Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 803 — page 2: what you’re looking at

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

, Dick Doom’s Clean Sweep. 9 ‘*'You are aware that another murder was committed last night, Captain Castleton?” ‘* Anotber murder last night, sir?’ and Cap- tain Castleton, of the United States Secret Service Bureau at Washington, started and gazed his chief in the face with the look of a man who found it hard to believe what he heard, ** Yes, sir, the old miser, known as the Hermit of the Potomac, was kuled in bis home last night.” — ** And robbed of course, sir?” ‘*On the contrary he was not robbed, nor was his home, as far as can be seen, for his pocket- book was upon the table with his wallet, and nothing seemed disturbed about the premises,” ‘*Then what was the motive of the murder, if not to rob the man, for he is said to have laid away a large fortune?” “The safe was not broken open, and how the murderer entered is a mystery, for he left no trace of his going and coming.” ‘* Perhaps he shot his victim through a win- dow ;” ‘* The blinds are solid, for the house i: an old- fashioned one and stands in the midst of a two acre lot, overgrown with shrubbery, as you may know; but then the miser was killed with a knife, not by a gun-sbot,” ‘* You surprise me, chief; but I will go at once to the place and take with me picked men - of my force, “What I discover I will report to you to- night,” and Captain Castleton left his chief, and with half a dozen of his best Secret Service men went to the home of the old miser who was known as the Hermit of the Potomac, The house was an old one, built of brick and dating back nearly a century. . It was located upon a bill overlooking the Potomac River, and its grounds had once sloped down to the river, For two-score years the house had not been inhabited, and there were many who said that it was haunted, for its former owner bad been murdered there, and strange stories were told of the goings on in the old mansion a half a cen- tury before, Then an old man had rented the place for a mere song, and there he dwelt ali alone, He was wont to pay cash for the little that he bongbt; be did bis own cooking and washing; and wuen or where he made his money no one knew. He had money, that was certain, and so he was called a miser, then a hermit—the Miser Hermit, | And this was thé man whom Captain Castle- tov, of the Secret, Service, found lying dead in the old house, A boy who took milk to him daily had re- ceived no answer to his knocks, and so had re- ported to a policeman, The door was broken open, and there, dead, in the large room where he lived, was found the old Hermit of the Potomac, A small man, with white bair and beard, ap- parently across the threshold of three-score ny Who had been the deadly foe to take his ife' And why had tbat life been takan? Not to get his gold, for all that gold, bis watch, pocket- book and possessions were not disturbed, Had the assassin been frightened away after dealing the fatal blow, before he could secure the results of his crime? It would seem so, for, as stated, nothing had been disturbed; nothing was missed, as far as careful inspection could determine, Not a scrap of paper told who the old Hermit was, and when an expert had opened the safe, nothing was found there save gold, silver and bank-bills, amounting to many thousands of dol- lars, but no documents to betray the identity of the owner, The house was as it had been left long years before, save that the furniture showed the ravages of time, The curtains and carpets were moth-eaten; mold was upon the old paintings, and general decay rested upon all, A stove, a cot, table, books and cupboard, with an iron safe set in the wall, were in the living-room of the Hermit, and there were some vhs Saga clothes and odds and ends of no value, In the pocketbook of the miser were several hundred dollars; bis watch was of considerable value and a diamond solitaire glittered upon the little finger of his left band, Why were not these things taken? Why had the Hermit of the Potornac been murdered? oh. The Secret Service men n ik _ with the question in theireyes, but not one co ed at eac . other CHAPTER IL, AT FAULT. ** WELL, Captain Castleton, what is the result of your investigations?” asked the Secret Service chief as the captain of the District Detectives ap- peared before him that evening, Captain Castleton’s hair was well sprinkled with silver, showing him to be nota novice but avetoran. He had wona reputation as detec- tive and crook-hunter second to few in the ser- vice, and, as an officer, bad been brought race to face with crime iu all its phases, for thirty years or more. At the question of his chief he dropped weari- ly into a coair, passed his hand across his brow and said in a dejected tone: **] acknowledge myself beaten, chief,” ‘“* That is a strange thing for you to do, Castle- ton.” ‘* Strange, but true,” ** You went to the Hermit’s home?” **T did, sir, to find that a policeman had broken the doorin., It had been locked on the inside, and not the sligiitest sign was there of how the murderer ertered or left the building.” ** The doors were all locked, you say?” ** Yes, sir, on the inside.” “The windows?” ** Had the bolts fastened in all of them, sir,” **The cellar door?” ** Was fastened from within,” “Then the murderer must have entered the mansion along with the Hermit,” ‘Then how did he get out, chief?” ** That remains to be discovered.” *“T examined the chimneys and went over every room in the residence, and there are twenty-seven, for it has a cellar, two stories | and attic and two wings, with halls and corri- dors, and three stairways,” ** Could it have been a suicidal act?” **No, for the blow of the knife was in the heart, and the knife was then stuck up in the table, the blade being buried half an inch in the wood,” _ ‘* Remarkable, certainly. And the body? ‘Tne man was seated at the table, his watch in one band, bis wallet of money in the other, and in the latter were the two keys opening the iron safe set in the wall,”’ ** Did you take an inventory?” ‘** Of the things in that room, yes, sir.” ** And of the money?” **T did.” ** Was there much?” **Nine hundred dollars in the leather case, and just thirty-one thousand one hundrea dol- lars in the safe,” ‘*So much? You surprise me.” ‘* Yes, sir, in gold, silver and bank bills, ‘“‘Then there were his watch, chain and a diamond ring of considerable value,” ‘* How many men did you have with ‘* Six, and the very best in the force.’ ‘* What was the expression upon the face of the dead!” “* One of horror,” 6é Ah 1” ** All of my men noted that fact, sir.” ‘*And not one could advance a theory as to the murder?” ‘Save tbat the assassin had been frightened away before he could rob his victim—the motive of course for the murder, chief, being robbery.” ‘* No one advanced the suicide theory?” ** [t did not seem possible, ” ** Why impossible?” ‘**A man could hardly drive a knife into his heart, draw it forth, stick it into the table and then sit calmly down in an easy-chair, take bis watch in one hand, his pocketbook in another and wait to breathe bis last,” ‘**1t might be possible, perhaps, but not proba- ble, Captain Castleton, but we must get the views of the doctors on that,” ‘**The autopsy is being held now, sir, and they Here orders to send their report at once to you, chief, ‘“Then we will soon know; but, considering the closed house, all locked from. witbin, I lean toward the theory of suicide,” ‘* Would not the man have left some line of his intention, sir?” ‘*1t might be that he was’seized with a sudden impulse to take his life. Was there no will found?” ** Not a scrap of paper, sir.” ** Ahi here is the report of the doctors, now,” and the chief took from the hand of a messenger a sealed packet: | He glanced quickly over it and said: ‘* They all agree that the Hermit might have yout” phenomenal case if he did so, as the knife was ‘being well into the heart, and by a straight low, ‘* His vitality must have been wonderful for him to have stuck the knife up in the table, after giving himself his death wound, and then to seat himself in his easy-chair and grasp his watch and pocketbook; yet it ts possible, they say.” “Then it will have to be reported as a suicide, sir, from causes unknown, and of an unknown man?” ** Yes, so report it, captain, yet I wish you to devote one month to solving the mystery of that murder or suicide and also to finding out just who the Hermit of the Potomac was.” ‘* His name was Prevost Basstord, sir.” ‘** That tells nothing, for it may, or may not have been his true name, ‘* Unweave the web of mystery, Castleton, in the month that I give you.” **T will try, sir; but if I fail?” . **You can do no more than try; but if you fail then | shall seek t' e services of one whom I believe never yet to Lave failed in unraveling a mystery.” “May I ask who that is, chief?” ‘* Yes, Lrefer to the young man Dick Doom, known as the Ferret of the Golden Fetters,” ‘“T have heard of bim as a wonder-worker,” was the captain’s reply, ‘‘ and will be glad to have bim put on the case,” CHAPTER III. A TANGLED SKEIN, THE death of the Hermit of the Potomac created a stir in the City of Washington, for there was a mystery unsolved regarding it, as to whether it was a murder or a suicide, In spite of the report of the coroner that it was a suicide, there were many who leant to the belief that the old man had been murdered, Still, if murdered, why bad he not been robhed, unless the murderer had been frightened away before be had time to consummate bis crime by Then too, how had be made his ingress and egress to the house, as every door was locked, every window bolted on the inside? et: ‘ Were the police right in the theory of suicide, or were they wrong? was the question which many asked each other. Who was the man that had thus perished at night in his secluded home, either by his own band, or by the band of another? That question also remained unanswered, _ People drove and walked by the old mansion by hundreds, striving to golve the mystery by looking at the weird place, Boat-loads of people on the river rested wpon their oars and gazed up at the.gloomy old mansion, Persons belated at night on the road that led by it hastened on their way with dim forebod- ings of evil as they passed it, But gradually the town talk of the tragedy subsided, and only the dwellers near, those who daily saw the structure, kept up their interest in it. The month rolled by, which the Secret Service chief had given to Captain Castleton to ferret out the mystery, and no report had been made to him of a satisfactory solution other than the suicide theory. Seated in bis office one morning the chief glanced at the calendar before him and his eyes fel) upon a date encircled by a red pencil-mark, ‘¢ Castleton’s time is up to-day. . ‘< must send for him,” said the chief, As he spoke the captain of the District Detec- tives entered the private cflice. ‘‘ Ah, captain, I was just thinking of you,” ‘‘ And I am here, chief, to make my report,” ‘‘Sit down and tell me what you have dis- covered regarding the murder of the Hermit of the Potomac!” ee? be ‘* Nothing, sir, more than that I am convinced ' now, as you are, that it was a suicide,” ‘‘ But I am not so convinced, Castleton.” ‘‘- You are not, sir?” ce No,” ‘‘ But I thought you were,” ‘No, I said that it was possible.” ** And you dc not believe that it was a case of suicide, sir?” **T do not,” | ‘‘ Well, sir, Iam sure that it was, for I put men separately upon the work, not one know ing what the other was about, and every one came in with the same report.” ; ‘* What was that?” ‘That there was no reason to believe that it —— be — ~~ _ give an answer. 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