arthur mannion, splendidly disguised as he was, utterly collapsed at nick carter's denunciation, and he said not a word as he was led away, handcuffed, to the police-station.
jackson feversham, who had been kept in the dark regarding the identity of the one-armed man, could not believe that the murderer of playfair was the soldierly person who had represented himself to be the murderer's uncle.
"why, he's one-armed, there's no sham there, his hair is light, his features are different, and he speaks in a different voice. i remember arthur mannion well, and this man bears no resemblance to him."
"all the same," said nick stoutly, "i can prove that he is arthur mannion, and before twenty-four hours he will confess that he is!"
playfair's friend and executor was now in nick's rooms. the other persons present were chick and patsy.
the detective spoke with such conviction that feversham was impressed.
"how did you get at the secret?" he asked.
"by work, by using the powers which nature gave me[204] and which experience has sharpened, and by the invaluable assistance of chick and patsy. i suspected the uncle when i heard of his visit to the hospital, my suspicions were deepened when i first met the man at craven's house. he had but one arm, that is true, but it struck me as a singular circumstance that the missing member should be the left one, the arm to which, upon arthur mannion, when i had last seen him, was attached a hand with half a finger missing. an accident would account for the amputation, and if an accident to mannion had occurred within a radius of one or even two hundred miles, the fact could be easily ascertained, both through telegraphic and private inquiry. i tried the private way first, and within a week chick lit upon the surgeon who amputated arthur mannion's arm. while on his way, traveling mainly by night, from alexandria to baltimore, mannion fell under a freight-train. he was stealing a ride with some hoboes, and, being awkward at brake-beam work, slipped and fell. the accident happened near a station—i had looked for the very thing—and a railway surgeon removed the arm and had the patient, who gave an assumed name, removed to st. luke's hospital, baltimore. in the hospital mannion met knocker jilson, a tramp he had struck up an acquaintance with while both were on the road. do you begin to see, mr. feversham?"
"yes, light is breaking fast. you are a very shrewd man, mr. carter. hereafter i shall take whatever you say as the law and gospel."
[205]
"before leaving the hospital mannion arranged his deal with jilson. the fellow was booked for an early death, and as he grew weaker he thought of his mother, whom for years he had shamefully neglected. mannion saw his chance. he offered to send mrs. jilson money, and to provide for the few years she has yet to live, if jilson, on his part, would consent to a harmless deception. jilson listened and consented. he would have done more, if it had been necessary, than was asked of him, for the promise to relieve his mother's necessities was an inducement that would have made him swallow any kind of bait.
"after mannion was discharged as cured, he proceeded to make the next move in the game. i suppose you know, mr. feversham, that there are now many surgeons, professionals and quacks, who make a specialty of changing facial appearance. twenty years ago the thing was almost unheard of. now there have been so many demonstrations that the practise is carried on to an extent that would amaze you were you to be furnished with the statistics. there is one of these practitioners in baltimore. i sent chick to investigate. he proved the correctness of my theory, and he brought back these."
the detective from his pocketbook took two small photographs and handed them to feversham. one was a counterfeit full-length presentment of arthur mannion as he appeared before the disguise, but after the amputation, and, facially, as nick had seen him at the[206] house on l street; the other was a reproduction of the person of the so-called peter mannion.
"'before taking,' and 'after taking,'" said nick, with a smile. "do you understand? and do you notice that each picture is of a one-armed man?"
"yes. one was taken when the patient arrived; the other when the operation had been performed. if i used slang i should say it is a dead give-away." said feversham.
"it is nothing else. surgery fixed the features and changed the workings of the vocal chords, while chlorine or peroxide of hydrogen altered the color of the hair and eyebrows. besides all this, i have other evidence of a minor nature which goes to cement the case against arthur mannion."
"what you have offered is sufficient, mr. carter. it is evidence overwhelming in its nature. confront your prisoner with it and he must confess."
that is what nick did. the next day he called at the jail, had an interview with mannion, told him what proofs had been gathered, both of the impersonation and of the murder, and the result was that the wicked stepson of james playfair threw up his hands and made full confession.
he had, as the great detective supposed, robbed playfair's house in order to obtain the key to the bank deposit box. he found the key, and he found something more—the money and a package of his mother's letters in the locked drawer. the letters were used as a lure[207] for the appointment by the river, and the murder was committed with deliberate intent, goloff assisting by holding playfair's arms while mannion choked the old man to death.
the scheme of the bogus will had been concocted in st. louis, where mannion had, by previous arrangement, met goloff, who had left san francisco a week before the departure of mannion and his wife from that city. the forgery had not been a difficult task, for mannion was an expert in that line, and he had some of playfair's old letters as a guide.
asked about the notes taken from the body of cora reesey, mannion answered: "i might as well be hanged for a sheep as a lamb, so i'll say that i robbed the body. i was the first to discover it. i was rowing along the shore when i spotted it. there was no one in sight, and so i took all the valuables i could find. goloff was with me, and i whacked up with him.
"and now," said mannion, when he had finished his confession, "it's up to you to do a little explaining. how in the name of satan did you get out of that trunk?"
nick carter smiled. he could afford to. "i wasn't in that trunk more than two minutes," he said. "but it was lucky for me that help came when it did, else i should have suffocated. do you suppose that i was such a ninny as to run blindfold into the trap you had set for me? you spoke rather sneeringly of my boy patsy, while you had me at a disadvantage in the room. let me tell you now that you owe patsy an apology, for he[208] is responsible for my presence in the court to-day and your arrest. when i sent him out in the daytime, it was not for the purpose of taking a train out of the city, but to pipe you. now you begin to see? he bought a ticket for new york, but he rode only a few blocks, then jumped off the train and carried out my other instructions. he saw you go up the stairs—he was concealed across the street—and he saw me go up. then he followed suit. with ear at the keyhole he overheard every word you said to me. he was too shrewd to go out and procure assistance, for he saw that the only way to block your game would be to let you fancy that you had really sent me to the bottom of the potomac. you did send something—a trunk that cost sixty dollars, and a couple of pillows and a lot of bricks that i threw in to give the proper weight."
mannion bit his lips till the blood came. but he soon assumed a devil-may-care expression.
"i was too anterior: i see it now. and i suppose that telegram from chick was a plant?"
"of course. chick was only a few miles away, i had him at the phone before eight o'clock, and his part was soon arranged. i presume you thought the boy who gave you the telegram was a regular employee of the company?"
"wasn't he?"
"oh, no. he was only patsy."
"patsy!" and what the checkmated villain said about patsy would not look well in print.
[209]
arthur mannion was never tried for his crime. pneumonia carried him off within a fortnight after his arrest. his widow still mourns for him, but nick carter believes that her eyes will soon brighten, and that there are happy days in store for her.
the three detectives left washington showered with congratulations.
jackson feversham's last words were: "nick, i can't tell you what i think about your work in this case, but i can say one thing. i wouldn't have believed any man could have done what you have done. i don't know how you've done it, but it's great, and so are you!"
