The Poisoned Pen (From the Craig Kennedy series)

was such a machine as one frequently sees threading its reckless course in and out among the trucks and street-cars, breaking all rules and regulations, stopping

about it as I was whisked up in the elevator, only to have it recalled sharply by the sight of a strongly built, griz

him say as he brought his large fist down

-one that interested him greatly. "Walter," he cried, "this is Fire Marshal McCormick. It's all r

nce, for the newspapers had lately been making much of the strange and appalling succes

s?" asked Kennedy, leaning back in his morrischair with his finger-tips together and his eyes half closed as

suring his words, "but this time I think there is some method in his madness. You kno

tion, a few months ago, especially as it included among its organisers one very clever business woman, Miss Rebecca Wend. There h

oint, replied slowly, "Practically every one of these fires has been di

n Kennedy, "surely the regular police ough

n made up their minds whether it is a single firebug or a gang. And in the meant

fires?" I asked, hoping that perhaps the marshal might talk more freely of his suspici

ue-except such as ar

wisting his

were waiting for

es, Green leaders have been arrested, but I can't say we have anything against any of them. Still, Max Bloom, the manager of this company, insists that the fire was set for

puted to be earning a good return on the investment, and I was at a loss to account for the fire. I have made no arrests for it-just set it down as the work of a pure pyromaniac, a man who burns buildings for fun, a man with an inordinate desire to hear the fire-engines s

y, "I see no evidence of

in a silk-house near Spring Street. But after a controversy the adjusters have reached an agreement on that case. I mention these fires because they show practically all the types of work of the various

own hastily, intending to use the list some time in a box head with an article in the Star. When he had finished his list I hastily

I go they talk about nothing else. If I drop into the restaurant for lunch, my waiter talks of it. If I meet a newspaper man, he talks of it. My barber

fires as due to one firebug. I admit there is an epidemic of fires.

or they use gasoline, benzine, or something of that sort. This fellow apparently scorns such crude methods. I can't say how he starts his fires, but in every case I have mentioned

ut of his pocket and laid it on

g talks with you almost every day about catching the firebug. That's me. I am the real firebug, that is writing this letter. I am going to tell you why I am starting t

ennedy, "he has a sen

ar

d McCormick, gritting his teeth

artment-store next. How does that suit Your Majesty? Wait til

myself, 'There's only one thing to do-see this man Kennedy.' So here I am. You see what I am driving at? I believe that firebug is an artist at the thing, doe

nd the Stacey interests control several. Mac, I'll tell you what I'll do. Let me sit up with you

nedy was seated. With one hand on Craig's shoulder and the other

eputation in the department is at stake, my pro

sympathetically. "To-night at eight I will go on watch

as if ten years had been lifted off his shoulders. A moment later he stuck his head in t

scowling to himself as if they presented a particularly perplexing problem. I said nothing, though my mind was t

t must

he list of incendiary fires against the moment when the case shoul

ng up the first one and speaking

air quickly. "Get out!"

ver used su

y a woman-I said written

id, rather

phologists. I found that our results were slightly different, but I averaged the thing up to four cases out of five correct. The so-called sex signs are found to be largely influenced by the amount of writing done, by age, and to a certain extent by practice and professional requirements, as in the conventi

d she wrote the first note for the fi

premeditation and, as De Quincey said, in a spirit of pure artistry. The lust of fire propels him, and he uses his art to secure wealth. The man may be a tool in the hands of others, however.

the case during our stroll or even on

ich the fire game is played in New York. In great glass cases were glistening brass and nickel machines with discs and levers and bells, tickers, shee

the auxiliary systems, come here first over the network of three thousand miles or m

zer h

now," he exclaime

he office moved as if they were part of the mechanism. Twice the alarm was repeat

articular district where that fire is have received the alarm instantly. Four engines, two hook-and-ladde

. "One," "four," "five"

dly speeding uptown, the bell on the front of the automobile clanging like a fire-engine, the siren horn g

o his chauffeur, as we rounded into a br

last were on Sixth Avenue. With a jerk and a skid we stopped. There were the engines, the hose-carts, the

s. Firemen and policemen were entering the huge buildin

" he asked as we mounted

ing. "Saw a light in the office on the third floor

erted, yet with the lanterns we could see the floor of

oose wire on the floor. He followed it. It led t

lights?" shouted McCo

nstairs, and they're off for the nigh

where you are until I follow

main room. Kennedy carefully opened the door. One whiff of t

those lanterns, b

ad, a peculiar, sweetish odour pervaded the air. For

d back farther with those lights

open the door and let this highly inflammable gas out or should he wait pa

glance out of the window and catch si

ss there and get all the saltpeter a

saltpeter and two-fifths sulphur, I should say. Then he lighted it. The mass burned with a bright flame but without explosi

ulphur dioxide. Now-before it gets any worse-I guess it's safe to open the door and let the ether out. You see this is as good a way a

made a rush for the little cubby-hole of an office at the other end. On the floor was a little can of e

in a room for a while and then causes an explosion from a safe distance with this little electric spark. T

the lights I exclaimed, "He failed this t

Walter," ass

the night watchman saw

ly mystified. "He mus

the lights

destruction first-and, judging by the charred papers about, he did it well. See, he tore leaves from the ledgers and lighte

and examined

this burnt paper and look it over later. D

of the firebug, and at last we left. Kennedy carr

l watch with you every night until we get this incendiary. Meanwhi

us again. This time he had another

. Watch me get another

this

SPA

d note," was all he said. "McCormick, since we know where the lightning is going to strike, don't

ght saw us watching at the fire-hous

hand under elbow, from the dormitory on the second floor. They showed us how to jump into the "turn-outs"-a pair of trousers opened out over the high top boots. We were given helmets which we placed i

'll 'roll' to every fire, just like the regulars. We won't take

at around trying to draw the men out about their thrilling experiences at fires. But if there is one thing the fireman doesn't

in our strange surroundings when the gon

ll was stir, and motion, and shouts. Craig and I had bounded awkwardly into our paraphernalia at the first sound. We slid ungracefully down the pole and were pushed and

river urging his plunging horses onward like a charioteer in a modern Ben Hur race. The tender with Craig and McCormick was lost in the clouds of smoke

lunged up the avenue and stopped at the allotted hydrant. It was like a war game. Every move had been pla

out in long streamers. The hose was coupled up in an instant, the water turned on, and the limp rubber and canvas became as rigid as a post with the high p

ad been swallowed up, as it were. For that is the way with the New York firemen. They go straight to the heart of the fire. Now and then a stream of a hose spat out of a window, showing that the men were still alive and working. About the ground floors the red-helm

h an explosion-it's the firebug, all right." I looked up. It was McCormi

engine that I had not taken time to watch the fire itself. It was now under control. The sharp

go inside?" I hea

ly nodded. As for me, w

team, while the water hissed and spattered and slopped. The smoke was still suffocating, and every once in a while we w

l manner of cunningly devised instruments were hacking and tearing at the walls and woodwork, putting out the last smouldering

gnisable mass. What was that gruesome odour in the room? Burned h

re with the insulation burned off. He had picked it up from the wreckage of t

lurted out the words before I could for

overed the remains with a rubber sheet, he stooped down and withdrew fro

nce. The whole adventure, though still fresh and vivid in my mind, seemed unreal, like a dream. The choking air, the hissing ste

me in and dropped wearily into a chair. "Do you know who

d her?" asked

both of whom had had more or less to do with her in connection with settling up for other fires, recognised her. She was a very clever wom

it?" asked Ke

ires and juggling the accounts. Failing in that she tried to destroy Stacey's store itself, twice. She was one of the few that could get into the office unobserved. Oh, it's a clear case now. To my mind, the heavy vapours of ether-they are heavier than air, you know-

ble. "Nothing. Only I found this embedded

urdered?" excla

od clue. No, McCormick, your theory will not hold water. The real point is to find this missing bookkeeper at any cost.

grabbed up his hat and started off to put the final mach

e left us, "but first I want to start something towar

en a line. But I telephoned in a story of personal experiences at the Stacey fi

n, looking as fresh as if nothing

glas is," he anno

can you produce him at any

se his accountants to audit the reports of the adjusters, Hartstein and Lazard, as well as to make a cursory examination of what Sta

ove to get away without being arrested. The trouble is that if I arrest him, the people higher up will know it and will escape before I can get his confession and the warrants. I'd much rather have the whole thing done

out the warrants. All that you'll need to do is to let me talk a few minutes this afternoon with the judge who will sit in the night court to-night. I shall install a little machine on his desk in the court, and we'll catch the real crimi

ments composed of many levers and discs and magnets, each instrument with a roll of paper about five inches wide. On one was a sort of stylus with two silk cords at

atched him curiously, and I asked nothing. Two sets of wires were attached to each of the instruments, and these he c

e desk from me. Don't let them move their chairs around to the right or left. And, above all, leave the doors open. I don't want any o

Bloom and Warren came together in the latter's car. Lazard came in a taxicab which he dismissed, a

me at such a critical moment. As near as I could make out, he had quietly pulled out the top drawer of his desk on the right, the drawer in which I had seen him place the

h of the writing on burned manuscripts which are unreadable by any other known means. As long as the sheet has not been entirely disintegrated positive results can be obtained every time. The

ken, although there may be no marks on the charred remains that are visible to the eye. This is the only known method in many

As for Craig, he did not mince mat

sent a large sum of money in the aggregate. Others were memoranda of Miss Wend's, and still others were aut

the fire marshal at various times. Curiously enough, I find that the handwriting of the first one bears a peculiar resemblance to t

d been a part of the conspiracy, after

arson trusts are not the ordinary kind of firebugs whom the firemen plentifully damn in the fixed belief that one-fourth of all fires are kindled by incendiaries. Such 'trusts' exist all over the country. They have operated in Chicago, where they are said to have made seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars in one year. Another group is said to have its headquarters in Kansas City. O

e in bad in this case, but that others are in worse. Miss Wend was originally a party to the scheme. Only the trouble with Miss Wend was that she was too shrewd to be fooled. She insisted that s

companies to Miss Wend as well as the incriminating evidence which she held of the 'firebug trust,' of which she was a member up

ime get rid of the dangerous enemy of the conspirators? I believe that Miss Wend was lured under some pretext or other to the Stacey store on the night of the big fire. The person who wrote the second and third 'A. Spark' letters d

and others. This talk of an arson trust is bosh-yellow journalism. More than that, we have been systematically robbed by a trusted head of a department,

he said, "have been suffering from the depression that exists in the trade at present. They are insolvent. Glance over that, Stacey

port was not to be ready until nine o'cloc

ge in Miss Wend's department, that you were losing money, that you were in debt to Miss Wend, and that she would

fiction," said Stacey, angrily turning t

nry Douglas, being duly sworn, deposes and says that one'-we'll call him 'Blank' for the present-'with force and arms di

rupted Stacey. "Let

signature showed. The name was signed

e I saw Henry Douglas. He had signed no such paper then. He could not have signed

on the right of his desk. From it he lifted the two m

utograph-the long-distance writer. In this new form it can be introduced into the drawer of a desk for the use of any one who may wish to make inquiries, say, of clerks without the knowledge of a caller. It mak

ich controls a pencil at the other end of the line. The receiving pencil moves simultaneously with my pencil. It is the principle of t

aced before Magistrate Brenner in the night court. At the same time, on this other, the receiving, instrument the figures of the accountants written in court have been reproduced here. You have seen them. Meanwhile, Dougla

rators see

t the pencil of the receiving instrument

County of New York. In the name of t

reading. He tore the writing from the

end and six other persons in fires which you have set. You are the real firebug, the tool of Joseph Stacey, perhaps, but that w

was no

y's waiting car. The chauffeur took off the brake and pulled the lever. Suddenly Craig'

lapped the irons on Stacey and Lazard in Stacey's own magnificently upholstered car, I remarked reproac

nly rock-salt bullets. They didn't penetrate far. They'll sting for some