Serial Story The Jade Token

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 73, Issue 430, 22 November 1930, Page 12

Serial Story The Jade Token

(By,

Ralph Trevor)

(Author of “Under Suspicion," etc.) (All Rights Reserved).

instalment twelve

SYNOPSIS. A murder is committed in the i sorcery of Dr. Wallace Langley, he . being decoyed from Ihe place at the ; lime. The police find the murdered | man. named Conrad Ricks, has come ; Poni South America, and had recently ; asked Jules C.ono, an antique dealer, ; to value a piece of jade set with a ; valuable ruby and inscribed with | hieroglyphics. This jade token is now j missing. , j Scotland Yard have been perplexed : by a series of daring jewel robberies. Curtis Burke, a brilliant, young detective. who is given control of the case, , connects these robberies with the ■ murder of Conrad Ricks. Inspector Ames, an elderly del.ee- , the. assists Burke. Ames is hostile tn Dr. Langley, and feeling that he is ] under suspicion, Langley consults Sir Garvice Walkin, a great criminal lawyer. I.angle,y is engaged to Sonia. ( Cranston. a niece of - Sir Garvice. 1 Sir Garvice tells the young dotcor • that ' there is something suspicious t about Inspector Ames. Sir Garvice Wat kin invites Burke to ; his country house for the week-end, ; and he there meets Ann Marvin, a • friend of Sonia Cranston. There is an atmosphere of mystery ■ about Ann Marvin and Burke, although attracted to her, suspects her ! of being a criminal. A gold crucifix belonging to Sir Garvice is stolen during the night. ; Looking for clues Burke finds a black • bone button of an unusual type. There I was only one man he knew who wore • buttons like that, and that was Detec- ; live Inspector Ames, of Scol.ta.nd j Yard. Burke visits Professor Browning to | try and learn something of the history j of the ancient jade token which was , stolen from the murdered man. Another murder is committed, and . jewels stolen. Finger-prints lead to i tl.e arrest of one Joe Denver. Sir Garvice Walkin offers his services in the defence of the accused, I A! the trial it transpires that Den- ‘ Ivor-has been a member of “The Long ; Arm." a criminal association with a.n , ! nknown iu-ad who directs al! its ■ jpera lions.

CHAPTER XI. — iCont-inued. ■ ••JI is my intPDlion of giving you a few details concerning this remarkable criminal organisation to which Denver A*as once attached. It was customary, n certain cases, for a man to be. released from his obligations if he so desired after a certain period. This was nearly always after the police nad captured the man and he had been ?onvictecl and sentenced for the particular job upon which he had been •ngaged. My client., having served die equivalent of a term of five years penal at Dartmoor, naturally assumed i.hat the stretch’ had exonerated him ‘from further obligation lo ‘The Long Arm.' In these circumstances Den»er decided that a life of crime was dot worth it. He decided to go straight. Which he did. Bui this , symbolic personality knew that Joseph; Denver had been particularly adept, it his job and two days before lite i Arne this crime was committed he received a communication by post ini st rue-ling him that if he pulled oh' 1-his A (He job at Wandsworth ‘The Long Arm’ would erase his name from the •pgisler of the organisation. 1 have ■ibat document here," announced Sir Jarvice dramatically, ‘ and 1 put it in ls evidence.’’ A further buzz of excitement rip- ■ pied through the crowded court as an usher handed a document, up tn th<“ Judge who sal on the dais above like in iiuase carved from flesh and blood. CHAPTER XII. The Verdict of the Court. “My learned friend for the prosecution." went on Sir Garvice when the judge had scanned the missive and handed it on to the jury-box for their scrutiny, “has asserted that ibe plea ! of provocation on the part of anyone I who enters your house lor the puiposc of committing a crime, does not i hold. Whether it does or whether it i does not. I do not, intend lo argue, bill 1 J do say this, that this man would I not. stand before you to-day a selfi confessed murderer had Juan Eguerola ! not fired first as the bullet mark, in ’ the window-sash behind the curtains i of that room is still there lo testify. A man who is shot through the heart i cannot use a revolver. Therefore. 1 ■ say lhat Denver was faced with the jiroblern of his own life or another's and Fate, gentiemen. stepped in lo dej cide the issue. He has told you that i he did nol shoot wiili an intention of ! killing. Few men are murderers from choice. The history of criminality j in this ami any olher country, proves that the exigencres of the moment I have always been th? deciding factors. I This man had to succeed in his task. ! Think what it. meant, for him. It i meant lhat once he. had got safely away with his loot he was freed for evermore from the tentacles of this criminal octopus who bad such a terrible i and vital hold over him. When a man ' is faced with such a situation as this i he is desperate. There is no man i living who would not have fought for his freedom al, this man did. That I raurdrr was done was. I am going io suggest, an accident, for if this man had intended wilfully lo dispatch this man who caught him red-handed, of what avail would his promised freedom from ‘The Long Arm’ have been Lo him? I want, you lo think over that question carefully. JL is the corner stone of my defence in this case. i “I am going to suggest to this | court that. Itiis case is different from any olher. There is a moral side to il lhat may have been overlooked. We. Have a man or it may be a woman—who templed this man as few men have ever been templed, and if there is ;;ny question of mnral guilt that guilt must surely be placed on the should r;-s of this invisible personage of whom you have heard, rnfort.imnley our penal rode is no! yel siifiicienlJy elastic as to accommodate such persons on purely moral grounds. It is ne\rrtheless. a subject of considerable importance. If a rnan is dismissed from his employment by his employer on purely prrjudical grounds, and Itial man. so dismissed by reason uf the fad Lhat he caaaol secure olher

employment, commits a felony—that Js to say he may steal food for his family—the guilt is not with the man who commits the theft but with ihe employer who has ruthlessly and without thought deprived him of Ih? ■means of honest livelihood. I give that, merely, by way of illustrating th? point I have made. The present case is. in one essential inspect, a parallel. “1 have been intrigued by this case." continued the lawyer, “intrigued more than I can explain. This person who is behind Ibis organisation is little more than a legend, but there can be no doubt to my indictment of him. He may—and possibly is—a highly respected member of society. He may even be a prominent, official of Scotland Yard. No one has ever set eyes! on him. Yet he Is something more ; tangible than a myth. ]|is associates I who take all tlie risk In his enter-I prises are exceptionally well-paid for, doing so. and the prisoner at the bar will tell you that the booty is always I handed over al various places—no two are ever the same—lo some shadowy figure In a high-powered motor car, possessing no registration plate. Sometimes the rendezvous is in London itself. sometimes in Liverpool, along deserted dock, road at night-lime; M>metim?s in Manchester; sometimes in Birmingham. “One thing we do know: if the burglary is committed in London the proceeds are invariably handed over in some other part of Ihe country. The devilish cunning with which this organisation is planned and controlled reveals the astounding and disturbing fact that a superman among crooks has arisen in our midst —a man who may conceivably be anol her Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde of Stevenson’s Imagination, but, nevertheless, a man of infinitely

superior resource. I ask you, [ gentlemen, is it in conformity with the canons of British Justice to convict a ; man on the capital charge when you ' know—as you must—lhat tie fired lhat I fatal shot in self-defenc?, and lhat he , had been ruthlessly dragged once j again into the crime by this arch 1 monster of a crook who, apparently, . has half the underworld of Europe, j in the hollow of his hand?" Sir Garvice Watkin sal down amid | further excitement. It was apparent | Lhat his impassioned and logical ap- | peal on behalf of the. prisoner had ; aroused the interest of those present ! to fever point. Curtis Burke foil strangely uncomfortable. He had listened to Sir Garvice with a critical ear. He had heard all that had been suggested with regard to the possibility of the existence of another figure in the drama who kept so thoroughly in the background of events. It pleased him to : feel that what Sir Garvice had suggeslcd fitted in with his own particu- j lar lheor). He fell, that there was ! another person behind all this mystery, : and when the lawyer had suggested so pertinently that that person might weil j be in that court at that moment, ; Burke’s eyes instinctively strayed to I the impassive fac-e of Detective Jnspector Ames who sat beside him with bis j elbows on the narrow desk in front of • i him clipping his chin in his hands. • Burk? hated himself fur the sus- | picion that was growing in his mind against his colleague and he devoutly wished lhat Sir Garvice Watkin had • never planted the seeds for him. Ames hud sat motionless throughout the trial. His eyes seldom strayed even for h moment from the back of the large figure of Hie lawyer who stood in front, of him facing the judge and jury. To Burke the detective was deep in thought and there were times when it appeared that his mind was anywhere but where it ought, lo have been—concentrating upon the speech for the defence. Of course Burke knew 7 lhat besides Ames there was also Professor BrownT ing in court at that moment —Professor Browning end Dr. Wallace Langley. and it seemed 1o him that Ihe lawyer’s remark —legitimate in speculation as it hart undeniably been—might well have been intended as a hint and a guide Lo Sir Garvice’s own thoughts on the matter. Perhaps, during the interviews he had had with Denver, he had obtained some inkling of ibe truth—a half-truth, maybe, which made him associate someone in his own mind with this ethereal person he bad mentioned. Burke decided that when the case was over he must approach Sir Garvice and have a. word with him on this important matter. If there was someone whom he did suspect it would help Burke materially in the conduct of his inquiries. It would be the first gleam of light that, had shone through Ihe clouds of darkness that had been obscuring his investigaliOfts for the past five or six months.

The Grown Counsel availed himself of his prerogative to reply finally for the prosecution. He reminded Ihe jury that Ihe hypotheses of the defence did not materially alter the case before the court. if anything, he asserted, Sir Garvice. had strengthed the Crown case. Then came the summing up. Mr Justice Phelps took the jury step by step througn the story, omitting any suggestion of speculation and theory. The facts were plain. The prisoner had admitted that he fired the fatal shot. It was for Ihe jury lo say whether they were satisfied that he did so and also what Ihe state of his mind was at that, moment. Was he a rational human being? There had been no plea of insanity pul. forward by the defence. II? submitted lhat a question of provocation did to same limited extent enter into th? case, but how far within the limits of jurisprudence that provocation could be said to be a material facior, he was not. prepared lo argue. If the defence so desired they had Ihe right M’ appeal on th? grounds of misdirection. Th? jury were not concerned with questions nf morals on purely theoretical grounds. If they were satisfied that there was no criminal intent ami hr fell, t.hat som? intent was evidenced i,i Ihe prescnl rase they were qnile en til ed lo find a verdict contrary lo the opinion and direction of himself. Hr exhorted lh?m to weigh Ihe evidence carefully and lo come to a true and just decision. The jury lherciipon tiled oul of I!., box tu Ihe anti* room beyond. th usher turning Ihe kej In Ihe lock alter them. (To be Cuntiuued).