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Speaker 1: Murder in haste by John bhar one of the thousands

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of dentists in the city. Detective Car chose to visit

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doctor Raymond K. Perry on East forty eighth Street. A

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friend had recommended doctor Perry. That was the only reason

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for the detective's choice. The doctor was a small, bald, roundish,

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amiable gentleman with a pleasing personality. Harmless was the word

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which immediately occurred to you the first time you saw him. Nevertheless,

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the detective's eyes contracted rather sharply when he shook hands

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with the doctor, and a momentary expression of mingled doubt

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and surprise clouded his face, but he resumed his nonchalance immediately.

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The detective's teeth were in very bad condition. He had

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several cavities and a mild case of pyorrhea. The doctor

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made an examination and took an X ray photograph. An

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appointment for two days later was made. The intervening day

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was an extraordinarily busy one for Detective Car. He spent

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the time running down the history and official record of

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the Curved murder case, a crime which had been committed

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some ten months previously. The details of this case with

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which he renewed his acquaintance may be summed up briefly

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as follows. At about ten thirty in the morning, mister

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Curvin was found dead in his room, with his throat

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cut from ear to ear. A blood stained razor was

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lying beside him. The body was discovered by his housekeeper,

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who had come to his house to do the cleaning.

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That it was murder was plain, for there were signs

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of a furious struggle, nor did the identity of the

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murderer remain long a mystery. William Lesser, the business partner

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of min disappeared and for apparent reasons. The books of

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the firm Curvin and Lesser Brokers appeared to be at

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first in good order, but an investigation revealed that several

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transactions involving large amounts had not been recorded. Bonds and

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securities which had been entrusted to Lesser by the firm's

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clients never reached the bookkeepers for entry. It was estimated

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that Lester had absconded with some two hundred thousand dollars.

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The direct cause of the murder was not known, but

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it was assumed that Kervin had discovered his partner's treachery

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had accused or perhaps threatened him, and had thus brought

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on the quarrel. The police, in tracing Lesser's history, discovered

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that three years previous to the crime, he had entered

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Kervin's office as a clerk. He made good so quickly

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that mister Kervin took him into partnership. No clue to

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any fact of Lesser's life before he entered the employ

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of mister Kervin could be found. The heirs of mister Kervin,

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a sister and a nephew, offered a reward of five

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hundred thousand dollars for the capture of Lesser, but months

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of zealous searching bore no results. The police had only

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an old photograph found among mister Kervin's effects, and the

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description given by employees and clients to guide them. After

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several months, official interest in the case smoldered and finally

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elapsed altogether. Detective car was one of the department's famous

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camera eyed men. No disguise had as yet fooled him.

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He was able to penetrate almost immediately any artificial changes

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of appearance. He had never met the missing Lesser personally,

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but he had of course seen the pictures which had

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been published in the papers. His first glance had convinced

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him that the man who was running a dental office

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on forty eighth Street under the name of doctor Perry

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was the man who had disappeared under the name of Lesser,

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and this in spite of the fact that doctor Perry's

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appearance differed from Lessers in several important respects. Lesser, to

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judge by his picture and the descriptions of him, was

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a man about five feet six in height, normal weight,

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clean shaven, light complected, with a thick crop of blonde hair.

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This description corresponded with doctor Perry's in only one respect.

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The height. Doctor Perry was stout and at least thirty

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pounds above normal weight. He had a black mustache and

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a goatee, and was dark complexed. Further, the hair on

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his head consisted only of a black fringe which ran

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around his temples and the back of his neck. Under

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the circumstances, it was not strange that Detective Carr's conviction

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was a bit shaken, and that he decided to keep

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his suspicions to himself until he made a thorough investigation

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on his own account. Neither of mister Kervin's heirs had

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ever seen the missing Lesser. However, the detective dug up

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two Curvin and Lesser employees and two of the firm's

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clients who had met Lesser personally a number of times.

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One of these men agreed to go up to doctor

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Perry's office and have his teeth cleaned. The other three

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were posted by the detective at different times in a

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restaurant where the doctor took his lunch. Three of the

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men were positive that mister Lesser and doctor Perry were

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not the same person. The fourth said, well, the shape

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of his head is a little like Lesser's, but you

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couldn't get me to swear in court that they were

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the same person, No, sir, not me. Detective Carr then

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tried to get at the mystery from a different angle.

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He looked into doctor Perry's past history. He discovered that

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doctor Raymond K. Perry had graduated from the Horn Dental

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College in New York in nineteen fourteen. The doctor, in

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accordance with state law, had renewed his license every year,

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all of which was perfectly regular. But the doctor had

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rented his office on forty eighth Street ten months ago,

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or at just about the time that mister Lesser disappeared,

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and Detective Carr could find no record of his having

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practiced his profession any time before that. Further, the records

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in the city Bureau of Taxes disclosed that doctor Raymond K.

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Perry owned real estate to the value of one hundred

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and forty one thousand dollars on East one hundred and

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fifty seventh Street, and that the property had been purchased

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at about the same time the doctor opened his dental office.

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Doctor Perry lived on Claremont Avenue. No one at his

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address could shed the faintest light on his past career.

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He had rented the apartment ten months ago and had

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always been prompt in the payment of his rent. He

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never had visitors when he rented the apartment. He had

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remarked that he was living in Yonkers, but desired to

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live in the city in order to be closer to

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his office. The detective consulted the city directories and the

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phone books for the last seven years. He examined membership

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lists of all the city and state dental societies. He

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telegraphed the national organization. He visited all the dental supply

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houses and manufactures of dental instruments. The investigation yielded the

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name Raymond L. Perry, but twice, and these Perrys proved

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to be senior and junior with an office in Brooklyn.

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The Raymond k on forty eighth Street was not related

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to them all. This would not have been unusual if

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there had been evidence that doctor Perry had lived in

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another state before opening his office on forty eighth Street,

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but the doctor had said he moved down from Yonkers.

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That a man practicing the profession of dentistry and worth

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upward of one hundred and forty thousand dollars could leave

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an absolutely recordless existence did not seem probable. And yet

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the most painstaking search had revealed but one fact in

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the career of doctor Perry previous his opening the forty

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eighth Street office. That fact, as has been stated, was

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his graduation from the dental college in nineteen fourteen. Detective

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Carr's weakness did not include the lack of persistence. He

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had great faith in his camera eye quality, and doctor

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Perry's past or seeming absence of past only stimulated his activities.

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The detective began the tiresome task of canvassing those dental

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offices of New York City, which were large enough to

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employ additional dentists. Carr spent eight hours each day for

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seven weeks at this work, but finally his quest bore fruit.

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The payrolls in doctor Kirkbush's office showed that, in January

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nineteen eighteen, a doctor Raymond K. Perry had been discharged

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for drunkenness. Nobody in the Kirkbush office recalled the appearance

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of doctor Perry. Detective Car, however, considered it significant that

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only one month later, February nineteen eighteen, mister William Lester

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had entered the employ of mister Kervin. The chain of evidence,

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though circumstantial, removed all doubt from the detective's mind. Still,

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although Detective Carr was perfectly convinced of doctor Perry's guilt,

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he knew that his evidence was not conclusive enough to

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persuade a jury. The fact that he could offer no

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direct identification was the weakness of his case. He felt

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that he had two lines of attack open to him.

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There was a chance that he could find some person

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or persons whose memory for faces was good enough to

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enable them to identify doctor Perry as mister Lester. His

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other hope lay in a direct attack upon the doctor himself.

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This attack, of course, would have to be subtle. The

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doctor would have to be squeezed, prodded, and annoyed by

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a series of seemingly innocuous questions and insinuations into betraying

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himself by some word or act. The work on the

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detective's teeth was to be finished in three weeks. There

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were two appointments, each of an hour's duration. Each week,

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Detective Car was to have six hours more of personal

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contact with the suspect. Two. Detective Car was keeping his

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last appointment with doctor Perry. The doctor was putting a

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root canal filling into the first molar on the upper

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left hand side. The nerve or dental pulp had been removed,

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and it remained only to seal the cavity with guttapercha

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and insert the amalgam filling. The detective was seated comfortably

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in the dentist's chair. Doctor Perry was standing nearby, preparing

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his instruments. Not at all, doctor, said Carr, in answer

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to a question by the dentist. Detective work is not

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nearly as exciting as it is commonly supposed to be.

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Its mostly dull, routine labor of course, there are exceptions.

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I was working on a case not so long ago,

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quite an ordinary affair. A murder had been committed and

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the suspect had disappeared. My job was simply to tramp

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the streets and keep my eyes open. Hard work, doctor,

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and not exactly exciting. I met the fellow by accident

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and arrested him. But when at headquarters the man removed

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his hat, I received the shock of my life. The

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prisoner was almost completely bald, and yet it had been

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definitely proved that five days previous, when the crime had

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been committed, he had a crop of long, thick brown hair.

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But this circumstances, which at first seemed to ruin our case.

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The prisoner, of course denied he was the wanted man

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eventually proved his undoing. Men don't usually lose a thick

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crop of hair in five days. We were sure of that.

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We consequently deduced that the prisoner had made himself bald

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by some artificial method. Rather unique. Eh. You frequently hear

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of men disguising themselves by putting on wigs, but they

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seldom affected disguise by pulling out their natural hair. Well,

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while the entire department was trying to puzzle out a

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way of proving that the suspect had removed his own hair.

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Nature herself solved the mystery for us. The man was

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held in jail without bail. After three weeks, the entire

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top of his head blossomed out like grass in the

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spring that clinched it. Of course, he confessed that he

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had first cut his hair short and then move the

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hairs with an electric needle. This process required a couple

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of days, but his trick would have worked if he

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could have applied the needle again on his hair as

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soon as it grew. The doctor, keeping his back turned

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to the detective, replied, a unique case, mister Carr. You

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might call it a bald murder. The detective laughed, then,

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after a pause, we were talking last time of the

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murder of mister Kervin. Have you changed your mind and

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accepted my theory that the missing mister Lester he, in

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all probability, remained in the city and made the bold

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stroke of adopting some mode of life which brings him

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into contact with many persons daily. The doctor stiffened perceptibly.

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An ingenious theory, mister Carr, But to judge from the

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newspaper accounts of mister Lester, he was probably not clever

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enough to work out so subtle a scheme. There was

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little conversation after that. Doctor Perry worked in almost complete

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silence on the tooth until the task was completed. The

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detective noticed that the dentist's hands were a trifle unsteady.

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Detective Carr left the office determined to proceed quickly and

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openly against doctor Perry. He had reached the conclusion that

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he had succeeded in tormenting the doctor into such a

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state of nerves that he would be unable to stand

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up under a grilling at headquarters. It was Carr's intention

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to consult the district attorney about the advisability of obtaining

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a warrant for doctor Perry's arrest. While Carr was on

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his way to the District Attorney's office, both of his

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shoelaces became loosened. He bent over to tie them. He

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held his head down for several minutes. Then, just as

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Detective Car entered the District Attorney's office, a strange phenomenon occurred.

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The detective was suddenly seized with a convulsion. He fell

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to the floor and his body became rigid. A doctor

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was immediately summoned, but although Karr lived for almost an

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hour and a half, he could not be again brought

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to consciousness. The symptoms, the rigid muscles, the stiffness in

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the back of the neck, the asphyxia, the wide open

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and fixed eyes, the rhesus sardonicus drawn aside mouth convinced

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the doctor that Detective Car had been poisoned with strychnine.

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The post mortem investigation, however, only added another element of

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mystery to the tragedy. A chemical analysis of the stomach

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contents showed positively that no strychnine was present. If the

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doctor's diagnosis proved to be correct, it followed that strychnine

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must have been injected by a hypodermic syringe, but no

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needle was found on the dead man. It was also

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not clear why Car, assuming it was suicide, had gone

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about it in this queer fashion. Symptoms of strychnine poisoning

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usually appear within twenty minutes or less after the poison

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is taken. Where had Detective Car been before he came

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to the District Attorney's office. Before the mystery could be solved,

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that question had to be answered Three doctor Raymond K.

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Perry experienced a queer feeling even during the first visit

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of Detective Car. He had a premonition that the detective

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had penetrated his disguise. When a few days later the

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denis was visited by a former client of Lesser and Curvin,

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who came ostensively to have his teeth cleaned, Perry's fears increased.

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A short time after three of the former our clients

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of Lesser and Curvin were in the restaurant in which

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the detective took his lunch. Doctor Perry was then certain

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Detective car had identified him as the missing William Lesser.

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Doctor Perry knew that his arrest was eminent. Had any

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doubts remained, the actions of the detective himself would have

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cleared them away. The detective began referring casually to the

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curving case. He somehow managed to bring up this matter

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during every consultation, and he spoke of artificially induced boldness

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as an effective means of disguise. The doctor was aware

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that in the beginning the detective was a trifle uncertain,

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but with each visit the uncertainty gradually resolved itself into conviction.

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Doctor Perry was in a continuous state of suspense. It

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became obvious finally that the detective would arrest him. The

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dentist knew that an arrest would be his ruin. He

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would be unable to account for any of his actions

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previous to the last ten months. And if they held

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him in jail without bail as his customary and murder indictments,

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his hair would start growing and that would expose him.

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The dentist, of course, could have fled, but that would

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be equivalent to a confession of guilt. He would invite

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a man hunt. Also, he would have to sacrifice all

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the money he had gained by the murder of Curvin.

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This money was tied up in real estate. If he

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attempted to make a sale, he would be merely inviting

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immediate arrest. There seemed to be but one other alternative

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from the fact that he was never shadowed. The dentist

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reasoned that Detective Car had not mentioned his suspicions to

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any other police officials. There was every indication that only

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the detective Car was privy to the secret. If therefore

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a way could be found to dispose of Detective Car,

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the status quo would be maintained and doctor Perry could

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keep living in comfort the rest of his life. As

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the dentist figured it, nothing could be lost by a

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second murder. They can't do more than electrocute a man.

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During the detective's last visit, the dentist made him an

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amalgam filling for the first moller on the upper left

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hand side. The dental pulp or nerve had been killed

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with arsenic and removed previously. It remained only to put

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in a guttapercha point, seal it with liquid gutapercha, and

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close the top of the cavity with amalgam. But the

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dentist did not use gutapercha. Instead, he inserted a paste

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made of strychnine and rammed it into the root canal.

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Strychnine acts rather rapidly, especially when it may be absorbed

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easily into the blood. The dentist was consequently in somewhat

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of a hurry when he put in the amalgam. He

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was a trifle nervous and anxious. Cold blooded murderers exist

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for the most part only in fiction. He managed, however,

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to get the detective out of the office alive, and

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when that was accomplished, most of his worries were over,

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for there seemed to be not the slightest chance that

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the murder could be proved against him. There would indeed

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be no way of proving that it was murder, and

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not even the most careful autopsy would be likely to

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probe into the cavities of Detective Car's teeth. The X

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ray pictures which doctor Perry had taken of Detective Car's

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mouth showed that the apex of the root of the

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mueller in question extended into the antrum, which is a

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pocket extending from the nasal cavity into the bone. This

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was not at all unusual condition. Doctor Perry knew that

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the strychnine would be absorbed into the blood by way

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of the intrum. Death would then be a matter of minutes.

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Under normal conditions, it would take several hours for the

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action to start. By then, the detective would no longer

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be near the dental office, and the chances were that,

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even if he lived long enough to give information, he

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would not associate the tooth filling with the poison. The

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next morning's paper perhaps would have the news of the

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detective's death. It looked safe, absolutely safe. Four As doctor

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Perry expected, the next morning's paper contained the news of

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Detective Carr's strange death, and, according to accounts, headquarters was

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at a loss to explain the mystery. It was difficult

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to reconcile the known facts with either a murder or

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a sad suicide theory. The doctor smiled as he read

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the reports. They were very satisfying to him. He had

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been in his office about an hour when three men

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who introduced themselves as Detective Sergeant Elm, Detective Mosure, and

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medical examiner Richard called upon him. From one of Detective

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Carr's friends, we learned that you have been treating Car's teeth,

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said Detective Sergeant Elm. Was Car in here yesterday for

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an appointment. Doctor Perry, afraid that a trap was being

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laid for him and that he would betray himself by lying,

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was slow to reply why. I'm not sure that is

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he may have been. I'll have to consult my records.

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Never mind. The point is you have been treating Detective Car,

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and in that case it is extremely unlikely that Carr

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was receiving treatment from another dentist. Also, then, after a pause,

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do you know the detective Car died yesterday from strychnine poisoning. No, well,

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I did read something in the papers. It was very

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mystifying at first, he interrupted, Detective Sergeant Elm. A most

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careful chemical analysis discovered no strychnine in the stomach. However,

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we found the strychnine. Does that interest you? The dentist flushed.

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It evidently does, said Elm. You're a mighty clever man,

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doctor Perry. However you overlook the fact that strychnine poisoning

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causes convulsions. You made a mighty sloppy job of filling

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car's upper molar murder in haste and repent at leisure.

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That will be a good proverb for you too. During

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cars fit of convulsions, the amalgam filling was jarred, loose,

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and fell out of his mouth. Detective Moser found it

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this morning under the desk in the District Attorney's office.

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Detective Sergeant eld took a small glass vial out of

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his pocket and held it out toward doctor Perry. Your

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amalgam filling is in this bottle, doctor, and there are

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traces of strychnine on it. Also, the medical examiner here

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afterwards found traces of the poison in the root canal

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of the tooth. That makes it pretty conclusive, doesn't it. Five.

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Detective Carr's story of the man who had disguised himself

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by artificially inducing boldness was a myth. However, the official

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records now include the case of one doctor Raymond K.

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Perry alias William Lesser, who grew a beautiful crop of

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hair while awaiting his execution. Furthermore, the doctor's dark complexion

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paled noticeably under the regular prison baths. As for his stoutness,

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he had been one of those not altogether uncommon men

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who can put on or take off an appreciable amount

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of weight by change of diet. It was thus that Perry,

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after murdering mister Kervin, was able to effect a great

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change in his appearance within a week. He had then

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made the bold stroke of opening a dental office and

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practicing the profession right under the eyes of the police. Perry,

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it must be explained, was actually a dentist. After graduating

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from a dental college. He failed to make good with

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Docker Kitbush and was discharged. He then applied for a

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position as clerk in the office of mister Kervin and

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assumed the name Lesser. Because he intended to re enter

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the dental profession again and did not want it to

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be known that he was an ex clerk. Detective car

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it transpired had not mentioned his suspicions concerning doctor Perry

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at headquarters, but after the doctor had been convicted for

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murdering the detective, he confessed his former crime the end

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of murder in haste