Beadle's Dime Library No. 628 — page 13: what you’re looking at

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

i ** Just by pure accident, six months after the death of the millionaire,a woman makes the discovery that the mysterious man whom she wedded was the great money-king, and, vatur- ally she is anxious for her share in the estate,” **'Phe conclusion to which you have come is a logical one. Engleburt was killed so that this woman might come forward as his widow.” ‘* Exactly! and now [reach for the man in the background! My suspicions fall upon this inglishman, the man’ who, by accident, made the discovery that this Engleburt, who so mys- terously disappeared, the woman’s husband, was the millionaire money-king.” _ “Yes, and although he is not apparently a very important witness for the woman, yet when the particylars are closely examined it will be seen that tae Engleburt who was with the woman was the millionaire,” ‘* Oh, yes, for a jury he is the most important witness of the lot!” Joe Phenix declared, ‘' The rest identify the man by a picture, he alone of all the witnesses is prepared.to swear that he saw the millionaire with the woman, “The others are honest—a trap was laid for them and they fell into it; they are testifying to what they believe to be the truth, and on the witness-stand such testimony is hard to shuke, for it is apparent that they are telling the trath as it appears to them, ‘Now we will take the testimony in detail,” the detective observed. ‘*I will not waste time upon the Englishman, for I think his story is a lie from beginning to end, He is either the master scoundrel who concocted the plot, or else a tool who is obeying the commands of the chief schemer., _“*Now take the evidence of the landlady, She only saw the woman’s husband a few times, never exchanged words with him but once, and as far as I can see, every time she saw the man it was after dark, in the entry, and the chances are that the passageway was dimly lighted. ‘*The minister and the witnesses to the mar- riage saw the man but onee, by night, for a few minutes only, while the marriage ceremony was performed. All the parties are Germans; the odds are a thousand to one that all of them are dull, commonplace folks, who are anything but keen observers, Abrabam Engleburt was an ordinary-looking a with nothing particularly striking about iim, “How easy it would be for a man, who was about the same size, to ‘make up’ with a wig and beard, so be would strongly resemble the pic- ture of the millionaire!” Joe Phenix explained, arguing the case with that shrewdness so char- acteristic of him, ‘Observe! the man who played the part of the millionaire need not bear such a striking resemblance to Engleburt as to be able to de- ceive people who were acquainted with the mil- lionaire, The task was a much easier one, ** All that was necessary was to make up near enough like Engleburt so tbat people when shown the picture of the money king five or six months afterward, would be able to declare, * Oh, yes, that is the man I saw!’” ‘You have hit upon the truth,” Dr. Mair- stone declared, ina tone of conviction. ‘1 do not think there is any doubt about it.” ‘‘ Neither do I; the only trouble about the matter will be to prove that I am correct, and I am afraid that is going to be an extremely difficult job,” the detective added, with a doubt- ful shake of the head, ‘* Another point about the case which has bothered me greatly, and that is the disappear- ance of the will which Abraham Engleburt made, : ** Of course, it is possible that the money-king changed his mind and destroyed the document, but I doubt 1. _ “It isa wild idea, I know, but the thought has come to me that the getting-up of this colossal scheme of plunder might have had something f do with tke disappearance of the will—that that was one of the moves in the game, for it stands to reason that if a will ‘was produced and no wife was mentioned in it, it would seem strange; and then too the ad- vocates of this claim could more easily come to an arrangement with one or two heirs than with some shrewd, sharp business men intrusted with the care of an es‘ate,” ‘s Yes, that is certainly true,” “* But to admit that that idea is possible would be to say that the murderer was an inmate of the house, or else had a tool there ready to do bis bidding, or else he could not have got at the will, ‘* The idea does seemed to be far-fetched,” the doctor observed. “Yes, I kuow it, but since long experience has shown me that such wild notions sometimes turn out to be true, I always take them into my cal- culations,” Joe Phenix replied, ‘‘ And I wish you to be on the lookout to see if you can dis- cover anything suspicious about any of the in- a of the sera ol h, you can depend upon my keeping a diligent watch!” Doctor Ne stotens, aod _. “Now that I have explained to you the opinion {have formed regarding this matter, the next t ie Ji oe Phenix’s Combine. | thing to do is to see what steps will be best to take,” ‘** | told Counselor Have to send the data regard- ing the witnesses to the office of Archibald, Douglass and Douglass, saying that I thought the matter had better be attended to by some legal gentleman, My idea in so acting was to givs you a chance at the witnesses,” the doctor explained, ‘* It was a wise move!” Joe Phenix declared, **T will assume a disguise and see what the parties amount to. ‘** When you leave here, go to the law-office and give them orders to turn the data over to a tnessenger whom you will send, a Mr. James Black who will give hisname and ask for the letter, ‘*It is my idea not to allow even Archibald, Douglass and Douglass to know that I am in the game, forin all such matters as this the more secret the detective can keep his movements the better chance there is for his success,” ‘** Of course! that goes without saying!” the doctor declared, And then Mairstone took his departure, He obeyed the detective’s injunctions in re- gard to calling at the law-office, then proceeded up-town, By three o’clock that afternoon Joe Phenix had Counselor Have’s letter containing the par- ticulars which he desired, **Now the game begins to get interesting!” Joe Phenix cried, —— CHAPTER XVI, ON THE TRAIL, Jor PHENrx took particular pains to disguise himself before he proceeded on his quest, for it was his game to avoid exciting suspicion if he could, The part he had resolved to play was that of a shabby-genteel lawyer, one of that large class who manage to make a living in all big cities by attending to work for large legal firms which the great lawyers do not care to bother with. It was the same disguise which the detective had worn when he had made the acquaintance of the millionaire, and now he was using it to conceal his identity, when proceeding to discov- er the murderer of the money-king. The change in bis appearance, produced by the assumption of the iron-gray wig, which cut off half his forehead, was so great that it was no wonder that when he made his appearance in the office of Archibald, Douglass and Douglass, ary he was well known, no one recognized 1m, A better test of the completeness of his disguise could not have been devised, After examining the memoranda penned by Counselor Have, the disguised detective deter- mined to see the German minister in Harlem Bt had performed the marriage ceremony, rst. And in order to test the reverend gentleman’s memory the detective went to a photographer and procured a picture of a middle-aged gentle- man with a beard something similar to the one worn by the millionaire, Joe Phenix also had 2 photograph of Engle- burt, and when the two were placed side by side it could be seen that there was little resemblance between the men who were the originals of the pictures, The detective found the minister at home, and as he had expected he found a good-natured old gentleman, who ‘evidently was not a man of much intelligence or education, He was perfectly willing to tell all be knew about the marriage. As there had been two people, the landlady and Counselor Have, to see him about the mat- ter since he performed the ceremony, all the particulars had been freshened upin bis mind. His story was simple enough. Two strangers had come in to be married, and as they appeared to be all right he married them; it was at night; he remembered the pair perfectly; and then when the disguised detective showed him the photograph of the stranger, he had unhesitat- ingly declared that it was the picture of the man he had married. The minister’s wife and servant-girl, the two who had acted as witnesses, also identified the photograph, Joe Phenix departed, feeling sure that the three would be apt to declare that the picture of almost any man with a short, dark beard was the likeness of the man who had been married. ‘“‘Tf they were on the witness-stand and from amidst a dozen pictures of men with beards they were asked to pick out the likeness of the man who came to be married, the odds are great that each one of the three would pick out a dif- ferent photograph, and I would be willing to bet a good round sum that not one of them would select Engleburt’s likeness!” the detective declared, It was a little after six o’clock when the detec- tive got down-town, so he got his supper before proceeding to the lodging-house, which he did not reach until a little after seven, Miss Jones came in answer to his ring, and he having explained his business she ushered him in- to her reception room, the back parlor, / Joe Phenix had his eyes about bim and he noticed as he passed through the hall that the door of the front parlor was ajar and he imme- diately jumped to the conclusion that some one in the room was on fhe watch for the purpose of discovering who it was that had called, When the landlady showed bim into the room, he noticed that it was separated from the front parlor by sliding doors and it seemed to bim that they were not closed as tightly as they might be, ‘*Oho!” be muttered between his teeth, ‘‘ some one intends to play the spy so as to overhear what | bave to say. ‘All right! if they succeed in gaining any in- formation 1 hope they will be able to profit by it.” Joe Phenix did not think tbat the landlady was a party to this proceeding, for he had already come to the conclusion that she was an honest woman, The detective prided himself upon his knowl- edge of faces and it was rarely that he was obliged to admit that his judgment in such mat- ters was not correct, ‘Tl don’t know much about these law mat- ters,” Miss Jones remarked as she brought the gentleman a chair and he complied with her in- vitation to be seated, *“*I never was in a court-room in my life,” she added. ‘‘ And suppose that if I have to go that I shall feel like a fish out of water.” ‘‘My dear madam,I do not think there is much likelihood of this case ever getting into a court-room,” the disguised detective remarked in the smooth, oily tone which, when be wore a disguise, like the one in which he was attired, he assumed in order to hide his own deep, sonorous tones. **T judge from the little knowledge I have of the matter that it will be settled quietly without coming to trial, It is one of those delicate family matters which should never be allowed to become public.” ' This was for the benefit of the listener, whom the disguised detective felt sure had his eye to the crack between the sliding doors, ** And you think Mrs. Engleburt will get her money all right without any trouble?’ the land- lady asked with that charming innocence so characteristic of the female mind, ‘* Well, 1 should not be surprised, but of course, it would not do for me to pass an opinion until I examine into the merits of the case,” the gentleman replied, assuming the non-commit- tal air common to the majority of legal gentle- men, ‘** But I will say, that, from what I have al- ready learned of the affair, it seems to me that Mrs, Engleburt has a strong case.” ** Oh, there isn’t any doubt about it!” Miss Jones declared in her bonest, outspoken way. **[Tecmein place of Archibald, Douglass and Douglass, the legal firm which has charge of all of Mr. Maurice Eugleburt’s business, but asa matter or this kind is entirely out of their line, they put the matter into my hands,” ‘** Yes, [ see, and I do hope you will be satis- fied that everything is all right,so that Mrs, Kngleburt will be able to get her money, for the Lord knows she needs it badly enough!” the landlady declared, ‘* She has been with me now for a number of months and [ must say a nicer little woman I never had in the house.” ** You will excuse me if I have to question you pretty sharply about this matter?” the sup- posed lawyer remarked in his blandest tones, ‘** T have to get at all the facts, you know, so as to be able to make a complete report. **Oh, bless you! I don’t mind!” the landlady exclaimed, ‘ I am going to tell the truth about the affair, and notbing but the truth, either, so it doesn’t matter how many questions you ask,” ‘¢ Yes, I see,” And then the disguised detective began his ex- amination, The landlady’s story was soon told and then the detective tried the picture test on her. As he had expec she bad never seen the gentleman but when he passed in the entry, after dark, and on the night when he had com- mitted his wife to her care, ° But the landlady took care to explain that the entry was plenty light enough for her to see what be looked like, and when she was asked if he resembled the picture which the detective produced she answered that he did. Like the Harlexa people she was easily de- ceived in regard to this photograph business, ‘‘ Your story certainly goes far to that this lady is really the widow of the dead millionaire!” ‘“ And she will come in for a good deal of money, I suppose,” Miss Jones asked with nat- ural curiosity. ‘Oh, yes, two or three millions of dollars!” The landlady threw up her hands in amaze- ment, ‘** How much?” she exclaimed, ‘* Two ar three millions, I said,” * You don’t mean it?” ** Oh, yes, Ido!” . ** Well, I never!” Miss Jones exclaimed, her breath fairly taken away by this unexpected in- 2 (cComicboo ~ ‘ 4, prove — : ' ‘ (SOL