Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 16, 1928)
HEPPNER GAZETTE TIMES, HEPPNER, OREGON, THURSDAY, AUGUST 16, 1928 PAGE THREE . . CAST of Principal Character In this Amazing Mystery Story John Drane . The Human Sphinx Amy ... The Girl Robert Carter Her Sweetheart William Dart The Undertaker Simon Judd Friend of Drane Dr. Blesslngton, The Family Doctor Dick Brennan A Detective Servants in the Drane Household The day was splendid, as brilliant as a day on Long Island can be and that is brilliant Indeed. The great square house with its mansard roof and many wings and additions and the great pillars of the veranda that gave it a certain nobility was glistening white, for it had just been painted. The painters, as a matter of fact, were still at work on the rear of the house. They were worKing over lime uus Satur day afternoon,' hurrying to finish the lob. John Drane had com plained of the paint odor, saying It gave him a headache. . The Drane place, although it had been given no particular name, was as good a any In Westcote. Real estate dealers roughly estimated It to be worth a hundred thousand dollars and pointed to it as an ex ample of how prices In Westcote had improved; Drane had paid fif teen thousand for it in 1892 and had spent some twenty thousand in Im proving tho place, having the ipil lared veranda built on and so on, so that the whole cost to him had been only thirty-five thousand. This was mentioned as a sample of the good fortune John Drane had in all his Investments. No one knew just what he was worth but he was re ported to be worth at least a mil lion dollars, possibly a great many millions. On this Saturday afternoon he sat on his veranda just as he had seated himself on his return from his office in the city. He sat In one of the wicker chairs, a wicker stand beside him, and on this he had placed his hat and cane, and he leaned back in his chair with his eyes closed in the attitude of a very tired man. One of the hands that grasped the arm of his chair twitched lightly; it was the slender aristocratic hand of a man of sev enty. Presently Nobert, the col ored houseman, came through the door carrying a tray on which were a glass of milk, a plate of crackers, a napkin and several dainty sand wiches. He moved the wicker stand a little closer to John Drane's chair, removed the hat and cane, and placed the tray on the stand. John Drane opened his eyes. "All right, Nobert," he Bald. "I'll jus' put this hat an' cane In the hall, Mist' Drane," the negro said. "I thought how maybe you might like them sandwiches " "Perhaps! Perhaps!" Drane said. "An' Miss Amy say I should ask you Is you goln' use the car any more this aft'noon. She says If you ain't maybe she go rldin' awhiles." Drane dipped a cracker In milk and ate a little without apparent appetite. "I don't feel well, Nobert," he said. "I certainly don't feel well. Take this stuff away, will you? I can't eat it. I'm not going to use the car; you may tell Amy she can have it There's nobody come?" "Only Mist' Carter," the negro said. "Him and Miss Amy is play in' tennis out back in the tennis court." "Alone?" "Couple o' young folks!" " Yes. When you go out there, Norbert, tell young Carter I want to see him.' No hurry tonight or tomorrow will do; whenever he has time. And tell Mrs. Vincent to see that the yellow guest room is ready for a guest I'm expecting a man to stay a few days." "Yes, sir," Norbert said, and he took up the tray and went. He coughed as he reached the door, coughed so hard that he had to pause with the tray resting on a ledge. It was the distressing cough of a man Buffering from tubercu losis. "You want to be careful of that cold of yours," John Drana said, as if the cough had annoyed him. "Yes, I'm beln' careful of It," Norbert said and added, as he opened the door; "Miss Vincent she's jus' fairly; she ain't no more than fairly. No, sir." . John Drane's fingers tapped the arm of his chair nervously. He frowned as his eyes rested on the long tree-studded lawn that ran down to the road. This nervousness was unusual with him, ordinarily he was so calm and cold and un moved by even the most exciting events that In the district surround ing Wall Street he was Vailed the Human Sphinx silent, stern, un fathomable. To the town of Westcote, John Drane was not a Bphlnx. In West cote he had made his home some twenty-five years earlier, a bachelor of forty-five who preferred a home in the country. His purchase of the old house and his considerable er-y pendltures for repairs had been a seven day topic and then he had been accepted as a silent man, pos sibly suffering from a chronlo indi gestion that made him a little cranky, but not such a bad sort at that. He took no part in the town affairs that called for mass meet ings and service on committees but he gave with fair liberality when he approved a cause; he received those who came to him on such affairs and listened to thorn, silently but with keen attention. - Sometimes, without a word, he wrote a check; sometimes he merely said, "I am not interested." He took no part in social affairs. As time passed he did become in terested in some of the financial concerns he became a director of one of the banks, and was a regular attendant at its board meetings but he was known mainly, until automobiles made horses a nuisance for hiafine horses. His coachman always drove him to the trains and met him on his return until the time came when he bought an auto mobile; after that his chauffeur al ways drove him to his office just around the corner from Wall Street on Broadway. He was not so much a peculiar man as a self sufficing one. In the deals he made In Wall Street he played a lone hand. He never took part in syndicates, never allied himself with groups. And some of his deals were sensation ally profitable. It was the amazing effrontery of some of these deals that had attracted attention to him sufficiently to warrant his being given a sobriquet of his own The Human Sphinx. He would not talk of his deals or of the market or of anything. The moment he reached the city he was, for all practical purposes, mute. It was not long before Westcote knew he was an. extremely wealthy man. Solicitors for a new hospital, going to John Drane in the hope of getting him to give some hundreds of dollars or perhaps a thousand, came away from the house with a check for an even hundred thou aantl. There had been no wasted words. "Yes, I approve of it; I will give you something," he had said and, turning to the desk, he had written the check. The solici tor, glancing at it, had thought it was for a thousand dollars and had been profuse in his thanks; not un til the check was turned in to the treasurer was it discovered that it was for the amazing hundred thou sand. The check went through the bank and was paid without ques tion. "Well, the bony old son-of-a-gun!" the treasurer ' of the hospital ex claimed. "He must have a heart in his dried-up carcass after all, even If he don't look it!" At seventy John Drane was still as bony as ever, but "dried-up" did not describe him, nor had it ever. He was thin almost to emaciation, but it was a soft thinness; his skin was not dried nor leathery, and his face hod not so much wrinkled as fallen Into jowls arid folds. His cheeks were drawn down below his cold grey eyes and when he re moved his eye glasses the hollows below the eyes were almost ghastly, but even at seventy he was minute ly careful of his body and dress, al most dandified. He shaved twice a day, once in the morning and once at noon, for he had a complete shaving outfit at his office. In a small dressing-room there he also changed his linen at noon; he could not bear soiled linen. . He was a tall man, or his thin ness made him seem tall, and now he arose from his chair as one of the nondescript black taxicaba of the town entered his driveway. "Ah!" he exclaimed, and then frowned, because a second taxicab had followed the first The two cabs, following the wide sweep of the drive, one cab follow ing close on the wheels of the other, drew up before the veranda and their doors opened simultaneously. From the second the passenger was quick to alight a email man all In black, and he glanced tow,ard John Drane. The millionaire, still frown ing, raiscda finger and touched his lips a gesture so brief that it was hardly observable, but the man in black caught it and nodded that he understood. From the first cab the passenger had considerable trouble alighting. He was a huge man, broad of shoulder and hip, and he was trying to bring with him a huge yellow onboard suitcase, In size pro portioned to himself. He had the awkwardness of a man not accus tomed to the frequent use of cabs and when he finally stood on the gravel his face was red and perspir ing and he wiped his forehead with the back of his hand betore he dug into his pocket for the cab fare. "Black my cats!" he cried. "Come mighty near never gettin' out of your shebang, son. Half a dollar, hey? 'Tain't bad; here's a dime for you." He picked up his suitcase and turned to the steps. "Well, black my cats!" he cried. "You durned old Johnnie Drane! If you ain't jUBt as bony and skinny as you was when we was kids! Well, now, who'd have thought I'd ever be shakln' hands with Skinny Drane away down east here, on the front porch of a regular blamed old palace like this! How are you, any how, you old rascal? Good, old Skinny Drane! Well! Well! Well!'' "Simon, I'm glad to see you," John Drane said, taking the fat man's hand. "Leave your luggage there, my man wiy take charge of It It's good to Bee you again, Simon. I never see anyone from Riverbank none of them ever come east Yes, it's good to see you." He turned then to the smaller man in black. "Dart" he Bald to him, "I'd like you to meet an old friend of mine, a man I haven't seen for how long is it, Simon? Twenty-live years?" "Black my cats, no, John! Thirty- five, anyway. I wasn t to home when you was there twenty-five years ago, the fat man said. I d gone down to Kansas City to try to find that boy of mine, but you wouldn t remember that I guess. Thirty-five years!" "Simon Judd, from my old home town of Riverbank, Iowa," John Drane said, completing the intro duction. "And my good friend Wil liam Dart," he added. "You've heard me speak of Riverbank, Dart" "Quite frequently; quite frequent ly," Dart Bald. "I'm very glad to know you, Mr. Judd. Any friend of Mr. Drane's, of course Yes, in deed, I've heard Mr. Drane speak of Riverbank! Yes, frequently." They were intrerrupted by a young girl who came hurriedly and merrily around the house, half run ning and carrying a tennis racquet in her hqnd. She evidently had expected to find Mr. Drane alone and had been eager to say some thing, but now she put if off, seeing that Drane had visitors. (Continued Next Week.) A lady brought her little boy to school on opening day and said to the teacher: "Little Bernie is so delicate. If he is bad and sometimes he is just whip the boy next to him; that will frighten him and make him behave." "Quick, Bob, a wild cat's just run into the house with your wife!" "Wall; he'll jes' have to get out the best way he can." Jim: "When she gave you a kiss did you pay It back?" Tom: "No, I wanted to keep it so I ran away." The Patient: "Doctor, I snore so loudly 1 wake myself up!" The Doctor: "That is easy to overcome. Sleep In the next room." 10 Big Reasons why Chevrolet is - TTrst Choice of the Nation jut i With over 750,000 new Chevrolet on the road iince January 1st, today's Chevrolet U first choice of the Nation for 1928. Come in and see how com pletely this sensational automobile provides the ten great factors which automobile buyers everywhere are . now demanding. v TJ COACH , $585 Ferguson Chevrolet Company E. R. Lundell, lone, Ore. LDCSICN Todav'sChevroletls modern to the aninute in every detail of desian. S. APPEARANCE Today'! Chevrolet provldea the CttarvckMia beauty of design and proportion for which Piaher Bodies an everywhere fsmoaa. I. FEATURES Possessine quality features typi cal of the finest ears, today's Chevrolet is everywhere retarded as the world's moat luxurious lowr - priced automobile. 4. 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RESALE VALUE Chevrolet's resak value Is unusa ally high becauss Chevrolet's rugged construction assures many thrnii"- of miles oi dapsndssai transportation IS. PRICE - Chevrolet oners these beautiful Th.To.riM 4QC TKaCaavseribls CQC Utllltr Truck 520 TksCewpS II (Chassis enly) J All prices to-b. Flint, Michlsa. Ctsatk Chevrolet DsllveeoSj Meat TfcaldudathelowalMdlia(aa ; j 'wnaneing ahsrass svailshla. QUALITY AT. LOW COST America's Gold fledal School Could do it iNE THOUSAND positions! Preferred positions by - hundreds, in banks, big business establishments, lumbering concerns, public utilities, preferred positions in industrial, professional and sales lines opportunity for RAPID PROMOTION with shipping companies, importers, exporters, . wonderful chances to WIN the splendid rewards that business so willingly pays for TRAINED MINDS and ABILITY made Veen BY BUSINESS EDUCATION None save Behnke-Walker could do it none save Behnke-Walker is doing it! None save a great institution of its char acter can do it! But hundreds and hundreds of prominent business execu tives are demanding more of us. Year in and year out there are far more calls for Behnke-Walker graduates than we are able to fill. Business leaders want winners and they look to Behnke Walker to produce them. Last year for example with 1000 positions fiUed we still were compelled to leave several hun dred openings unfilled. Demand as usual was far ahead of supply! The same situation has obtained year after year. While, the untrained vainly seek for work or take whatever they can get the ambitious, far seeing young men and women spend a few months at Behnke-Walker and from this national ly famous institution step into positions TRAINED for RAPID PROMOTION and for LEADERSHIP. As in everything else, there are vast dif ferences in the quality of training facili ties and services offered in the Business College Field. The first thing a student learns is that "Shoddy, lasts only long enough to disappoint the buyer". QUAL ITY alone endures, and quality is the foundation on which the college stands. That is Why Behnke-Walker is America's Gold Medal School That is Why Behnke-Walker students have won (and are winning) more awards in National Competitive Contests than those of any commercial school in the United States That is Why Behnke-Walker alone is able to fill 1000 preferred positions in a year That is Why Behnke-Walker is the ONLY business college in Oregon that occupies its own fireproof, specially built college building That is Why Behnke-Walker provides MORE INDIVIDUAL instruction and maintains , the largest faculty-r23 instructors each a specialist . That is Why Behnke-Walker's equipment is by far the finest, most modern and most complete of any commercial school in its territory That is Why Thousands of former students are winners, and why this great insti tution attracts the kind of young men and women who will be winners For Larger Opportunities Confer with Them If you are interested in secur ing the larger opportunities and wish to train for the better positions, we cordially invite you to personally call on or write to either President . Af. Walker or Principal George S. Johnson. Go over your quali fications with them, discuss your ideals, your ambitions They can and will help you in deciding one of the most vital questions of your life Your Choice of a Career I 0 yy r "f rTlTTiTT' -aas-arT--sC 4 C vvfy 1 a, M. WALKER, transient GBORGB 9. JOHNSON "Golden Opportunities for Young People" points out the various ways success in life is won. Send for your copy today it is yours without charge Fall Classes are Now Starting Night School Begins Sept. 4 B ELEVENTH AND SALMON STREETS PORTLAND, OREGON BEacon 3138 AMERICA'S GOLD MEDAL SCHOOL