ALMOST PERFECT CRIMES.

Otago Witness, Issue 3987, 12 August 1930, Page 8

ALMOST PERFECT CRIMES.

By

JOSEPH GOLLOMB.

( Copybight.—Fob the Otago Witness. )

V.—THE F-RAY. - By wireless to-day we are entertained in our homes, vision is projected, photo- ; graphs are sent, aeroplanes and ships are steered. How long will it he before , ifleath itself is sent through the ether invisibly to work as deadly havoc in time of war as a bolt of lightning when it strikes a vast powder magazine? i Some men have already claimed to be i able to do it, and this is the true tale of a man who made such a claim, jmd what happened when governments—• the foremost in Europe—became agitated by the possibilities he claimed for his invention. No wonder there was agitation! The nation that secured exclusive possession of such a power could safely pick a quarrel with any or all the other nations on the globe and by merely pressing a button could blow up their arsenals and become master of the world. It was in Italy that Signor Giovanni Ulivi first put forth his startling claim just before the outbreak of the Great . : War. As a man he made an arresting picture. Six feet two, with great shoulders and chest and powerful wellformed limbs, he looked as if he could forge thunderbolts. His head completed the picture; picturesque red 'hail - and flaring beard, a vivid mouth, aquiline nose, and flashing black eyes under an arching dome of forehead. His eyes flashed when he spoke; but the fire in them was not clear and open; rather it made you think of something clouded or obscured, like lightning just below the horizon, or flame in the thick of smoke. In short, he looked like a man who was carrying a great secret, such a one as would shatter war. His first appearance in our story was staged in the street in front of the offices of the Navy Department in Rome. Admiral Fornari was on his way to his office one morning when an impressive looking stranger respectfully saluted him and said, with Italian fervour: “ Look at me, admiral! I am a stranger to you. But do you not see in me a fellow Italian? ” Admiral Fornari, whose imagination was aroused, guessed that the man had something else to say, and replied: “My eyes tell me so. What can I do for you ? ” A service to your country and mine. Perhaps the greatest service conceivable. But don’t take my word for it. I ask you only to believe what your eyes tell you. On the chance that Italy may gain over the whole world mastery in war I ask you to give me only a few hours’ time to witness a test of an invention on which I have spent 20 years. Will you do it ? ” Admiral Fornari-again looked at the man. And Ulivi and his dramatic fervour had their way with the admiral. Several nights later a curious scene took place on a deserted part of the seashore near Rome. Two motor boats, in the bow of which were mounted strong searchlights, were on the water about two miles out. Between them floated something that looked like an iron barrel. In the top of the exposed part a circular lid lay open. In one of the motor boats sat Ulivi and Admiral Fornari. In the other were four men in naval uniforms. Ulivi was the one who opened the lid of the floating barrel. • “ What do you see inside ? ” Ulivi asked the admiral. The admiral leaned forward and saw what looked like a small undersea mine used in time of war. Carefully he examined it. “I. think it is the kind of harbour mine used by the Germans,” he said. “ Exactly 1 ” replied Ulivi. “ I bought it of a German firm. Now I will submerge the mine at this spot.” He closed the lid of the mine. Then he dropped overboard a great weight which was attached to a chain that dragged the mine out of sight. But also attached to the mine was a bit of wooden ‘plank, into which was stuck a , little flag. When the mine sank the wooden float attached by a cord to the mine kept the flag upright to mark the spot where the mine was submerged. “ Now what ? ” asked the admiral. Ulivi, who had with dramatic effect abstained from telling the admiral anything in advance, turned his launch about and made for the shore. On the beach stood a hut. On its roof between two short wooden masts stretched strands of copper wire. ■- With a key Ulivi opened a ponderous lock on the door. The admiral followed him inside. Ulivi lighted several candles. The admiral saw what looked like a small but powerful wireless sending apparatus. There were many aspects of the instrument, however, which were strange to the" admiral. Through the window of the hut the admiral could see that shaft of light which his officers kept trained on the floating ship. Ulivi, in an attitude dramatically tense, pulled various switches and levers. There was . a sputtering of electric current, darts of blue light, the whirring of clockwork. “ What am I to look for ? ” asked the admiral finally. “ And when ? ” Ulivi was much on edge. "At any moment now, admiral. Look out on the sea 1 ”

Sure enough at that moment something flashed up on the water at exactly the point where the little flag had floated a moment before. White water spouted into the air. The sound of a dull detonation came to the admiral’s ears. The binoculars which he had kept steadily fixed on the flag shook a little. There was no vestige of the flag now. The admiral turned to Ulivi. “ Are you trying to make me believe that you blew up that mine by wireless?” he demanded. Ulivi sighed as if he had just gone through a crucial test. “ I ask you to believe nothing. I leave it only to your eyes. If you do not believe, then nothing I can say will convince you.’ - The admiral was now more nervous than Ulivi. He walked up and down the fisherman’s hut pondering, nervously twisting his beard, chewing his moustache. He stopped in front of the apparatus. He frowned at it as if by doing so he could make it confess it had cheated. Then he turned to Ulivi.

“ Are you ready to repeat your demonstration ? ” Ulivi was calm now. “ I have seven similar mines,” he said. “When I have used them up, and if you are still unconvinced, I will send for seven more.” For weeks after that the admiral put everything else out of his mind. For weeks, too, the test was repeated at night. When, the seventh mine had been exploded, Admiral Fornari turned to Ulivi and seized his hands. “I can no longer withhold credence! ” he cried. “ I must believe! ” Ulivi was as excited as he. “ Then I shall name my invention after the man whose faith means so much. My ray shall be called the ‘ F-ray,’ after the first letter of the name of my benefactor, Admiral Fornari! ” So worked up did Admiral Fornari become over Ulivi and his invention that from then on he could not bear to leave him out of sight. He insisted that Ulivi come and live at his home. “ For I shall not rest or give you rest, Giovanni, until I have secured for our country the sole possession of the ‘ F-ray.’ It will make Italy what it was under our ancestor, Caius Julius Caesar! ”, . . *• Admiral Fornari had one daughter, a beautiful, impressionable girl of 19. Ulivi had not lived in -the admiral’s home two weeks before Eleanor a Fornari fell in love with the man of whom her father spoke as “ our country’s, saviour.” And Ulivi, in turn, seemed to be as much in love with Eleanora as she with him. Admiral Fornari proudly approved of their engagement. Meanwhile the admiral was recruiting support for Ulivi’s ■invention. The first man_to whom the admiral turned for this purpose was Signor

Guido Alfani, the noted seismologist. As leading authority in the science of measuring the slightest tremor of disturbance in the earth, Signor Alfani seemed to the admiral the logical man to consult on this claim of Ulivi’s. Alfani was a man of highest reputation, both as scientist and citizen. He was not sufficiently impressed at first by the admiral’s enthusiasm. “ Scientific discoveries or great inventions,” he said, “ are rarely made by men of whom the world has never heard before. Certainly I have never heard of Signor Ulivi until now. What is his training ? What other contributions to science or invention has he made ? ” The admiral waved the question aside. “ I am less interested in Ulivi than in his invention,” the admiral retorted. “ And as to that, let me tell you something that is more or less an open secret in the Admiralties of every important nation; something that has been agitating all of us. During the Russian-

Japanese War the Japanese battleship Mikasa lay in Sasebo Harbour. Remember it was a Japanese harbour and well removed from the active war zone. “ In broad daylight without any warning and from no cause that could afterwards be determined, she blew up. In the investigation that followed it was ascertained that no torpedo had struck her; no Rusisan war vessel was within a hundred miles of her at the time; and, • of course, aviation was little dreamed of for war uses.” “ But He paused impressively. “ But it was definitely reported that at about the time the Mikasa was blown up, on a beach some miles away three strangers were seen ■with an apparatus thas looked like an enormous camera. As there was nothing of importance for them to photograph, Japanese sentries paid no attention to them. It was shortly afterward that the Mikasa’s magazine blew up and shattered the warship. And all the Admiralties have been wondering—-fearing—ever since.” Signor Alfani grew thoughtful. “You remind me of something which in all fairness I must take into consideration. An English colleague of mine, Mr Poulson, has shown the possibility of melting coils of copper wire at a distance of 60 yards by means of wireless currents of high tension. Also he wrote me that when the power-house of the London United Tramways Company was first set . working at Chiswick the delicate instruments at Kew Observatory, miles away, began playing strange | tricks.” • “ Doesn’t that prove . something to i you ? ” exclaimed the admiral.

“ Only that I owe Signor Ulivi a hearing,” the scientist replied. A hearing meant, of course, such a test as the admiral had witnessed. There were several things Signor Alfani noted, which while they aroused no direct suspicion made the scientist doubtful. One was the fact that Ulivi exploded only bombs made my himself. Another was that he exploded them only when they were submerged in water. These were not fatal objections, however. And the demonstrations always had their dramatic setting at night, in secrecy, with the play of searchlights over the water, and the painful hush of waiting—a hush broken by the flash, the muffled explosion, and the spout of white water. Remember that, after all, Signor Alfani was not a specialist in this particular field of investigation. His hope as a patriot, the enthusiasm of his friend, the admiral, and the effective drama of the demonstrations eventually won over his belief in Ulivi’s invention.

Once Signor Alfani was convinced, a considerable body of influential men were found to back Ulivi. A powerful wireless station was erected for Ulivi with which he performed tests on a still larger scale for the benefit of a commission of the Italian Government. They, too, were impressed. Matters came at last to the point where the Government asked Ulivi his price for the F-Ray secret.

Ulivi named a staggering sum. The admiral felt uncomfortable. As a patriot he was shocked at the greed of his prospective son-in-law in holding up his country for such a fortune. But Ulivi was firm. “I could sell my invention to Great Britain, France, or America, or Germany for more,” he said. “ But my love for my country has kept me from offering my ray to them. Consider what it will win for Italy—world empire ! ” The Government dared not flatly refuse further negotiation for fear that Ulivi would offer his F-Ray to some foreign nation. At the same time one could not spend an enormous sum without overwhelming proof that the F-Ray would do for Italy what its inventor I claimed for it. The Government asked for more time. Several scientists, including Signor Alfani, were set to work probing more deeply into Ulivi’s claims. Alfani wrote cautiously to a fellowscientist in England: “ Purely as an academic question: What do you thing of the Hkelihood that some ultra-red ray could be so employed as to detonate gunpowder at a distance ? ” The man he addressed was one of the foremost men in this field. Alfani expected to be enlightened by his reply. But the letter that came back exceeded his expectations. The Englishman wrote: “Interestingly enough this very question -was put to me by my own Government about eight months ago. A Brazilian —a striking-looking chap, big, red-headed, magnetic—offered to sell my Government an invention for which he

claimed the power to explode gunpowder by means of a new ray discovered by him. A series of tests were conducted, some of which I witnessed. The con- ■ ditions of the tests were to my mind not satisfactory, but the whole thing was impressive enough at first. “ I asked this man, Alonzo, to be allowed to prepare the submarine mines he exploded. Emphatically he refused. ’ J didn’t like the fact that the tests were ' always carried on at night. Nor would ' he permit anyone to stay with him while he manipulated his so-called 4 Red Ray.’ “ You can understand the anxiety of . the British Government to make no "mistake in the matter. The man asked j such an exorbitant sum that it would be a calamity were the Government to pay [ it and then find that it had obtained. nothing of’ value. On the other hand,' if this man’s invention had anything ’ to it, the British Government could; not afford to have any other nation ’ secure it.

“ One of the officers detailed to study, the invention took it upon himself to do a bit of secret investigation. Alonzo’ had his apparatus housed in a cottage ’ on the coast off which were moored the' mines he exploded. This officer secreted-' himself one night in the room where Alonzo was supposed to operate his ‘ Red Ray.’

“ The mine w - as towed out at night. A light was played on the place where’ the mine was anchored, and Alonzo hurried to his cottage to set his ray in’ operation. He always worked his apparatus in the dark for some reason; ’ he said it was to protect his secret.

“ Alonzo let himself into the cottage, with a pass key. The apparatus was' on an upper floor. The naval officer’ was hidden in a closet in the same room with the apparatus, as I have said. Alonzo entered the cottage, but for some’ reason remained downstairs. The officer knew the test was going on, and that the mine should be set off at any' moment. He wondered w - hy Alonzo delayed coming up to start his apparatus. “He heard him go to a window over-, looking the water and wait there. This, struck the officer as so curious that he. ventured out of the closet and stole to, the door. He it, A hinge squeaked. “ Alonzo must have heard it. The, big fellow came rushing upstairs as if on wings. In the dark he collided with the naval officer. A furious struggle, followed. But the Brazilian w*as such a powerful brute that he succeeded in knocking the officer senseless. “ The Englishman was brought back to, consciousness by the sound of an explosion out in the water. How long, he had been unconscious he could not say. It was quite an important question, however, that matter of time. “For if that period of unconsciousness was so short that Alonzo could not have had time to get to his apparatus, the mine was exploded without his aid. Which would expose the whole thing as a fraud, since it would mean that the socalled ‘ Red Ray ’ -was only a red herring drawn across the trail.

“ Alonzo claimed, of course, that he had had ample time to manipulate his, apparatus. But when our people came up to the cottage they found him in a towering rage

“‘You are trying to steal my secret!’ be cried. ‘ You shall not succeed. I will destroy it before I will let you rob me!’ “ With that he took up a hammer and smashed his apparatus to bits. And soon after he left England. Several colleagues and I studied the wreckage of his apparatus. We came to the con: elusion that he was a fraud. Our con: elusion was based largely on the fact that the sending equipment could not possibly generate anything like the power necessary to detonate gunpowder at any distance, no matter how short.

“ The letter disturbed Signor Alfani. The description of Alonzo tallied peri feetly with that of Ulivi; the apparatus, and the tests sounded identical; the scientist's conclusions, drawn from the wreckage of the apparatus, confirmed Alfani’s own secret doubts of Ulivi’s apparatus. “ Alfani felt the matter to be so irn.portant that he left on a quiet trip of investigation. In England he had not the slightest difficulty in establishing, by means of photographs he had taken along, the identification of Ulivi as ‘ Alonzo.’ ”

Then he followed the man’s trail across the Channel to France. Here he learned that “ Alonzo,” posing as a Chilean engineer, gave his name as Bolido, and had offered his “ Red Ray ” to the French Government. The French Government was sufficiently interested to ask for a test. But apparently they were as critical as the English, for Bolido left France in a huff, “ Red Ray ” and all. This brought matters up‘to the time Ulivi interested Admiral Fornari in his invention. When Alfani returned from his trip he went straight to Ulivi. “ I want to talk to you alone and very earnestly, but first I want you to look at this,” he said. And he laid before Ulivi the letter from the English scientist. Ulivi turned livid. “This is a plot to discredit me!” he cried furiously. Alfani remained unmoved. “ I have little to gain by exposing you,” he replied, “ and much to lose. It is on the strength of my recommendation that you secured the money wherewith to build your wireless station. Should you prove to be a fraud, my reputation will suffer. I am eager to be convinced by you. But I shall insist on a test under my conditions.

“If you meet then) this wretched uncertainty in my mind will end: But i; you refuse I shall have to withdraw publicly my support of vmyour attempt to sell your invention to other countries, anu v fraud.” Ulivi calmed down considerably. “What conditions do you ask?” he llemanded. “ I want to prepare*a small bomb myfelf. I will place in it ordinary gun-

powder and a detonating cap. Then J shall ask you to explode the bomb in my presence at a distance of only thirty yards. If your claim is genuine this shoo'd be an oasv test.”

Ulivi thought a long time. “ 1 will do it,” he said finally. Signor Alfani sighed with relief. He made a definite appointment for the test. He was willing to let Ulivi choose the night for the test, as usual. - But Alfani had grown cautious. He made up

his mind that should Ulivi fail fully to satisfy the test he should get no further opportunity to bamboozle others. First Alfani constructed the mine. I’hen he arranged that several carabinieri —some of the famous soldier police of Italy—were secreted near the wireless station on the shore whence Ulivi was supposed to fire the mine. The night of the test arrived. The hour for Ulivi’s appearance also came. But there was no sign of Ulivi. More

hours passed. And with the dawn came the certainty that Ulivi had removed himself to parts unknown. The police raided a., little laboratory of Ulivi’s in Milan. Here they found quantities of sodium. There were also a number of steel bombs. It took some effort for the police to discover anything incriminating in the presence of sodium and these bombs in Ulivi’s laboratory. Fortunately, hbw-

ever, Signor Alfani discovered that in every steel shell there had been bored tiny holes—and the secret was out. The bombs, filled with sodium, were placed in such mines'as Ulivi had constructed for his tests. Then the mines were submerged in water. Some of it percolated into the interior of the mine and through the tiny holes in the steel bomb. Once the water came in contact with the sodium, as even beginners in chemistry know, an explosion had to follow.

For a year Ulivi remained lost. Then in South America he posed as a native of Chile, and tried to repeat his almost perfect swindle on the Chilean Government. But the Italian Government had quietly spread word about him—and this time Ulivi's experiment landed him in prison. And even Eleanora Fornari, his fiancee, spent little time mourning the end of her almost perfect romance.