The Hospital Murders

ad insisted that he must get back to his clinic and relieve Mattus. So after finishing with the brain tumor, whi

isis ahead. He

ent, did as much work and appeared as natural as possible for an hour, and

resident; afterward locked himself up in his lab

ehave as though nothing had happened. His cons

1

secretary and prepared to go upstairs and lie down in a vacant interne room and get some

ute, MacArthur?” Peter

kground and looked as i

at’s on your m

n the edges

el

tell him,” Prissy pr

ook on their purpl

great love for the Elijah Wilson ... and for you. We feel you must know

t? Get to

ic ... I had been to see about the eyes of the president of the Woman’s College ... su

1

sk and gripped his knees. His voice, how

ken, Dr. Peters. Ethridge

t both be mistaken about Ethridge’s back. His queer walk, MacAr

that neither of you sa

did not see his face ... but I would swe

MacArthur’s vo

uld be futile to ask him, and if it were not

that he did not note Dr. MacArthur’s

on Peters,” and at the door he finished. “Great decisio

y, rackingly. 112 Outside her door a supervisor from Medicine Clinic, off duty at t

ht shift were awakening. Miss Roenna Kerr, head nurse in Medicine Clinic, sailed

oo

, yellow and red heads in all degrees of disarray. Thirty pairs of eyes

eet of you to s

aid defe

ing ... anything

ndent of Nurses, but she also knew that Mattie was accustomed to taking

taff, Mattie, has been one of the rea

hand upon the knob of her niece’s door and 113 was

shade was pulled even with the sill. Mis

girl sat up beating the air. Miss Kerr

rics. Come on and tell me!

, Au

Each letter of each

g, Aunt

t her chin, and en

to realize Evelina that everything you have you owe to me. Your training, y

the blackness. Her v

... I didn’t tell them ... and I never will! I’d

aled her lips. They

1

his general ... is al

her heel and closed

bbed dryly. Complete exhaustion then

e uniforms of the graduate nurses and the blue uniforms of the student nurses with their

in a volume of “Sonnets from the Portuguese” and she guided the teaspoons of gelatine and whipped cream into her mouth by a sen

ith a raucous Kansa

ppened to

y?” responded a f

and Minnie says they’ve got her locked 115 in her room and wo

rred. “Three people have died on the ward where she has

mind, Lizzie?” sne

did you ask me? They had her up be

nes

t’s sweet for her

ophat! You thi

Cub Sterling was the doc

ring re-echoed in Rose Standish’s mind and she looked up just in

d h

now?” the girl

b Sterling. Ever since that time he caught her on the stairway behind the pharmacy kissing ... she blushed when she thought about 116 it ... Tony Watson, one

ve years ... and it was because that thought could turn her body to liquid soap that she still was so deeply grateful to Cub Sterling. He was white as chalk and a

pitch-black stairway, he had pretended he didn’t recogni

oorway, before he opened it, he turned .

se worth havi

at the sunshine; she had long ago quit crying. The gratin

should request Dr. MacArthur to cast his attention 1

arlor. It came from the fir

ed Rose Stan

out of another door and into th

. MacArthur’s office softly behind him, and Dr

red to fit a jigsaw puz

had been a liar. Out of them some person ... in whom the hospital

ness, deceit and hate, murd

dchild, almost his own son, and with the exception of the old or

could Cub ever clea

d not hear the door open and quietly cl

1

ace and large gray eyes was s

Arthur, may I sp

remained standing, her upright little body with its

he had something tremendously i

o for you, Mi

ish, suh,”

im out a fool to all the internes. Looked like he wasn’t “in” on the decisions. Prissy and Princeton had had ample time to repent their rash disclosure and were afraid; MacArthur might face them w

ct in his chair and prepared for battle. 119 The small chatt

ink organdie dress and bonnet that continued crying, “Ma-Ma, Ma-Ma.” He seemed unaware of the noise; but it pierced the other men like a jigsaw. They all jumped

hell have you got

n took the doll. She stopped crying immediately.

rd B when she awoke this morning. Evidently a present someone had put there during

llis, son?” Dr.

he ward for several months. Six years ol

2

pet,” Bea

Princeton Pe

ere thunderously low. “She must bea

has been handled by at least te

alking at once and Dr. Mac

ot remind you that our decisions must be the sum of our wisdom, and reached without emotion. Therefore it is my sugg

her, MacArthu

We’ll never get

with uncertainty. Cub’s sensatio

oice lost its usual certainty. It act

was uncertain. I have always valued the opinion of 121 specialists above the opinions

he condition is so horribly serious that I am against delay. It should be referred immediately, in my

ere physically they all jumped. Bear grit his teeth and s

oke, exce

again

was flat

“I, personally, am fo

o kill the hospital or the murderer, Peters? I repeat, some linen is too foul to wash in public! It has t

anything. Dr. MacArthur asked me for

2

rdon, Peters

gonism s

ervened, “Your op

tection of criminals are the men to catch murderers.” Pr

ed his silent disap

rto

king, to muddle the whole thing ... and take an awful chance of making the story public. S

ave every person connected with the affair gi

straightened and

ne, it seems,” Dr

least twenty people are under suspicion as possibilities. Remove any one of those 123 twenty people and you may be removing the murderer. Every person in conne

” MacArthur replied.

his ward?” Prissy interposed. “Dr. Heddis said anybody c

e with the mumps for ten days. The intern

about Dr.

doll rules her out of the last one, a

een considering Bear

I failed, evidently, to express myself clearly.” His voice was perfe

forward and cli

rching eyes into him and

2

y. The erect figure of the Chief Pharmacist shifted their att

es followed those

, but this, Dr. MacArthur, is the repor

ellow sheets towa

e, Ba

lesale Drug Company in New York, Parke Davis in Detro

here

, s

. Baldy hesitated, massaged

t no recent

!” Bear Ster

ctor. Anything els

d over his glasses

nk of. Thank you fo

cal Library. There have been no reference works upon the subject out fo

ou again

Sterling was clipping his

s resentful of h

nii

oked Cub Sterlin

. We have never handl

nvoluntary nod from Doctors Peters and Paton, and Hoffbein pierced Cub

find the motive.... What about that girl and

am wrong, please?) that presuming she is the murderer, any examination different from that given any o

2

words were enunciated with a finality, thou

urned at two o’clock such an examination would seriously

er, Dr. M

low marks she received in a course in which Ethridge was lecturing last month, she has dropped from seven to seventeenth i

of Doctors Paton and Peters, so Barton, the

the typewriter ... ‘A Student Nurse.’ Gentlemen, we will never accomplish anything ...

his precise head on one side and each word settled

2

r of this type is undoubtedly a mental criminal. A very clever, otherwise normal and pos

, with a final hiss, o

impressions, Dr. Hoffbei

rist ... I cannot afford to have

en’s sake! Wh

breast heaved. His eyes had

think,” he hesitate

o damn slow

Hoffbein

should be quickly taken to apprehend this dangerous man ...

ed thunderously over the room. He turned too purple for s

r 128 your heart. Nothing to be alarmed

Hoffbein ducked like a beaten boxer. “A sym

e held it. Barton eased a pillow under his head. Peters and Paton sa

ur asked leaning over him.

a woman was murdered in this hospital. As a result there have been some near murders since....” he gave Hoffbein another look and his eye lit upon Dr. Paton an

to catch the criminal if he, she or it, knows it is shadowed, l

atrists. Impossible, for 129 the very good reason given by Dr. MacA

his is a mental criminal. That’s within its limits. Suppose we turned the whole thing over to you, Hoffbein? Had you thought how long it would take you and your entire force to examine twenty people? Thirt

.. and nobody seeing to the clinic ... two weeks to give

. Our problem is

reating any suspicion whatever throughout the instituti

. But that is the situation, as I see it now. I s

3

up again, and Dr. MacArt

calmly. “Put a nurse in the bed in whic

hur?” Hoffbein’s voice

ad the privilege of seeing such cool, calm courage exhibited by a person who

our graduates ... and volunteered to go into that bed as a p

e spring rain. Some men they heartened.

Harriso

friend of he

t so long it up

red, Dr. MacArthur? W

brought out that she might be murdered and she countered with” ... he put one hand in front of his mouth ... “tha

fted his wild h

take those chan

thur sat perfectly

e hospital. She wants to take them.

Pet

ubjecting any n

Pat

.. agree w

Bar

to me ... t

Hoffb

e allowed to give h

, she must be in bed within an hour

cquiesced

Harri

er, but I agree wi

Sterl

e, MacA

hri

3

o much t

it that your decision is, gentlemen, that this nurse within an hour becomes a patie

ble, Ethridge. Have your fat

ypoder

. You agree,

ton Peters’ eyes had purpl

she, Mac

ndish, ge

urned as though someone had slapped him upon the