Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Chapter seventeen, The Poison Pen Puzzle. Beside the bookcase in the room which
Bill Quinn likes to dignify by thename of library, though it's only a
den ornamented with relics of scores ofcases in which members of the different government
detective services have figured, hangs aframe containing four letters, each in a
(00:25):
different handwriting. Beyond the fact thatthese letters obviously refer to some secret in
the lives of the persons to whomthey are addressed, there is little about
them that is out of the ordinary. A close observer, however, would
note that in none of the fouris the secret openly stated. It is
(00:47):
only hinted at suggested. But bythat very fact it becomes more mysterious and
alarming. It was upon this thatI commented one evening, as I sat
discussing things in general with Quinn.Yes, he agreed. The writer of
those letters was certainly a genius asan author, or as an advertising writer,
(01:12):
or in almost any other profession.Were a mastery of words, and
the ability to leave much to theimagination is a distinct asset, they would
have made a big success they,I inquired, did more than one person
write the letters? Don't look likethe writing of the same person, do
(01:34):
they countered Quinn. Besides, thatwas one of the many phases of the
matter which puzzled Elmer Allison and raisedthe case above the dead level of ordinary
blackmailing schemes. Allison, Quinn wenton, settling comfortably back in his big
arm chair, was, as youprobably remember, one of the star men
(01:59):
of the Postal Inspection Service, thechap who solved the mystery of the lost
one hundred thousand dollars in Columbus.In fact, he had barely cleared up
the tangle connected with the letters whenassigned to look into the affair of the
missing money with what results you alreadyknow. The poison pen puzzle, as
(02:21):
it came to be known in thedepartment, first bobbed up some six months
before Allison tackled it. At leastthat was when it came to the attention
of the Postal Inspection Service. It'smore than likely that the letters had been
arriving for some time previous to that, because one of the beauties of any
(02:42):
blackmailing scheme such as this one appearedto be is that ninety percent of the
victims fear to bring the matter tothe attention of the law. They much
prefer to suffer in silence, kickingin with the amounts demanded, then to
risk the exposure of their family skeletonsby appealing to the proper authorities. A
(03:05):
man by the name of Tyson,who lives in Madison, Wisconsin, was
the first to complain. He informedthe postmaster in his city that his wife
had received two letters, apparently ina feminine handwriting, which he considered to
be very thinly veiled attempts at blackmailing. Neither of the letters was long,
(03:28):
just a sentence or two, buttheir ingenuity lay in what they suggested rather
than in their actual threats. Thefirst one read, does your husband know
the details of that trip to fonduLac. He might be interested in what
Hastings has to tell him. Thesecond, which arrived some ten days later,
(03:51):
announced the photograph of the register ofa certain hotel in fon du Lac
for June eighth might be of interestto your husband. Who can tell?
That was all there was to them. But it doesn't take an expert in
plot building to think of a dozenstories that could lie back of that supposedly
(04:12):
clandestine trip from the eighth of June. Tyson didn't go into particulars at the
time. He contented himself with turningthe letters over to the department, with
the request that the matter be lookedinto. At once, said that his
wife had handed them to him andthat he knew nothing more about the matter.
(04:33):
All that the postal authorities could doat the time was to instruct him
to bring in any subsequent communications.But as the letter stopped suddenly, and
Tyson absolutely refused to state whether heknew of anyone who might be interested in
causing trouble between his wife and himself, there was nothing further to be done.
(04:57):
Tracing a single letter, or eventwo of them, is like looking
for a certain star on a clearnight. You've got to know where to
look before you have a chance offinding it, and the postmark on the
letters wasn't of the least assistance.Some three or four weeks later a similar
case cropped up. This time itwas a woman who brought in the letters,
(05:21):
a woman who was red eyed fromlack of sleep and worry. Again,
the communications referred to a definite escapade, but still they made no open
demand for money. By the timethe third case cropped up. The postal
authorities in Madison were appealing to Washingtonfor assistance. Before Bolton and Clark,
(05:46):
the two inspectors originally assigned to thecase, could reach the Wisconsin capital,
another set of the mysterious communications hadbeen received and called to the attention of
the department. During the three monthswhich followed, no less than six complaints
were filed, all of them allegingthe receipt of veiled threats, and neither
(06:10):
the local authorities nor the men fromWashington could find a single nail in which
to hang a theory. Finally,affairs reached such a stage that the Chief
sent for Allison, who had alreadymade something of a name for himself,
and told him to get on thejob. Better make the first train for
(06:30):
Madison. Were the directions which Elmerreceived. So far as we can tell,
this appears to be the scheme ofsome crazy woman intent upon causing domestic
disturbances, rather than a well laidblackmailing plot. There's no report of any
actual demand for money, just threatsor suggestions of revelations which would cause family
(06:57):
dissension. I don't have to tellyou that it's wise to keep the whole
business away from the papers as longas you can. They'll get next to
it sometime, of course. Butif we can keep it quiet until we've
landed the author of the notes,it'll be a whole lot better for the
reputation of the department. Bolton andClarke are in Madison now, but their
(07:20):
reports are far from satisfactory, soyou'd better do a little investigating of your
own. You'll have full authority tohandle the case any way that you see
fit. All we ask is actionbefore somebody stirs up a real row about
the inefficiency of the service, andall that rot. Elmer smiled grimly,
(07:44):
knowing the difficulties under which the departmentworked, difficulties which make it hard for
any bureau to obtain the full factsin a case without being pestered by politicians
and harried by local interests which arefar from friendly. For this reason,
you seldom know that Uncle Sam isconducting an investigation until the whole thing is
(08:07):
over and done with and the resultsare ready to be presented to the grand
jury. Premature publicity has ruined manycases and prevented many a detective from landing
the men he's after, which wasthe reason that Allison slipped into town on
rubber heels, and his appearance atthe office of the Postmaster was the first
(08:31):
indication that official had of his arrival. Mister Gordon said Allison, after they
had completed the usual preliminaries connected withcredentials and so forth. I want to
tackle this case just as if Iwere the first man who had been called
in. I understand that comparatively littleprogress has been made. Comparatively little is
(08:56):
good, chuckled the Postmaster. Don'twish to be hindered by any more erroneous
theories which may have been built up, So if you don't mind, we'll
run over the whole thing from thebeginning. Well, replied the Postmaster.
You know about the Tyson letters,and I don't know about a thing.
(09:18):
Elmer cut in, or at leastwill work on the assumption that I don't.
Then I'll be sure not to missany points, and at the same
time I'll get a fresh outline ofthe entire situation. Some two hours later,
Postmaster Gordon finished his resume of thevarious cases which were puzzling the police
(09:41):
and the postal officials. For anumber of the best men in the police
force had been quietly at work tryingto trace the poison pen letters. Are
these all the letters that have beenreceived, Alison inquired, indicating some thirty
communications which lay before on the desk, all that have been called to the
(10:03):
attention of this office. Of course, there's no telling how many more have
been written about which no complaint hasbeen made. Knowing human nature, I
should say that at least three timesthat number have been received and possibly paid
for, but the recipients didn't reportthe matter for reasons best known to themselves.
(10:26):
As a matter of fact, butyou are not interested in gossip,
I most certainly am, declared Allison. When you're handling a matter of this
kind, where backstairs intrigue and servantshall talk is likely to play a large
part, gossip forms a most importantfactor. What does Dame Rumor say in
(10:50):
this case, so far as theseletters are concerned, nothing at all.
Certain influence, which it's hardly necessaryto explain in detail, have kept this
affair out of the papers. Butgossip has it that at least three divorces
within its many months have been causedby the receipt of anonymous letters, and
(11:15):
that there are a number of otherhomes which are on the verge of being
broken up for a similar reason.That would appear to bear out your contention
that other people have received letters likethese but preferred to take private action upon
them. Also that if blackmail wereattempted, it sometimes failed, Otherwise the
(11:37):
matter wouldn't have gotten as far asthe divorce court. Then, after a
careful study of several of the sampleletters on the desk, Allison continued,
I suppose you have noted the factthat no two of these appear to have
been written by the same person.Yes, but that is a point upon
(11:58):
which handwriting experts to agree. Someof them claimed that each was written by
a different person, Others maintained thatone woman was responsible for all of them,
and a third school holds that eithertwo or three people wrote them.
What are you going to do whenexperts disagree? Don't worry about any of
(12:20):
them, retorted Allison. If we'resuccessful at all, we won't have much
trouble in proving our case without theassistance of a bunch of so called experts
who only gum up the testimony withlong words that a jury can't understand.
Where are the envelopes in which theseletters were mailed? Most of The people
(12:43):
who brought them in failed to keepthe envelopes, but we did manage to
dig up a few. Here theyare, and the postmaster tossed over a
packet of about half a dozen ofvarious shapes and sizes. Mused the postal
operative, all comparatively inexpensive stationery mighthave been bought at nearly any corner drug
(13:09):
store. Any clue to the postmarksnot the slightest, As you will note,
they were mailed either at the centralpost office or at the railroad station,
places so public that it's impossible tokeep a strict watch for the person
who mailed them. In one case, that of the osgoods, we cautioned
(13:31):
the wife to say nothing whatever aboutthe matter, and then ordered every clerk
in the post office to look outfor letters in that handwriting which might be
slipped through the slot. In fact, we closed all the slots save one,
and placed a man on guard insidenight and day. Well what happened,
(13:56):
inquired Allison, a trifle impatiently,as postmaster paused. The joke was
on us. Some two days latera letter which looked suspiciously like these was
mailed. Our man caught it intime to dart outside and nail the person
who posted it. Fortunately, wediscovered that she was missus Osgood's sister in
(14:20):
law, and that the letter wasa perfectly innocent one. No chance of
her being mixed up in the affair. No, her husband is a prominent
lawyer here, and besides, we'vewatched every move she's made since that time.
She's one of the few people intown that we're certain of. Yet
(14:45):
you say her handwriting was similar tothat which appears on these letters. Yes,
that's one of the many puzzling phasesof the whole matter. Every single
letter is written in a hand whichclosely reas embols that of a relative of
the person to whom it is addressed. So much so, in fact,
(15:05):
that at least four of the complainantshave insisted upon the arrest of these relatives
and have been distinctly displeased at arefusal to place them in jail, merely
because their handwriting is similar to thatof a blackmailer. Why do you say
blackmailer? Do you know of anydemand for money which has been made?
(15:28):
Not directly, but what other purposecould a person have them to extract money?
They'd hardly run the risk of goingto the pen in order to gratify
a whim for causing trouble. Howabout the Tysons and the Osgoods and the
other people who brought these letters in? Didn't they receive subsequent demands for money?
(15:54):
They received nothing, not another singleletter of any kind. You mean
that the simple fact of making areport to your office appeared to stop the
receipt of the threats precisely. Nowthat you put it that way, it
does look odd, but that's whathappened. Allison whistled. This was the
(16:19):
first ray of light that had penetrateda very dark and mysterious case, and
with its aid he felt that hemight after all be successful. Contenting himself
with a few more questions, includingthe names of the couples whom Gossip stated
had been separated through the receipt ofanonymous communications, Allison bundled the letters together
(16:44):
and slipped them into his pocket.It's quite possible, he stated, as
he opened the door leading out ofthe postmaster's private office, that you won't
hear anything more from me for sometime. I hardly think it would be
wise to report here too often,or that if you happen to run into
me on the Street that you wouldregister recognition. I won't be using the
(17:10):
name of Allison anyhow, but thatof Greg Alvin Gregg, who has made
a fortune in the operation of chainstores and is looking over the field with
a view to establishing connections here.Gregg, by the way, is stopping
at the Majestic Hotel if you careto reach him. And with that he
(17:32):
was gone. Alison's first move afterestablishing his identity at the hotel was to
send a wire to a certain AliceNorcross in Chicago, a wire which informed
her that my sister, missus MabelKennedy requests your presence in Madison, Wisconsin,
(17:53):
urgent and immediate. The signature wasAlvin Gregg e A. And to
an inquisitive telegraph operator who inquired themeaning of the initials, Allison replied electrical
assistant, of course, and walkedaway before the matter could be further discussed.
(18:15):
The next evening, Missus Mabel Kennedyregistered at the Majestic Hotel and went
up to the room which mister Gregghad reserved for her, the one next
to his. It's all right,Alice, he informed her. A few
moments later, after a careful surveyhad satisfied him that the hall was clear
(18:37):
of prying ears. I told themall about you, that you were my
sister and everything, so it's quiterespectable Missus Kennedy, or Alice Norcross,
as she was known to the membersof the postal Service, whom she had
assisted on more than one occasion whenthe services of a woman with brains were
(18:57):
demanded, Early smiled and continued tofix her hair before the mirror. I'm
not worrying about that, she replied. You boys can always be trusted to
arrange the details, but traveling alwaysdid play the dickens with my hair.
What's the idea anyhow? Why amI missus Mabel Kennedy and what's she supposed
(19:22):
to do? In a few words, Alison outlined what he was up against,
evidently the operation of a very skillfulgang of blackmailers who were not only
perfectly sure of their facts, butwho didn't run any risks until their victims
were too thoroughly cowed to offer anyresistance. The only weak spot and the
(19:45):
whole plan, concluded the operative,is that the letters invariably cease when the
prospective victims lay their case before thepostmaster. You mean that you think he's
implicated. No, but someone inhis office is snapped, Allison, Else
(20:06):
how would they know when to layoff? That's the only lead we have,
and I don't want to work fromit. But up to it.
Do you know anyone who's socially prominentin Madison? Not a soul? But
it's no trick to get letters ofintroduction, even for missus Mabel Kennedy.
(20:26):
Fine, go to it the minuteyou get em. Start a social campaign
here, stage several luncheons, bridgeparties and the like. Be sure to
create the impression of a woman ofmeans. And if you can drop a
few hints about your none too spotlesspast, so much the better. You
(20:48):
want to draw their fire, eh, precisely, it's unfortunate that we can't
rig up a husband for you.That would make things eas easier. But
when it's known that I, AlvinGregg, am your brother, I think
it's more than likely that they'll riska couple of shots. It was about
(21:11):
a month later that Missus Kennedy calledup her brother at the Hotel Majestic and
asked him to come over to herapartment at once. Something stirring, inquired
Allison as he entered the drawing roomof the suite, which his assistant had
rented in order to bolster up hersocial campaign. The first nibble replied the
(21:34):
girl, holding out a sheet ofviolet tinted paper, on which appeared the
words, of course, your brotherand your friends know all about the night
you spent alone with a certain manin a cabin in the Sierras. Great
Scott ejaculated, Allison, do youmean to say it worked like clockwork?
(21:59):
Was the girl's acting on your instructions? I made a special play for Snaith,
the Postmaster's confidential secretary and general assistant. I invited him to several of
my parties and paid particular attention towhat I said when he was around.
The first night, I got offsome clever little remark about conventions, laughing
(22:23):
at the fact that it was allright for a woman to spend a day
with a man, but hardly respectablefor her to spend the evening. The
next time he was there, andhe was the only one in the party
who had been present on the previousoccasion, I turned the conversation to snowstorms
and admitted that I had once beentrapped in a storm in the Sierra Nevadas
(22:48):
and had been forced to spend thenight in a cabin. But I didn't
say anything then about any companion.The third evening, when an entirely different
crowd with the exception of Snaith,was present, some one brought up the
subject of what constitutes a gentleman,and my contribution was a speech to the
(23:10):
effect that one never knows what aman is until he is placed in a
position where his brute instincts would naturallycome to the front. Not a single
of those remarks was incriminating or evensuspicious, But it didn't take a master
mind to add them together and makethis note. Snaith was the only man
(23:32):
who could add them because he wasthe only one who was present when they
were all made. Fine work,applauded Allison. But there's one point you've
overlooked. This letter, unlike therest of its kind, is postmark Kansas
City. While Snaith was here daybefore yesterday when this was mailed, I
(23:56):
know because Clark's been camping on histrail for the past three weeks. Then
that means that Snaith is only oneof the gang. The stool pigeon,
or in this case, the loungelizard who collects the information and passes it
on to his chief exactly. Now, having mister Snaith where I want him,
(24:19):
and knowing pretty well how to dealwith his breed, I think the
rest will be easy. I knewthat somebody in the Postmaster's office must be
mixed up in the affair, andyour very astute friend was the most likely
prospect. Congratulations on landing him soneatly, Thanks, said the girl.
(24:42):
But what next for you? Nota thing? You've handled your part to
perfection. The rest is likely toentail a considerable amount of strong arm work,
and I'd rather not have you aroundmight cramp my style. That night,
(25:03):
or rather, about three o'clock onthe following morning, Sylvester Snaith,
confidential Secretary to the Postmaster of Madison, was awakened by the sound of someone
moving stealthily about the bedroom of hisbachelor apartment. Before he could utter a
sound, the beam of light froman electric torch blazed in his eyes,
(25:26):
and a curt voice from the darknessordered him to put up his hands.
Then, what do you know aboutthe anonymous letters which have been sent to
a number of persons in this city? Demanded the voice not a thing,
stammered the clerk, trying to collecthis badly scattered senses. That's a lie.
(25:51):
We know that you supplied the informationupon which those letters were based.
Now come through with the whole dope, or by hell, I'll the blue
steel muzzle of an automatic, whichwas visible just outside the path of light
from the torch completed the threat Snaith, thoroughly cowed, came through, told
(26:15):
more than even Allison had hoped forwhen he had planned the night raid on
a man whom he had sized upas a physical coward. Less than an
hour after the secretary had finished,Elmer was on his way to Kansas City,
armed with information, which he proceededto lay before the Chief of Police,
(26:36):
Spencerian Peter eh grunted the chief.Sure, I know where to lay
my hands on him. Been watchinghim more or less ever since he got
out of Leavenworth a couple of yearsback. But I never connected him with
this case. What do you meanthis case, demanded Alison. Did you
(26:59):
know anything about the poison pen lettersin Madison? Madison? No, but
I know about the ones that haveset certain people here by the ears for
the past month. I thought thatwas what you wanted him for. Evidently
the game isn't new. Far fromit, Elmer replied, I don't know
(27:21):
how much he cleaned up in Wisconsin, but I'll bet he got away with
a nice pile. Had a socialpet there who happened to be the postmaster's
right hand man collect the scandal forhim, and then he'd fix up the
letters, faking some relative's handwriting withthat infernal skill of his. Then his
(27:42):
man Friday would tip him off whenthey made a hauler to headquarters, and
he'd look for other suckers rather thanrun the risk of getting the department on
his trail by playing the same fishtoo long. That's what finally gave him
away. That and the fact thathis assistant was bluffed by an electric torch
(28:03):
in an empty gun. Well,I'll be hanged, muttered the chief.
You might have been explaining the situationhere, except that we don't know who
his society informant is. I thinkwe'd better drop in for a call on
Spenserian this evening. The call wasmade on scheduled time, Quinn concluded,
(28:29):
but it was hardly of a socialnature. You wouldn't expect a post office
operative a chief of police and halfa dozen cops to stage a pink tea.
Their methods are inclined to be atrifle more abrupt, though Pete,
as it happened, didn't attempt topull any rough stuff. He dropped his
(28:51):
gun the moment he saw how manyguests were present, and it wasn't very
long before they presented him with aformal invitation to resume his none too comfortable
but extremely exclusive apartment in Leavenworth,Snaith. Being only an accomplice, got
off with two years. The manwho wrote the letters, and who was
(29:14):
the principal beneficiary of the money whichthey produced, drew ten and who got
the credit for solving the puzzle?I inquired, Allison or the Norcross girl?
Allison replied, Quinn Alice Norcross onlyworked on condition that her connection with
the service be kept quite as muchof a secret as the fact that her
(29:38):
real name was missus Elmer Allison.What she was Allison's wife? I demanded,
Quite so, said the former operative. If you don't believe me,
there's a piece of her wedding dressdraped over that picture up there, and
he pointed to a strip of whitesilk that hung over one of the framed
(30:00):
photographs on the wall. But Ithought you said that that was part of
the famous thirty thousand Yards, whichwas nailed just after it had been smuggled
across the Canadian border. I did, but Alison got hold of a piece
of it and had it made upinto a dress for Alice. So that
(30:22):
bit up there has a double story, you know, one of them.
Remind me to tell you the othersometime end of chapter seventeen,