Flynn’s Weekly Detective Fiction. Vol. 18, No. 3, September 18, 1926
- Автор: Bailey H. C., Bechdolt Jack
- Год: 1926
- Язык: английский
- Год: The Red Star News Company
- Жанр: Другие детективы
Электронная книга - «Flynn’s Weekly Detective Fiction. Vol. 18, No. 3, September 18, 1926». Краткое содержание книги:
The Joker Tires
Dr. Dix received a letter from his tormentor on the following day in which he said that he had been one of those who had applied for aid, and he congratulated the rector upon the courtesy and consideration which he had shown toward him.
Dr. Dix had two days’ respite now, and then the various dry goods stores began to receive letters in which they were informed that their impudent communications had been received, and that they had been turned over to the rector’s lawyers, who would proceed against them. These firms made haste to disclaim the writing of any such letters, only to learn that no such letters had been written to them.
On that or the following evening many prominent clergymen of the city received invitations to dine with Dr. Dix, to meet the bishops of York and Exeter, and arrived at the rectory only to find their invitations were also a hoax.
The joker seemed at this juncture to have tired of his game, for he turned his attention from Dr. Dix to several of the prominent members of churches, to each of whom he sent a communication from some well known liquor dealer threatening prosecution unless he paid for the liquors which he had purchased.
The recipients were naturally incensed, and many turned these communications over to their lawyers before the truth was learned. But it was this incident which seemed to show that the writer was rather engaging in these pranks for his own amusement than out of any desire to levy blackmail.
His Most Daring Coup
However, he soon disclosed another purpose, for he sent a letter to Dr. Dix informing him that all further persecution would cease upon the payment of one thousand dollars. Dr. Dix was instructed that, in the event of his accepting this proposition, he should insert a communication in the personal column of the New York Herald, addressed to “Gentleman Joe,” saying “All right.”
By the advice of the police Dr. Dix did so, but on the following day “Gentleman Joe” was made the recipient of three personal notifications in this column. Whether he had inserted two of them himself, or whether two came from other victims was never determined, but at any rate no response was elicited, and the scoundrel now gave the rector a couple of weeks’ respite.
The persecution began again upon St. Patrick’s Day, when Dr. Dix received a letter demanding the sum of one thousand, five hundred dollars, enclosing a name and address to which the money was to be sent. No notice was taken of this communication, and on the day which “Gentleman Joe” had mentioned in his communication, a member of a well-known firm of lawyers arrived at the rectory, having received a letter purporting to come from Mrs. Dix stating that she desired to consult with them regarding a divorce.
Other lawyers called during the day on the same errand; besides these there came an agent of a steamship line, carrying with him two tickets to Havana, and a number of persons who had advertised offering rewards for lost or stolen property, and had received notice to call at the rectory and bring their rewards with them.
One of these callers had advertised a reward of one hundred dollars for the return of two thousand dollar bonds, and, not being aware that the house in question was the residence of Dr. Dix, had brought a private detective with him.
The arrangement was that, if the bonds were turned over, the gentleman was to leave the house scratching his leg, whereupon the private detective, who was stationed in the street opposite, was to rush in and arrest the man who had received the reward. All these callers felt particularly foolish at having been made the victims of a prank that had been so extensively advertised in the newspapers.
On the following afternoon Mrs. Dix received a pair of soiled stockings, with the intimation that a new pair would be placed at her disposal when these had been sufficiently worn.
“Gentleman Joe” having apparently exhausted his resources in providing himself with amusement, now achieved his most daring coup. About ten o’clock one morning, shortly after the last of these occurrences, the rectory bell was violently rung, and the servant who opened the door was confronted by a determined-looking man carrying a cane.
“You Infernal Liar!”
“Is Dr. Dix at home?” he demanded sharply.
“Yes, sir,” replied the servant, surmising that her master’s visitor was probably the victim of another hoax. “What do you wish to see him about?”
“It’s none of your business what I want to see him about,” the visitor returned. “Tell him to come down immediately.”
The girl fled in affright and informed her master, who descended the stairs and approached his visitor with his customary urbanity.
“What can I do for you, sir?” the rector asked.
The stranger looked the rector over from head to foot and then burst out into a torrent of profanity and abuse.
“You sanctimonious old rascal, you make a fine minister of the Gospel!” he exclaimed, threateningly. “Don’t you dare to open your mouth until I’m through with you, or I’ll call an undertaker.”
“My dear sir, what is the matter?” inquired Dr. Dix.
“Matter?” shouted the stranger. “Do you mean to say you don’t know what the matter is, you infernal liar? Now I tell you what I mean to do with you. I ought to take you out into the street and cane you in the presence of the public, but I’m going to be lenient and thrash you in your own house instead. Don’t you dare to yell for help or it will go all the worse with you.”
A Threat of a Thrashing
“May I inquire why you propose to thrash me?” demanded the rector.
The stranger, who had already grasped the clergyman by the collar and raised his cane in a threatening manner, stared at him and released him.
“Well I’m damned!” he exclaimed. “If you don’t win the prize for nerve! I’m going to thrash you for writing that letter to my wife, you scoundrel.” And he pulled a letter from his pocket and thrust it under the rector’s nose.
“I’ll teach you to make an appointment with a respectable married woman and call my wife your ‘darling Annie,’ when you never spoke to her in your life! I’m going to give you such a thrashing that you will wish you had died before you had ever been born.”
“I never wrote a letter to your wife,” the rector exclaimed.
“You damned liar, there’s your name to it,” shouted the man.
“It’s a forgery!”
“Oh, it is, eh?” the visitor sneered. “Well, I tell you what I’ll do. Get some of your own handwriting and compare it with this signature.”
“I will do so at once,” said the rector. “I am just finishing a sermon and can show you the very manuscript.” And he started for the stairs.
“Come back here!” cried the other. “You’ve got some dodge to get a revolver or escape along the roof! You can’t play any of those tricks on me, you rascal. You and I will go upstairs together.”
The clergyman and his visitor accordingly mounted the stairs side by side and entered Dr. Dix’s study, where it was readily seen that there was no resemblance between the rector’s writing and that of the letter.
The stranger seemed taken aback at first, but quickly recovered himself, and, muttering something about a disguised hand, threatened to put the matter into the hands of his lawyer, saying which he departed downstairs and left the house.
On the next morning the rector received another communication from “Gentleman Joe,” in which he stated that he was the visitor of the day before, that he had greatly enjoyed his call, and hoped the doctor had recovered from his fright.