jarvis leaned over to the physician of the insurance company whispering, “Fulton, why doesn’t your lawyer ask him how the shock of the operation or blood poison could kill him, if the haemostats were properly applied?” ”

“ This incident, however, will result in more stringent rules and curtailment of prisoners’ privileges.
“What I propose to do is this,” continued Inspector Craven. “I propose to take Tessie and Doctor Jarvis with me to Tarrytown. Unless he has been warned, the druggist will be awaiting news. Two men from this room are in custody. There may be others posted here. For that reason our mission will be futile if anyone is permitted to leave.”
“If I make such an order,” said the coroner, “your men will have to enforce it. No matter how you travel you cannot go to Tarrytown and back under five hours.” ”

“ Craighead was suffering, but that I was doing this of my own accord to help him. I didn’t want to tell Bill anything that might encourage him to try to get money from Mr. Craighead. He asked me when I was going to be married. I said I didn’t know—Mr. Craighead wanted us to wait until Ross was well on in the business, because Ross was to succeed him. He wanted him to learn the ‘ropes,’ from the beginning.
“‘Tessie,’ he said finally, ‘I’ll do this for you without any strings. I know of another drug that he can use with the morphine. It is called scopolamin and is known as a mydriatic. ”

“ Fulton, slowly. “I know how close you and Craighead were. You must feel terribly shocked. It seems clear that the operation killed him. There is no ground for suspicion, but we must make some kind of fight, before we pay a $300,000 policy which has been in force only six months. He left a large estate too, as you probably know.”
Dr. Jarvis went home in a deep, brown study. He was shocked and horrified by the loss of his dearest friend. He could not reconcile the thought that this big, hearty person was the victim of blood poison or shock. Why, the man had always been immune. ”

“ The doctor here took a sheet of paper and hastily made a sketch which he showed to the jurors and the coroner.
Artificial light waves:
“The waves of natural light are closer together, but still too far apart to catch much of the smallest germs, like that of cancer, or the colloid, to advantage.” The doctor made another sketch.
Natural light waves:
“In natural light, under the microscope, it is at times possible to get a hazy impression which conveys little information. ”

“ The structure of the atom has been analyzed. The atom is the smallest particle of matter which can exist independently. The elements which enter into the atom have no existence apart from the atom. The atom is the smallest particle of matter which can enter into the structure of the molecule. But it is not indestructible. It has been broken up into its elements. These consist of outer circulatory electrons which are negative charges of electricity and a core or nucleus composed of positively charged protons and some electrons, all in balance. ”

“ Lawson.
At this reply, Dr. Jarvis shut his lips very grimly. He was making progress at last. Very opportunely, at this moment, Inspector Craven slipped into the chair next to him.
“Doc,” he murmured, in a low tone, “we are on the track of something—Tessie visited Piggy Bill twice, the day before Craighead died. He’s a bad egg, but we never have caught him in anything red handed except this narcotic deal. He’s bad, though, bad enough for anything. Now, here’s another funny thing about Piggy. He’s an educated rogue, talks French and is a great student of toxicology. ”

“ Tell the driver Bill sent you with a prescription. He will take you to the place. It is a long ride, but you need have no fear.’
“I went to 42nd Street and Broadway, as Bill had told me, but I saw so many cars that I thought he had tricked me. None of the cars stood more than a few seconds. While I stood there bewildered, staring at the doors of all the taxis, one stopped opposite me. The driver motioned to me and then I noticed that the door had a coat of arms and a figure nine. The traffic was stopped for an instant. ”

“ Her efficiency was due to the fact that she took every instruction seriously and obeyed implicitly. She believed anything she was told, which was inconvenient when she was listening to a rival of the firm. ”

“ Craighead’s death. Tell us particularly where you obtained any of the drugs administered to him during the period following his operation.”
“It is true,” Tessie began, “that I bought all the drugs which Mr. Craighead needed. All the prescriptions were filled by the Groves pharmacy. There were two or three for digitalis and one or two for antiseptic washes. There was another prescription which I must describe. The day before Mr. Craighead died I went to the prison to see Bill Hovey.”
The inspector whispered quickly to Mr. Bailey, beside whom he had taken a chair. The lawyer now saw his cue. ”

“ Leaning out the window of the taxi, he called: “Drive me to the Coroner’s Court, please.”
In a few minutes he stood in the court room just before the Coroner adjourned the Court for the day. The attending physician was on the witness stand completing his recital of the patient’s treatment.
“Now, Dr. Lawson,” asked Mr. Bailey, a lawyer representing an insurance company in which Craighead held a large policy, “how did you treat your patient? I understand that amputation was necessary as soon as Mr. ”