Part 6

‘Receiving news of his death, his attorney in New York, acting on previous instructions, opened his will, in which he had left his entire fortune of five million dollars to the producer.

‘But, strange as it may seem, it was found John Morgan never had a brother. What a situation!

‘Under the circumstances, and according to law, who received the huge fortune?’ smiled Fordney to his dinner guests.

68 _The Professor Stops a Blunder_

At four o’clock Thursday afternoon, Louis Mundy unexpectedly received a telegram requesting him to return home immediately, as his brother was ill.

At eight that evening, he alighted from the plane in Washington. He had not been in the city during the past two months. Hurrying to his suburban home, he found his brother greatly improved. At ten o’clock he set out on a hike through the country, returning at midnight.

These facts were all verified.

Between eleven and twelve o’clock that night, John Skidder was murdered, and the only thing missing from his house was a note for ten thousand dollars signed by Mundy.

Skidder’s secretary said the note was habitually kept at the office and that she was very surprised when he took it home that evening.

Mundy declared he saw or passed no one on his hike, but under severe questioning admitted having been near Skidder’s house shortly after eleven o’clock.

A thorough investigation revealed that Skidder had no known enemies and no one, other than Mundy, had the slightest reason for wishing him dead.

Mundy was consequently arrested. As he knew Skidder lived with only an old man servant (who was out until after twelve that night), the police believed he had gone unobserved to the house, demanded the note, and, when refused, had murdered Skidder. No one but Mundy could possibly profit by the disappearance of the note. As it was due in ten days and he was in no position to meet it, they anticipated little difficulty in obtaining a conviction due to the strong motive and weak alibi.

Asked his opinion, Professor Fordney surprisingly said he DIDN’T believe any American jury would convict Mundy.

He was right— Now, don’t argue! There’s only one answer. Don’t peek! Figure it out.

69 _The Perfect Crime_

Peter Johannes had one burning ambition—to commit a perfect crime. After much thinking and careful planning, he chose burglary for his experiment and a large brownstone mansion for the scene of his action.

Learning its occupants had left town, he arrayed himself in a business suit of conservative cut, flung a light topcoat over his arm, picked up a Gladstone bag, covered with foreign labels, and set out.

He had ascertained, of course, when the policeman patrolling that beat was farthest away. At such a time he drove up in his swanky sport roadster, swung jauntily to the sidewalk, skipped up the steps, and fitted a skeleton key into the lock, which yielded easily. So far so good, he thought.

Inside, he adjusted a black mask to his eyes and silk gloves to his hands: the former for a bit of local color he couldn’t resist; the latter for more practical purposes. What a jolly thing this burglaring was!

He quickly filled his Gladstone with silver and other valuables. Hurrying out, he removed his gloves after closing the door.

‘Done, and not a single clue left!’ he said to himself.

As he was about to descend the steps, he saw out of the corner of his eye the policeman rounding the corner. Feigning disinterest, he quickly pushed the bell-button and stood there whistling.

‘Hey, you!’ shouted the policeman, now standing at the bottom of the steps. ‘What are you doin’ there? Them people ain’t home.’

‘Howdy, Officer. How goes it?’ said our hero blithely as he turned to greet the bluecoat. ‘I know they’re not home; been trying to raise someone for five minutes. Annoying, too, after running out to see them. Oh, well,’ he continued, ‘I’ll be going along,’ as he unconcernedly picked up his bag.

‘You bet you will—right to the hoosegow,’ bellowed the guardian of the peace. ‘Your story I might have believed, but.... Come on, now, I’m takin’ you down.’

Alas for the perfect crime! ‘What caused our hero’s arrest?’ asked Professor Fordney of his class.

70 _The Professor Sees Through It_

‘Let’s go in to dinner—it’s twenty minutes after six, and I’m starved,’ said Hawkins.

‘Right!’ responded Professor Fordney, his train companion, ‘I’m hungry, too.’

The two men had met only a few minutes before, as casually as travelers do, but already seemed to find each other agreeable company.

At dinner Hawkins explained he was a conductor on another railroad and bemoaned the loss of passenger traffic. Fordney, too, decried the depression and its effects.

When the conductor came through, Hawkins tendered a pass with a friendly remark, and Fordney, who said he had boarded the train in such a hurry he didn’t have time to purchase a ticket, paid a cash fare. Neither he nor the conductor having proper change, he borrowed fourteen cents from Hawkins.

After an enjoyable dinner, they went back to the club car for a smoke and continued their chat.

‘Ever been in Savannah, Mr. Hawkins?’ asked Fordney.

‘Why, yes. Several times. Why?’

‘Oh, nothing in particular. Charming city, isn’t it?’

‘Yes, it is, but I like the quaintness of New Orleans better, myself.’

And so they chatted through a pleasant evening until Hawkins, with a yawn, said: ‘Well, it’s a quarter to eleven. Bedtime for me. See you in the morning. Good-night, Professor. I’ve enjoyed knowing you.’

‘Good-night,’ responded Fordney. ‘I’ll give you the fourteen cents in the morning. Don’t let the fact that I’m aware of your deception keep you awake!’

‘What?’ cried the amazed Hawkins.

What did Fordney mean?

71 _The Kidnapers’ Cleverness_

‘There are times,’ mused Professor Fordney from the depths of the most comfortable chair in the lounge of the University Club, ‘when the criminal does show ingenuity of a high order. I recall a most interesting and baffling case on which I worked ten years ago.

‘A wealthy man whose daughter had been kidnaped had been warned that, if he appealed to the police, she would be killed. Consequently, it was difficult to get his coöperation in running down the criminals. However, upon receiving the following note delivered in an express package 12″ × 12″ × 12″ he sought my advice.

Send us, by the means herein given you, $5,000 in cash, at exactly midnight tonight. If you do so, your daughter will be returned unharmed.

‘My client did as directed and his child was returned safely next day.

‘Do you know, Jim,’ asked Fordney of his fireside companion, ‘what means the kidnapers employed that made trapping of them, or discovery of their whereabouts, absolutely impossible? There’s a nice little problem in deduction for a rising young attorney,’ he laughed.

After ten minutes of deep silence on Jim’s part, he said, ‘I can’t figure it out, Professor. What was it?’

SOLUTIONS

1. _A Crack Shot_

It was a dark, starless, moonless night. The nearest habitation was five miles. The eyes of no animal ever shine in the dark unless there is a light by which they can be reflected, and a man’s eyes never shine under any circumstances.

Therefore, Butler could not possibly have seen any eyes shining at him in the dark. It was clearly murder.

And thy deep eyes, amid the gloom, Shine like jewels in a shroud. Longfellow.

2. _On the Scent_

Not even a prohibition agent would use alcohol in an automobile radiator in or about Miami!

The oil and wine of merry meeting. Irving.

3. _Fatal Error_

The Professor knew it would take a keener pair of eyes than Bronson’s to see a nod in the dark.

The lights had not been turned on. Remember?

Darkness visible. Milton.

4. _The Poison Murder Case_

Unless Bob Kewley had returned home after telling the Professor he was going to the theater, he could not have known the library door was locked. The fact that he did, coupled with the strong motive, naturally directed suspicion to him. He inadvertently gave himself away.

Error will slip through a crack, while truth will stick in a doorway. Shaw.

5. _A Strange ‘Kidnaping’_

Had Johnson wound his watch immediately before 2 A.M. Friday, the time of his alleged kidnaping, it would not have been running Sunday afternoon when he recovered consciousness and said he heard it ticking.

No standard-make watch will run sixty hours without winding.

This act is an ancient tale new told; Being urged at a time unseasonable. Shakespeare.

6. _A Valuable Formula_

In a small room the intruder would _unquestionably_ have heard Hyde dialing Headquarters, and therefore could not have been unaware of his presence.

As Hyde had obviously lied about this, Fordney was convinced he had fabricated the entire story in order to sell the formula twice.

Don’t tell me of deception; a lie is a lie, whether it be a lie to the eye or a lie to the ear. Dr. Johnson.

7. _Strangled_

There had been a dry, hot spell at that place for twenty-two days. Irene Greer’s hair was matted with mud; therefore, she must have been attacked elsewhere.

The face of things appeareth not the same far off and when we see them right at hand. Euripides.

8. _Death in the Office_

Gifford could not have been shot at the time he called Fordney, as he was found with a bullet through his heart. The Professor’s theory was that Gifford wanted his death to appear as murder in order to protect his heavy insurance.

The heart does not lie. Alfieri.

9. _They Usually Forget Something_

The note, although misspelled, poorly expressed, and written by a seemingly illiterate hand, was punctuated properly, in two places. A semicolon and a comma would not have been used had the writer been an uneducated man.

Force of habit had betrayed him!

You write with ease to show your breeding, But easy writing’s curst hard reading. Sheridan.

10. _The Professor Gives a Lesson_

Cardoni said he saw the kidnapers around a table as he peered through the keyhole. Yale locks do not have keyholes.

Kelley was justified in throwing him out, don’t you think? The class found this an easy one—did you?

Since your eyes are so sharpe that you cannot onely looke through a milstone, but cleane through the minde. Lyly.

11. _Upstairs and Down_

The policeman ran through the hall and unlocked the kitchen door.

The doors to the porch and cellar were locked on the inside. Had the old lady committed suicide, she could not have locked the door leading to the hall from the outside.

The murderer, in leaving, locked this door and forgot to remove the key. The inevitable slip!

A blockhead cannot come in, nor go away, like a man of sense. Bruyère.

12. _Class Day_

The student readily recognized the absurdity of the Professor’s story which he had given to his class to test their quick detection of a glaring inconsistency. If it must be explained, an orchestra under personal leadership does not play during the showing of a ‘talkie.’ Right?

Wit marries ideas lying far apart, by a sudden jerk of the understanding. Whipple.

13. _A Hot Pursuit_

Smith said he _ran_ after the burglar. Had he done so he could not have known the cellar window had been chiseled open. Therefore, his story was obviously faked.

A lie never lives to be old. Sophocles.

14. _A Question of Identity_

As Diana Lane was walking down the corridor with her back to Nora, it was impossible for the servant to know Diana was wearing her famous emerald pendant.

There is an alchemy of quiet malice by which women can concoct a subtle poison from ordinary trifles. Hawthorne.

15. _A Yachtsman’s Alibi_

As Picus said there was no breeze, the distress flag would have hung limp against the mast, and the Captain could not have seen, at that distance, whether or not the flag was upside down.

That’s all the Professor needed to determine the falsity of his alibi. However, Picus was a poor sailor. While the International Distress Signal is a flag flown upside down, it is by custom and regulation always flown at half-mast.

... And the sea charm’d into a calm so still That not a wrinkle ruffles her smooth face. Dryden.

16. _Murder at Coney Island_

Jasper said he found the woman sitting _up_ in the _middle_ of the chariot. The motion of the merry-go-round would have made it impossible for a dead body to remain upright in the middle of the chariot.

Sir, you are giving a reason for it; but that will not make it right.... Johnson.

17. _Too Clever_

The murderer tried to give the impression that Dawson had died before finishing the incriminating note. Had he written it and died before completing it, he could not have put the pen back in the tray where it was found.

In his effort to incriminate Lynch, the murderer had been too cautious. A costly oversight.

Man’s caution often into danger turns, And his guard falling crushes him to death. Young.

18. _Bloody Murder_

The Professor knew it was not suicide, because Thompson’s coat, which was flung _across_ the room, was blood-stained. Quite impossible if he had taken his own life.

Blood, though it sleep a time, yet never dies. Chapman.

19. _Death Back-Stage_

There were _no_ finger-prints on the gun which killed Claudia Mason. She could not have shot herself in the temple and then wiped off the revolver.

The murderer neglected to get her fingerprints on the gun.

A fool cannot be an actor, though an actor may act a fool’s part. Sophocles.

20. _An Easy Combination_

It would have been impossible for Fellows to have hastily dialed a number in the _dark_. Try it!

Haste trips up its own heels, fetters and stops itself. Seneca.

21. _A Modern Knight_

The fact that the bullet was found in the body and the only trace of its firing was the hole in the curtain _below_ the window-sill proved conclusively the shot could not have been fired from within the room.

Rocca entered at the moment his sister shot Chase from outside. Grabbing the gun from her hand, he chivalrously protected her.

But, friend, the thing is clear—speaks for itself. Aristophanes.

22. _The Jewel Robbery_

The butler said that, as he called for help, Dudley, a stranger, rushed in.

Owings had locked up before leaving and, therefore, Dudley could not have rushed in through a locked door. The robbery was obviously framed by Stuben and Dudley.

Absurdities die of self-strangulation. Haliburton.

23. _Before the Coroner’s Inquest_

Curry could not possibly have ‘looked up’ while rowing _upstream_ and seen the action he described which took place fifty yards _behind_ him.

The eyes of other people are the eyes that ruin us. Franklin.

24. _The Fifth Avenue Hold-Up_

Baldwin said, ‘Mr. Cross tried to call my attention to it [safe] with a jerk of his thumb’ at a time when Cross was unconscious. Obviously impossible. Baldwin was lying, which there was no reason for doing had he been innocent.

When all sins are old in us, and go upon crutches. Covetousness does but then lie in her cradle. Decker.

25. _Behind Locked Doors_

Kingston thought his boldness in calling attention to his own footprints in the carpet would distract Fordney’s attention from their significance.

The room had been locked for three months. Of the three men, only Watkins rushed into the room; Fordney and Kingston halting over the threshold. Therefore, the fact that Kingston’s footprints were found near the chair in which his uncle sat dead pointed directly to him as the murderer.

Cunning differs from wisdom As twilight from open day. Dr. Johnson.

26. _Lost at Sea_

It would have been impossible for Mrs. Rollins to have seen a man pick up from the deck the bag of diamonds. On a dark, moonless night at sea one literally cannot see his hand before his face.

The repose of darkness is deeper on the water than on the land. Victor Hugo.

27. _A Suave Gunman_

Taylor said the bandit wore a silver belt-buckle. This he could not have seen, for he stated: ‘As the robber passed through the door, he unbuttoned his coat and slipped the revolver in his back pocket.’

It would have been impossible for Taylor to have seen the man’s belt-buckle when his coat was buttoned.

As this statement was false, the rest of his account was disregarded by the Professor.

He draweth out the thread of his verbosity Finer than the staple of his argument. Shakespeare.

28. _Accidental Death_

Had the man’s injuries been caused only by being thrown through the windshield, there would have been no blood on the front seat of the car. Therefore, the Professor knew the blood on the seat had been caused by injuries to the man, with probable murderous intent, before he was thrown through the windshield.

His assailant had killed him, started the car, and had then hopped off the running-board, hoping the wreckage would cover the murder.

Forethought we may have, undoubtedly, but not foresight. Napoleon.

29. _Easy Money_

Wilkins said he saw the burglar pick up a stack of ten- and twenty-dollar bills from the table in the center of the large library.

Had he not been guilty, he could not have known what the denominations of the bills were. It would have been impossible to have determined this from the doorway.

An unconscious slip on his part.

If you are doubtful, just try to determine the denomination of a stack of bills on a table in the center of a large room, from the doorway.

For any man with half an eye, What stands before him may espy; But optics sharp it needs I ween, To see what is not to be seen. John Trumbull.

30. _Robbery at High Noon_

He was suspicious of John, the nephew, of course. Upon being asked where he was at the time of the robbery, he stated he was ‘hauling in a muskie.’

Unless he had guilty knowledge, he could not possibly have known at what time the robbery was committed.

He fell neatly into the Professor’s trap, don’t you think?

Let guilty men remember, their black deeds Do lean on crutches made of slender reeds. John Webster.

31. _The Wrong Foot Forward_

Paslovsky, the witness, who could not understand or speak enough English to make a simple statement to the court, yet knew _exactly_ what the conductor yelled to the motorman.

This was so patently impossible that the Judge was entirely justified in dismissing the suit.

Liars are verbal forgers. Chatfield.

32. _Death Attends the Party_

Had Dawes fallen on the table after being shot, the jar would have knocked over the ‘crazily balanced glasses.’ As the Professor found the glasses on the table, _balanced_, it was obvious Dawes had been shot, then carefully placed at the table to give the appearance of suicide. A bad slip!

There is nothing insignificant, nothing! Coleridge.

33. _No Way Out_

The note was written with _pencil_, yet there was no pencil found in the room. Apparently the murderer wrote the note to resemble the dead man’s handwriting and through force of habit put it in his pocket.

Men are men; the best sometimes forget. Shakespeare.

34. _Midnight Murder_

Day said he got the blood on his muffler when he bent over Quale’s body. As blood coagulates and dries in a short time, it would have been impossible for him to have stained his muffler unless it had touched the blood of Quale shortly after his death. Therefore, Fordney knew he must have been with Quale soon after he was stabbed.

Murder, though it have no tongue, Will speak with most miraculous organ. Shakespeare.

35. _Speakeasy Stick-Up_

Sullivan, the bartender, said that, as he worked the combination to open the wall safe, he _heard_ the hold-up man _behind him_. As he was not permitted to move, he could not have known the gunman was a _big, tough-looking mug_, as he described him.

As there would be no other motive in telling this impossible story, the hold-up was faked.

Inspiring, bold John Barleycorn, What dangers thou canst make us scorn. Burns.

36. _Behind Time_

The engineer said he had not seen Nelson until he was practically on top of him. That, of course, is impossible. An engineer of a train running on a straight-away can see nothing as close as ten yards in front of him.

You cram these words into mine ears, Against the stomach of my sense. Shakespeare.

37. _A Broken Engagement_

Molly said she had retired at ten, after locking her door, and had not awakened until Fordney had aroused her.

Yet a few minutes after Dot had been murdered, the Professor idly ‘shaped the wax’ of the candle on her desk. This would have been impossible had not the candle been burning within a few minutes before he entered.

Her insistence that she had been asleep, together with the strong motive, convinced Fordney she was involved, as was later proved.

Love can make us fiends as well as angels. Charles Kingsley.

38. _The Holden Road Murder_

Had the butler dashed in the front door as he said he did, there would have been foot-tracks in the vestibule.

Remember, the Professor ‘splashed his way through the mud and rain, to the _door_ of 27 Holden Road,’ and found the vestibule spotless. Therefore, Wilkins was lying, and as Cannon corroborated his story, he was also necessarily involved.

Nay, her foot speaks. Shakespeare.

39. _Fishermen’s Luck_

Holmes could not have seen the bag on the bottom of the lake during a cloudburst. The agitation of even crystal clear water under such conditions would have so disturbed the surface that an object on the bottom could not be seen.