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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 21, 1938)
PAGE EIGHT arEDFORD fATL TRIBUNE, MEDFOTID, OREGON", "WEDNESDAY. SEPTEMBER 21. 1938. The Characters Rdeo Stern, handsome author, living on the French Riviera. Archie Lamiden, myself. Hit- got friend. Otlilie Willi. American helreu. Rene Gelu, a cartoonist with distorted mind. Teilerdsy: Dunning It telling us about "the big swindle. The deaths of prominent men were predicted m an astrological mag- aztne, and insurance collected all over the world when the deaths occurred. Chaper IS Marked For Murder 1 THE insurance man from Lloyd' Dunning continued, immedi ately bought a codv of the Gri- i.oire tut rtoaiq-e for the dcivI- ous year. - There, set out in smudgy type and with the flowery and fantastic verbiage which the writer affected, were four predictions which made his skin tingle and his heart beat pereeptibly quicker, for they fore' east, with a remarkable precision of detail, the sudden d ?aths of four eminent gentlemen who had met their ends in the previous year. The Grin ire hai been cub lished in January. The deaths had occurred in the following March, May, August, and November. Mr. Pockett was a level-headed man. He still refused to believe in the predictive powers of astrology, but instead a very cu iuus and jin later idea occurred to him nam ly, that these deaths and the re sultant highly profitable insur ance claims, had been engineered oy some person or persons, and that one of them, with a distorted sense of humor, was amusing him elf by announcing them in ad- vance through the medium of the Grtmoire. His holiday was nearly at an end. He found time to visit Nice and Inspect the small printing es labllshmrr.t when the Grimoire saw the light each first of January, but the oroDrietor. while admit ting the publication and marketing or the precious production, abso. lutelv and comoletelv refused tt disclose the name of the client who was responsible for It. There was nothing more to be done. If he toia nis suspicions to the local do. lice, they would laugh at him: if he asked for help in tracing the mysterious astrologer, tney would show him the door. He went home. Back in London he postulated hla theory to a colleague from the Bureau Veritas, and found, to his amazement, that he was being taken seriously. The guest's Gallic imagination was fired: he asked variety of pertinent questions, sug tested a detail or two to round off the picture, and returned to Paris promising further discussion at an early date. ' Here Mr. Dunning paused to iook regretruuy at nis empty glass, and Hugo nromDtlv refilled It. The next chapter of the story opened, he said, with the visit to Paris of a representative of the American Bureau, to whom Mr. Pockett's friend mentioned the ineory which had gripped his im agination as firmly as it had the . Englishman's. The visitor, whose pocket had been severely depleted oy tne demise of the South Ameri can President listened, was lm pressed, and, with the energy of nis race, insisieo on immediate ac tion. After that, said Mr. Dunning, things began to hum. Meetings were held of repre sentatives of the three great clearing-houses, as a result of which It was decided that investigation was ustined, and It was agreed to em ploy some reliable firm to carry out Inquiries. In the end and here Mr. Dunning swelled with jusunaoie pride his organization was chosen, and the first thing that he was able to bring to light was the fact that behind the myriad In surances on the two most recent deatha loomed large the figures of three men: they were, in short, the source of the capital which had turnisnea me original premiums oiani, venner and Jtakovsky. One Controlling Brain THE existence of the Big Swin- die was now established, and DUnnlnff')! IVMra uinm mn,M,.,.l to go full speed ahead, with all the financial backing that was re quired: but for the moment the cent seemed to have petered out Only, one fact began to emerge. Behind all these individuals and tne groups that directed them, there must be one controlling oer- onallty. one brain that plotted and schemed, that evolved the pians not only ror the money-mak trig side of the business, but for the organized crime that made sucn pront-making possible. It must be, he surmised, a man of brilliant intellect, with interna tional social connections that kept him Informed, in advance, of the movements of prominent person ages in a number of countries, and of the political and financial con ditions in these same countries: but It must furthermore be a man who owed neither physical nor fpritltual allegiance to any estab lished order, a man of warped morals and twisted mentality and one, moreover, whose vanity was such that he Judwd all means Justified to achieve the end of his personal enrichment So much he could envisage without difficulty, but when it came to picking the Individual, he was completely tuck. "GeissP said Hugo and I with one accord. Dunning nodded slowly. "In the ight of the events of the put twu days," he admitted, "possibly so." "But surely," 1 suggested, "the quickest way to locate the person would have been through the fel low who printed the Grimoire?" He beamed at me. "Son." he drawled, "the investigation was placed in my. hands one year ago, and it took me lust three months to reach that conclusion: but mind you, I'd had a lot of ground to cover before I got there! I sailed for France in November. I got to Nice and paid an informal call on the printer's, only to discover that he had expired three months ear lier from heart-failure. Heart failure is a convenient comolaint The fact that the gentleman had expired at the very moment that the investigation had been decid ed on might give one something to tmnK about, but didn't help any in tracing the author of the Grimoire All that remained for me was to wait until the first of January and see if it appeared as usual." "But the Dolice.' said Hun Im patiently "surely by that time ' vou had called In the Sftrete?" Mr. Dunning favored us with a wink. "There are occasions when man's actions are considerably freer if he remains outside the law. and particularly the French law. The gentleman known as Vladimir Rakovsky, who was one of the three behind the Drevious venr'a Insurances, has friends In high places in Paris; you might call him a second Staviskv on a smaller scale: and he'd have smelled out any inquiry involving himself quicker than you'd smell a skunk. I therefore continued to pursue my investigations independently, and on the first of January the Gri moire a-neared." Death In August LIE paused dramatically. "The ft A Grimoire aooeared as usual. but under no Imprint of publisher or printer, and subsequent In quiries elicited the fact that It had been hawked round the news agencies by an unknown indlvi. dual, whom I have been unable to trace. He was a tall fellow. I am told, shabby, downcast down-at-the-heel. down and out. Dirt-color all over and a dirty soul." He fumbled n his Docket and extracted a shabby, crumpled leaflet "Here we are." said ha. opening it and adjusting a pair of neii-rimmea glasses on his nose. The predictions for the month of August. Advertisements were car ried in the previous issues, but not vou will perceive, in this one. from which I argue the use of a private printing-press. The author is not risking the disclosure of his identity." I walked across and peered over his shoulder The naner and nrint. ing were of the cheapest and the top of the page was ornamented with a vividlv executed Hraurlns of a goat The month of Auaust. It re marked encouragingly, would wit ness some or the worst disasters in the history of France, for strikes, VII disturbances, epidemics, all would take their toll of the un- appy populat on. sadistic crimes, it ran. would be rampant: and finally, towards the end or the month, an event would shatter the very foundations of international relations. A prominent American Finan. cier, honored and respected at home and abroad, would meet Ith a sudden and dreadful end while vacationing on the RivWn The assassin would, unfortunately, make gonH his escape, and public opinion in the United States would be profoundly stirred. The fact that he was negotiating vast merger with certain promi mt French banking houses was not overlooked bv the assassins. and his sudden demise would un doubtedly create a panic in tha oney-markets of the world. Hugo by my side had been read. g word for word with me while Ottllle Wills, perched on the op posite arm of Dunning's chair, watched our faces anxiously. "You see?" she broke out a trifle breathlessly, as we came to tha d "It's Uncle Vlrgoe it coulo no one else. There's no one lika m in American finance at tha moment. But" She ran her fin gers through her ehesnut curls with an almost comical effect of bewilderment "that merger! It was only suggested last fall and nothing appeared about it in tha papers till late soring. Uncle Vir. goe's been fighting for It tooth and in out someone must have got Ind of It" Vladimir Rnkovalcv. f Imntr. Ine?" Hugo suggested drvlv. and nnlng nodded. He got to his feet and faced us. unwieldy out somehow com nding figure. 'That gentleman as powerful connections, as I told you. He has his finger on the pulse of this country's political financial arteries. No. sirl" stretched himself, lifting hit boulders and swelling out his great chest "I'm not puzzling any to now mat lniormation seeped rough: but I'm not near the end my story When I had read. dl. gested. and absorbed that highly informative oaragraDh. I nrnceeH. ed to give a careful scrutiny to the rest of the publication, and rom tha rulinv :.ie verv , ni- flcant fact emerged Throughout le predictions ror the year, there as no forecast of anv other sud. en death " wh st ed aoftlv. "Th n'.r. frnld?" Precisely!" he said. tCowicSt Ills Unw galfmartlu Tomorrow A plan of campaign. STRANGE AS IT SEEMS By JOHN HIX Tot further proof address the author, tncloatrjc a stamped earetopa to reply. Eec U. S. Pat Off. I S?I&6 - MWi6HetWr5Ua k dm FpN6D WHSELS If &&&r14lU gf- Philadelphia HiwumA " xy mZ a I 1 1 W v SUBURBAN HEIGHTS By GLUYAS WILLIAMS ewte mo oh juuv 24-, mi m& VIM THE SfiMi SCORB- 49 910 9 WKftNShS iVteteUtibR ftND FIRST yomH $ENI0R&M1bR ftR&VIOttm CHftlRW)N OF A SENftTE CoMMiTTEf! m( yoMfiH to Conduct A 4HF)T HEARING; AND FiRtf WoMM To Pre$lDg uvck ine vmms. 1 UcKiuM IMa, I., -2J-3 Senate First Lady When last July the death or Senate Majority Leader Joseph T. Robinson vacated tha seat or senior senator rrom Arkansas, Junior Sen ator Hattte Caraway was elevated to till that post. She became, In this manner, the flrtt woman In United States history to serve any state as Its senior sen ator, scoring her rtrth "first" among the natlon'a past and present women senators. On the death or her husband In 1631', Mrs. Caraway was chosen to fill his seat as senator rrom Ar kansas. Thus she became the first woman ever elected to the senate by popular vote. Other rirsts or Senator Caraway Include: rust woman chairman or a senate committee; first woman to conduct a senate hearing; and first woman ever to preside over the senate. Toy Train Test 8trange as It seems, a toy train was utilized in 1831 to allay the tears or the puollo that passenger cars could not stay on the track when negotiating curves at ordi narily high speeds. Matthias W. Baldwin, Philadelphia Jeweler and railroad engine builder. In April. 1831, set up a small cir cular track In the Philadelphia museum. He constructed a model engine and four cars, all equipped with the rianged wheels commonly in use. Then, while crowds watched ras clnated, the tiny train sped around and around, clinging tenaciously to the track. The experiment worked; the public voted Its confidence In the toy train. Tomorrow: The bedbug that sold for $10. AIDES IN PARLEY BERCHTESOADEN. Germany. Sept. Jl-(AP) Envoys of Hungary and Poland were-received today by Relcha fuehrer Adolf Hitler in his retreat on Obersalzberg to discuss the Cieho Slovak crisis. The Hungarian chief of atafl. Field Marshal Mreeztes-Plscher, sat with Premier Bel Imredl and roreUn Minister Koloman Vnn Kenya during their talk with Hitler and Oerman rorelgn Minuter Joachim von Rib. bentrop "rardini! the untenable condition In Ciechoslovakia " Poland's vlewa were presented by Joseph Llnsl, polish amhasendor to Berlin, at another conference It was officially announced the Hunearlan statesmen had told Hltr they would stand tlrm tor the r'-tht cf self-determination for the 7O0."00 Hunjarlans In Oechoslovnltla n understood the Polish ambassador discussed plana for rtrallnj v.itn th Polish minority of sijout 100,000. Deny Stop-Cln light PORTLAND, Sept. 21. (AP) Jen dlelton's request for Installation of atop-go lights was denied by the atate highway commission at a meeting here last night. Tree Sprouts In Auto HOLLAND, Mien. (UP) A car has sprouted a seedling tree here. A seed lodged In the crack between the front fender and the body and took root there. The owner of the car, believe It or not, 'la c. E. Ripley. Ojm Vote Held THE DALLES, Sept. 31.-(AP)-Quall-ried voters In school district No. 12. comprising The Dalles and environs, voted today on the construction of a $105,000 school gymnasium. Citizens Build Road TEMPLE. N. H. (UP I For the sev enth consecutive year, townspeople participated In "Good Roads day." The men built a section of road In return for a dinner served by their womenfolks. Lauds Sewage Plnnt. PORTLAND, Sept. 21. (AP) Port land's sewage disposal plant was de scribed aa an "Ideal WPA project" by Harry L. Hopkins, national WPA chief, yesterday. W1U4AI16 THE EN"fcRTMNMENf AVfriE WOtfrtdLV CLUB ATr MEET INS Af MRS. PLUMER.'S HAD 10 BE CAUEP IV OFF, BECAUSE EACH TIME THE5lHf5FR BE6AN , YriE MEW BABV NDfcf DOOR BE6AN TOO, AND THE BABV si PROUEP TO HAVE 5UPER10R1UN6 POWER- gift (Copyright 1838. by The Bell ByndieaU, Inc.) ' "6- J S'MATTEF POl PAYNg WATKINS GLENS. N. Y. (UP) Charles Halght Is the proud owner or e, letter rrom Hell. Halght. a philatelist, mailed a letter to the postmaster of Hell. Norway. The postmaster cancelled It and sent it back. TAILSPIN TOMMY Dirty Work . . . At the Palms' Pylori I Bv C M )8. q.ufSr "Si W1 ftaf '(Oopyrlgit, 1838, by The Bell gmaicate. Inc.) rL s, I -Have -Pull.t J By HAL FORREST V tub sacotio PVLOM THREt SUPER SPEED PUWHES, THE JUPITEO., THE SILVEO. STREAK AMD THE COMET, ALL BUNCHED UP, AND IT SEEMED AS THOUGH A COLUSIOM WAS INEVITABLE, AS SNOOT DELIBERATELY CROWDED HIS COMET AGAINST THE OTHER SHIPS, PORCING THEM AGAINST THE PYLON ! THE THICK HAD PREVENTED TOMMY PBOM TI6ING HIS MERCURY FOP. PLACE AT THE THIRD PYLOTl.. FOB HE HAD TOtSQAe SK.Y QUICKLY TO A00 PILIN6 INTO THE SHIPS AHEAD AS IT WAS TOO LATE TO MAKE A WIDE BANK.. 323L ZTZ5?3 1 IWfWEeis ArjD PUTSME ! k . r C ' J.f ftESSEO,LA6E WvtUlPE TO HiL roE5T, r ' 1 1 , r ,i ,N. i I n-T'.nn,.,i Iv-m; naj. w m;l vlhh of nouaj; ts.T. plam. LOOK THE COMET IS TRYING TO PLACE I nBJLIK NEK Id II IV ITS SLIP-STREAM 1 BEN WEBSTER'S CAREER Prof. A. A. Adit By EDWIN ALG" Aa3mi ut rISn ,Sr - W 1 HAVE KEN SENT Jr5tlJ 6EE, PROF. ADIT, I'M Tf NCW, Y0UNS NEVHR BE HASTY ABOUT T AW, ER, ITi iSwiyXB Ui..1?m Wg? ' ZiA HEBE BV THE GCMRrWENTr AFRAID t CAN'T TELL li MAN. LET KEEPIN6 ANVTVUN6 J ER, YES, K'il sJl IWIM' X JSf'l 'aVt o' W TO 1NOJIRE INTO YOUR VOU VIRY MUCH - ME WARN SECRET FROM THE t 1 6UESS WWWil MiM'l A' A- ADIT-t,l SIR-fff POULTRV METHODS- Y f? VSEE, OUR METHODS AW VOU! r: 60VER1SMENT.1 DO I 1 L SOJ fVWMi THE NEBB3 Good Deed Steve ' 1 1 i Bv SOL M y3BlBl&, tetiH &&&ss BESS
