Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 671 — page 13: what you’re looking at

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

ed, eply. bink 10Ve- cried last 7 laying the paper down. hing itled she liled | did don, 1 he maly > us, e of tely bat her lng }pathy for us, Nottingham had a little. | young rascal will destroy those papers sooner shocked when he hears of it,” breath and then he looked up from the paper bewildered. ‘*What’s the matter?’ asked his mother, alarmed. “Listen. Here’s a new move in the garfie, Death’s won a toss, mother,” and the Jersey | boy read aloud the startling item. “It’s bad for us, I’m afraid,” observed Jed, “The firm of Holdfast Co, is now dissolved, but one of the partners holds the stock. Webb Weldon has no = he than give them to us. Ifhe cannot bargain with Mark Murchison and thus win Lola, he will make sure that we do not benefit by his failure. That is Weldon to a‘T,’ Though the youngest, he is the greater villain of the two. I’m going to look into this affair.” ** What affair?” “The sudden death of Nick Nottingham,” A minute afterward Jed was on the street again, and it did not take him long to reach the scene of the tragedy. He found that the body had been taken to the { nearest undertaking establishment, but, as Mrs, Pope, the landlady, was inclined to be talkative, he managed to linger on the premises, ** His friend hasn’t come back yet,” said Mrs. Pope. ‘Ob, he didn’t live alone, then?” exclaimed , feigning surprise. ““He roomed with a younger friend. They ot i | very well together, The other may out of the city, and I’m sure he'll be terribly ‘*Didn’t you hear any noise, madame?” : “He must have died while | was out, Ididn’t come home till late, and he had been dead some ‘time,” any ent ied, the phe OY ur- On ‘* Do you think he died very hard?” ** 1 don’t think he did.” ** Nothing disarranged, eh?” “See here, What are you hinting at, boy? | Don’t you think it was heart disease?” ** Why should i doubt it? The doctors ought to know. You see, Mr. Nathan and I were somewhat acquainted, Indeed, be held posses- sion of some papers which belong to me, and I’m naturally anxiouys—” : ‘To know what became of them?” ** Yes; that’s about it,” ‘“Shhen go up-stairs and look for them,” said the woman promptly, ‘‘ Nothing’s been dis- turbed since, and nobody’s gone to the room without my knowledge.” Jed was only too eager to accépt the invitation thus extended, y Instructed how to find the late quarters of old'ast & Co., and provided with a key to the ‘jdoor, he went up-stairs and entered the room. ve ¥ ser Tre "eat Tt TF - 2 He shut the door carefully behind him and turned on the gas, ** If Webb Weldon hasn’t been back he never intends to come,” thought Jed, ‘‘He knows of N ottingham’s death, and that’s what keeps him The boy detective fell to work inspecting th apartment, and little or nothing Soca ved hspry- ing eyes, Of course he did not expect to find the precious documents concealed anywhere in the room, He believed them to be in the hands of Webb Wel- jion, and therefore he did not Jook for them. In point of fact, Jed did not take "much stock in the newspaper story of Nottingham’s death, It was unaccountably strange to him that an nseen power should remove the big man at that sparticular stage of the game. ll at once his eye caught sight of a rip in the ‘carpet, He bent over and scanned it closely. * There was a struggle here between two men,” he, ‘**Here is another cut, and here the ycarpet has been torn loose.” , 4@ was down on his knees bunting over the oor, for the case bad become very interesting, when the door opened. J Jed looked éver his shoulder at the sound the pening made, saw the tall figure of a man be- | ome im and the step, and then sprung to his The next instant he stood facé to face with eee Catchem! he detective smiled at the boy’s scare and ‘E id as he came forward: Did T cateb you looking for diamonds, boy? $ How many has the floor yielded, anyhow?” Ou Know there are no diamonds here iptain Catchem.” he city shadow looked arpet d then into Jed's fate. 6 a Rl ae _‘‘Pve been wanting to see you for some time. {You eluded me the other night by quitting Scis- ors Simon’s house by the back door,” ‘*I saw you under the tree and the boy took your profile, I thought 1 did not want to run — your arms just then, and so I gave you the slip.’ ‘We should not play against one another, Master Jeffreys.” ‘* But you’re in his employ. You are working for Mark Murchison, the man who has blighted my mother’s life.” “That’s just what I want to hear about,” said the detective. ‘Sit down there and tell me, The young shadow thought Captain Catchem’s face had an expression he bad never seen there before. ‘*Don’t fear me,” continued the detective, amie ‘*[’'m not quite as black as they paint me, ell talk about the man who died in this room after you have told your story,” Thus urged on, Jed talked rapidly and with- out being interrupted for some minutes. He told Captain Catchem all he knew about Mark Murchison, how the nabob obtained his first riches; he lived in Jersey up to the time of the Bie =e six years before. He also went into his own history and that of his mother. He told how many years before, before he was born, Mark Murchison, who was bis father’s cousin, had managed to settle upon his father a crime of which he was innocent; how John Jeffreys went to prison, suffering for the deed of another; how yearsafterward he forced Mark Murchison to draw up papers con- fessing his own guilt, and finally, how these pa- pers were stolen, and how, when asked to sur- render them, Murchison laughed, and John Jeffreys died of a broken heart with his name sullied before the world. Captain Catchem did not let a word of Jed’s story escape him, He listened as he had proba- bly never listened before to a narrative of the kind, and Jed thought at times that the detec- tive’s eyes flashed with indignation. ‘It isa strange story,” said the city ferret, when the boy had concluded, ‘* Would to Heaven there were no truth in it!” was the reply. ‘‘Captain Catchem, you now know why I want to put my hands on those pa- pers. They contain my father’s vindication; they tell the world that my mother is the widow of an honest man, and that I am nota felon’s offspring. ‘That is the battle I’ve been fighting, I don’t know why Mark Murchison did not de- stroy the documents, but he did not, and they fell into the elutches of Holdfast & Co., who robbed his house in Jersey.” ‘* And now,” asked the detective, ‘‘ what were you looking for on the floor when I came in?” ** A clew,” ** A clew to what?” ** To Nottingham’s death,” “What, don’t you know that he died from heart failure?” There was a twinkle in Captain Catchem’s eyes which did not escape the boy detective. ‘* Look at the carpet!” exclaimed Jed, pointing to the rents and abrasions he had discovered. The New York detective got down and ex- amined the places, “I found the curtains drawn, so I lit the gas,” remarked the boy. ‘“* We'll let some daylight into the room.” And the captain did so, The rents which Jed had found were now plainly seen. They indicated a struggle between two well- matched men; in the boy’s eyes they could mean nothing else. ‘Those rents talk, don’t they?” exclaimed Captain Catchem, rising and confronting Jed. ‘* They beat the doctor’s opinion, I have seen Nottingham at the undertaker’s shop. I have had the body examined by a competent surgeon, He was throttled by human hands, No doubt he died on the bed yonder. Yes, boy, Notting- ham was murdered, and I’m going to find out who did the deed. And, let me add, from this time on you have a friend in the person of Burt Butler, detective,” Jed felt like cheering. CHAPTER XVI, PLAYING IT FINE, THE detective’s visit to Mark Murchison at the latter’s house, as mentioned, followed closely upon his meeting with Jed in Nottingham’s room Captain Catchem showed no traces of excite- ment. Whatever his feelings were he never allowed them to get the upper hand and betra nips, ane when he informed Murchison that Not- ting am was choked to death he spoke coolly and with deliberation. As we have seen, the nabob changed color at Jersey Jed, the Boy Hustler. 13 this"announcement. He got white, and falling back in his chair like a man terribly startled, stared at the detective, ‘‘ Murdered, did you say, captain?’ he ex- claimed, ‘‘In heaven’s name, what does this mean?” ‘We'll try and find out,” was the response, “Do you think it has a bearing on—on our business?’ “‘T rather think it bas.” ** Not to our detriment, I trust. wolves quarreled.” “* The two men, you mean?” **Holdfast & Co. Rascals fall out among themselves sometimes, you know,” ** Quite often.” By this time Mark Murchison had recovered much of bis composure, for be laughed and lita ci Perhaps the gar, Captain Catchem seemed to be making a study of him through the fleecy smoke which he sent ceilingward in white puffs. “The boy seems to have left the trail,” he suddenly remarked, Murchison did not disclose what he knew. He did not think it worth his while to tell his detec- tive how he had interviewed the young shadow in that very room, and how the boy had re- fused to yield a point. ‘We'll get along without him, eh, captain?’ be queried, *“*T hdpe so; but, by the way, there’s some- thing I’d like to know about the young lynx.” ‘** ‘What about him!” ‘* Who was his father?” Murchison seemed to think a moment before answering. *‘He was aman who might have been better thought of than he was,” “You knew him, then?” “Yes, I’m soeig bc say that we were cousins,” ‘*You and that boy’s father?” ‘Yes. The story is well known in another art of the country, and it isn’t to John Jef- freys's credit, either.” Did he get into trouble?” ‘No, he surrounded himself with it. His prison life, though, taught him a lesson, and he was a pretty square man after that.” ‘* What was the nature of his crime?” “He forged a lot of notes—a foolish bit of business, for he was suspected’ from the first, It was a plain case. John Jeffreys showed no discretion. He claimed to be persecuted; he even said that [ was at the bottom of the whole affair, because | happened to profit by bis foolish crime,” ‘You, Mr, Murchison?” “Yes. It was this way: Abel Murchison, a relative of ours, was a bachelor and very wealthy. He intended to leave John Jeffreys and [ snug fortunes, Jobn couldn’t wait; he wanted money. The old man was living too . long to suit him, and so he forged papers which got him into trouble. When he was sentenced to prison Abel Murchfson made a new will, and I became his sole legatee. That’s how I got my start.” ** Did John Jeffreys ever confess?” ** He never confessed,” “What did he do when he came out of prison?’ ‘‘ He started in to liveit down, but it was up- hill work,” ““T suppose he never liked you on account of your good luck.” ‘‘The whole family hated me,” smiled Mur- chison. ‘‘ Mrs. Jeffreys instilled hate into their boy—the pair bad but one child, Jed—and that’s why he refused to describe the men who plun- dered my house, robbing me of much wealth and some valuaole’ papers. I might havo bought them off, bu would not do that. Sarah Jeffreys and her son pretended to believe that I had given John a paper clearing bim of the crime for which he bad served a term; but nobody took any stock in that. It was a hobb of theirs then, and I doubt not they would tell the same story now.” 7 Perhaps,’ answered the detective. “The family never liked me,” continued Murchison, ‘‘] don’t know why, unless they thought I was a little too close to Abel, the Jer- sey Croesus, When John Jeffreys was dying, tis said he called apes heaven to blight m prospects in life, but 1 enjoy pretty good healt to-day, and, barring the robbery and its attend- ing annoyances, I’ve had the best of luck.” ‘ Now, if we can catch the young man, you'll have better luck still,” said Captain Catchem, This brought Murcbison back to the present. **You must despoil him!” he exclai leaning suddenly across the table, ‘' Holdfas & Co, has lost its senior member. The papers iS b00 GOmic