MYSTERY OF THE MISSING SHIRT ———— By A. E. SWOYER (® by Short Story Pub. Co.) ERLOCK SHOMES, the great detective, sat, pipe In mouth, idly strumming a banjo. Times were dull in the sleuthing busi- ness, and our hero had not the price of a regular meal; no mysterious mur- ders nor clewless robberies sought his mighty brain for a solution. The truth must be told—the peerless Shomes was on his uppers! “Great days, these, Fatson !” he said, carefully emptying the ashes from his pipe into a bit of paper, and dexterous- iy rolling it into a cigarette. “Great days! No work for me; no annals for you to chronicle (at’ much per chronic) for posterity! It seems as if the pleasures of a neat murder no longer appeal to the strong-arm man; we ure becoming a race of mollycod- dies!” A tear for a moment dimmed the eagle eye of Shomes, trickled gently down his classic nose and lost itself in the stubble of his two weeks’ beard. “Education has done it,” replied his friend. ‘The real brainy eriminal has {earned that it is easier and more gen teel to gtart a bank than to break into one; while the monetary results are the same. But, cheer up, Shomes, nothing can keep a good man down but a tombstone or a cash register!” “You are right, Fatson! And even now | feel that in exactly five minutes, by yonder clock, a client, the of a dark and awful crime, come—"" A ponderous knocking at the interrupted him. Rising, hastily, the clock ahead five “Thus is the power of deduction vin- S0 he set diciemed ! son, the door. It is our ¢ (Or, perhaps, the landlord for January's rent,” he muttered. “"Tis well 1 Were not seen!) Before faithful Fatson reach the it opened, man, with a huge and shaggy entered and sank heavily into a chair the latter, not bulit for heavy collapsed. The strange visitor tinued until stopped by the floor. “Aha!” sald Shomes. “lI see that you are the victim of a slight accel dent! You wonder how I know? These things are easy Fatson, you remember the interesting little problem of the Emerald Frank- farter, in which this me to trace a clue the dull the police had not even seen?” The stranger, who, wreckage of the broken chair, been listening, open mouthed, rose. “Mr, Shomes,” sald he, the Man I need! ous und dreadful threatens me! a marked man! Last evening trembling tones of thls strong open aside. the door, and a ginking. con had now I am ' the man “last evening, as an evidence of this power, the very shirt was stolen from my back. You, alone, can save me!” “This Is, indeed, a mystery, a after my own heart. 1 the hand of that master criminal, all In dan- me the detalls” In the first I run a for years! Our lives are ger! But tell “They are few enough. place, my name is Dalrymple. come, to do. Last evening [ dressed fully to to the club; my undershirt particularly, it was the knitted Kind [I always wear, new. [ spent an hour at the club, on retiring found the shirt was gone! My outer shirt, vest, and coat were intact.” “Hmm have heen garment, at the places !™ “Marvelous!” ejaculated Fatson, Shomes, with the remarkable agil- ity he always showed when on a clew, whipped out a pocket rule and meas- ured the distance between Dalrymple's eyes. Swiftly he entered the results in a large ledger. *“'Tis, Indeed, Des mond’'s work!” he muttered. “We must be quick! Mr, Dalrymple, may I have a sample of your whiskers? It is important! Thanks.” Snipping off a generous portion of the guest's Incé curtains, he turned his back, stuffed them into his pipe and began smoking vigorously. Again turning to his guest, he shot the question. “Have you dined? No? Good! Then we will accompany you you must not be alone!" Dashing to the table, he seized a celluloid paper cutter and placed it in his pocket. “This Is a desperate case—we must go armed!” he gritted, with a sinister scowl. “Fatson, call a taxi. And,” he hissed, In a tone so low that Dalrymple could not catch the words, “don't get that gink on the corner, you lunkhead! Remember, we hung him up last week I” Quickly disguising himself, by turn- ing up his coat collar, the great de. tective led Fatson and Dalrymple to the door. In three-quarters of an hour the speeding taxi landed the party at a famous restaurant two blocks away, “Fatxon and I will enter first, Mr, Da'::mple,” muttered Shomes “We my + not be seen together!" “Why did you leave him, Shomes?” arlkpd Patson, timidly, as they hurried inte the restaurant, #Fatson! Fatson! You will never be a great detective. Don't you know that the last man out pays the taxi? go but sald Shomes. “You must robbed of this—er-—under then, either in your home, ciub, or between the two " You would do well to rend my mono- graph upon the subject.” The meal passed In silence, save for the voice of Dalrymple ordering fresh supplies. Like all great men, Shomes sometimes went for days without a meal, particularly when broke; then he ate ravenously. So It was on this occasion. Fatson, being an opportu- nist, did likewise. Dalrymple watched them with ever increasing respect. “I am glad the other fellow got my shirt!” he muttered, as he pald the check, At the scenes of the crime, as Shomes called them until he could de- termine which was the scene, the fa- mous sleuth was at his best.’ Magni. fying-glass In hand, he poked and measured everywhere, entering notes In the big ledger which Fatson carried. From time to time he put choice bits of gvidence, such us a bottle of Wii- son's, a few cigars, and about a quire of the club paper, into his pockets; clews like these could not escape the eagle eye of Shomes. Finally “Mr. Dalrymple” he sald, proudly, “I know the criminal! No further attempt will be made upon your life tonight! Go home, and to- morrow night I will have news for you! Fatson and I will now retire” The next day was a busy one for both Fatson and Shomes. The former went about his medical labors in the veterinary department of the 8. P, C A.; the sleuth elected to ex periment in his laboratory, as cool and collected ag If Dalrymple were not compelled by a fiendish crime to wear his extra shirt. He refused to satisfy Fatson's curiosity by any statement other then “Tonight we shall know all!” The Twice an he rose, 1oted day his abstraction passed slowly called which strychnine used by for Fatson, him down for caused him to veins of of the so of less fortunate ands for a yed by to find She profound chem- hich made him famous in the boss into the horses members placed in his 1} quietus. An trifles, Fatsor ‘ ned, researche would world of sci- ence life, ke a rye high ball ou alcohol water, “How's cheerfully. “We haven’) and lithia the case? asked had rted Shomes. u fini Got last or I wasn't 1 we had yo shed up when around soused on too! ing me of it “1 meant the shirt,” replied Fatson, “Oh-—that! ted by a tall, dark, with a scar on Lis of Desmond's! 1 here tonight, Thank you for remind- "w case of the stolen hurriedly, red-headed left cheek have decoyed He thinks to find money instead, will find me!" Shomes could have been menacing The telephone jangle el, down the receiver, “That you, Shomes? rymple. Remember shirt busi. Well, we were scared for noth- It seems that at the club, Smith he's a trifle near-sighted—thought he saw a ravellng on my coat. It hap pened to be a thread of my shirt, and well, you happens when you pull a man, he No one but Shomes tore This is Dal that know what raveled !” “Just what I was about to inform Herlock Shomes cannot be deceived!” Hanging up the receiver, the great. Is Ancient Industry The history of wall paper goes back quite a distance in the past, for we find Henry IV of France granting a char ter to a guild of paperhangers as early as 1509, and going by the prece. dents established in the case of other guilds, such as the great Cabinet Mak- ers’ company, the industry must have been in existence for some time before It was, so to speak, incorporated by the enlightened French monarch. The original example 1s in the Cabinet de Sullyat In Paris and dates ffom the first decade of the Seventeenth cen. tury. In the Seventeenth century Chi. nese paper imported by the East In- dia company had an extensive vogue, but paper made at Frankfort and Worms in Germany ran It a close race for popularity. Wall paper was a logleal development from tapestry and embossed leather wall hangings, through the intermediary stage of painted and hand-printed canvas cloths made In imitation of the richer mate rials. The Sword in Japan The sword Is closely connected with Japan's history. The legends of the country declare the sword-blade to be possessed of a soul, which by tradition was in feudal days corrupted or con. verted Into the general thought of the sword as “the soul of the samural” according to the Japan Advertiser. The Japanese old blades themselves, authorities state, are unrivaled even by Damascus or Toledo blades, — Railroad's Wise Move Taking a tip from the glass-bot- tomed boats running to Catalina island, oft Californin, a rallway company In Romsdale, Norway, has fitted its coaches, running through scenic re glons with glass roofs. This enables tains In comfort from their seats and has increased tourist traffic consid erably, BAT TP 1 FZ CTC <u ABOUT B00 OULD could th L'Es he after a (iften one lotho, Lachesis Atropos owe It to men to jet them for a brief mo- “that bourne whence no traveler turns” to see the come of thelr work on earth. And If Ma). Plerre Charles L'Enfant. artist, engineer, architect, soldier of the American Revolution and intimate of Washington and Lafayette could us, no such return would seem more dramatic possibilities. For it was this brilliant und tempera- mental Frenchman who planned the capital city of the United States of America, apparently destined to the most beautiful city of earth. he died broken, discredited and em- bittered., belleving his great work doomed to certain faliure. For gen- esations his remains lay In an marked and unknown grave. half a stick of nonpareil will contain his whole career as commonly set forth in an encyclopedia: L'Enfant, Charles Plerre—Born Paris In 1755; studied engineering. architecture and art and was a lleu- tenant in French army; 1771, came with Lafayette and entered Colonial army. 1779, promoted to captalney in engineers, 1779, wounded at Savannah; May, 1780, taken prisoner at Charles- ton and exchanged In November; signed to engineering on General Washington's staff; 1783, commissioned brevet major: designed badge of the Society of the Cincinnati; Ilald out Washington, declined professorship of engineering at West Point; died June 14, 1825 So runs the brief notation. read between the lines, General Washington noted young Frenchman's efficiency, bad him commissioned major of engineers and took him Into his official familly. | Washington as President used him on | government work in New York and Philadelphia. of 1790 passed an act establishing the “permanent seat of government of the United States” and turning over direction of the job to the Presi dent, L'Enfant wrote Washington, say- ing in part: The iate determination of congress to lay the foundation of a city which is to become the capital of this vast empire offers so great an occasion of acquiring reputaticn to whomever may be appointed to conduct the exe~ ceution of the business that your ex- cellency will not be surprised that my ambition and the desire I have of becoming a useful citizen should lead me to wish to share in the undertake ing. The plan should be drawn on such a scale as to leave room for the aggrandizement and embellishment which the Increase of the wealth of the nation will permit it to pursue at any period, however remote. President Washington, under the act, appointed three commissioners: ifunt ret: revisit hundred feels irs this ear YERrs that and some eave ment res out- to have Let us Thom roll of Stu and Daniel Car and Dr. David Repten ber BR, 17901, mers, with "hon seCrelary slut met territory ia™ “Washingion.” They L'’Enfant's plan. But when the missioners asked for the final draft that they might ha it engraved and L'Enfant made emphatic re the ground that speculators would use It to purchase the best lo- ations in his “vistas and architectur. al squares and buddies of shanties which permanently disfigure the city” The had means of raising money except hy the sale of lots, They carried the situation President Washington. So before long Secretary Jefferson wrote to Major L'Enfant that the President, “having received necessary evidence" of Lis refusal to accept or obey orders issued by the commissioners of the federal territory, had instructed him to say, “your services are at an end.” L'Enfant hastened to see ton, but found the President's decision 1s Johnson Ma iryiand urt of vi in, these Conn ssi as Jefferson, snd Jnmes Ala dison, also appros odd oom ye published raise would commissioners no to Now had own, the character nding Washington of his the real George considerable temperament popular conception of his to the contrary notwith- He was dominant & im- patient by nature and had a fierce temper. But he had himself under perfect control. An llluminating para- concerning Washington's titnde toward the “artistic ment” is found in his sta letter to the | i i : : i Men who possess talents which fit them for peculiar purposes are almost invariably under the Influence of un- or possessed of some other disqualifi- with whom they are concarned; but not expect to mest with such i perverseness in Major L'Enfant as his late conduct exhibited. L'Enfant never did hand over his completed plan. He kept it hidden till the day of his death. L'Enfant’s discharge became effec tive March 1, 1702. The President ap- pointed Andrew Ellicott in his place. tation of L'Enfant's. lished commissioners went work. President Washington directed the commissioners to recompense L'En. fant for his work. The commissioners deposited to his credit 500 British guineas (more than £2000) and notl- fled him that they had deeded him a lot “near the president's house.” He indignantly declined both money and lot. He conceived himself mistreated ~gacrificed to the greed of specula- tors. He saw the fading of his dream of a beautiful eity. It was pub and widely circulated, on with their construct Potomar chilefly with | Esq., nt his fire mansion house, ar Bladensburg the halls of congress, and snsation this 8 friend Chel- lum Castle, haunted ne faim o tuning fo senators his representatives “adequate compe for services.” Aw there with One to his success congress are several stories is that congress never gave him a cent. An other is that in 1800 Lhe filed a claim for $00,000 and was finally £2,500, was selzed by a tor. A thi is that in addition to the grant of $2 was in 1X10 g £660.08, from March 1, 1762 L’Enfant died at the age of seventy, Apparently he had no relatives. It is sald there is no anthentic portrait of in existence. Certainly his death caused no public concern. He was buried under a cedar tree at Chellum Castle. And for just 84 years his un- marked grave was left to the care of pRiure Along another glonal nuspices, the original L'Enfant pian far the So congress, possible, L'Enfant eredi- SA he interest wit about 1000 Washington “renaissance,” under congres Somebody hunted up was by best unscrambled the and far as scrambled went back to his plan. It was also decided to make public recognition L'En- fant's genius and services, IL’Enfant’s remains, Tocated after were taken April 28, 1000, to the rotunda of the capitol at Wash ington. There they lay In state, as have the remains of presidents who have died In office and those of the “Unknown Soldier.” President Taft and Jules Juseerand, the French am- bassador, headed the dignitaries who attended the services. The funeral cor tege made Its way up Pennsylvania avenue and on to Arlington, the na- tional cemetery. Interment was made on a prominent knoll in front of the Washington-Lee mansion. In 1011 was dedicated the memorial herewith eggs of Today new plans have been made A magnificent memorial bridge, typl- fying the complete union of the North and South, will cross the Potomac, An ornate higpway will lead from the to the amphitheater in Arlington. So If Ma). Pierre Charles L'Enfant about the year 1035 could roll away the memorial above him and from his vantage point near the “Unknown Sol. dier” look out upon the magnificent vista ending in the permanent seat of government he planned for the United States of America Mythological Hero In Greek mythology, Brinreus was a glant with 100 arms and 50 heads, He was the son of Uranus and Gaea, and had two brothers, Gyges and Cottus, glants also. According to the most ancient tradition, Briareus and his brothers conquered the Titans when they made war upon the gods, and secured the” victory to Jupiter, who thereupon thrust the Titans into Tar tarus and appointed Briareus and bis brothers to guard them. Other legends say that Briareus was one of the giants that attacked Olympus; he was buried alive under Mount Aetna as a punish. ment. According to Homer, this giant wns called Briareus by the gods, and Aegeon by men. Kansas City Times Ancient American Town The marvelous archeological . dis coveries of Pueblo Grande In Nevada have been followed by the discovery of another ancient Abierican ity In the same state at the head of Forty Mile canyon and about thirty miles east of Beatty. A great deal of very interesting pottery bas been revealed and some of it promises to be quite as valuable asx that found at Pueblo Grande. W. M. Harrington, who fis conducting the Investigation, says It is his opinion that the city flourished 2000 years ngo and had been in-ex. “Istence for at least 1.000 years before that, hteen tombs have been une covered and from them have been tak. en a number of pleces of Jewelry of cut pearl and turquoise. Cyd \ Ad Financial Value in Beauty of Building Architectural beauty bas as commercial value uy strength or material excellence the rug gered sinews of ste the architect the beauty expressin character It this bined wit} which only In the regard whose evolves desire is atflity makes not 07 Mer homes refie ct cate, The hotel which best an inviting generous hie ty, cal wal of wins patronage through the attractive appearn The arct ing and tal Is, un retands the aitect a3’ mean- ural beauty Evening All Business Helped by Improved Homes niza- the Business and tions, rectly 3 fe . » 4 building Indusiries, ¥ tive steps to educa men not dir are own a £4 nd properis us os ery res ated, he a zens in home ex- e owner is outlay for th upkee; 10 not become bu patron to be cultiy wou nation of stable, conservative eit hief considerations romoting the cause of wnership is to discourage unwise ir nee on the part of tb systematize | avag: main- is debts and tenance and 80 tha rdensome, Attractive Shrabbery Shrubbery plant] 1 places imes three forms—the plantings at fant] drives and property ng on smn the foundation of the house, p ngs angles of walks, rs to the walk, and the large shrubbery borders de io give privacy and serve as The shrubs used in the foun- dation plantings and angle plantings next public side signed SCG, haps a few medium height shrubs and evergreens used as accents where win- Care should always be taken that material in a foundation planting will not so large that it will shut ont light and air. Spiraea Anthony Waterer, spiraea Froebell, deuntzia gracilis, hy- drangea arboresens, snow berry, Jap barberry, Indian currant and Regel's privet are a few of many shrubs which would be safe to in such a planting. The shrubbery borders as a rule re quire the all three types of ghrubs—namely, the low, medium and high forms. The two lower types are generally used in front of the taller group to serve as a transition from the front to the back of the border. Man times, however, the taller varieties are allowed to stand out boldly in front or on a point to serve as an accent. use use of Plea for Garden Cities Ametica, like European countries where the evils of urban overgrowth make themselves felt with equal or even greater force, Is now confronted with the necessity of squarely facing a situation which in reality consti tutes the greatest menace to our civ. ilization. Can the garden-<ity idea be transplanted into American soll? Does it not conflict too violently with the hyperindividualistic tendencies of American economic life? If such is the case, would it not be possible to real. ize in America garden cities of a some what modified but nevertheless effec tive type? This, It would seem, Is well worth taking Into considermion. It would serve the purpose of achieving what city planning alone, as applied to the great cities in existence, is incapable of doing-—namely, effectively relieve the population pressure of the over grown cities and improve a housing situation none too good.—New York World. Name “Carved” in Grass About seventy-five years ago the owner of a farm at Phippsburg, Maine, spelled his name on the grass of a hill side by sprinkling wood ashes. The letters are several feet high and read “8S. H. Rogers.” In the spring when the new grass is coming up fresh and green, the letters are particularly dis tinct and ean be read easily a long distance away, It is sald that only twice since the letters were originally made have they received a fresh coat: ing of wood ashes.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers