american tragedy

Chapter 104 (2)
Chapter 35 (2)
Then they reached Utiga, and it took them three hours to catch the Lycurgus train.After spending another hour and twenty minutes in the car, they arrived around seven o'clock.Along the way, Orville Mason busied himself trying to retrieve from the broken, grieving Titus some fragmentary recollection of his own and Roberta's humble past--her generosity, her loyalty, her Her virtues, her gentle conscience, the places and working environments where she worked in the past, how much money she earned, and how she spent the money she earned were trivial things, but Mason could understand the meaning of them.

Having come to Lycurgus with Titus, he hastened to the Lycurgus Hotel, where he found a room for the father, and gave him a rest.After that, he made a visit to the District Attorney's office to obtain his authority to carry out his work, and he also got a police officer at his disposal, and assigned a strong-bodied plainclothes detective.Afterwards he made his way to Clyde's lodgings in Taylor Street, in the hope that he might be arrested there.But it was Mrs. Peyton who came out to see them, and said that Clyde lived here, but not now. (He left last Tuesday. According to her thinking, he went to see friends at Lake NO.12.) In this way, he could only bite the bullet and explain: first, he is the District Attorney of Kadalaki County; , in which a girl was drowned at Great Berton, there were suspicious circumstances in which they had some reason to believe that Clyde was with her at that time.Mrs. Peyton, therefore, was now obliged to go to his room, and Mrs. Peyton drew back a little, with a look of surprise, concern, and disbelief on her face.

Mr. Clyde Griffiths won't! Ah, how funny! Why, he's Samuel Griffiths' nephew, and he's well-known here.I believe they will tell you about him in the hall if you must know.But something like this, ah, is impossible!" She looked at Mason and the detective who showed him the badge, as if she doubted whether they were honest and had such power.

The detective, who was accustomed to such situations, was already standing beside Mrs. Peyton, at the foot of the stairs leading to the upper building.Mason took out his special search warrant from his pocket.

"I'm very sorry, ma'am. But I must ask you to point to his room. Here's a search warrant. This officer has been sent here at my command." She immediately realized that fighting the law was useless, and pointed out uneasily. Clyde's room.But in my heart I still thought it was a crazy, unfair, insulting mistake.

But as soon as the two men had entered Clyde's room, looking around, they both immediately noticed a small, not very strong box.The chest was locked and kept in a corner.Detective Fance immediately went to pick it up to see how heavy it was, and whether it was strong or not; Mason began to check everything in the room—all the drawers, except for a few lost underpants, shirts, and the Dubles and Starks. In addition to some outdated invitations from the Griffiths, the Griffiths, and the Harriets, he also found a notebook.It was brought home by Clyde from his own desk, and it read: "Supper at Stark's, Wednesday, February 22." Below it: "Friday, [-]nd, at Dubles, Mason immediately matched the handwriting with the handwriting on the card in his pocket, and the handwriting was exactly the same.From this point of view, convinced that he was in the room of the man he was looking for, he took the invitation and looked at the box.The detective was also thinking about what to do with the box.

"What now, sir? Do you want to take it away, or open it here?"

"I think," said Mason gravely, "we'd better open it right here, Fance. I'll get it later. But I'm going to find out what's in there now." The detective drew a handle from his pocket at once. A heavy chisel looked around for a hammer.

"It's not very strong," he said, "I think if you say a word, I can kick it off."

Mrs. Peyton was astonished at these circumstances, and wishing they would not do so, she exclaimed, "If you want a hammer, you can find it. But why don't you wait a minute and get a coppersmith! Ah, never heard of it." Said such things."

But when the detective picked the lock with a hammer, he saw in the small top shelf some insignificant odds and ends of Clyde's clothing—socks, collars, ties, a scarf, garters, a cigarette-holder, A red lacquered ashtray, and a pair of roller skates.In addition to these, however, in the corner of the box was a tightly wrapped package containing the last fifteen letters from Roberta, addressed to him from Beards; and a small photograph of her, dated last year. for him; and another packet in which were all Sandra's letters and invitations to him, up to the time she had left for Pine Bay.As for the letter from there, Clyde carried it with him and placed it on his chest.It is the third package that can suffice to prove his criminal behavior.It contained eleven letters from his mother, the first two addressed to Harry Tennet at the Chicago Post Office.This situation is very suspicious at first glance.And some other messages in this packet were sent to Clyde Griffiths, not only to the United Club of Chicago, but also to Lycurgus.

The District Attorney stopped looking at what was still in the box and immediately opened and read the letters, the first three in the Roberta case.Thus it became clear why she had gone to Beards.Looking at the first three letters from his mother, he knew that the paper and envelope were bad.The letter hinted at the incident in which the debauchery had driven him out of Kansas City and how to get on the right track.In short, Mason, who has always restrained himself and has limited social experience, can get the impression that this person's character is dissolute, naughty, and absurd from the very beginning.

At the same time, to his great astonishment, he knew now that, apart from his uncle's care for him here, Clyde was apparently a member of the impoverished, religious Griffiths family.Under normal circumstances, this might have made him more or less sympathetic to the Clyde case, but now, because of Sandra's letters, because of Roberta's mournful letters and his mother's mention of being in Kansas. If he wanted to commit crimes in the city, he was convinced that Clyde's personality was not only capable of plotting such a crime, but also could do it cruelly.As for the crime in Kansas City, he had to wire the District Attorney there for details.

With this in mind, he began to read Sandra's notes, invitations, or letters of affection.Although the view is relatively rough, it is still sharp and in-depth.All these letters were written on much perfumed paper on which her initials were specially printed.The more letters are written, the more intimate they become.In the end, letters always began: "Clyde, my darling," or "Sweetest Black Eye," or "My dear lad."The full name below is "Sandra", or "Your One Sandra".And some of them were recent, like the letters of May 26th, May [-]th, May [-]th, or, as he noted, just as Roberta's very sad letter arrived. written when.

By now, everything is very clear.On one side is a girl who has been secretly abandoned, and he has the cheek to try to cheat the love of another girl, who obviously has a much higher social status.

Fascinated by the amusing situation, but startled, he realized at the same time that this was no time to sit and meditate, and that the box must be taken to the hotel immediately.Then, if possible, he must find the man and try to arrest him.He ordered the detective to call the police, and tried to get the box to his room at the Lycurgus Hotel, while he hurried to Samuel Griffith's house, but found no one living in the city. , they are all on Green Forest Lake.However, after talking with them on the phone, I got a message. It is said that this Clyde Griffiths is now in the villa of the Cranston family on No. 12 Lake, near Sharon, the Finchley family villa nearby.Mason had long associated the name Finchley with the town of Sharon and Clyde in his heart, and immediately came to the conclusion: he must be in this area, and maybe he was sending him letters and invitations (he had just seen At Sandra Finchley's summer house with that girl who passed away.Besides, didn't the captain of the "Swan" say that he saw that young man from Three Mile Bay landed there? Ah, I got it! I got him!

After carefully considering the soundness of his method, he immediately decided to go to Sharon and Pine Bay himself.He notified the Lycurgus district attorney and police chief of Clyde's material and of his murder and his arrest.And Sheriff Newton Slack of Bridgeburg, Hayter, and his own assistant, told them all three to meet him at Sharon at once.

Meanwhile, pretending to be on Mrs. Peyton's behalf, he made a long-distance call to the Cranstons' cottage in Pine Bay.The phone is answered by a servant. "Yes, sir, he's here, but he's not here now, sir. I think he's gone camping across the lake, sir. Any message, sir?" Then he answered Mason with something else. , maybe they went to Bear Lake, thirty miles away, to play together.But when he will come back, he is not sure, he is afraid that he will not come back within a day or two.Clyde was definitely with them, though.

Immediately, Mason called the Sheriff of Bridgeburg again and asked him to take four or five people with him.In this way, they can separately pursue and arrest anywhere in Sharon.And put him in the detention center in Bridgeburg, let him truthfully recruit these astonishing facts according to the legal procedures. From the information we have, it must be him who killed Roberta Alden.

(End of this chapter)