4 © \BLE S, >a. “NN’A OBS 2 an x \ Fr Se x 5 Ee = Fe ‘5 hy : dat 4 5 - : v3 3 5 #5 - * 8 - F ¢ RUNNING IN THE AUDITORIUM. MEYERSDALE, EACH THURSDAY EVENING. READ THE STORY AND SEE THE PICTURES. : - . rang AALS LLLLLALLLLALASSLSSlSsLLS sa Vv ALAR LLALSSLLLS SS & TOV IVIVIVIIPIITIPIIITIIIIIPIIIIIVITIIITIOIIPITIIIIVIvVIvVITY The Exploits of Elaine A Detective Novel and Presented in Collaboration Copyright, 1914, by the a ees See a ees PPPIVPIIIVITITIIITTIVIVYVYYY By ARTHUR B. REEVE : The Well-Known Novelist and the we Crealor of the **Craig Kennedy Stories yo. ith the Pathe Players and the Eclectic Film Company ‘Star Company : FOV TTITIIIIIN a Motion Picture Drama All Foreign Rights Reserved ab bbbdodddosddsdsddddddd p y loll ADSL LSSS SYNOPSIS. The New York police are mystified by a geries of murders of prominent men. The principal clue to the murderer is the warn- ing letter which is sent the victims, signed with a “clutching hand.” The latest vic- tim of the mysterious assassin is Taylor Dodge, the insurance president. His daughter, Elaine, employs Craig Ken- nedy, the famous scientific detective, to try to unravel the mystery. What Ken- nedy accomplishes is told by his friend Jameson, a newspaper man. Elaine is kid- naped by the Clutching Hand, but is res- cued by Kennedy, who has discovered her whereabouts through using third degree methods on one of the crooks. EIGHTH EPISODE : The Hitdden Voice. “Jameson, wake up!” : The strain of the Dodge case was beginning to tell on me, for it was keeping us at work at all kinds of hours to circumvent the Clutching Hand, by far the cleverest criminal with whom Kennedy had ever had anything to do. 1 leaped out of bed, still in my pa- jamas, and stood for a moment staring about. Then I ran into the living room. I looked about, rubbing my eyes, startled. No one was there. “Hey—Jameson—wake up!” It was spooky. “Where—the deuce—are you?” I de manded. POPPI PIPIPIIIIIVITIIPITIVIIVIIVVPIITIITITITRIV VV VI VVYFVY EY Suddenly I heard the voice again— no doubt about it, either. “Here I am—over on the couch!” I scratched my head, puzzled. There was certainly no one on that couch. A laugh greeted me. Plainly, though, it came from the couch. I went over to it and, ridiculous as it seemed, be- gan to throw aside the pillows. There lay nothing but a little ob- long oaken box, perhaps eight or ten inches square at the ends. In the face were two peculiar square holes, and from the top projected a black disk, about the size of a watch, fastened on a swinging metal arm. In the face of the disk were several perforated holes I picked up the strange looking thing in wonder, and from ‘that magic oak box actually came a burst of laughter. “Come over to the laboratory, right away,” pealed forth a merry voice. “I've something to show you.” “Well,” 1 gasped, “what do yom know about that?” Very early that morning Graig had got up, leaving me snoring. Cases never wearied him. He thrived on ex- citement. He had gone over to the laboratory and set to work in a corner over agy- other of those peculiar boxes, exactly like that which he had already left in our rooms. Half an hour afterward I walked into the laboratory, feeling a little sheepish over the practical joke, but none the less curious to find out all about it. : “What is it?” I asked, indicating the apparatus. “A vocaphone,” he replied, still laughing, “the loud speaking telephone, the little box that hears and talks. It talks right out in meeting, too—no transmitter to hold to the mouth, no receiver to hold to the ear. You see, this trans- mitter is so sensitive that it picks up even a whisper, and the receiver is placed back of those two megaphone: like pyramids.” f He was standing at a table, careful: ly packing up one of the vocaphones and a lot of wire. / “I pelieve the Clutching Hand has been shadowing the Dodge house,” he continued thoughtfully. “As long as we watch the place, too, he will do nothing. But if we should seem, OS: tentatiously, not to be watching, per haps he may try something, and we may be able to get a clue to his iden- tity over this vocaphone. See?” I nodded. “We've got to run him down somehow,” I agreed. “Yes,” he said, taking his coat and hat. “I am going to connect up one of these things in Miss Dodge's libra ry and arrange with the telephone company for a clear wire so that we can listen in here, where that fellow will never suspect.” At about the same time that Craig and I sallied forth on this new mis- sion, Elaine was arranging some flogy- ers on a stand near the. corner of the Dodge library where the secret panel was in which her father had hidden the papers for the possession of which the Clutching “Jand had murdered him. She had moved away from the table, but, as she did so, her dress caught in something in the woodwork. She tried to loosen it and in so doing touched the little metallic spring on which her dress had caught. Instantly, to her utter surprise, the panel moved. It slid open, disclosing a strong box. Elaine took it, amused, looked at it a moment, then carried it to a table and opened it. Inside were some papers, sealed in an envelope and marked “Limpy Red Correspondence.” ‘They must be the Qlutching Hand papers!” she exclaimed to herself, hesitating a moment, in doubt what to do ES ASEM + She seized the telephone and eager- ly called Kennedy's number. “Hello,” answered a voice. “Is that you, Craig?” she asked ex- citedly. “No, this is Mr. Jameson.” “Oh, Mr. Jameson, I've discovered the Clutching Hand papers,” she be- gan, more and more excited. “Have you read them?” came back the voice quickly. “No; shall 1?” “Then don’t unseal them,” cautioned the voice. “Put them back exactly as you found them and I'll tell Mr. Ken- nedy the moment I can 'get hold of a “All right,” said Elaine. “I'll do that. And please get him as soon as you pcssibly can.” “1 will.” “I'm going out shopping now,” she returned, suddenly. “But, tell him I'll be right back—right away.” “Very well.” Hanging up the receiver, Elaine dutifully replaced the papers in the hox and returned the box to its secret hiding place, pressing the spring and sliding the panel shut. A few minutes later she left the house in the Dodge car. Outside our laboratory, leaning up against a railing, Dan the Dude, an emissary of the Clutching Hand, whose dress now greatly belied his under- «arld “monniker,” had been shadow- ing us, watching to see when we left. The moment we disappeared, he raised his hand carefully above his head and made the sign of the Clutch- ing Hand. Far down the street, in a ~Josed car, the Clutching Hand him- «elf. his face masked, gave an an- swering sign. A moment later he left the car, gaz- ing about stealthily. Not a soul was in sight and he managed to make his way to the door of our laboratory without being'observed. Probably he thought that the pa- pers might be at the laboratory, for he had rerentedly failed to locate them at the Dodge house. At any rate he was busily engaged in ransacking drawers and cabinets, in the labora- tory, when the telephone suddenly rang. : An instant he hesitated. Then, dis- guising his voice as much as he could to imitate mine, he took up the re- ceiver. “Hello!” he answered. 1 His face was a study in all that was dark as he realized that it was Elaine calling. He clenched his crook- ed hand even more viciously. “Have you read them?” he asked, curbing his impatience as she unsus- pectingly poured forth her story, sup- possedly to me. “Then don’t unseal them,” he has- tened to ‘reply. “Put them back. Then there can be no question about them. You can open them before wit- nesses.” For a moment he paused, then add- ed: “Put them back, and tell no one of their discovery. I will tell Mr. Kennedy the moment I can get him.” Clutching Hand studied for a mo: ment and then grabbed the telephone again. “Hello, Dan,” he called when he got his number. “Miss Dodge is going shopping. I want you and the other Falsers to follow her—delay her all you can. Use your own judgment.” It was what had come to be known in his organization as the ‘“‘Brother- nood of Falsers.” There, in the back room of a low dive, were Dan the Dude, the emissary who had been loi- tering about the laboratory, a gun- man, Dago Mike, a couple of women, slatterns, one known as Kitty the Hawk, and a boy of eight or ten, whom they called Billy. “All right, Chief,” shouted back Dan, their leader, as he hung up the telephone after noting carefully the hasty instructions. “We'll do it— trust us.” With alacrity the Brotherhood went their ‘separate ways. Elaine had not been gone long from the house when Craig and I arrived there. “Too bad,” greeted Jennings, “but Miss Elaine has just gone shopping and I don’t know when she’ll be back.” Aunt Josephine greeted us cordially, and Craig set down the vocaphone package he was carrying. “I’m not going to let anything hayp- pen, here to Miss Elaine again if I can help it,” remarked Craig in a low tone, a moment later, gazing about the library. “What are you thinking of doing?” asked Aunt Josephine keenly. “I'm going to put in a vocaphone,” he returned, unwrapping it. “What's that?” she asked. “A loud si i telephone—con- nected with my laboratory,” he ex- ained, repeating what he had al told m Al told 1 d al- ( re it ¢ to best advantage, when he a the suit of armor. “I see you have brought it back 2 A rn ee had it repaired,” he remarked to Aunt Suddenly his face lighted he exclaimed. “No one will ever think to look inside Josephine. up. “Ah—an idea!” tha ” “Now, Mrs. Dodge,” he eaid finally, as he had completed installing the thing and hiding the wire under car- pets and rugs until it ran out to the connection which he made with the telephone, “don’t breathe a word of it We don’t know whom —to anyone. to trust or suspect.” Elaine’s car had stopped finally at a shop on Fifth avenue. She stepped out and entered, leaving her chauffeur to wait. As she did so, Dan and Billy sidled along the crowded sidewalk. Dan the Dude left Billy and Billy surreptitiously drew from under his With a glance about, he dropped it into the close to the entrance to Elaine’s car. Then he withdrew a lit- coat a half loaf of bread. gutter tle distance. When Elaine ward. to step into the car. Elaine, surprised, dréw back. Billy picked up the piece of bread and with all the actions of having discovered a treasure began to gnaw at it.vora- ciously. Shocked at the disgusting sight, she [ tried to take the bread away from him. “I know it’s dirty, miss,” whimpered Billy, “but it’s the first food I've seen for four days.” Instantly Elaine was full of sym- She had taken the food pathy. away. That would not suffice. “What’s your name, little boy?” she asked. “Billy,” he replied, blubbering. “Where do you live?” “With me mother and father— they're sick—nothing to eat—" He was whimpering an address far over on the East side. “Get into the car,” Elaine directed. “Gee—but this is swell,” he cried, with no fake, this time. On they went, through the tenement came out and ap- proached her car, Billy, looking as cold and forlorn as could be, shot for- Pretending to spy the dirty piece of bread in the gutter, he made a dive for it, just as Elaine was about miss, are a fool!” There was no combating Miss Statis- tix. She overwhelmed “all arguments by the very exactness of her persomn- ality. Elaine departed, speechless, prop- erly squelched, followed by her chauf- feur. Meanwhile, a closed car, such as had stood across from the laboratory, had drawn up not far from the Dodge house. Near it was a man in rather shabby. clothes and a visored cap on which were the words in dull gold lettering, “Metropolitan Window Cleaning company.” He carried a bucket and a small extension ladder. In the darkened recesses of the car was the Clutching Hand himself, masked as usual. He had his watch in his hand and was giving most min- ute instructions to the window clean: er about something. As the latter turned to go, a sharp observer would have noted that it was Dan the Dude, still further disguised. A few moments latér, Dan appeared at the servants’ entrance of the Dodge house and rang the bell. Jennings, who happened to be down there, came to the door. 2 “Man to clean the windows,” sa luted the bogus cleaner, touching his hat in a way quietly to call attention to the words on it and drawing from his pocket a faked written order. “All right.” nodded Jennings, ex- 3 » bug was J. sey mE which ‘to record something, “and Yow One of the maids was sweeping In the hall as Dan went toward the win- dow, wbout to wash it. “f wonder whether 1 locked those windows?” muttered Jennings, paus- ing in the hallway. “I guess I'd bet- ter make sure.” - He had taken only a step toward the library again when Dan watchfully caught sight of him. I(t would never do to have Jennings ~neconing around there now. Quick action was neces- sary. Dan knocked over a costly Sevres vase. “There—clumsy—see what you've done!” berated Jennings, starting to pick up the pieces. Dan had acted his part well and promptly. In the library Clutching Hand was busily engaged at that mo- ment beside the secret panel search- ing for the spring that released it. He ran his finger along the woodwork, pausing here and there without suc- ceeding. “Confound it!” he muttered, search- ing feverishly. - Kennedy, having made the arrange- ments with the telephone company by which he had a clear wire from the Dodge house to his laboratory, had re- joined me there and was putting on the finishing touches on his installa- tion of the vocaphone. Every now and then he would switch it on, and we would listen in it as he demonstrated the wonderful little instrument to me. We had canyons, dodging children and push- carts, stopping first at a grocer’s, then at agbutcher’s and a delicatessen. Finally the car stopped where Billy directed. Billy hobbled out, followed by Elaine and her chauffeur, his arms piled high with provisions. She was indeed a lovely Lady Bountiful as a crowd of kids quickly surrounded the car. In the meantime Dago Mike and Kitty the Hawk had gone to a wretch- ed flat, before which Billy stopped. Kitty sat on the bed, putting dark circles under her eyes with a black- ened cork. She was very thin and emaciated, but it was dissipation that Kennedy Shows Elaine the Little Instrument That Saved Her Life. had done it. spondingly poorly dressed. He had paused beside the window to look out “She’s coming,” he an- nounced finally. Kitty hastily jumped into the rick- ety bed, while Mike took up a crutch that was standing idly in a corner. She coughed resignedly and he imped They had assumed their parts, which were almost to the burlesque of poverty, when the door was pushed open and -Billy burst in, followed by Hlaine and the chauf- about, forlorn. f Dago Mike was corre- eur. : “Oh, ma—oh, pa,” he cried, running forward and kissing his pseudo par- ents, as Elaine, overcome with sym- pathy, directed the chauffeur to lay the things on a shaky table. Just then the door opened again. All were genuinely surprised this time, amining the order and finding it ap- parently all right. : Dan followed him in, taking the lad- der and DUCKSL upstairs, where Aunt Josephine was still reading. “The man to clean the windows, ma’am,” apologized Jennings. - “Oh, very well,” she nodded, taking up her book, to go. Then, recalling the frequent injunctions of Kennedy, she paused long enough to speak quietly to Jennings. : “Stay here and watch him,” she whispered as she went out. Jennings nodded, while Dan opened a window and set to work. Elaine now decided to go home. From his closed car, the Clutching Hand gazed intently at the Dodge house. He could see Dan on the lad- der, now washing the library window, his back toward him. ~ Dan ‘turned slowly and made the sign of the hand. Turning to his chauffeur, the master criminal spoke a few hurried words in a low tone and the driver hurried off. A few minutes later the driver might have been seen entering a near- by drug store and going into the tele- phone booth. Without a moment's hesitation he called upon the Dodge house, and Marie, Elaine’s maid, an- swered. “Is Jennings there?’ he asked. “Tell him a friend wants to speak to him.” “Wait a minute,” she answered. “I'll get him.” Marie went toward the library, leav- ing the telephone off the hook. Dan was washing the windows, half in- side, half outside the house, while Jen- nings was trying to be very busy, al- though it was apparent that he was watching Dan closely.. “A friend of yours wants to speak to you over the telephone, Jennings,” said Marie, as she came into the library. The butler responded slowly, with a covert glance at Dan. No sooner had they gone, however, than Dan climbed all the way into the room, ran te the door and looked after By a Sort of Instinct Kennedy| por Then he ran to the window. Seemed to Recognize the Sounds.| ,.ros5 and down the street, the Evins! He Exclaimed, Turning| cjytching Hand was gazing at the for a prim, spick and span, middle- aged woman entered. “I am Miss Statistix, of the organ- ized charities,” she announced, look: fng around sharply. “I saw your car standing outside miss, and the chil me you were up here. I came up to see whether you were, dren below told aiding really deserving poor. She laid a marl her lips. apprehension prey had of » hat's the matt asked El uncomforte the boy is Billy she answered out a card, on ap *? ( ¥ arawing yt or ted emphasis on the There was that{- her, | U€r house. He had seen Dan disappear and suspected that the time had come. Sure enough, there was the sign of the hand. He hastily got out of the car and hurried up the street. All this time the chauffeur was keeping Jennings busy over ihe telephone with some trumped-up story. As the master criminal came in by the ladder through the open window, Dan was on guard, listening down the hallway. A signal from Dan, and Clutching Hand slid back of the por- Jennings was returning. finished these windows,” an- nN 1 ler reappeared. he hall windows.” n wed like a shadow. No soone ad they gone than 3 | Clutching Hand stealthily came from behind the portieres. heard the window cleaner and Jem: nings, but thought nothing of it at the time. Otice; however, Craig paused; and- saw him listening more intently than usual. : “They've gone out,” he muttered, “but surely there is some one in the Dodge library.” : “I listened, too. The thing was so sensitive that even a whisper could be magnified, and I certainly did hear something. y Kennedy frowned. What was that scratching noise? Could; it be Jen- rings? Pérhaps it was Rusty. Just then we could distinguish =a sound as though someone had moved about. : “No—that’s not Jennings,” Craig. “He went out.” He looked at me a moment. same stealthy noise was repeated. “It’s the Clutching Hand!” he ex- claimed excitedly. A moment later Dan hurried into the Dodge library. “For heaven’s sake, Chief, hurry!” he whispered hearsely. “The Falsers must have fallen down. The girl her- self is coming!” Dan himself had no time to waste. He retreated into the hallway just as Jennings was opening the door for Elaine. Marie took her wraps and left her, while “Elaine handed her numerous packages to Jennings. Dan watched every motion. “Put them away, Jennings,” said softly. Jennings had obeyed and gone up- stairs. Elaine moved toward the Ili- brary. Dan took a quiet step or two behind her, in the same direction. In the library Clutching Hand was now frantically searching for the spring. He heard Elaine coming and dodged behind the curtains again just as she entered. With a hasty look about, she saw no one. Then she went quickly to the panel, found the spring and pressed it. So many queer things had hap- pened to her since she went out that she had begun to worry over the safe ty of the papers. The panel opened. They were there, all right. She opened the box and took them out, hesitating to break the seal before Kennedy arrived. Stealthy and tigerlike, the Clutch: ing Hand crept up behind her. As he did so, Dan gazed in through the por tieres from the hall. With a spring, Clutching Hand leaped at Elaine, snatching at the pa- pers. Elaine clung to them tenacious ly, in spite of the surprise, and they >oled for them, Clutching Hand ng one hand over her mouth to prevent her was there cried The she ‘Choke Suddenly, from the man in armor I Sr REARS i TS SAC X-4 reaming. Instantly Dan in the corner, as if by a miracle, came a deep, loud voice. “Help! Help: Murder! They are strangling me!” The effect was terrific. Clutching Hand and Dan, hardened in crime as they were, fell back, dazed, overcome for the moment at the startling effect. Policet The: Ineked =honi, Not a soul. then .c .peit otter consternation, from the naimet again came the deep, vibrant warning. “Help! Murder! Police!” Kennedy and [ had been listening: over the vocaphone, for the moment nonplused at the fellow’s daring. Then we heard from the uncanny instrument: “For Heaven's sake, Chief, hurry. The Falsers have fallen down. The girl herself is coming!” What it meant we did not know. But Craig was almost beside himself, as he ordered me to get the police by tel- ephone, if there was any way to block them. Only instant action would count, however. What to do? We could hear the master crime inal plainly fumbling now. “Yes, that’s the Clutching hand,” he repeated. “Wait,” [ cautioned, is coming!” By a sort of instinct he seemed to recognize the sounds. “Elaine!” he exclaimed, paling. instantly followed, in less than 1} can tell it, the sounds of a suppressed shuffle. “He has seized her—sgagged her,” I cried in an agony of suspense. We could now hear everything that was going on in the library. Craig was wildly excited. As for me, I was speechless. Here was the vocaphone we had installed. It had warned us. But what could we do? I looked blankly at Kennedy. was equal to the emergency. He calmly turned the switch. Then, at the top of his lungs he shouted: “Help! Help! Police! Thay are strangling me!” I looked at him in amazement. What did he think he could do—blocks “someone else He away? “It works both ways,” ne muttered. “Help! Murder! Police!” We gould hear the astonished curs- ing of the two men. Also, down the hall, now, we could hear footsteps ap- proaching in answer to his call for help—Aunt Josephine, Jennings, Marie and others, all shouting out that there were cries in the library. “The deuce! What is it?’ muttered a gruff voice. “The man in armor!” hissed Clutch. ing Hand. “Here they come, too, Chief!” There was a parting scuffle. “There—take that!” “A loud metallic ringing came from the vocaphone. Then silence! What had happened? In the library, recovering from theim crock of surprise, Dan cried out tos “the Clutching Hand. “The deucel What is it?” Then looking about, Clutchings Hand quickly took in the situation. “The man in armor!” he pointed out. Dan was almost dead with fright at the weird thing. “Here they come, too, Chief,” he gasped, as, down the hall he could hear the family shouting out thai someone was in the library. With a parting thrust, Clutching Hand sent Elaine reeling. 1 She held on to only a corner of the papers. He had the greater part of them. They were torn and destroyed anyway. Finally, with all the venomousness of which he was capable, Clutching Hand rushed at the armor suit, drew back his gloved fist, and let it shoot out squarely in a vicious solar plexus blow. “There—take that!” he roared. The suit rattled furiously. Out ol it spilled the vocaphone, with a bang on the floor. An instant later those in the hal rushed in. But the Clutching Hand and Dan were gone out of the win dow, the criminal carrying the greates part of the precious papers. Some ran to Elaine, others to the window. The ladder had been kicked away, and the criminals were gone Leaping into the waiting car, they had been whisked away. “Hello! Hello! Hello!” called a voice, apparently from nowhere. “What is that?” cried Elaine. She had risen by this time, and was gazing about, wondering at the strange voice. Suddenly her eye fell on the armor scattered all over the floor. She spied the little oak box. “Elaine!” Apparently the voice came from that. Besides it had a familiar ring to her ears. “Yes—Craig!” she cried. “That is my vocaphone—the little box that hears and talks,” came bach to her. “Are you all right?” “Yes—all righti—thanks to the voca phone.” She had understood in an instant She seized the helmet and breastplate to which the vocaphone still was at tached and was holding them close te herself. XNennedy had been calling and lis tening intently over the machine, wom dering whether it had been put out of business in some way. “It works—yet!” he cried excitedld {0 me. l Y breathed Craig, g me aside. siterally he kissed that vocaphone as if it had been human! (TO BE CONTINUED.) R—— I TE I TSI DTT cea
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers