MURDER IN A TAXI.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 234, 2 October 1937, Page 4 (Supplement)

MURDER IN A TAXI.

Cl' I! ! ' • >il thp streets of Stock - •' • ■ "i■ • i '• • • 11i11ir. a taxi driver n ■ ■. 1 • r wan just wondering i> i I M"t chosen a more rni f ■ ' i"! 11: fit i p «n v of enrniii:■ i ii he uns hailed from th" ' . i hm< >«ll lily spokpn, wt■'! i ■ fellow whom lie <•<ll r = ll,idows of tllP 11 ". • 1 "I ■ • 1 iid t his young mn n. "I n l\ungsholiiipii." Slii'. 1 ' i 1 ■.I 1. - hat. and felt thnt peri, i • i • • w.-i • ii-'t so !md as they had .. : r In i.hM-diolmen «•#« an ari.s" 'i 1 ii' 'iii' l in hood and there w0n..1 in. ' 11.■ 111 \ he ii hit; tip lor him. And •■ n• ■ ii■'h. when they got to thp ' I iii-re \\:i3 a big tip—and. would von I•• •' 11 ■\ e ii, another job ready and w.i •• si ' t'T him. I'or li.- .ii"' lire hnd no sooner r<vu-!.i -I 1 . pl.i'-e than a window hnd gone n;. i- I ,e. St mmbcrg, had been told, \<-r\ ;u rt'y, to wait there a 111" nil'-1: i. Then a. second well-dressed young fellow 'i; i I appeared, greeted Stromberg's fii i t' ire <■ ITiilively and observed it u.ii-i I-n iiimi le, he had eomc home by taxi. "It, h.i v'-■! me the job of looking for one for S.-virn." lie explained. "SeMi'n here " queried the first young ma n. "I ill. yes." ivns the reply. "TTe'g been here i-«.ni<> time. lie drank too mueh and ;■ >1, piri'py, end when I woke him up jr l now he declared lie wm far too tired ' • i h..ni<» .mil would sleep on the .sol'.i.. I'.ul. I would rather he went." !•; xploaion in Taxi. "So would I," agreed the other. Ho turned to the taxi driver. "You'll take our friend home, won't you?" he asked. Strnmherg grinned. "If he pay# the fare, t-dr." he answered. "t»h, 111 do that for him. Just stay for a moment ami we'll get liim." Hut only one man went in for the sleepy Sex I en. The other stood chatting easily with the driver for awhile, and

then began to walk in the tree-ca«t shadows by. the side of the taxi, as though getting tired of waiting. Stronilierg didn't mind how long they wrre. Tho tip ho had received was a handsome one. 110 was willing to go on all night if need be. But at last the door of the apartment opened and Iwo young men came out. Peering from his box at the man he had hoard addressed ns Sexten, the driver did not think lie looked so very drunk. At any rate, if lie had been the fresh air win now reviving him very quickly. With a 'aiigh nrul ft final joke he entered the cab, and Stromberg, who already had his instructions, drove off at on re.

Twi minutes later the earth seemed to conic to an end, so far as Strombcrg was concerned. There was an explosion that shook Hie entire neighbourhood— it wu.3 afterwards found that more than a tlionsand x windows had been smashed. The taxi swiftly vanished, the unfortunato passenger blowa with it to pieces. Strombcrg was hurled from his driving Beat and wa* badly injured. But lie was not killed, and in a surprisingly short time he was able to talk from a hospital bed.

Another Little Miracle. Searching tho debris after Stromberg had been hurried a\yay to hospital, a policeman fcarno upon another little miracle. It was a single slip of pasteboard—a vi-dting card, lying there white and (| iiiLo uninjured or even stained in tho very midst of a shamble*. It seemed to Lie, clearly enough, a clue to the identity of the unfortunate passenger. On it appeared the engraved name "Sexton Fly burg."

Flyborg it, was, found the police. But they aluo noticed a somewhat curious fact—the fart, that Flyborg seemed to have no relatives. At any rato no one hud come forward in the role. His only friends seemed to hare been a hand-u>mo aristocratic young man mined Erik von Arnim and a younger man nil mod Alexander Kreuger. These two wore fast croniea, both wellknown In the night lite of Stockholm, both heavy spenders, both men for whom only the best and most expensive of food and nine and clothes was good enough. They were partners. in a tea business. It hill! been n good one, bought first of all by \-Iri \i-nim, who had later taken in Kreuger -i«i .i partner. But., dl-tr n-i-ri d ihe probing detectives, it was ii bii.- iii'M-i i hat for all outward good sigm m .i •. really in n bnd wnv. The two partners 'mill Ni|uan<lered recklessly Tiot. only their own pcrsonnl money but the I'llnd-i of ih.il- flnn.

"i 11• claim wan put in foi Iv ln.ri' ■ diMi h. "Who stands to biMii-lil ii I. el (detective to whom this in a h \s.,« ii,-, t 1,,-,, ken. And he 'n'* ■' 1,1 eyebrows meditatively when lie li'ii r in-!I lli.-ii Hie lii-nellciary was Erik V(.n Anil.ll, >111.1 Hint, the flinri for which l'r ",S ' ' "'i''.' 1 was fiorn e £5500. . u """'tiling to rouse suspicion, wh-... del ,1 1,.;h1 to? Flyborg, it U ,"V vere.l. had himself paid "ie '""11' ' I i''iniumih though it was (itteru n.U i-.tubli-hi-d beyond nil doubt thjit h<» li.nl | '.iill thiMii with money received from von Amim. And of course, the main point was what h:i<l en used that taxi explosion. If it wis n natural explosion nil suspicion of anything liku foul play wm so much hot air.

p,ri:tal crime by dynamiting. STnc'Kimi. M ARISTOCRATS' PLAN FOR INSURANCE !0() MUCH EXPLOSIVE FOILS SCHEME— DKivIKS MIRACULOUS ESCAPE — DEATH PENALTY TERMINATES SERIES OF MAJOR OFFENCES.

Hut an explosive inspector soon settled Unit |'ii i" ti < -111: i r point. It at first thought tlnit iii Mime \\ ;i \ the petrol tiink of the vehicle li.nl i" ;•!>•. 1• • <1. Rut the in.-pcctor sjiti-fied hilll-• •t" ii; -t, ;iikl tlien others thnt. what had ini-ed the explosion was nothiiiir Ic-s t>i.i nan explosive, and an unusually hi" cheree of it at that.

Hut how came this t i\i e.ih. en«a<»ed to tnko an appaientiy \\ ill eondueted } oung man liome, to he c.irrvirfg any ex ploni vp nt all? That, of course, was the riddle, and the shrewdest detectives in Stockholm wero given the job of finding the answer. Suspicious Features. They unea.rthpd some very peculiar tilings about von -Amirn and Kreuger. The former was an aristocrat, bom and bred, scion of a family that had moved almost within the shadow of tho throne itself. Kreuger, on the other hand, was a pseudo-aristocrat, though he was a consummate actor ami played his part of fashionable dilletante exceedingly well. Rut that tea business tho two were running—it simply could not have paid any profits at the rate money wa« every week drained from it.

The partners were both as bad m each other. Both had the very unbusinesslike habit of waiting for the coming of the postman to aee if ho had any cheques which could be easily and promptly cashed without being first put through tho firm's books. Von Arnim and Kreuger were in a bad way financially. And it had been worse nine# they had taken up with Sex ten Flyborg. He alt»o had taken to hanging round the ploco just to see what money the postman might bring.

Altogether things were looking so bad for the trio that something had to happen, and happen quickly. It did. There was a fire, and the tea merchants' business was burned to the ground one night. Tho insurance company paid, paid without a murmur. Thev could not be

expected to dream that Kreuger's was tho hand that had lighted the match. From one fire to a second, as soon as money became an urgent necessity again, was an easy step. Altogether there were four such Area, and quite heavy sums paid out in insurance. And all without anyone suspecting the truth. Financial Stress.

The money went just like the rest, of course, and as quickly. And it was then that the idea came of insuring Flyborg and then killing him. The insurance part of it wns easy, but the question of getting rid of the man was a problem that caused von Arnim and Kreuger many hours of wakefulness. They though of pushing him off a high cliff, then of getting him run over •»y a motor car in the open streets. But these ingenions murder plons were easier to think of than carry out. And at last they had hit upoa thin idea of the taxicab that should Tanish with its driver, its passenger and all incriminating evidcuce in one mighty explosion.

Of course, the detectlvc* dH not discover all the details quite so smoothly as thi«. But they learned enough of tho facts to enable them to piece together a surmise that wm particularly shrewd and sound. And It wm when they came to the surmise about the explosion that they had hit the nail right on the head. They arrested von Arnim and Kreuger. Tho two had been so scared that they had not even bothered to press their claim for tho insurance money, and that in itself was a suspicious thing, of course.

Once in custody the men were ceaselessly questioned. And in thc end the detectives had the remainder of thc story in their hands. It had been dynamite that had been n*ed to blow that taxicab to smithereens —no less a quantity tlian 121b of it, stolen from a railway store one dark night and packed securely in a wooden box.

They had this box ready there under the tree* when the taxi brought by von r.Arni.m drew up outside the apartment. And when 1 von Arnim hnd strolled off into the shadows he had swiftly accomplished something that spoke wcfll for the way he had steeled his nerve*. Ho had lifted that box of dynamite, tied it firmly to the back axle of the taxi and hod stood beside it calmly arranging the ftme even as Kreuger and Flyborg had appeared nt, the door laughing and saying their farewells. And as noon as Flyborg wan safely inside the vehicle ho had struck a match and lit the fuse, then pone in-sido and waited with Kreuger wondering whether or not they would hear the explosion. They had planned to commit a crime which should be perfect in so far as it would not merely wipe out a ictim but also all trnee of whom that victim had been with hunt. riiey had blundered chiefly by lining such an enormous quantity of explosive, it had blown the driver. Stromberg. so far that it hnd actually saved hi« life. It had blown Flyborg's card so far that it was picked up intact. Both these points were to be brougl * home to von Arnim and Kreuger at the cndod in thc passing of life iMntmni .mm, them both. j