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The catspaw by Ward Sterling one.
The Peck mansion was as carefully guarded as

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a prison. At the front and
rear doors, armed operatives from the best

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detective bureau in the city. All
tried men were posted day and night.

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Others patrolled the grounds. There was
not one chance in ten million for any

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one to creep through the network of
protection we had thrown about the aged millionaire

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in his family. Yet the first
murder occurred within twenty four hours of the

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time set by lawn dixby Lanigan.
The second man did not report for duty

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in the morning as usual. Jenkins, the butler, entering the room when

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he did not respond, found him
cold in death. The tragedy had taken

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place some time during the night.
The body was cold and rigid when we

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rushed into the chamber in response to
the butler's frantic calls for help. Bloated

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to nearly double his natural size,
blackened, the limbs twisted as from convulsions,

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the face drawn out of shape.
The unfortunate man presented a terrifying spectacle.

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Doctor Maxwell Pack's regular physician, who
was locked up in the house with

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the remainder of us, gave as
his opinion after a hurried examination, that

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death was the result of poisoning.
Yet Lanigan had eaten nothing, to the

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best of our knowledge and belief,
that the rest of us had not also

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eaten That had been part of our
agreement that we would all partake of the

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same food in order to protect peck
from poison. Nor had anything in the

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provision line been brought to the house
prepared to stand a siege. Everything,

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even the fresh meats, had been
purchased in advance and stored away in the

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refrigerating plants downstairs. Doctor Fry,
the coroner, summoned by telephone as soon

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as the tragedy was discovered, agreed
with his colleague that Lannigan had been poisoned.

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It was his belief, however,
that the poison had been administered by

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injection into a vein. Both physicians
made a careful examination of the body just

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above the knee. They found two
minute punctures in the skin. Here,

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too, the swelling seemed more aggravated
than elsewhere, while the spot had turned

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a darker hue. The body had
every symptom of death from snake bite.

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Yet we knew that there was not
a snake in the house, nor could

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there have been one in the room. Lannigan had, according to my instructions,

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slept with his windows and door locked. They were in this condition when

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the body was found, for it
had been necessary for the butler to let

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himself into the room with is past
key. The other servants had locked themselves

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in in the same way. An
alert detective had been posted all night in

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each corridor. In spite of the
precautions, in order to make certain,

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we removed every piece of furniture from
the dead man's room. There was no

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possibility of a reptile having been hidden
there, nor could a man have in

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any possible way entered the house.
To make matters more complicated, we knew

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that Lannigan had not left the house
that day nor the day before, for

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this was part of the arrangement we
had made. Ponder as I would,

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I could think of no possible solution
to the puzzle. It was as mysterious

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as Poe's mystery of the room.
Orgue Peck the storm Center, the man

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for whom all these precautions were taken, and for whom poor Lambagan had died,

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was the calmest of us. All
five minutes after the appearance of the

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coroner. The millionaire was summoned to
the phone. In accordance with my determination

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not to allow him out of my
sight day or night. I accompanied him

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to the library a harsh, metallic
voice, a voice so loud that it

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could be heard all over the big
room. He informed him that the death

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of a member of his household had
been a warning, a warning, scent

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to prove to him that in spite
of all of his precautions, his enemies

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were able to strike when and where
they pleased. His own death would follow

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in good time. Shaking slightly,
yet gained to the core, he motioned

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to me and handed me the instrument. The voice died out in a mirthless,

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diabolical chuckle. Then the receiver at
the other end the wire was hung

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up with a click. Jiggling the
hook up and down, I succeeded in

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getting central within a few seconds.
An instant later, I was connected with

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my friend Armstrong, manager of the
traffic department, to whom I hurriedly explained

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the situation and requested that the call
be traced. Armstrong moved speedily, for

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in spite of the fact that hundreds
of calls go through the Capitol Hill Exchange,

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every hour. So thorough is their
system that inside of five minutes he

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had me back on the wire.
The call had originated in one of the

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pay stations at the Pennsylvania Depot,
ten miles away. Two Perhaps, in

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my efforts to hold the reader's attention, I have not explained matters as thoroughly

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as I should. Then, too, like all detectives, I am a

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poor narrator of my own experience.
What seems to the average person to be

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an exciting adventure is to us only
part of a day's work, an episode

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to be forgotten as speedily as possible
after it has been disclosed to a judge

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and jury. Yet the Morgan Peck
case is so unique in criminal annals as

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to be worthy of being put in
a class by itself. The reader will

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recall the sensation in financial circles caused
by the appearance of Alonzo Bixby, the

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South African Magnet. For two short
years he was one of the kingpins of

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the exchange. Then came the battle
between Bixby and Peck. It was short

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but memorable. Peck, backed by
his years of experience, crushed his enemy

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beneath his heel. As a farmer's
scotches a harmless worm. Bixby cornered,

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his fangs bared, showed his makeup
by turning crook. Timothy Owens, Peck's

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right hand manned, was killed over
the body of his friend Morgan Peck swore

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vengeance. One of Bixby's retainers,
arrested by the police, admitted the murder,

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charging Bixby with having instigated the crime. All of Peck's gigantic fortunes were

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placed at the disposal of the prosecution. The trial lasted for weeks. An

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army of lawyers battled for every point. In the end, the jury sent

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Bixby to the penitentiary for life.
The day that sentence was pronounced is one

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that will long be remembered in newspaper
and legal circles. Bixby, surrounded by

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his lawyers, his beautiful young wife
at his side, listened impassively to the

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judge's voice. It was not until
the officer seized him to part him forever

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from the woman he loved that lie
gave way to his emotions. Leaping to

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his feet, his rough hewn face
quivered with diabolical rage. He shook his

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huge fist at Morgan Peck, damn
you in prison or out. I'll get

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you, he shouted. I'll make
you suffer as you're making me an.

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I for an eye, a tooth
for a tooth, gravening like a madman,

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that dragged him away. Remember,
Bixby was still a wealthy man,

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and money will buy almost anything,
even liberty. There were those among us

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who predicted that Bixby would not remain
long behind prison walls. We were correct

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in our surmise. In just eleven
months and three days he was at liberty.

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With him disappeared half a dozen guards. How much he paid them for

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his liberty, no one will probably
ever know, for none of them were

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ever captured. Some of us hold
to the theory that after helping Bixby make

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his escape, they were killed at
his orders, but that is another story.

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Three weeks after Bixby made his break
from prison, an effort was made

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to blow up Peck's office with a
bomb. Fortunately, the financier was absent

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when the package was received. The
secretary who opened it lost his life.

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A week later, some one fired
a shot at Peck in the dark.

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Only the fact that the old man
moved slightly in that instant prevented the assassin's

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bullet from finding its mark, as
it was only a slight flesh wound rewarded

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the attempt. Then Peck's colleagues took
a hand. He was the center around

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which one of the biggest financial deals
ever pulled off was being engineered, a

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deal that involved governments. His death
would have meant a world panic. In

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spite of his sneers at their fears, for Peck was a battler who fought

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for the sheer love of the sport. They finally induced him to obey their

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commands. He was locked in his
own house, surrounded by guards. As

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I have stated, the best detective
bureau in the city was engaged to look

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after his safety. Half a hundred
operatives were put to work combing the country

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for his enemies. Ay, and
I trust that the reader will pardon the

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seeming egotism displayed as the best men
available among all the detectives in the city

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was placed in charge of the guards
surrounding Morgan Peck. Two hours after we

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had taken our precautions, a special
delivery letter mailed from the downtown station was

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received. It read as follows,
Peck, I swore I get you and

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I meant it. By cooping yourself
up like a sick chicken. You have

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opened the way for my vengeance.
Inside of forty eight hours, I will

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strike. God help you from now
on. Bixby three morgan Peck was said

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by his enemies to be a man
without feeling nerves or love. A widower,

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his only daughter dying in childhood,
having few near relatives, he had

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schooled himself against emotion. Yet that
afternoon, after the body of poor Lanigan

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had been removed from the house,
we sat together in the big library discussing

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the affair. Two things took place
which threw a different light on the old

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man's character. Gladys Peck, his
niece, an orphan, and his nearest

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relative, a girl whom he had
raised from childhood, passed through the room.

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The old face lighted up, and
as she passed out of hearing,

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he turned savagely to me. I
don't give a damn about myself, he

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growled. I'm old enough to cash
in. Time's coming sooner or later anyway.

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But God helped Bixby if he harms
that girl, and God help you

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if you let him. That was
all. Yet in his face was an

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odd light that betrayed the gruffness of
his voice. I wondered if his enemies

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knew of his love for this orphaned
girl. I shuddered as I thought of

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what might happen if they chanced to
learn and struck him through her. The

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other incident I mentioned was when the
cat, an ordinary common variety of feline,

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entered the room and with back arched, rubbed purringly against the millionaire's leg.

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Funny little devil, he grumbled.
Picked him up five years ago when

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he was a kitten. Somebody turned
him out to die, freeze to death.

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Damn such people. Stuck him in
my overcoat pocket and brought him home.

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Never cared for cats, Angoras,
Persians and the blue blooded aristocracy of

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catdom. But this little cuss made
a hit with me. Scrap. See

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that spot of red hair on his
head that shows it. He'd fight Old

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nick, intelligent too, makes the
servants all stand around, got a habit

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of biting him on the ankles.
They all like him, though, funny,

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isn't it. Got a lot of
human traits in him. Reminds me

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a little bit of myself, he
added, with a smile, reaching down

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and rubbing the cat's head affectionately.
And this was the man whose enemies claimed

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him to be without a heart.
The same afternoon, the coffin came.

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An undertaker's wagon stopped at the front
door, and two solemn faced men brought

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the casket up the stairs in accordance
with his orders. The detective on duty

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refused to admit them, but called
me cross questioned they knew nothing. The

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coffin had been ordered from Morgan'stern Casket
Company, and they were here to deliver

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it. Address was plainly marked.
Detaining them. After ordering the unsightly reminder

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of death that was constantly in our
midst replaced in the wagon, I hurried

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Holdridge, one of the brightest operatives, under my direction, over to the

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offices of the casket company. He
returned inside thirty minutes. The casket had

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been ordered by mail. A bank
draft for four hundred dollars drawn by the

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First National Trust and Savings Bank,
one of Peck's own institutions, had accompanied

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the letter. The letter merely stated
that a death would shortly occur at Peck's

160
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home and asked that the coffin be
delivered immediately. A telephone call to the

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bank proved fruitless. The draft clerk
remembered drawing the draft, which was paid

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for in cash, But owing to
the large number of similar papers which passed

163
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through his hands daily had no recollection
as to who this customer had been.

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00:15:03,559 --> 00:15:07,960
In fact, only the number on
the draft recalled the incidents to mind at

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all. I released the two men
from the factory. In my own mind,

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I was convinced that the affair had
been pulled off by Bixby merely in

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an effort to break down pex morale. But they failed to reckon with the

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old man's fighting spirit. Four The
remainder of the afternoon and night passed uneventfully,

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everyone warned by what had happened the
night before. Doubling his vigilance,

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I spent the following morning in going
over the reports of the fifty odd operatives

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scattered about the city in quest of
Bixby. Despite the fact that the former

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haunts of the Big South African had
been combed by our men. Not only

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could no trace be found of the
financier himself, but several of his close

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00:16:00,840 --> 00:16:04,440
friends, men who at the trial
were proven to have done his bidding without

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question, had also disappeared. As
for Missus Bixby, it appeared that she

176
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had left the quiet hotel, where
she had remained since the trial. Nearly

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00:16:15,960 --> 00:16:22,200
a month before her husband had made
his escape, and the trail was too

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old to follow. She had dropped
out of sight as completely as though the

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earth had opened up and swallowed her. For two hours, I sat at

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the big library table and went over
the case from every angle. There were

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a number of things that puzzled me
more than I was willing to admit.

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In the first place, who and
what had killed Michael Lennigan. I had

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proved, to my satisfaction and to
that of Peck, that the second man

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had not been absent from the house
an instant from the time that he,

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like the rest of us, went
into seclusion. Trained detectives, each an

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00:17:02,080 --> 00:17:07,559
ex policeman, men with years of
service behind them, were ready to swear

187
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that no one had entered the mansion. These men had taken turns in watching

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the place and the grounds in shifts
of two hours on and two hours off

189
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during the entire time since we had
been in a state of siege. On

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00:17:22,880 --> 00:17:26,119
the other hand, I realized that
Bixby had money, and that money will

191
00:17:26,119 --> 00:17:32,240
buy almost anything. Yet I was
not ready to condemn these men on mere

192
00:17:32,279 --> 00:17:37,359
conjecture. Then, too there was
a matter of the special delivery letter,

193
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who was in such close touch with
the money master that they were able to

194
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find out to the minute when he
had driven into seclusion outside of our own

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party, only his closest friends knew
of our plans. And had it been

196
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a mere coincidence that the telephone call
from the pay station at the Pennsylvania Deep

197
00:18:00,599 --> 00:18:06,039
had come in just after the arrival
of the coroner. Was there some one

198
00:18:06,079 --> 00:18:11,400
in the house who was signaling the
happenings inside to our enemies on the outside.

199
00:18:11,160 --> 00:18:15,920
Was one of our own number the
murderer? Would he when the time

200
00:18:17,000 --> 00:18:22,319
came strike down Peck as he had
struck down Lenigan. I reached for the

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list of those who made up our
party and checked it over, in the

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hope that through it I might arrive
at the truth. In addition to Peck,

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00:18:32,839 --> 00:18:37,359
his niece, and myself, there
was doctor Maxwell, an old friend,

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00:18:37,119 --> 00:18:41,240
a man immensely wealthy in his own
name, and who had been the

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00:18:41,279 --> 00:18:48,279
millionaire's private physician for thirty years.
All of the servants had been in the

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00:18:48,319 --> 00:18:52,640
old man's employ from periods ranging from
over a quarter of a century of service

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00:18:52,920 --> 00:18:56,160
on the part of Miss Langry.
The housekeeper to ten years on the part

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00:18:56,160 --> 00:19:03,000
of Lanigan, the murdered second man. Pack had hired them all and vouched

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00:19:03,039 --> 00:19:07,680
for them. The detectives, as
I stated, were all men with years

210
00:19:07,680 --> 00:19:11,599
of service behind them. No,
on the face of it, it seemed

211
00:19:11,640 --> 00:19:17,960
like an impossibility. Yet there was
the murder of Lanigan to prove the falsity

212
00:19:18,000 --> 00:19:22,279
of my reasoning. It was shortly
after noon that Pack and I, smoking

213
00:19:22,319 --> 00:19:26,359
in the library, were brought to
our feet by a shriek of help from

214
00:19:26,400 --> 00:19:32,039
the servants quarters at the rear of
the house. Drawing my revolver and shoving

215
00:19:32,079 --> 00:19:36,880
the millionaire who would have taken the
lead behind me, I rushed in the

216
00:19:36,960 --> 00:19:42,160
direction that the sound came from.
Fred Diets, who acted as chauffeur and

217
00:19:42,359 --> 00:19:45,640
valet for Pack, was lying on
his back in the middle of the kitchen

218
00:19:45,960 --> 00:19:52,440
in convulsions. Beside him stood Missus
Mulkahey, the cook, from whose voluminous

219
00:19:52,480 --> 00:19:59,119
lungs the shouts for help were emanating. Coincidentally, with my arrival came the

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00:19:59,160 --> 00:20:02,240
others, with the ex exception of
the two men stationed at the doors.

221
00:20:03,200 --> 00:20:07,839
They, like the veterans, they
were remained at their posts in response to

222
00:20:07,880 --> 00:20:12,319
my orders. Jenkins summoned doctor Maxwell, who was asleep in his room.

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00:20:14,839 --> 00:20:18,640
Inside of a minute, the physician, his emergency kid in his hand,

224
00:20:18,119 --> 00:20:22,880
made his appearance. He shook his
head as he bent over the stricken man

225
00:20:23,279 --> 00:20:29,519
and felt his pulse. For a
second, there was silence. Then the

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00:20:29,559 --> 00:20:36,480
physician straightened up and shrugged his shoulders. He's dying, he said quietly,

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00:20:36,880 --> 00:20:41,119
while missus Mulkahee let out a wail
of despair. I turned to the physician.

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00:20:42,200 --> 00:20:48,359
Do you think same as Lanagan?
He answered, See for yourself how

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00:20:48,359 --> 00:20:52,640
the poor fellow started to bloat.
After half a century of medical experience,

230
00:20:53,079 --> 00:20:59,119
it's the first case I ever failed
to diagnose, or at least make a

231
00:20:59,119 --> 00:21:04,319
fairly good guest. He stopped.
Suddenly, a shudder over the body of

232
00:21:04,359 --> 00:21:11,160
the man on the floor. Then
his jaw dropped. Fred Deets was dead.

233
00:21:15,200 --> 00:21:19,839
Five. I turned to missus mulcahey, tell me just what happened?

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00:21:19,920 --> 00:21:25,119
I commanded, Sure, and that's
the worst of it, she sobbed.

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00:21:25,519 --> 00:21:29,359
There is nothing happened at all.
He was sitting there, happy as you

236
00:21:29,480 --> 00:21:33,640
please, talking to Teta. When
Teta, who's Teta? I demanded?

237
00:21:34,599 --> 00:21:41,559
The cat peck answered grimly. Deats
was one of Teta's warmest friends. The

238
00:21:41,680 --> 00:21:47,680
little animal is decidedly empathic in his
likes and dislikes, but poor Fred was

239
00:21:47,720 --> 00:21:52,880
one of his favorites. I nodded
then to missus mulcahey, go ahead with

240
00:21:52,920 --> 00:21:57,359
your story well shore. As I
was saying, he was sitting there talking

241
00:21:57,440 --> 00:22:00,240
to Teta, when all of a
sudden and I heard him give a little

242
00:22:00,279 --> 00:22:04,680
gasp. My back was turned to
him at the time. I looked around

243
00:22:04,759 --> 00:22:08,559
quickly, just in time to see
him slide from the chair with the foam

244
00:22:08,599 --> 00:22:12,519
coming out of his mouth. I
yelled for help, and you've seen the

245
00:22:12,559 --> 00:22:18,119
rest. Missus mulcahy had been with
Peck for eighteen years. My record showed

246
00:22:18,960 --> 00:22:23,119
that she was not the murderer,
was a certainty. Yet Deats had been

247
00:22:23,240 --> 00:22:27,839
killed under her very eyes. I
questioned her for nearly half an hour,

248
00:22:29,200 --> 00:22:33,200
in the hope that she might recall
having seen some other member of the household

249
00:22:33,640 --> 00:22:37,480
in or near the kitchen at or
about the time Deats was stricken down.

250
00:22:37,839 --> 00:22:42,279
But she was emphatic she and she
alone had been with the dead chauffeur.

251
00:22:45,000 --> 00:22:48,480
There was nothing to do but send
for the coroner again. Meanwhile, the

252
00:22:48,519 --> 00:22:53,000
body had been removed to an upstairs
room where doctor Maxwell made an examination.

253
00:22:55,319 --> 00:22:59,440
He called as I passed through the
hall. As I entered the room,

254
00:22:59,480 --> 00:23:03,559
he pointed to the naked body of
the murdered chauffeur, close to the knee

255
00:23:03,559 --> 00:23:08,279
of the right leg. The skin
was blacker than elsewhere, and in the

256
00:23:08,319 --> 00:23:12,440
center of the dark spot was a
tiny puncture similar to the ones we had

257
00:23:12,480 --> 00:23:18,839
found on Lannigan's leg. A detective
occasionally gets hunches. If he is a

258
00:23:18,880 --> 00:23:23,440
good one, he plays them to
the limit. I, as I have

259
00:23:23,559 --> 00:23:29,559
stated before, believe and I trust
that the reader will not accuse me of

260
00:23:29,599 --> 00:23:33,039
egotism, that I am among the
top notchers, despite the poor opinion he

261
00:23:33,119 --> 00:23:37,839
has received of me through my rambling
account of the murders at the Peck mansion.

262
00:23:40,400 --> 00:23:45,759
Just now I got a hunch.
I decided to play it Hardly,

263
00:23:45,839 --> 00:23:49,799
taking time to thank my friend the
physician for his courtesy, I hurried downstairs

264
00:23:49,839 --> 00:23:53,519
to the library, where a pack
was busy reading. The big cat,

265
00:23:53,599 --> 00:23:59,440
curled up in a ball on the
chair opposite the millionaire, looked up in

266
00:23:59,440 --> 00:24:04,519
astonishment at my catapultic entrance. Mister
Peck, I burst forth, I want

267
00:24:04,519 --> 00:24:11,000
to borrow Teta. The millionaire elevated
his brows. You what he demanded.

268
00:24:11,640 --> 00:24:17,160
I want to borrow Teta the cat
here. I've an idea that he'd make

269
00:24:17,200 --> 00:24:22,000
a first class detective. I'll promise
you that I'll not injure him in the

270
00:24:22,079 --> 00:24:25,680
least, but I am firm in
the conviction that he can lead us to

271
00:24:25,759 --> 00:24:30,079
the murderers of Lannigan and Deets,
the men who are trying to get you,

272
00:24:30,400 --> 00:24:34,839
and possibly at Miss Grady through you. As I spoke, the big

273
00:24:34,920 --> 00:24:40,519
cat arched his back and got on
to his feet with a yawn, exercising

274
00:24:40,559 --> 00:24:44,680
his digits by drawing and withdrawing his
claws in the padding of the chair half

275
00:24:44,680 --> 00:24:49,519
a dozen times. The action decided
the old man. He looked up at

276
00:24:49,559 --> 00:24:55,160
me with a suspicion of a twinkle
in his eyes. The little cuss is

277
00:24:55,200 --> 00:24:57,880
a scrapper, as I told you, he chuckled. Look at the way

278
00:24:57,920 --> 00:25:02,519
he girds up his loyal for action
at the mere mention of taking part in

279
00:25:02,559 --> 00:25:07,119
a scrap. Take him and welcome, but don't let him get hurt.

280
00:25:08,359 --> 00:25:11,599
With a curt knot of thanks,
I picked up the cat and carried him

281
00:25:11,640 --> 00:25:18,640
upstairs to my own room. For
the next half hour, the little animal

282
00:25:18,680 --> 00:25:23,160
and myself were busily engaged among the
retorts and tubes which doctor Maxwell had brought

283
00:25:23,200 --> 00:25:29,920
from his laboratory for experimental purposes during
his enforced attention, and which I borrowed

284
00:25:29,920 --> 00:25:34,319
for my own use. When I
had completed my task, I turned to

285
00:25:34,400 --> 00:25:41,720
the furred beauty with a smile of
satisfaction. Teta, I whispered, this

286
00:25:41,799 --> 00:25:45,400
whole affair is a secret between the
two of us. I thought that I

287
00:25:45,519 --> 00:25:49,680
was on the right track, and
now I know it. You're the boy

288
00:25:49,759 --> 00:25:53,599
who will bring home the bacon.
It's up to you to get the men

289
00:25:53,640 --> 00:26:00,519
who killed your pals, Lannigan and
Deets. Will you do it? There

290
00:26:00,519 --> 00:26:04,599
are some people who claim that cats
have no intelligence. I stand ready to

291
00:26:04,680 --> 00:26:11,319
swear that Teta Morgan Peck's cat understood
every word I said, for he rubbed

292
00:26:11,359 --> 00:26:15,480
against my leg with a loud purr
of satisfaction, and immediately took up his

293
00:26:15,599 --> 00:26:22,119
station close to the door, as
if clamoring for action. We went downstairs

294
00:26:22,119 --> 00:26:29,160
together. I stopped at both the
front and rear doors and gave my instructions

295
00:26:29,200 --> 00:26:33,200
to the operatives on watch. I
want to be informed the minute the cat

296
00:26:33,319 --> 00:26:38,319
meows to get out, I instructed
them pass this word on to the men

297
00:26:38,359 --> 00:26:45,079
who will relieve you. Remember no
excuses go before he is let out.

298
00:26:45,359 --> 00:26:51,400
I am to be called. Fifteen
minutes later, Olmsted, on duty at

299
00:26:51,400 --> 00:26:55,839
the rear door, called me.
The cat's howling at my station, he

300
00:26:55,960 --> 00:27:02,839
said. I followed the animal to
the door and per personally let him out.

301
00:27:03,880 --> 00:27:07,599
Six across the lawn. I followed
the cat with my eyes until he

302
00:27:07,680 --> 00:27:12,960
disappeared around the corner of a nearby
garage. Oh Leary and Kin, the

303
00:27:14,000 --> 00:27:18,359
two men on duty on the grounds, had had their orders. As Teta

304
00:27:18,480 --> 00:27:23,319
disappeared down the alley, I saw
O'Leary dodger round a nearby bush and follow

305
00:27:23,359 --> 00:27:30,680
him. A second later he reappeared
and approached the house, your friend.

306
00:27:30,720 --> 00:27:36,200
The cat went into a barn that's
been transformed into a garage at fourteen twenty

307
00:27:36,240 --> 00:27:41,400
four North tenth, just five houses
below here, he reported, with a

308
00:27:41,440 --> 00:27:45,519
grin. And if you'll pardon the
joke, Chief, I have shadowed darn

309
00:27:45,640 --> 00:27:49,680
near everything that walks, but this
is the first time I ever trailed a

310
00:27:49,799 --> 00:27:56,480
cat. Stepping up to the telephone, I called up my friend Hitchins,

311
00:27:56,720 --> 00:28:02,920
chief of detectives, who was cooperating
with us in every way possible. Satisfied

312
00:28:02,960 --> 00:28:07,000
with the results of my conversation,
I sat down to spend the remainder of

313
00:28:07,039 --> 00:28:11,640
the afternoon among Peck's books. Suddenly, the phone at my elbow jangled,

314
00:28:12,440 --> 00:28:18,720
turning, I picked up the receiver
and answered the call. The same metallic

315
00:28:18,799 --> 00:28:22,880
voice that had talked to Peck the
day of Lennigan's murder answered my gruff,

316
00:28:22,319 --> 00:28:27,960
Hello, Pack, He asked,
I'll call him. I responded, never

317
00:28:29,039 --> 00:28:32,880
mind. The other answered. Then, as I hesitated for words, the

318
00:28:32,960 --> 00:28:37,039
voice went on, tell your boss
he can prepare for another killing. It

319
00:28:37,079 --> 00:28:41,839
may be him, it may be
another, but his time is coming soon.

320
00:28:44,279 --> 00:28:47,960
The voice died away in the same
harsh laughter that I had heard before.

321
00:28:48,200 --> 00:28:52,680
I hung up the receiver with a
bang and jiggled the hook to attract

322
00:28:52,680 --> 00:28:56,119
the attention of Central. An instant
later, I was connected with my friend

323
00:28:56,240 --> 00:29:02,759
Armstrong, to whom I again explained
matters while Peck looked on, his furrowed

324
00:29:02,799 --> 00:29:08,680
face wrinkled in doubt. This time
Armstrong was speedier than before. Scarcely had

325
00:29:08,720 --> 00:29:14,960
I hung up the receiver that he
called me back. The phone call was

326
00:29:15,000 --> 00:29:18,880
from a booth in a drug store
in the busiest corner of the city to

327
00:29:18,960 --> 00:29:23,640
trace the person who had called would
be impossible. Packard on duty at the

328
00:29:23,680 --> 00:29:30,160
rear door called me at fifteen minutes
past five o'clock. The cat just came

329
00:29:30,200 --> 00:29:34,559
in, he yelled. The afternoon's
hunting had evidently been the best, for

330
00:29:34,640 --> 00:29:40,160
the cat was purring contentedly as he
passed down the hallway on his way to

331
00:29:40,200 --> 00:29:44,920
the library. But I was taking
no chances of a scratch from his sharp

332
00:29:45,000 --> 00:29:48,759
claws, for I protected my hands
with heavy gloves as I tenderly picked him

333
00:29:48,799 --> 00:29:53,720
up and carried him upstairs to my
room. Ten minutes later, I was

334
00:29:53,759 --> 00:29:59,359
at the telephone with my friend Hitchins
at the other end. Half an hour

335
00:29:59,440 --> 00:30:03,200
afterward, there came a sudden blast
of a police whistle from a dozen different

336
00:30:03,200 --> 00:30:08,640
directions from which they had been stationed. Hurried policemen and detectives, all centering

337
00:30:08,839 --> 00:30:14,920
on the big brick house at fourteen
twenty four North tenth. There was no

338
00:30:14,960 --> 00:30:18,920
response to our knocks. A burly
policeman hurled his bulk against the door.

339
00:30:19,799 --> 00:30:25,839
It refused to give way. He
swung an axe over his head. Came

340
00:30:25,839 --> 00:30:30,799
a sound of splintering wood. A
second later we were inside the hallway.

341
00:30:32,039 --> 00:30:37,039
A revolver spit at us from down
the corridor. Another flashed from the head

342
00:30:37,079 --> 00:30:41,279
of the stairs. We answered them, shot for shot, bullet for bullet.

343
00:30:41,720 --> 00:30:48,599
For five minutes the battle waged.
Then our superior numbers told we dashed

344
00:30:48,599 --> 00:30:53,359
through the smoke filled rooms, gathering
in our prisoners. Four men were caught

345
00:30:53,359 --> 00:31:00,440
in the net, and one woman. She was missus Lawn Bixby. Her

346
00:31:00,519 --> 00:31:03,720
husband, suffering from a severe wound
in the shoulder, was one of the

347
00:31:03,799 --> 00:31:14,960
four. The remainder was merely his
tools. Seven Battersby, one of Bixby's

348
00:31:14,960 --> 00:31:19,079
aides, confronted with the murders of
Lanigan and Dets, turned state's evidence and

349
00:31:19,160 --> 00:31:26,559
confessed stick. One of the others
backed him up in his statements. Bixby,

350
00:31:26,880 --> 00:31:30,680
as I had figured from the first, was the instigator of the whole

351
00:31:30,759 --> 00:31:37,440
diabolical affair. How he made his
escape from prison, however, is something

352
00:31:37,480 --> 00:31:41,880
that he refused to divulge even when
he and his confederates were taken to the

353
00:31:41,920 --> 00:31:48,720
gallows to answer for their crimes.
How did they kill Lanagan and Deets by

354
00:31:48,799 --> 00:31:56,359
means of teta unwittingly? The little
animal was the indirect cause of both murders.

355
00:31:56,359 --> 00:32:00,839
Battersby, according to his own confession, had been posted by Bixby,

356
00:32:01,279 --> 00:32:06,799
who had, while still in prison, had him engage the place at fourteen

357
00:32:06,839 --> 00:32:10,400
twenty four in North tenth Street under
an alias in order that he might watch

358
00:32:10,440 --> 00:32:16,039
the pack home in his guise as
a servant. He had gotten acquainted with

359
00:32:16,200 --> 00:32:22,119
Deats. While the latter was working
with one of the cars. He had

360
00:32:22,160 --> 00:32:27,480
noticed Teta come out of the barn
at fourteen twenty four, which having been

361
00:32:27,559 --> 00:32:31,440
empty for a number of years,
was filled with rats. As the cat

362
00:32:31,559 --> 00:32:37,160
passed Deats, the latter had bent
over and scratched it, making a chance

363
00:32:37,240 --> 00:32:42,759
remark about Peck's affection for the animal. He had also remarked with a chuckle

364
00:32:43,039 --> 00:32:47,440
at the fondness the pet had for
drawing and withdrawing his claws in whatever he

365
00:32:47,559 --> 00:32:54,680
chanced to be, lying on a
habit which all cats indulge in at times.

366
00:32:55,039 --> 00:33:00,920
Battersby, alert to give every detail
to his employer, had remarked this

367
00:33:00,079 --> 00:33:06,079
fact to Bixby in his report.
The latter saw an opportunity to turn the

368
00:33:06,160 --> 00:33:12,000
incident to his own advantage. Learning
that Peck's cat frequented the barn, he

369
00:33:12,119 --> 00:33:16,079
had catered to the animal in every
possible way until the animal passed a great

370
00:33:16,079 --> 00:33:22,400
deal of its time in and about
the Bixby place. Failing in his attempts

371
00:33:22,400 --> 00:33:27,279
to kill Pack, the instant that
he had chased the millionaire to cover Bixby,

372
00:33:27,319 --> 00:33:31,519
seized upon the cat to carry out
his own diabolical ends. Covering the

373
00:33:31,559 --> 00:33:37,759
animal's claws with a concentrated extract of
venom made from the poison of the cobra,

374
00:33:37,359 --> 00:33:42,039
he had turned it loose, leaving
it to fate as to where death

375
00:33:42,079 --> 00:33:47,000
would strike. Peck was likely to
be the first. He was the cat's

376
00:33:47,039 --> 00:33:52,079
master, and the animal would be
more likely to be with him than anyone

377
00:33:52,079 --> 00:33:57,319
else. That it was Lanigan who
was the first was simply one of those

378
00:33:57,400 --> 00:34:04,279
peculiar freaks of chance. The cat, purring contentedly on Lenigan's lap, had

379
00:34:04,279 --> 00:34:09,239
stuck his claws slightly into the servant's
knee. Lenigan had worn thick trousers,

380
00:34:09,800 --> 00:34:15,039
and as a result, a great
deal of the poison rubbed off as the

381
00:34:15,079 --> 00:34:20,239
claws went through. He was therefore
not strickened until during the night, when

382
00:34:20,239 --> 00:34:24,599
the venom had gone entirely through his
system. On the other hand, deats

383
00:34:24,960 --> 00:34:29,880
wearing a pair of thin trousers,
and there might have been more of the

384
00:34:29,880 --> 00:34:34,800
poison on the cat's claws, or
it may have been Fresher was strickened almost

385
00:34:34,800 --> 00:34:40,159
immediately after the sharp points had penetrated
his flesh. Bixby, a native of

386
00:34:40,199 --> 00:34:45,519
South Africa, was an adept on
poisons, which led to the fact that

387
00:34:45,599 --> 00:34:51,880
he finally selected this subtle method of
committing his crimes. Located so close to

388
00:34:51,960 --> 00:34:55,199
the pack house, he was able
to see from his window a great deal

389
00:34:55,280 --> 00:35:00,079
of what was going on around the
mansion. As a result, when the

390
00:35:00,000 --> 00:35:05,039
the coroner called, he knew that
death through the cat had struck, but

391
00:35:05,119 --> 00:35:09,719
he did not know who. He
had a Confederate station downtown, somewhere close

392
00:35:09,800 --> 00:35:15,480
to the Pennsylvania station. It was
but the work of seconds to call the

393
00:35:15,519 --> 00:35:20,039
ladder up and instruct him to call
Peck to the phone. When the latter

394
00:35:20,159 --> 00:35:23,840
answered in person, the Confederate knew
that death had struck someone else, and

395
00:35:23,920 --> 00:35:30,119
so informed Bixby. The second phone
call was sent in a spirit of mere

396
00:35:30,159 --> 00:35:36,199
braggadocio. After Tetu's clause had been
smeared for a third time with the poison,

397
00:35:37,360 --> 00:35:42,000
the coffin was sent for the same
reason, to break down Peck's morale.

398
00:35:43,599 --> 00:35:49,280
How do I know these things?
Conjecture and conjecture. Only At first

399
00:35:49,320 --> 00:35:54,079
I imagined, as did doctor Maxwell
and the coroner, that the two punctures

400
00:35:54,119 --> 00:35:59,840
in Lennigan's leg were caused by the
fangs of a snake. The fact that

401
00:35:59,840 --> 00:36:05,440
the symptoms where all those of snake
bite led to this deduction. It was

402
00:36:05,480 --> 00:36:09,199
not until Deets had died and missus
Mulkaye had told me that Teta had been

403
00:36:09,239 --> 00:36:15,880
on his lap at the time that
the idea suddenly came to me. Coupled

404
00:36:15,920 --> 00:36:20,199
with this fact was that of finding
a puncture on Deete's legs similar to that

405
00:36:20,719 --> 00:36:23,920
on the leg of Lannigan. I
had noticed the cat's habit of pressing his

406
00:36:24,000 --> 00:36:30,119
claws into everything on which he sat. Pack had told me that the cat

407
00:36:30,199 --> 00:36:32,599
was a favorite of the two men
who had died. I put two and

408
00:36:32,639 --> 00:36:37,159
two together and made four of them. When I borrowed the cat, I

409
00:36:37,159 --> 00:36:43,400
took him to my room and with
my hands gloved, scraped his claws and

410
00:36:43,440 --> 00:36:50,599
submitted the scraping to chemical tests.
The result showed snake venom. The remainder

411
00:36:50,679 --> 00:36:54,519
was easy. I had only to
disinfect the cat's claws and then turn him

412
00:36:54,519 --> 00:37:00,000
loose. When my men reported where
he went, I summoned Chitchens and asked

413
00:37:00,039 --> 00:37:05,719
him to station his men near the
house. When the cat returned, I

414
00:37:05,920 --> 00:37:09,480
seized him before he had had an
opportunity of killing any one else, and

415
00:37:09,559 --> 00:37:15,840
again scraped his claws. The chemical
tests showed snake venom in great quantities.

416
00:37:16,920 --> 00:37:22,719
The raid on the house at fourteen
twenty four followed. I have often wondered

417
00:37:23,079 --> 00:37:28,239
if Teta knows the part he played
in the death of his two friends and

418
00:37:28,400 --> 00:37:35,039
the detection of the murderers. Who
knows the end of the cat's paw