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Full Title
Chicago Ledger, v. XLVIII, no. 31, Saturday, July 31, 1920.
Contributor
Hazeltine, Horace. Keeler, Hazel Goodwin. Tracy, Louis. Moulton, Lewis H. Reynolds, Isobel M.
Date Added
3 September 2014
Format
Newspaper
Language
English
Publish Date
1920-07-31
Publisher
Chicago, Ill. : W. D. Boyce Company
Source
Dime Novel and Popular Literature
Alternate Title
The Million Dollar Suitcase / by Horace Hazeltine. The Riddle of the Flying Hands / by Hazel Goodwin Keeler. The Albert Gate Enigma / by Louis Tracy. The Carnival Puzzle / by Lewis H. Moulton. The Meter Mystery / by Isobel M. Reynolds.
Topic
Popular literature > Specimens. Story papers > Specimens.
About
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Disclaimers
Disclaimer of Liability Disclaimer of Endorsement
OCR
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, but saying nothing.
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some of the maimed there was, so the papers said.
scant chance of recovery.
Brooke's own escape. too. had been a miracle. lie
recalled now that first sudden forward dip of the
car, followed by 9. moment of swaying, reeling un-
certainty, and then that terrifying darkness, and
that awful crunching, ripping thunder. mingling with
panic yells and agonizing shrieks, as the great hulk
lurched over on its side, leaving him clinging, with
bleeding hands, to the sash of a window from which
all but a few splinters of shattered glass had been
shaken.
Twenty-four hours had intervened, but the horror
of the ensuing scenes was still very vivid. Yet over
and above these rose the compensating joy of that
all too brief acquaintance with her whom he had
carried, limp and fainting, from out the hell of that
wrecked and riven Pullman. wherein eager flames
were lambently seeking to complete the dire work of
a. wrenched tlshplate and a spread rail.
There was no gaiusaying her gratitude. In her
eyes and voice, more, even, than in her words, Brooke
had found it, and his heart had pounded disconcert-
ingly and his cheeks had flushed like a country
schoolhoy’s under the praise of a pretty teacher.
A very broad streak of romance ran thru his
nature, coupled with a. spirited imagination. to which
this experience made abundant appeal. For years
he had lived largely in books, and especially in works
of travel, novels of udVenture,'mystery stories and
detective tales. Much of his reading had been of
America, with American girls and women as hero-
ines. But until this incident he had never met an
American girl who answered to what he regarded as
the true type-the type formed from his romance-
gleaned impressions.
. ,.
THERE were American girls in Honolulu, to be
sure-some resident there, and occasional young
women tourists from the United States-but none
had ever quite come within the radius of his ideal.
And now he tore his heartstrings with vain regrets.
For, when opportunity had offered, he had failed to
make the most of it. While she had voiced her grati-
tude he had sat
CHICAGO IJEDGER
hound train was not yet ready, so the farmhouse had
witnessed their hasty and, on his side, embarrassed
parting. .
lie had gone away dreaming, just as he was dream-
ing now, and not until his train was well on its W8Y
toward Buffalo had he awakened to the fact that he
did not even know this extraordinary young woman’?
name. All he had of her was his mental inventofi
and his memory photograph-l>0()r enough. ind?“-
and most unsatisfying. the all the way to New York
he had been making good use of it, Working 1! 0V9?‘
time, so to speak. to the eilrect at least of quite for-
getting his own‘ personal soiled and hedraggled ap-
pearauce.
AND so, his dream circling round, brought him
back to self once more, and his nnpleasantly dis-
reputable redection in the mirror.
. He glanced now at his watch, and saw that it was
some minutes after 11. Well, he would have a.
bath and a shave and turn in. and tomorrow his
trunks would be here and he could put on another
suit of clothes, and the hotel barber should cut his
hair, and he would buy him-
self a new hat. Then, may-
be, New York would have
more respect for him, and
he, in turn, would like New
York hctter. Thinking thus,
he stepped into his bath-
yawued open, the lid falling halfway back. K
Brooke plunged a hand in after his razors. lint
the hand came out more suddenly than it went in,
for instead of encountering cloth. linen and such
solid articles as brushes, soap boxes and razor cases.
it had gone floundering about in a mass of more or
less crinkly paper. and Brooke knew-intuitively, it
seemed to him-that he had been robbed of his he-
Iongings, and that waste paper had been substituted
(qr the stolen property.
Impumyeiy be spread the gaping mouth of the‘
bag farther apart and stared into its paper-crammed
depths. And then his eyes opened. 100. his breath
stopped short with a sudden half inhalation, I shiver
ran along his spine, and his hands trembledand
grew weak. For the paper was all in oblong pieces
of about the same dimensions, printed in green and
black and yellow, with a little dash of red here an
"there, on a bluish-white or gray ground. ‘ -
Brooke was not on the most familiar terms with
the paper currency of the United States. in bulk.
but unless he was greatly deceived this was the real
article-no stage money about itwandat a rough
’ estimate, the ’ bag
must contain thou-
sandsemany thou-
sands-of dollars;
for before that first
wide staring gaze
‘ there had danced
double X5 and Cs
and 50s and 5003
until his‘ eyes
blinked themselves
blind and,,his brain
grew dizzy at the
sight.
CHAPTER II.
INVENTION.
F011 a moment
Brooke fancied
that he was still
dreaming; that ha
ha” dazed by her 3%, had fallen asleep
beauty and h e 1- 5.: % and that his sub-
charmv silent and q‘, liminal self was
unresponsive. He ‘Xm n TEVQHHE, I 11 911"
saw it all over W “E‘l“m'9 “Chet
again now, in his 7'
dream - the little
kitchen of the hum-
ble tarmhouse. the
glowing cook stove,
the rocking chair
in which she sat
”with the ilre light
on‘ her face; the
farmer's w i f e
kneeling and ‘sew-
ing up a long tear
in her skirt: a
group of young
girls-the farmer's
daughters, ‘probab-
ly-standing awed
but watchful in the
shadows. and he.
himself, awed, too.
gazing, listening,
“‘l-n Hull Evidently Flllrn
Brooke worked the Incoming Trllllul.
‘hard. After deposit-
ing his burden at '
the farmhouse he had gone back to the wreck and
labored energetically and tirelessly for hours, re-
turning at length, when nothing remained to be done,
to inquire after the well-being of the young woman
whom fate had veritably thrown into his auccoring
arms. . . ‘
He had found her then, as he saw her new again
in his dream picture, safe and unharmed by so much
as a scratch, and with only that one long rent in her
skirt. How he had gazed his admiration, while he
drank in thlrstily every word and gesture of the girl
as she poured forth her gratitude!
He had, silently, too, made mental inventory of her
7 charms, photographing them, as it were, on his mem-
ory. And in the midst of this engaging occupation
there had come that abrupt interruption-the east-
bound relief train‘ was about to pull out, and there
was barely time to catch it ‘ ‘
Ilurriedly he had got to his feet, and as hurriedly
had he hidden her good-by-conlusedly, too. with
telltale blushes and stammering phrases. she was
returning to Chicago. she had said. and the west-
s... .,
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e ‘D
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The Man‘: Skull “is Crushed
nnd Death ‘VII Probably Inwtnltnnrous.” i
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or Jumnerl From one of
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room and turned on the water. stopping to regulate
the hot and cold faucets’ to the temperature he
desired. -
Then he returned to the bedroom, threw on his
coat and removed his nzeck-scarf and collar, deter-
mined to shave while his bath ran. His shaving im-
plements were in his suitcase, which the bellboy had
placed on a table near the bureau, under an electric
bracket.
He turned to this now, and with accustomed thumb
pressed the spring. But the bag did not open. Ila
pressed again, harder this time. and pulled viciously
at the frame, but still it remained close fastened.‘
"I'm sure I didn't lock it,“ he told himself. '‘I
haven't any key. I wonder if the Jolting of the train
could have sprung lg‘
0nce,more he tried, using all his strength; but
still the lock held. Then he got out his pocket-knife.
With it he pried deterrniuedly, until between the
bending frames he forced the blade. Now all that
was required was strong pressure of the improvised
lever. and-Snap! the lock gave, way, and the bag
Ila had on more
than one occasion
had sleeping Visions
of this sort. Once
he had dreamed of
stores of gold be-
yond his ability to
carry away. '
Ilc straightened
about the room;
glanced again into
the mirror at his
reflection; walked
‘ gazed down upon
the gleaming.
-1ewel-like electric
signs which shone
thru the mist and
rain "along th 5
Great White Why.
No, there was no
- dream about this.
of that he was as-
sured. And then he wondered if, after all, it had
been an optical illusion. It was not within the range
I of possibility that such a transformation could have
hallllcrledt The day of miracles was long past. Pre-
pared to and that his eyes had deceived him, he re! 7
turned to the‘ table nndits gaping pigskin burden.
Once more he went to the open suitcase and looked
in. The interior, illuminated by the electric bracket
‘lamp above. was packed tight with money. .‘
He took out a handful of the bills and examined
them with ca.reful‘scrutlny. Some were new and still
were crackling: others were soft and iiimsy from.
much handling. He found shreds of blue silk fiber in
the paper, which he thought was ample proof they
were not counterfeit, but he closely inspected the
engraving, the scroll‘work, the signatures. never-
theless. ’ lie was not an expert, but the hills certainly
seemed to him genuine. 1'
lie dug his hands deep down in the bag and ho]. g
lowed out the center, thinking that beneath the
(Contlnded on Page 14.)
himself and looked I
to a window and V