The Lampasas Daily Leader (Lampasas, Tex.), Vol. 33, No. 240, Ed. 1 Monday, December 14, 1936 Page: 3 of 4
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THE LAMPASAS LEADER
THE DEVIL
DEPUTY
♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ By BEN AMES WILLIAMS ♦ * ♦ ♦
Co^richt, Bea Ame« WmUai. WNV Service
He cried: "I—" But she touched
his arm. ,
“Hush,** she protested. Some one
knocked at the door, and she opened
it. Ruth waa there.
“Thomas wants to know will you.
want him to drive,** she said in a
resentful tone.
Doctor Gfeeding shook his head.
“No, I’ll take Mrs. Greeding’s car,**
he answered shortly.
And Mrs. Greeding, before Ruth
could turn away, keeping the serv-
ant near as a shield between them,
touched his arm. “Come, Ned,**
she said. /‘We’D have to hurry.’’
So they went downstairs togeth-
er .
He drove headlong, some of the
fury in him communicating itself
to the car. The Jordan home was
in Winchester; and Doctor Greeding
came to the Fellsway and turned in-
to it to escape the slower traffic on
the avenue.
Mrs. Greeding protested uncer-
tainly: “Ned, you're driving aw-
fully fast.*’
“You don't want to be late,** he
retorted harshly; and she shrank
away from him.
A traffic-light halted them; and
when it changed to green, the car
beside them leaped ahead and cut
in front of Doctor Greeding. His
brakes ground to avoid a collision;
and the offending car darted away.
He said through clenched teeth:
“The rat! I hope he breaks his
neck!’’
The other car was no more than »
hundred yards ahead of them. Doc-
tor Greeding heard like an echo of
his words a loud explosion, and saw
the other automobile lurch drunk-
enly to the right against the curb.
It tilted up and over, and came
down crashing. They were so close
behind it that he had to Jam his
brakes hard down to stop in time.
Other machines penned them in,
and instantly there was a small
jam of traffic, .and a motorcycle
Officer swept to the scene.
Mrs. Greeding cried: “Ned, he
must be hurt! Go see!*’
Doctor Greeding got out of his
car. His legs were stiff, yet shak-
ing. His shoulders jerked convul-
sively. His brow was wet and cold.
There was in him an incredible cer-
tainty hideous and horrifying, and
yet in some dark fashion intoxicat-
ing and full of promise too.
He went forward to where the po-
liceman had dragged the driver out
of the wrecked macnine. The man
lay limp, motionless.
“I’m a physician,** said Doctor
Greeding briefly, and the policeman
gave way to him. Doctor Greeding
made a swift examination.
Then he stood up and brushed his
hands; he spoke ih a voice scarce-
ly recognizable as his own.
“Nothing to be done. His neck is
broken. Officer.’’
The man was dead. He was a
middle-aged man, a little shabby.
His was an inexpensive car. It was
crushes and battered, now, fit only
to be junked. The man, fortunate-
ly, had been alone. Doctor Greed-
ing, looking down at him, felt ter-
ror and contrition—and a dizzying
sense of power!
The policeman asked at large:
“Anyone see what happened?**
Doctor Greeding cleared his
throat, steadied his voice. There
was no more anger in him; but
rather a quick caution.
“He was driving very rapidly,**
he explained to the. officer. “He
passed us at the last traffic-light,
and cut in on me pretty sharply.
Drunk, do you Jiink?”
“No smell of booze on him,** the
policeman replied. “His front tire
blew .out when he hit the turn. I
guess that’s the answer.** He pro-
duced his notebook and took Doc-
tor Greeding’s name and address,
then turned to the others who had
pressed around.
Doctor Greeding, at the first op-
portunity, returned to his car, took
the wheel and moved away. He
said nothing; but Mrs. Greeding
watched him, saw his deep distress.
“Was he killed?" she asked.
The Doctor nodded. His brow
was moist, his tones shaken. “My-
ra, his neck was broken!** he said
unsteadily, aqd tried to laugh.
“That makes me feel—curiously
guilty, almost responsible!**
She touched his hand reassuring-
ly. “Ned. dear, don't be absurd!**
“I feel as though I’d wished it
on him,’’ he admitted.
■“You’re perfectly ridiculous.**
she urged loyally. “He was driving
like an idiot. It just happened to—
happen right before our eyes.”
“Poor devil!" Doctor Greeding
muttered; and she looked at him
in a secret astonishment. It was
not like her husband to be thus
senselessly disturbed; and she
sought to turn his thoughts into an-
other channel.
“You’d better hurry, Ned,’’ she
reminded ninf. “We’re late al-
ready!’’
So he drove on in silence; but he
could not so easily dismiss this
tragedy from his mind. Common
sense told him that this was no
more than 'one of those incredible!
apt coincidences which uccur in the]
life of every man, yet something |
laughed softly. “And our orbits
don’t cross very often.”
She continued to talk to him, in
a pleasant and diverting fashion, of
a variety of matters; and Doctor
Greeding responded, stimulated by
her beauty and her wit. Once at
something she said, he threw back
his head and laughed so heartily
that for a moment everyone else at
the table was silenced.
He enjoyed this talk with Mary
Ann, but when they rose from the
table, he lost her; and thereafter,
abstraction descended on him like
a cloak. Mrs. Greeding came at
last to his rescue, and they made
their farewells. He v. as not anxious
to go, had hoped to find himself once
more near Mary Ann; and in the
car, he said almost resentfully: .
“Leaving early, aren’t we?"
"I saw how tired you were," she
replied, and added with e curious
sidelong glance: “Though you
seemed to enjoy yourself at dinner.*’
"Miss Carlisle is attractive, in-
teresting," he assented.
She seemed about to speak, hesi-
tated, said then: ‘‘I suppose you're
still worrying about that poor man
who was killed. But that's just sil-
Abstraction Descended on Him
Like a Cloak.
ly, Ned. Forget him.’* He nodded
silently, and she sought some topic
to distract him.
“Professor Carlisle was explain-
ing to me about poltergeists,’* she
volunteered in a sprightly tone. "I
had told him of the statuette in my
room being broken so mysterious-
ly; and he said we probably had a
poltergeist in the house!"
Doctor Greeding remembered.
“I’ve heard the word, somewhere.
“It comes from the German,** she
explained quickly, grateful for his
attention. **It means *a racketing
spirit*; and when there is one in a
liouse, it throws stpnes, crockery,
furniture—all sorts of things—all
around everywhere."
And she went on hurriedly: "Pro-
fessor Carlisle said usually these*
things happen where then is a
young girl who is sick, or half crazy,
or somethingi" She laughed. “So
I told him Nancy certainly wasn’t
either sick or crazy; and Ruth may
not be so awfully well, but she’s
over forty and perfectly sane, and
cook’s fifty if she’s a day! '*
Doctor Greeding, in a sudden
startled interest, asked in a care-
ful tone: “Did Professor Carlisle of-
fer any explanation of these phe-
nomena?" His pulse, absurdly,
pounded.
- “Oh, he says there isn’t any,"
she assured him. “He says such
things probably don’t really happen;
that they’re imagined, or faked, or
something. Pictures can’t just fall
off walls, of course; and fires don’t
start by themselves."
He nodded vigorously “Of course
not,” he agreed. "All nonsense!"
But he had a sudden, vivid mem-
ory pt a sultry summer day, a day
in haytime. Himself a small boy in
the mow, stowing away the hay as
it was tossed up to him, his nostrils
full of choking dust, stifled, miser-
able. He hated the work, the barn,
the hay ; he wished furiously for any
manner of fescue from this toil.
And suddenly there was smoke in
the air, and flames about his feet,
and he leaped down out of the mow
—and had need to work no more
that day, but only to watch the barn
burn merrily.
Mrs. Greeding’s voice went on,
an undercurrent to his thoughts:
"Things don’t just fly around for no
reason."
And he said, surprisingly uneasy:
“Of course not! All those yarns
are pure fraud, or superstition, My-
ra! Old wives’ tales! Or trickery!
That sort of stunt ii the stcqjc-in-
trade of professional mediums; but
Houdini demonstrated that he could
achieve, by natural physical means.
He exploded the whole fake!"
“I know he did," Mrs. Greeding
assented; but she added with incon-
sequent and maddeningly logical
stubbornness: "And of course I
don't believe in them—in mediums.
But the fact that Houdini could do
such things by trickery doesn't
prove that others couldn’t do them
by spiritualism does it, Ned? I
mean, just because I can tip a chair
over with my hands doesn’t prove
that you can’t tip it over by just
looking at it!"
He said harshly, feeling himself
accused, a sudden clutch at his
throat: . “I, Myra? Nonsense! I
don’t pretend to any psychic pow-
ers!”
“Of course not!" she cried. "I
didn’t mean you. I meant—any-
one." And she added: “Profes-
sor Carlisle says there are so many
things which couldn’t happen, and
didn’t happen—and yet they did
happen!"
"Tosh!" he protested.
."Well, anyway," jhe declared, "I
wish this poltergeist, or whatever it
was, would put my statuette back
together again.”
Doctor Greeding did not like this
conversation. It struck too close
home. He turned into their own
drive with deep relief.
At the door of her dressing-room
Mrs. Greeding kissed him good-
night. "Now don’t worry about that
poor man who was killed, Ned,"
she insisted.
He smiled ruefully, and he said:
*1 know it’s absurd, but—I do feel
responsible. I think I'll check up,
find out whether his family is left
in straits."
She said fondly: "You’d carry
all the world’s burdens on your
shoulders if you could. Good night."
Till she. slept she could hear him
moving about in his room next to
hers. He had, in fact, no inclination
for sleep. In pajamas and dress-
ing-gown,- he sat for a while trying
to read, but the book failed to hold
him . . . It was of course absurd to
suppose that his own wish could
have caused that man’s death; and
yet Doctor Greeding was disturbed.
There were emotions which poisoned
a man’s soul and his body too; could
it be possible that hate and anger
might sometimes be like deadly
shafts projected into the world?
He himself was almost immune
to these passions; he prided him-
self on this fact, and he thought re-
gretfully of his anger of a while
ago. So, seeing the cause of it, ho
remembered Nancy, and the prob-
lem she presented. There was a
new kindliness in Doctor Greeding
tonight. Of course, he decided, if
Nancy truly loved Dan, he would not
want her to marry Jerrell; yet she
might be led to weigh the one man
against the other, might make for
herself the wise and sensible choice.
It occurred to him inconsequent-
ly that if Nancy married Dan, Mary
Ann would become like a member of
the family; and that prospect had
attractions. But his thoughts in
the end returned to the dead man,
and to the broken statuette; and he
remembered at last what Mrs.
Greeding had said about thia ab-
surdity of poltergeists. It was an
absurdity; and yet he wished sud-
denly to be informed on the subject,
and with this purpose in mind -he
went downstairs to select as the
only ready source of information ■
volume of the encyclopedia.
Nancy came home while he was
there, met him in the lower hall.
She exclaimed: "Why, Father! Still
up?"
He put his arm around her, proud-
ly kissed her. She was beautiful,
straight, slender, young and strong.
"I wasn't sleepy, Nancy,” he con-
fessed. "Came down to get a book."
She looked at the volume under
his arm. "The encyclopedia! That
will put you to sleep, certainly."
"Theater tonight?" he asked.
"Yes,” she agreed. "With Judith
Plank."
(TO BE CONTINUED)
Magna Charta Signed by
King John’s Royal Marie
Every schoolboy knows that
Magna Charta was signed by King
John at Runnymede on June 15th,
1215, observes a writer in London
Answers Magazine.
But every schoolboy happens to
L* wrong! Magna Charta was never
signed at all—for the very good
reason that King John was quite
unable to write even his own name.
In thia he was not alone. Most of
the British rulers of that time—end
those on the Continent, tor that mat-
ter—were ignorant of the use at
a pen.
And so Magna Charta bore at the
foot an apparently meaningless
mark which was called, perhaps to
the secret delight of his Majesty,
"the royal signature.”
However, the barons made sure
that there were plenty of witnesses
to the “signing," and John would
never have dared to repudiate hie
mark.
Only fragments of the original
Charta remain, most of It having
SYNOPSIS
Dr. Gr«edins, a wealthy and Ulen tod
middle aged lurfeon, u poaaeaaed of seem-
tally supernatural powers. He is able to
anticipate what people say before they ut-
ter a word; occasionally be can wish lor
something extraordinary to happen and
have the wish fulfilled. Greeding meets
Ira Jerrell. a wealthy business trtend of
his own age, who tells him he loves his
daughter Nancy and would like to marry
her. Dr. Greeding la pleased and tells
Jerrell he haa a clear field Nancy, how-
ever. is in love with Dan Carlisle, an as-
sistant professor at the University who has
little means. They discuss marriage, but
decide to delay Ulklng to her father about
it Nancy, who has been playing tennis
with Dan that afternoon, tells her father
she had been playing with • girl triend.
Greeding knows thia is untrue and is secret-
ly enraged. Stepping into his wife’s room.
l>la eye falls on a marble statuette which
he dislikes. He picks it up. wishing he
could smash it to bits. Suddenly It is
snatched from his grasp as by an invisible
force and burst asunder. Mrs. Greeding is
greatly disturbed over the mysterious de-
struction of the statuette. The docto- makes
light of it
The exodus toward the dining-
room began. Doctor Greeding found
himself placed at Mm. Jordan’s
right, Mary Ann on his other side.
Mrs. Greeding was at the other end
of the table, beside Professor Car-
lisle.
The effect of the cocktails the
Doctor had taken began to pass,
and memory of the tragedy he had
witnessed so short a time ago re-
turned to disturb him. By and by
he heard Professor Carlisle at the
other end of the table utter a word
at once strange and vaguely famil-
iar 1 The word was poltergeist. It
touched some chord of memory in
him. athd he tried to hear what the
other was saying; but Mary Ann
just then released herself from the
man beyond her, and smiled and
suggested:
“We don’t actually have to talk
shop, 1 suppose. Doctar Greeding;
but we ought to say something to
each other!”
He forgot his interest in Professor
Carlisle. “Mrs. Jordan contrives
these things so carefully, ’ he as-
sented in an amused undertone.
“Gives us our cue. You worked
with Doctor Homans, your father
says?”
•’For three years," she assented.
He chuckled, curiously stimulat-
ed, forgetting for the present that
man with a broken neck limp on the
turf beside the road.
"I know your brother Dan," he
remarked. “See him around the
house occasionally. I expect you
know Nancy."
"Oh, yes,” she agrsed. "Of
course, I’m older than she.” She
CHAPTER II—Continued
"He's a pauper, always will be.
Or the next thing to it."
"Do you think that makes so
much difference, Ned?” she urged
gently. “And—after all, isn’t that
Nancy’s business?”
“I won’t have it," he Insisted.
“I shall make it my business.”
“It’s possible, you know," she re-
minded him gravely, “that you—
can't do anything about it. Nancy
has a will of her own, and—an in-
come of her own, later, apart from
you. From my father."
He said tensely: “Myra, what’s
got into you? You’ve always stood
shoulder to shoulder with me.”
“You’ve always done things I
could agree with, and support," she
replied. “But I think you would
be wrong to oppose Nancy, if she
loves Dan, without a better reason
than the fact that he has no money.
After all, his family is fine."
And she urged: “Finish dress-
ing, Ned. We must go.”
He started to speak, then held his
tongue. He returned to his own
room for vest and coat; and when
he came back, she was ready.
"Twenty minutes past seven,”
rfhe said. “We’re supposed to be
there at a quarter of, and it's half
an hour’s drive."
He said: “The others will be
late. Wait.” He had decided to
deeper than common sense, some-
thing rooted in the very base and
foundation of his soul, cried out
against accepting such a simple ex-
planation. He was trembling and
shaken with a vast and perilous
excitement, like one who stands be-
fore a closed door, long locked, in
which now the key is fixed, waiting
only for him to turn it. and open
the door, and entef in.
Suduenly his hands wavered on
the wheel, so that Mrs. Greeding
caught and steadied it; and she
cried sharply:
"Ned!”
“It’s all right,” he said huskily.
"I’m upset, that’s all.” And he add-
ed: “I’ve a mind to turn around
and go home. I don’t feel like see-
ing people.”
“Nonsense!" she insisted. "It’s
what you need "
“Oh, I suppose so,” he assented.
But she watched him thereafter
with an alert attention, till -hey
came to their destination, where
other egrs—were- already parked,
and Alighted and went in. On the
way up the walk to the door, she
hem his arm. her eyes full of solici-
tude, till he smiled at her reassur-
ingly.
“I need a cocktail," he said.
’That will pick me up."
And in fact, once in the house,
greeting a dozen people in succes-
sion, he was swept, out of his own
distracting thoughts. He gulped a
cocktail and another, and felt new
strength flow into him. In the draw-
ing-room he recognized, standing
with Mrs. Jordan and two or three
others by the hearth, Professor Car-
lisle, who was young Dan’s father.
The .professor was a small, lean,
gray old man with clear blue eyes;
and Doctor Greeding, with an im-
pulse to cultivate the other as a
possible ally against Dan and Nan-
cy, crossed to speak to him.
As he did so, a young woman by
the professor's elbow turned to
watch him approach; and Doctor
Greeding unconsciously paused as
he'saw her countenance. She was
tall, her glance serene and steady.
As though she marked his hesita-
tion, there was a faint amusement
in her eyes; but after that momen-
tary pause, Doctor Greeding went
on, and Mrs. Jordan welcomed him
into the group and made introduc-
tions.
"You know Professor Carlisle,
Doctor Greeding? And Mary Ann?
I’ve put Miss Carlisle beside you
at dinner, Doctor, so you can talk
shop as much as you please!”
He shook hands with Professor
Carlisle and with the girl. Mary
Ann’s hand in his had a strength
which pleased him. He found her
deeply, stirringly beautiful. At Mrs.
Jordan’s word, she smiled again;
and Doctor Greeding echoed: “Talk
shop?"
But before Mary Ann could re-
ply, Mrs. Jordan swept her away.
Doctor Greeding and Professor Car-
lisle were left together. Doctor
Greeding said casually:
“I’ve met your son, of course,
Professor; but I didn’t know you
had a daughter too."
Professor Carlisle smiled fondly.
“She doesn’t—circulate as much as
Dan does,” he assented. "She’s a
registered nurse—takes her profes-
sion rather seriously."
"That is apt to be a—sporadic
occupation,” Doctor Greeding sug-
gested.
“She was Doctor Homans’ surgi-
cal nurse until he died,” Professor
Carlisle explained. “But since then
“He’s a Pauper, Always Will Be.”
She stared at him in amazement.
'Ned, sometimes I can’t under-
tand you,” she confessed. “There’s
i hard, ruthless streak in you. Most
f the time you’re gentle and loyal
nd fine; but—I’m afraid of you
ay self, sometimes.” *
.r His lips were tight with rage.
rT’rn finding out a lot of things
about myself," he exclaimed, and
ie laughed--' unpleasantly. "It’s
queer you never noticed * them be-
speek. “I want to tell you some-
thing. Ira Jerrell asked me to lunch
arith'him today. He wants tt mar-
ry Nancy.” • •
Her eyes widened. “But Ned, he’s
> ar old as you are!" she protested.
’ “Two or three years younger,”
he corrected. -“And I’m no. old!”
He was fighting to control the fury
in him.
“Oh, Ned,” she protested. "In
twenty years he will be an old man;
and she—”
f “He won’t live twenty years,”
1 Doctor Greeding said explicitly. "I
operated on him, you remember.-
He comes of a short-lived family,
'. and he himself has a heart weak-
1 ness, latent- now, but bound to de-
velpp. He won’t live twenty years;
-and when he dies, he will leave
jNancy still a young woman, and
wealthy enough to—”
| 'Her cheek was pale. "Oh Ned,
41 that’s horrible!”
Fat and the Heart
In a group of 136 patients all of
whom were overweight it was found
that although only 19 died as a dir
rect result of an accumulation of
fat in and about the heart, this ex-
cess heart fat and the excess of fat
throughout the body Was an impor-.
tant factor in greatly shortening the
life span in most of the other cases.
Dr. Harry L. Smith and Freder-
ick A. Willi us in Archives of Inter-
nal Medicine describe their findings
of fat formation in the underlying
layer of tissue of the bag (pericar-
dium) which surrounds the heart
and also in and about the muscle
fibres of the walls of the heart it-
self. This fat adds a burden to an
already overworked heart which
has to take care of all this added
fat and weight of the body.
The expectation of life in obesity
(overweight) is unfavorable. Only
four of their series of cases attained
the age of seventy, the average of '
the entire group being 52 years, and
their ages ran from 10 months to
75 years. There were 94 females
and 42 males.
The point la that although the
PRACTICALLY every hea
writer in suggesting me
ods for reducing weight adv;
reduction in the amount of 1
eaten. This is very sensible
vice because old and yot
with or without heart or other
ailments, can, even if over-
weight, safely reduce the
amount of food to some extent.
It has been well said, “You
can’t get fat on the food you do
not eat.”
Further, cutting down the food to
a point where there is not enough
for the needs of the
will use what it
needs to maintain
Ep. 1 life, means that it
will use up some of
the fat in and on the
(\ | body to keep the
v fl body working. Thus
X* Pte*'! with no more fat be-
ing stored away,
and some of what is
stored being used
up every day to sup-
Dr. Barton piy the needs of the
body, the weight is
bound to be reduced.
There are some overweights who
like food so much or feel so weak
when it is reduced in amount that
they are looking for some means
(other than by drugs) to get rid of
their fat without cutting down on
their food intake.
It is ih these cases that exercise
is so valuable in burning off their
excess fat.
Unfortunately all overweights
cannot indulge in exercise. Some
are too old, some too feeble, others
have heart or bloodvessel complica-
tions; exercise is impossible or un-
safe in these individuals.
However, exercise is the most ef-
fective method of using up the
body's energy and if the body’s en-
ergy Is being used up by exercise,
certainly it cannot be stored away
in the body as fat.
Exercise Uses Up Calories
The average man will use from
2,500 to 3,000 calories a day unless
he is doing hard work or taking
strenuous exercise when be may
use up 6,000 calories. The average
woman uses up about 1,900 to 2,500
calories unless she is doing hard
work or taking a great amount of
exercise.
Physical directors will tell you
that doing some light work such ar
a long walk may use up as much as
300 to 500 calories, whilst a set of
tennis or a hard game of basket-
ball, hockey, or football will use
up 800 to 1,200 calories or even
more. • .
The fuel for doing this'work or
exercise must come from some-
where, either from the food that is
eaten of from the excess fat on the
body. If then a part of what ia eat- 1
en is used to supply the energy for
the exercise taken, there will be
therefore less fuel or food to be
stored away as fat. Further, as
mentioned above, if the amount of
food eaten is not enough to supply
the body’s needs and for the exer-
cise taken, the body tissues will
have to be used as fuel or food
which of course means that much
loss of weight.
Thus we can really look upon ex-
ercise as the idea) method of reduc-
ing weight because, without reduc-
ing the amount of food eaten, it will
use up some of the food eaten, pre-
venting storage of fat, and actually
burn up some of the fat already
stored. Exercise is really a "dou-
ble action” system of reducing
weight.
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The Lampasas Daily Leader (Lampasas, Tex.), Vol. 33, No. 240, Ed. 1 Monday, December 14, 1936, newspaper, December 14, 1936; Lampasas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1206498/m1/3/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Lampasas Public Library.