10-Story Detective Magazine Cover — page 112: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

116 eyes. Billy did not flinch under scrutiny. “Half a dollar for luck,” he said. “Gentlemen,” said Doctor Kettle, “when we removed Hewett’s overcoat, we found that he was wearing an orange tie on a blue shirt, a white col- lar with brown stripes, purple sox, a green vest—” “Holy smoke!” interrupted Wat- wood. “You mean the vest with the green-flower design—the one he wore im a comedy vaudeville act before go- ing into the movies?” “That’s probably the one,” said Kettle. “Just a minute. What does it cost me to come in? A dollar? I’m seeing. Three sixes. Your three tens beat me, Mr. Miner.” ND now Lou Lerian took the cards for the third deal. The ex- pressions on the several faces now be- came a bit more tense. This was to be the last hand, and it was evident that the doctor had reached the climax of his disclosures. “Yes, siree,” said Doctor Kettle. “Hewett, the best-dresser, the man who was noted for his clothes, was all dressed up like a vaudeville comic going to a masquerade ball—he wore every color in the rainbow. And what’s the answer? A most astound- ing answer, and yet the only answer to fit the facts: the murderer is color blind!” “Color blind!’ cried Watwood. “Color blind!’ repeated Kettle. There was a long silence. “Won’t that be difficult to prove, doetor?” Miner asked. “Tt will be the simplest thing in the world to prove,” Kettle assured him. “The fact is already established by the outstanding manner in which Hewett was dressed. He has perfectly- matched outfits in his wardrobe—a shirt for the collar he wore, a tie for the shirt he wore, and so on. He cer- tainly didn’t dress himself so crazily; remember, he had a reputation to up- hold in this respect. “The murderer would not have done ~ 10-STORY DETECTIVE anything so ludicrous on purpose, and he could not have done it by accident unless he were color blind. There’s an — amber bulb in Hewett’s room and so the light added another confusing tint for the killer to cope with. He may be only partly aware of his affliction, or totally ignorant of it.” “Well, name him!” said Val Janson, impatiently. Kettle leaned forward. “Mr. Wat- wood,” he said, ‘‘the inspector is going to arrest you for the murder of Brax- ton Hewett!” “Arrest me?” cried Watwood, ris- ETTLE SMILED. “Please ob- serve what has happened, gentle- men. We have been playing with Braxton Hewett’s deck of cards— cards with pinkish-red backs with the common wheel design. At my sugges- tion, Mr. Lerian, the dealer, has slipped one green-backed card with wheel back design into the deck. Each of us has two cards before him: One face down, the hole card, and the other face up. “The green-backed card was dealt to Mr. Watwood; it is lying directly in front of him, face down. But it is especially difficult, impossible, in fact, for a color blind person to distinguish between red and green—red-green blindness is the most common form of the malady. “And so Mr. Watwood has not no- ticed that he was dealt a phony card for his hole card.” “But Doctor Kettle—” began Val Janson. The doctor cut him short quickly, “‘Please let me do the talking. Or per- haps Mr. Watwood would like to say—” 3 Billy Watwood, whose bulging eyes were bulging wider than ever, ex- ploded: “If that card lying in front of me face down is a green-backed card, may they cancel my booking and may my girl give me the air! And in addition,” he roared, “I'll eat the dam—” COMMICLOOOKS (E@)