1937-12-10 — Page 13

CHINA MAIL

FRIDAY SUPPLEMENT DECEMBER 10, 1937

THE PROFESSOR'S FIRST CASE

a sharp, piercing shriek followed a second later by the shrill blast of a police whistle. The Square was alive with the busy hum of traffic, the cheerful hustle of Christmas shoppers, 70stling shoving and pushing their way in and out of the big depart- mental stores

THE crowd heard

Keen eyed, stern-looking men appeared magically at every en- trance and exit. At each of the square's four roads, uniformed policemen were hastily erect- ing barricades.

A puzzled motorist tooted his horn impatiently. In reply, sharp commands were heard every- where:-

"No one is to move!"

The crowds inside the shops. and on the pavements stood stock still. Regimented and dis- ciplined, they were well used to the Police Search without Warrant Nine-tenths of them were law-abiding citizens who had nothing to fear from a razzia

The hush of waiting became.. unbearable: people stared un- easily at their neighbours; no one spoke

The Commandant, toughen- || ed by years of daily contact with crime, could not repress: a feeling of horror as he looked down at the bodr. At his feet lay a small boy. The child's tiny face, pinched with cold, wore an expression of intense sur- prise. From his throat trickled a thin stream that dyed the muddied snow a deeper hue. The Commandant swore a silent oath this time the fiend should not escape: the meshes of the net were fine enough to catch the slipperiest maniac at large.

Five yards away, two plain clothes detectives were forcing brandy through the clenched teeth of the unconscious mother. She came to and looked widly at them. Once more her terri- fied scream electrified the square.

A buzz of conversation broke out, the crowd were asking each other confused questions-- "What has happend?” "What is the matter?”

A man's voice shouted: "The Child Slaver!" The excited mur- swelled into a babet of sound. Curses and terrible -oaths filled the air. Men shook their fists with impotent rage: fashionably dressed shrieked the fonlest abuse at the unknownLE

women

The Commandant hastened to the mother's side. He slapped her face and hands with cal- culated violence Ber scream gave way to a low vioan. Beads of sweat rolled down the cheeks

of the defective who supp

her

andant spoke sooth-

ingly, "Calm yourself. Tell me what happened.

The

the

"There, it happened words came falter-

ingly. We had just left the store. Johann lingered beb

called to him to marry She sobbed out, "God forgive me, went on I thought he heard me. He didn't!" The voice rose to a scream, "He didn't hear

Now, now, Madam, calm yourself. Tell me who did it?””

I didn't see When I look- ed back he was lying in the snow. Her voice broke "A WO man was about to step on him then I cried out.”

"Look around and show me her. Stand back there!" barked the Commandant. The detec- tives who had formed a protec tire ring around the stricken mother, stepped aside.

"There That fat one with the astrakan coat" The Com- mandant beckoned to the wo- man. Half silly with fright she waddled forward.,

This He said, kindly man says that she saw

Short Story

Detective Sergeants, shaven heads and ramrod backs proclaimed the military dis- cipline of the Police Force. rasped out-

"Everybody line amination.”

for

The machine was in motion. The huge net, into whose meshes hundreds of people, in- nocent and guilty alike, had been swept, was about to be hauled in. The examination was to be microscopically min- ute

The Commandant had gam- bled. The busy shopping dis- trict had been for the past three days the centre of camouflaged rehearsals. Sooner or later, the slayer would strike again. When he did he would find himself in 2 trap so finely organised, perfectly sted, that jaws locked at the sound of a whistle.

WO-

You

He strode to a barricade

about to step on the child. be- fore she screamed.”

“No, I did not see him," she stammered. "I saw no one. I heard the shriek."

"Do

who remember you was in front of you, or to the side. or behind you?””

"No, there is such a

1 was pushed and "Gowd;

where.

Gaining

every

cel

from the Commandan't reas- suring tone, she added, such a press a careful housewife looks to her purse.”“”

one

"Take her to Headquarters,' rapped out the Commandant He smiled grimly, no had seen the slayer butcher poor little Johann; well, that. was to be expected. Five times had be struck, unseen," ar-" heard This time he would need wings to

pol

By Cedric Erlund

men were lifting WOO table and chairs out of police van.

The line started to file past the table. Everybody showed his or her police card. An Inspector assisted by two Sergeants searched each person.

Inspector carefully examined hands and clothing for blood- stains.

Hour after hour the stream trickled by. At 4.50 eight hours after the beginni of the search, the people in the street had been dealt with. The Commandant ordered the shop doors to be opened. Each shop had been systematically combed so that all the shoppers were concentrated on the ground floors. There were inside than out in the squa The exammation continued

ioned Chriseach,

At twenty night the last Barricades

with the sarn the first, and salt. True, police

had left

These susp who had omiti the prescrib

he Po- lice Station, or were no pos session of a card. No less than one hundred had een caught in the meshes- but they were small fry, pickpockets bag snatchers, confidence men, shop lifters and political outcasts

ap

Nevertheless, they were sus- pect and with thoroughness had

Inside the ing that housed Police Machine- tion continned. names were checke to the Central Here, everyo

has visited the inception of the logued.

Into tims went the

dred. Ten hou chine disgorged Personal and nestly typed înspection

Occup

Brames of

All the ly accuse all put forwa ing that at of preceding been carefully ported and

were formal

ders:

the Thideun

and place Grad

some-

They say that the early bird catches thing or other, but whatever it is, your favourite shop MAIZEE'S has certainly caught "it" in their early autumn arrivals. It is an exquisite collection created in that great fashion centre Hollywood, for MAIZEE'S clientele, women who seek perfection in the art of personal presentation Designed by a firm famous for correctness of style these frocks embody all the best features accepted by fashion leaders as And you can be sure the right things for the autum that their fitting-room

will last becau

their materials match the

of their styles.

MAIZEE'S