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BER 7, 1922
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MURDER MYSTER Y CHANGES GAY LITTLE FLAPPER
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INTO NEMESIS OF SLAYER OF MOTHER AND RECTOR
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14.
'Charlette Mills Turns' Inte Weman Ov,er
Night JVhen Bodies of Parent and New
Brunswick Minister Disclose Crime
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IE fTHIS is tne irugn; " " niunmueis ua n Happen
$ a month titte she hed no real ambitien: leftv Ideas anneved her her
'I " . ... ' - li u... ..n... ' '
Interert In me was imcnst um mu-ive.
Swcethearta she had, but they didn't inspire her; she loved rather te
ve her bobbed chestnut hair e little mere of the enviable quality of
flufflncss; she leved mera a newly bought gay frcck.
hc loved rather her pendant earrings, jet (black or jade green as"the
I 'spirit moved her or the color echeme required. She leved rather a bright
ribbon te put te her hair. fc
I She was such a little flapper, if weary of anything, weary of the
drabness cf r.er neme, weary ei me moncteny of a small city and its small
city ways.
Today she is transformed. A bit
ter tragedy has entered her life atd
Bobbed -Haired Youngster Who Grumbled
at "Dumbbells" of "Nine-O'Clock-Tewn"
New Stalks Mysterious Murderer
iwept out of it all its seeming in-.mu-nuence:
swept out of the lit
tle flapper's mind all the frivolous J
nothings that swarmed it; sworn,
cut of her heart much of its bright
md lovely flapper ncntcnae; swept
Ihe little flapper herself into
womanhood!
Today she has one ambition one
'determination. Everything che may
rave hoped for, everything she may
fcavc dreamed of, she new wltlingly
ferfe'ts. She pledges hclself te one
mevin? task: Te find the murderer
cf her mother!
Tragedy Swept Laughter
Frem Her Girlish Days.
Chailotte Mills, barely sixteen
years old, doesn't laugh any mere
tow. Within her tense little body
la: been gathered the tears of trag
edy, but they never rim her eyes.
Today she is dry-eyed, a woman
grown who cannot weep, obsessed
trith her single idea te find who
killed her mother, Mrs. Eleaner
Reinhardt Mills, and the Rev. Ed
ward Wheeler Hall, rector of the
Church of St. Jehn the Evangelist,
one dark night in September. v
Today she is a woman of resource,
Cf mental clarity, of some forceful
ness. The little flapper, killed by
tragedy, is dead. A woman with a
heavy heart lives!
And yet and this is most bitter
fappeidem still clings te her. In
her bobbed hair, in her chic little
frocks, in her exotic pendant ear
tiagB, in her girlish conceits, lives
Ihe ghost of the little flapper who
fldn't want te die, beckons faintly
hke the fading memory of a well
remembered day.
The little ghost beckons and
pleads for another brief moment of
life. But it is only an incongruous
little ghost, a pitiful intruder new
tut from the world forever.
"People point at me en the
toads," says Charlette. "They whis
per, 'There is the daughter of that
murdered woman.' But I held my
head high. My mother was the in
nocent victim of a jealous woman,
and I am going te find her!"
In the little brown frame house
a kind of duplex apartment en the
itceml fleer. Charlette Is new mistress.
Her father, .Tames Mills, stunned by
trlef, (Iech her will. Grief nml the
viuddenne8 of dentil have innde bin
daughter the head of the household.
It Isn't the man attractive of homes
-but It Is very clcun. The kitchen.
ith ltd tnble nnd ihecker beard In
tie center, nnd it) stove, nnd Its cup
board, and Its tnnumernblc bric-a-brac,
b net only kitchen, but dining room
and reception hall as well.
Charlette, sitting by the tnblr. In
I white middy blouse, nml a short
i'mIc skirt, with her frizzled chestnut chestnut
wenn hnlr. 1h n startling figure In that
Wtchen. The ntmespherc of the house
"heavy, drear, like n bereaved house
with Its dead lying in another roem:
Mmeliew. like nji empty heue, it Is
mm, sinister. And ct, in the midst
A It. by the table, with nn nnen
Wk. sits the little girl, whose clothes
Proclaim "flapper." who seems as If
Hie ought te be tripping along the gay
reeti In the sunshine, chnttlng non nen
enec with sleek-haired boys en The cor cer
?rr'i?wins briKhtly out of the prison
ei school, the dny's lessens ever.
Her Face Shown Strain
of Days Since Murder
Only her face, (.trained nnd haunted,
Any her c ethes. Her blue eyes leek
rt. !? . room' aml 8ee nothing
Vili' "' V ,n0K ,," etner eyes and see
wthing there: they leek out Inte the
3fLc ,T of ,lu l"lRt' lnt0 t!'P bone
ii, ft'Vlre' Rrlmly, constantly scorch scerch
lem l ,lle 8ol"tlen of n terrllilc preb-
bm1V ' '"vnm r cnimren, never
Be"t for flnppers.
til... I wnn,ed " set away from this
M. in . .,hl8 fnur-roemed lint, from
lire, before my mother my moth-
I"T wl ' her hand, ns though the
tr.i reu 1 net ,0,np t0 express the
"J "ut new I must stny here.
?te!M Ks threuB'- A'l I
fel'Z WnH ," "'"e-it's gene new
C i, !;,;n,l '" "" ''"'"ey did their
-"iiiiiiB. DeiiK'i nies i fpit
ihe house, after mother went te bed. I
wasn't Interested In puttering around
the house. I don't like te cook or te
fe housework or te Iren. And I
iwildn't go le bed nt 7 o'clock. It was
sm'Ii n dumb life. I wanted te be up nnd
ti round, nnd Xcw llrunwiclc Is such a
aenii nhce."
"Dees It really eppnl you se much as
thnt?" t'linrlettc wnaskrd.
Iler lniht eyes moved te the spenk
er m fnce. Her lip curled n little, re
vca'inj; lier strong white teeth.
"leu don't knew the half nbeut Nev
Ilrunswiek! It's full of dumbbells!"
.She pniiKPi nnd then, if ever the lit
tle flapper glil looked like a woman,
she looked it then, (irave and pur pur
peieful i-henc her eyes. And her deli
rate giillli jnw hardened a bit as slit
added, mid without regret:
"1 ran't go away new. 1 want te
find the murderer. I must find the
inuidcrer. It was a woman, nnd she
was jealous of my mother's church
work. My daddy wouldn't kill n fly.
Toe much money, tee much politics
have been used te hamper the investi
gation. Ne matter what happens, it's
all bunk about my daddy quarreling
mer Interests for her all-engrossing
pledge te find the murderer of her
mother is brave enough, if somewhat
inevitable. I)ut te continue her school
work, te pore ever books, te force her
attention upon mntters he trivial in the
light of the great less and the Intlmntcd
Ignominy she suffers, te de sums when
her mind is alive with the little imps
of an insistent pnln, Is mere or less in
conceivable. But there Is no question In her mind
about the advisnbllity of continuing her
school work. It is perhaps the only
ether interest which enn keep her snne.
Kven the sharpest, most cynical rc-
Krters who hnve gathered nt New
unswiek te send out reports of the
progress or lack of it of the Jenl
nutlieritieH in the solution of the crime
hnve come te realize Charlette's cour
age and ber transformation.
They say, after days of observation,
thnt she is much elder nnd wiser than
ber years or nppenrnnee would indiente.
Troubled by the delay In the Inves
tigation by dctertives, C'linrlette indited
a number of tnctieal letters; one te
Governer Edwards, petitioning assist-
fore, I am appealing te you te come te
New Ilrunswiek nt once'."
If prosecution has been hushing up
the ense, ns has been rumored, then
this letter heaped coals of fire en the
prosecution's bend. If prosecution
hasn't been hushing up the case, the
letter was n stimulating reminder te re
newed or inereascd activity,
Any way the letter is regarded. It la
Ingenious nnd stnreely the work of n
flnpper. It nnd the ether letters are
pinduets of a sincere mind deeply
stirred.
At the kiteben tnble Charlette sits,
cudgling her brains nnd she has them
for n way out of the confusing maze
thnt confronts her.
Her friends used te sny of her that
she was like a rnr going 100 miles nn
hour nnd thnt she was the one girl who
led while the ethers followed.
It may or may net be true. Today
her most visible characteristic Is a ser
row thnt wenkens slowly but surely,
thnt doesn't show itself in tenrs, along
with a strong determination.
"If they ever find the murderer," she
premises herself, "maybe I will go
nwny. Maybe I will see the big thlnfs
I've always wanted te see."
mft wream!
I wanted te get nwav
life. I
the world
went te bed
-anl iml . ' ' reml lt tl
M wanted te go out tell
tarlv 10,ll?p ,,hvn'H went
"Hi. Hernet hues ns nrlv D 7
di ,IT",nH ll W11H the sulld: Vr .
S ihe eh I"'m,11,;l, : H " ' "ni.
ly Sim ill '!ls1" Hl,,e lVfnt 'd
Urn V ' thliiRH tlmt were get, g ,,
Bfi-ffi" tnlke,,1' ' talki.1
,,, " "i" -ereu't .,iivr (),,
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In the silent house Charlette sits, when it "seema she ought te be W?HWHHWHWHlHKi
in the silent J""" thc gay 8trCets In the sunshine MHhVC
Mrs. Eleaner Heinhnrdt Mills, the mother, whose murder Charlette
bm vowed te solve
...i.l .1... Alt- nuillier
Willi lll.V IIUHIIUI. '; -- f,.n,
much different kind of perse
daddy; they didn't have much in ' ' ' ' '
men, but she never complained, iw-r
never even talked much together'. ui
tliey never iiuarreieu.
If any ene questions her
neiin. tin, L-U-l's e.ves llnsi
mother's
and the
Indi
strength of her resentmei ii -nation
mnkiR her whole tab "l u
WenlH tly te her 1 l-s, ' l ,
thoughtless person who Insinuutis iike
glistening, keen steel.
Knows What te Sau and
Just Hew te Say H
lf,n,ru, ';-. h..rv ,ii,
T.i" . . n.,,,1 must III1VO urcii '-J
gne i I"1-, ,.1,111i10il eiuresBes
" - i he pathetic-
vi "
ally girlish conceits which linger and
echo in it, coolly and clearly.
"My mother," fehe insists, "was
lured te her death. She wits the victim
of u woman who was jealous of her In a
church way."
As n smnll girl, Charlette didn't
like dells long, .lust ns seen ns she
leuld read she threw nwny her toys.
"When I thought I was going nwny
I didn't nilnd leaving daddy and mother
nnd brother Daniel. They could hnve
kept things going. Daddy even can
clean the house. I hate housework.
And even new I knew thnt daddy or
(Iraudiun Mills v ill tnku euro of the
house. "
DeIIh, dusting the furniture, rear
ranging pictures, have never nppenleil
te her. Hers was a "gaddlng-abeut"
nature, that suffers under restraint.
Hut today she lives under - restraint
iiripe-ed net only by her tragedy but
"Se drab, se monotonous," Charlette found life in this "9 o'clock
town' that she often longed te run nway
by her own deliberation, her own wish.
She btill attends school the New
nninswick High Scheel and will grad-1
unto this coming .luue. She still stud-
Today she doesn't desire company.
She Insists she neer desired it. Few
people speak te her nn the street, net
because they de net want te, but be
cause they ure ditlident, the nre afraid
of their own thoughts, afraid te let fall
inadvertently something which will only
awaken the ui) story whUlr dajs arc
converting from nn excruciating pnln in
her lienrt Inte n smeldeilng throb.
Charlette, tee, is reluctant te tnlk with
her pln.Mnntes because she understands
they nre thinking of her mother mur
dered. She Interprets their customary
interest in her as an allusion te her
Sercnveinent.
Was "Wide-Awake Girl"
in ."Nine O'clock Town'
Conseeuontlv Charlette hns come te
hate the neighborhood of her home mere
than she eer did. Of late she lias been
Ieh her lessens, perhaps mere than F,I,K i.,rei .- .. , I0frvn"V;' w,, lT
,., , , , ' . ' ,. . , " i In or In the vicinity of Nuw-Urunswlek.
usual, because there is nothing else te te spend her nights.
de but te remember, te watch and Ce And her courage is something t iar-
"all. N0) ,it. Te have renounced nil he, for-
)
And one leeks nt ber with a curious
twitching of the heart strings. If she
weie lijsterlcnl one might easily forget
her. Hut she isn't One wants only te
help her, te make her life happy and
inconsequential again.
"Have j en never lind boy friends?
Couldn't they come new? Wouldn't
they make these da.ia a whole let pleas
nnter for jeu?" she un asked.
Clinrlettc iliiln t smile, ns the
tlener hoped she might.
"They don't menu nm thing new.
Of course, I've hnd benux. Plenty of
them. Hut ihe don't mean any thing."
"Wouldn't jeu like some day te be
married?" Her replj te thnt wns rnther
amazing but It was enlv the little
imtlictlcallj gay tlanner-chest who
squeezed In the answer.
Admits She Is a Flapper
and Glories in Title
nnee from him: nnether te Kills Par- . ". ,l'"''t believe In marriage I am
her. the famous detective of Mount i inclined toward the tre-leve idea."
One deesir't smile nt that nerhnns a
little smile, n wistful si n e It sounded
4
Helly.
Famous Detective Gives
Pledge of His Assistance
And both letters hnve, brought re
sults. Governer Edward immediately
ordered the State troops te examine the
mystery, nnd Kills Parker premised
thnt as seen ns his present work is
ended he would assist the little girl.
The letters were simple and direct;
the Inst was the most tragic, for it
placed the local Prosecutor In a com
promising position.
Te Ellis Parker she wrete:
"I am nppeallng te you te come te
New Ilrunswiek te nrrest these respon
sible for the murder of my mother.
Mere than two weeks have elnpsed since
the crime was discovered, jet nothing
apparently hns been done te apprehend
tile guilty person or person, I knew
that you wlllnet lese any lime In
clearing up the vvstery surrounding the
cruel slaying of " dear mother There-
iike rue long nrigiit leather leeks e;' a
rain-soaked picture hat. That ;
llttln tlnpper-ghest !
"If you met a real, nice man ns
wouldn't mi think imivlu. if i,, tnviv
him you'd be glad te marry him? " TheijK
question wns besilnnt, as such u ques
tion, under the circumstances, must be.
Hut her reply came, clear nnd In
cisive. "Ne, 1 wouldn't !"
And the plnlnthe llnppcr-ghext held
Ing out her slim white bunds made one
last pica.
"I nm a flnpper," said Charlette,
almost violently. "I am just a Hepper.
I ndinlie llappeis!"
Hut, actually, she isn't u flapper any
mine. One could see thnt with half an
eje. rinppers de net hnve dry eyes
which are mere heartrending than team.
Fluptiers de net have such a haunted
wistful face Flappers weep ensy tear
this little girl cniiiiet weep ut nil.
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